People are sharing tributes to family who fought and died at The Somme 100 years ago today

One hundred years have passed since the first ranks of brave men were sent 'over the top' at the Battle of the Somme and people have been paying tributes on Twitter.

It is known as the 'bloodiest day in British military history' and lives on in infamy, emblematic of the senseless slaughter of the First World War. When the whistles blew in the trenches that sunny morning on July 1, 1916, thousands and thousands of young men marched to their death. 'Lions led by donkeys'. Rows and rows of men - many still just teenagers - were mowed down by machine gun fire as they walked across No Man's Land to attack German trenches. English, Welsh, Irish, Scottish and Canadians fell side by side. Brigades like the Accrington Pals, where whole towns joined up for King and Country, were almost totally wiped out before they could even get out of the trenches at the Somme. Hundreds of men killed in minutes. When the guns fell silent at the end of the first day there were more than 57,000 British casualties. Commemorations were taking place in Northern France to mark 100 years since the bitter five-month battle began. But people on Twitter were remembering the individual human cost of The Somme, posting tributes and stories of family members who fought in the trenches and many who never came home... https://twitter.com/MikeParrActor/status/748782578845437952 https://twitter.com/andyburnhammp/status/748772923540779009 https://twitter.com/TomBlenkinsop/status/748792929561391104 https://twitter.com/jonhammondtweet/status/748785774573654016 https://twitter.com/drg1985/status/748797284423315457 https://twitter.com/PatrRyder/status/748811125601345536 https://twitter.com/Jacqui_Smith1/status/748807154820259841 https://twitter.com/guingb/status/748785966584770560 https://twitter.com/AdamParsons1/status/748759111056052224 https://twitter.com/Bowlington_/status/748759857453338624 https://twitter.com/PerthFedSgt/status/748583839375691777 https://twitter.com/HistoryNeedsYou/status/748747565563207680 https://twitter.com/SinghLions/status/748595597926670337 https://twitter.com/lizzy630_liz/status/711297779222577152 https://twitter.com/bigpinkdressgnr/status/713420338080661504 https://twitter.com/JasonBradbury/status/748792536529969152