Includes bibliographical references (p. 307-314) and index.

Prelude: 'Chewing barbed wire' -- The prospect: 'To break through and win victory' -- June 1916: 'There is much in the wind' -- The first day of the battle: 'dead men can advance no further' -- The first full week of battle: 'It looked like victory' -- The last three weeks of July: 'boys of the bull dog breed' -- Fromelles: 'a bloody holocaust' -- Pozières: 'death grinning at you from all around" -- The battle continues: 'a little uneasy in regard to the situation' -- Criticism and commitment: 'under no circumstances must we relax our effort' -- Both sides fight on: 'This fantasy of woe' -- The continuing struggle: 'I am in God's keeping' -- The arrival of the tanks: 'We are feeling top dogs' -- The struggle intensifies: 'death and decomposition strew the ground' -- October 1916: The grand design begins -- The soldiers' sacrifice: 'what else had they been born for? -- The first two weeks of November: 'The mud of the moment' -- The final battle: 'A light from our household is gone' -- Aftermath on the Somme: November 1916 to November 1918 -- Epilogue: 'We feel proud to be able to cry.'