The chilling sound of whistles which sent thousands of men to their deaths echoed again exactly 100 years on from the start of the Battle of the Somme.

Crowds gathered underneath the Memorial Arch in Folkestone this morning for a commemorative service.

Whistles were blown at 7.30am – the very moment a century before when officers ordered the advance and thousands of young men clambered out of their trenches into the blood and mudbath in no man’s land which awaited them.

Wreaths and crosses were placed to remember the 17 Shepway men who were among the 19,240 British soldiers to fall on the first day of the battle on July 1, 1916.

It remains the single most bloody day in the history of the British Army.

The battle lasted another 141 days before being abandoned in November 1916 at a cost of more than one million British, French and German lives.

A further 53 men from Shepway are known to have died during the Somme offensive and crosses were also placed in their memory.

People arrived to pay their respects to the men who gave the ultimate sacrifice and a two minute silence was impeccably observed after The Last Post.

The silence was followed by prayers led by the Rev David Adlington and piper Ben Millbery played ‘Flowers of the Forest’.

Deputy Lieutenant of Kent Dennis Bradley spoke about the horrors of the trenches and drew on first hand accounts from soldiers who served in the battle giving some harrowing details of men walking to their deaths and being cut down like grass in the machine gun fire spewing from the German lines.

Shepway council chairman Cllr Jan Holben, who organised the commemorations, said: “I was born after the wars and had no idea. It’s important for us that these people laid down their lives so we have freedom to speak, move around and be politically different.

"That’s what we’re here for and if that hadn’t happened we wouldn’t be the people we are now and I don’t think we can ever afford to forget that.

“Some people say it’s time enough and maybe we should pass by but we need to remember that these were our men, our relatives who weren’t even professional soldiers but just groups of friends who did their bit and they gave everything they had.”

Cllr Holben added: “When I was doing my research I was looking at poetry and all sorts of written stuff to take in what was happening and was intending to read some poetry. But it was just so painful to read but if you read the detail, the numbers are unbelievable.

“I’ve read accounts that even some of the German soldiers were crying as they shot because our soldiers were just walking into it. They were literally just walking into machine gun fire. What chance had they?

“It was really lovely to see people this early in the morning and lovely to see the poppy wreaths laid.”

Victims

There were at least 74 known casualties with Shepway connections who died during the course of the battle.

There are 42 Commonwealth war graves in the old Victorian Cheriton Road cemetery with some of the men who died on the Somme buried there.

The names of 17 men killed on the first day of the Somme who were from Shepway were read out.

• Private Montague Baker of Marshall Street, Folkestone
• Corporal Sydney Collier of Sandgate Road, Folkestone
• Lance Corporal Harry Craft of Warren Rd, Folkestone
• Sergeant Sidney Craig of Ashley Avenue, Cheriton
• Private Charles Johns of Seabrook Road, Hythe
• Lieutenant-Colonel William Lyle of Hythe, Kent
• Private Noel O’Herlihy of St John’s St, Folkestone
• Corporal Ernest Pepper of Royal Military Avenue, Cheriton
• Private Ernest Prior of May Terrace, Sandgate
• Private Arthur Stokes of Park Street, Folkestone
• Sergeant Philip Upton of Manor Road, Folkestone
• Sergeant George Wilkinson named on Holy Trinity Church Memorial
• Second Lieutenant Charles Balkwill of Sycamore Gardens, Dymchurch
• Second Lieutenant John Balkwill of Sycamore Gardens, Dymchurch
• Second Lieutenant Harold Williamson of New Romney
• Lance Corporal Henry Southern of Sellindge
• Private David Blackman of Hythe

Researchers are hoping to track down relatives of current residents in Shepway who fought and died during the Somme campaign.

Did you have a relative who fought at the Battle of the Somme? Write to us: Folkestone & Hythe Express, 34-36 North Street, Ashford, Kent, TN24 8JR or email folkestoneexpress@thekmgroup.co.uk