Zero Hour

<p>The first day of the battle of the Somme 1 July 1916 was the most devastating event of the First World War for the British army. In <i>Zero Hour</i> 14 superlatively photographed panoramas (each one a four-page gatefold opening to nearly 1 metre wide) show the Somme's major sites as they look today. Taken from the exact viewpoints of the front-line British troops as they began their advance towards the German trenches at 7.30 a.m. these hauntingly peaceful present-day views are annotated (in the handwritten military style of the time) to show the lethal German defensive positions at the moment of the attack.</p><p>Jolyon Fenwick's eerily compelling photographs are accompanied by detailed maps and vivid descriptions of the day's events detailing their awful human loss: out of 116000 British and Empire troops committed to the assault by nightfall 57470 had become casualties and 19240 were dead. <i>Zero Hour</i> is simultaneously a celebration of the renewing power of nature and a powerful and unconventional reminder of the horrors of the past.</p>>