Using first hand accounts, trench maps and technology, our fantastic guides can really bring a piece of ground alive. This image taken by team member Nick Saunders shows a view taken from Watling Street looking towards the junction with Sunken Lane on the Somme battlefield.

Many visitors are familiar with the story of the Lancashire Fusiliers who tunnelled from their lines to the Sunken Lane prior to going over the top on the 1st of July 1916.

Less well known is that the 1st Battalion the Hampshire Regiment followed in the second wave. Their route took them diagonally across a shallower sunken lane named Watling Street on the trench maps.

The 1st Bn The Hampshire Regiment suffered 585 casualties including 100% of the officers. One officer who was wounded but survived to tell the tale was Lt Shearn. This is his abridged account of the 1st of July and the link to Watling Street.

As soon as I got out of the assembly trench I discovered that the story that there would be nothing left alive in the German lines was a myth. We went into literally a hail of machine gun fire. I could hear the ‘smack’ of the bullets as they hit the ground or sandbags or whatever. I got hit on my prismatic compass which I carried on the left front of my belt. I felt the impact of the bullet. I did not however, feel pain or unwell. I thought it as well to look and see what damage had been done so I opened my belt and pulled up my tunic to see. There was a small and very neat hole under my left ribs from which a little blood was coming. I debated briefly whether I needed medical attention but decided that as I felt so unaffected by the bullet wound I had better get on with the war. I make no claim that I am in any way brave but I do distinctly remember feeling some surprise and indeed satisfaction that I did not feel afraid. I did my belt up and hurried to catch up with my platoon.