Somme selfies: calm, assured and defiant

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

A young medical orderly or ambulance driver adopts a film star pose just before or during the terrible battle of the Somme which began 100 years ago this week. On each day until the centenary on 1 July, we are publishing a “Selfie from the Somme”. The images were taken in late 1915 and in 1916 for a few francs by a local photographer, Alfred Depire. Unlike the dishevelled, anxious-looking soldier whose image we published yesterday, this private in the Royal Army Medical Corps has taken the trouble to create a reassuring image to send home to his loved ones.