Battle of the Somme anniversary is a time to reflect on terrible loss and pain

In the preface of his 1922 book The History of the 36th (Ulster) Division, author Cyril Falls made a noteworthy prediction: ‘A hundred years hence, men will be delving into our records of the late war. Soldiers will be studying the lessons of its battles. But yet a greater number of seekers will be demanding with curiosity how men lived in such circumstances [and] how they reacted to the strain of war.’