In the minutes leading up to 7.30am on July 1, 1916 - a century ago on Friday - artillery bombardment reached a crescendo then halted and British troops advanced on German lines, only to be mown down in their thousands.
That was the first day of the Somme offensive, the worst day ever for the British Army with 60,000 casualties and almost 20,000 dead for very modest gains.
No Australians were involved, though they could have been.
When the Australian and New Zealand troops set sail on November 1, 1914, they and everyone else expected they'd end up in France where fighting had bogged down into the trench warfare that went on to dominate the conflict for the next three years.
But with winter approaching and Britain's military training camps clogged with new British and other colonial troops, it was decided to send the Anzacs to Egypt for more training.
As the Gallipoli plan evolved, Britain decided to make use of the conveniently located Anzac force.
And so, that raw colonial force landed on Gallipoli on April 25, 1915, withdrew in December, then headed back to Egypt for rest, reinforcement and more training for the western front.
The Australian 1st and 2nd Divisions disembarked in Marseilles in late March and reached the battlefields of France in early April.
Having survived Gallipoli, the Anzacs thought they were pretty good but the British high command wasn't convinced, dispatching them to the quiet Armentieres area, regarded as a nursery for troops unfamiliar with trench warfare.
Subsequently they moved to the Fleurbaix sector, 70km from where the Somme battle would open on July 1 and run until November 18.
Historian Robin Prior noted that without Gallipoli, Australian and New Zealand troops would have reached the trenches of the western front much sooner than they did, likely participating in the opening of the Somme offensive.
He said Australia could have lost its entire national army.
What did occur was bad enough.
Australia's first major western front battle came in the disastrous Battle of Fromelles, launched on the evening of July 19, 1916, and intended to stop the Germans transferring troops south to resist British attacks on the Somme.
The Australian troops held a small section overnight and were then expelled, with casualties of 5533, including 1917 dead and 470 prisoners. In that one inconsequential 14-hour action, Australia losses amounted to almost a quarter those lost in eight months at Gallipoli.
Fromelles isn't regarded as part of the Somme offensive but what came next was.
That was the battle of Pozieres launched on July 23 and which ran until August 5. Initially that was a standout success, such that the Germans turned all their guns on the Australian-held ground, with a shattering three-day bombardment causing more than 5000 casualties.
Subsequent assaults produced some successes at huge cost. On August 8 the Australians launched what's now called the battle of Mouquet Farm, a short distance from Pozieres. That lasted until September as three Australian divisions launched nine separate attacks, all fiercely resisted.
In six weeks on the Somme the Anzac corps suffered 23,000 casualties, including 6741 dead. Australia's final involvement in the Somme offensive came at Gueudecourt in November with a pair of brigade-level attacks in heavy, muddy conditions that cost another 2000 casualties.
The appalling toll - more than had been lost at Gallipoli - had far-reaching consequences. Everyone realised the war would not be over soon or cheaply.
In Australia the government embarked on the first of two referenda to introduce conscription to make up troop numbers, still the most bitter and divisive campaigns of Australian political history.
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