Somme selfies: relaxed, smart and orderly gentlemen

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 sergeant and five privates from the Royal Army Medical Corps pose for the camera during or just before the battle of the Somme. They were probably medical orderlies or ambulance drivers. The picture was taken in the back yard of a house in Warloy-Baillon, which was eight miles behind the British front line when the battle began 100 years ago next month. This photograph is part of a collection of images that were taken in late 1915 and in 1916 for a few francs by a local photographer, Alfred Depire, for British soldiers to send home as postcards to their loved ones.