The battle of Somme is probably the most iconic offensive of the first world war, now a byword for mindless loss of life and poor leadership. This is a fascinating account written by John Buchan, one of the few people to be writing a history of the great war as it happened. Here he discusses the long drawn out offensive, the Somme was much more then just the first day that cost the lives of almost 30,000 allied and German soldiers. Including a biography of the author.