In Your Town | The North-East At War | Page 4

MISERABLE: In the second half of June, the Durham Pals endured relentless rain and mud as the preparations for the Battle of the Somme continued

‘You can do nothing but shiver and shrink’

Tony Kearney

The famous badge of the Durham Light Infantry.

Pals under shellfire day and night

Tony Kearney

WELL DRILLED: Australian soldiers take part in bayonet practice during the First World War

Pals train for Big Push

Tony Kearney

HEADLINE GRABBER: From The Northern Echo of June 3, 1916 – the first report of the Battle of Jutland

The Evenwood lads who died at the Battle of Jutland 100 years ago

Chris Lloyd

Durham University student Jordan Blunsom at the start of his 950 miles walk to The Somme from Durham City to raise money for Walking with the Wounded charity. Picture: CHRIS BOOTH

Durham University student takes first steps in poignant walk to the Somme

Gavin Engelbrecht

WALK OF THE BRAVE: Soldiers from the Wiltshire Regiment advance through the barbed wire during the Battle of the Somme

Battlefield grave for fallen

Tony Kearney

A £345,000 Lottery grant is to be used to preserve the graffiti left on the walls of the cells at Richmond Castle by the conscientious objectors

Fighting against the war

Chris Lloyd

Robin McDermott with the new book

New book recalls the First World War bombardment of the coast

Mark Foster

TARGET: A Canadian field kitchen from September 1917. During the Durham Pals’ stay at Colincamps, German artillery scored a direct hit on D Company’s field kitchen, killing four horses and destroying the equipment

Under constant fire

Tony Kearney

The 18th Battalion trained in the use of carrier pigeons

Pigeons keep the Pals in touch

Tony Kearney

Graffiti revealing often-forgotten chapter of the First World War to be preserved

Mark Foster

DEPRESSING: A New Zealand field hospital in the woods at Bus Les Artois, where the Durham Pals were billeted after their first taste of life in the trenches

Licking their wounds

Tony Kearney

A watery grave

Tony Kearney

FEARSOME: The explosion of the mine at Hawthorn Ridge on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. The Durham Pals were stationed at Auchonvillers while the tunnels were being dug beneath Hawthorn Ridge

The woes of trench warfare

Tony Kearney

DEPRESSING: A New Zealand field hospital in the woods at Bus Les Artois, where the Durham Pals were billeted after their first taste of life in the trenches

Out of the trenches

Tony Kearney

RESPITE: Soldiers get refreshments from a mobile stall at Auchonvillers during the Battle of the Somme

Basking at ‘Ocean Villas’ dodging sniper bullets

Tony Kearney

ON THE FRONTLINE: Men of the New Zealand army manning an artillery position in Beaussart in 1918. During a German bombing raid on British artillery in the same village two years earlier, Private Arthur Armstrong of Crook became 18DLI’s first casualty on foreign soil

Durham Pals suffer first casualty on foreign soil

Tony Kearney

AT EASE: Soldiers from the Royal Warwickshire Regiment resting up during the Battle of the Somme

From sand to snow for Durham Pals

Tony Kearney

The 18th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry arrived in Port Remy on the banks of the River Somme in the early hours of March 14, 1916 on a bitterly cold night before marching through the town to their billets

To Somme by cattle truck

Tony Kearney

Some of the archive which has been untouched for almost a century.

Revealed – how men tried to escape from military service

Mark Foster

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Towns in the list below will continue to grow as we build content towards next year's centenary so check back soon.

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