* Astronomy

Return to the Somme

Struck down by a German shell on Sept. 27, Milner labourer Paul Doutaz would be buried near the infamous Regina Trench, a strategic stronghold taken by the Canadians on Nov. 11. West Langley farmhand Ernest Moody would perish the day of the victory and be buried in a cemetery named Adanac, which is Canada spelled backwards.
When the Battle of the Somme finally ceased, one-eighth of a million British and Commonwealth troops lay dead; a further 300,000 had been wounded, all for a gain of less than a dozen kilometres. Three men had died for every inch of captured territory, but in many places along the front there had been no gains at all.
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