On 1st July 1916, the Bay of Somme was the scene of the deadliest day in British military history. What happened there? Englishmen, Scotsmen, Irishmen, Welshmen, Canadians, South Africans, Australians, New Zealanders ¿ many soldiers from Great Britain and the Commonwealth volunteered in 1916 to attack on the front in Picardy.