Controversial ‘Battle of the Somme’ footage: authentic or staged? On the 109th anniversary of the ‘Battle of the Somme’, we are again reminded of perhaps the most iconic footage of the Great War. A cameraman seemingly captures the exact moment British troops climb from their trenches on 1 July 1916 and advance through a hail of bullets toward the German trenches. On 10 July civilian filmmaker Geoffrey Malins returned to London with 8,000 feet of film. The completed documentary, which ran for 77

A documentary about the Battle of the Somme was released just two months after the battle began. http://cnn.it/295oVe6 | CNN International

#OnThisDay 1916: Many thousands were killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Seventy years on in 1986, these kids went on an emotional and rather dangerous school trip to the World War One battlefield. | BBC Archive