The Somme battlefield stretches across French farmland and towns such as Péronne, now dotted with cemeteries containing soldiers who were children just months before. At the exact spot near Thiepval Wood where German machine guns had perfect sight lines, British teenagers walked forward on July 1st because generals miles behind the front insisted on "brave" traditional tactics. The geography itself was deadly—gentle slopes that seemed harmless became killing fields when crossed by boys trained on flat English parade grounds. Today's peaceful wheat fields grow over soil mixed with the remains of 19-year-olds who enlisted at 16, their bodies never recovered from the mud between trenches measured in yards but costing thousands of young lives.
Photo found at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme