Somme selfies: five young men and a solemn French girl

In the run-up to July’s centenary of one of the bloodiest battles in human history, The Independent is publishing a different Tommy’s picture every day

Five young men and a solemn little girl pose for the camera during or before the battle of the Somme, which began 100 years ago next month. The image is something of a mystery. At least three of the young men are wearing British army trousers. Two are partly dressed in civilian clothes. Perhaps one of them was a local French boy, too young to be in the army. The little girl we believe to be Marguerite, a niece of the photographer, Alfred Depire, who took this picture in the village of Warloy-Baillon, which was just behind the British front line in northern France 100 years ago.