Letter: In Brief

Sir: The first day of the Somme was quite bad enough without an overstatement of the numbers of those who died. John Lichfield's article "The Memory of War" (6 November) falls into the trap of quoting the number of casualties (57,000) suffered by the British forces involved as the number killed (actually just short of 20,000).

A pity, because the main theme of the article, the proposal for some form of centre where the full story of the Western Front can be made available for access by today's and tomorrow's visitors to the battlefields, deserves the fullest support from all quarters.

Col (Retd) MICHAEL CRAWSHAW

Editor, "The British Army Review"

Salisbury