'Reconnoitring party before the fall of Thiepval at Spayside', 1916

Photograph by Lieutenant Patrick Koekkoek, Royal Engineers, World War One, Western Front, 1916.

Thiepval village had been a British objective on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Somme offensive, and had repeatedly defied attempts to capture it. It was eventually taken by the 54th Brigade in late September after fierce fighting.

One of 188 copy photographs taken by Lieutenant Patrick Robert Koekkoek, Special Brigade, Royal Engineers, 1915-1917.