The First Battle of the Somme, also informally called the Battle of the Somme, was a major battle of World War I that took place in either 1916, (COMIC: Time Bomb!) 1914 (PROSE: Death and Diplomacy) or 1917. (PROSE: Eater of Wasps)
Whilst searching through time for the Seventh Doctor, Death's Head materialised in the "no man's land" between the British and German lines of a battlefield in 1916. He mistook a German tank for his mother, then realised it wasn't and fired upon it. Before he could do more damage, he was again pulled through time by the Intra-Venus, Inc. time machine he was wearing. Mystified British soldiers thought that Death's Head was "Jerry's new secret weapon." (COMIC: Time Bomb!)
Richard Hadleman was near-mortally wounded in a poison gas attack in July 1916, but was saved by Timothy Dean, who was working with the Red Cross. (PROSE: Human Nature)
Colonel Schott, a veteran of the earlier battle of Tannenberg, was wounded at the Somme but survived and was awarded an Iron Cross, First Class. (PROSE: Illegal Alien)
The Sontaran soldier Brak witnessed the battle, and was captured by British forces shortly after it. (AUDIO: Old Soldiers)
John Jarrow and Roger Gleave each fought. Jarrow was killed. Fitz Kreiner tried to stir memories of the battle within Gleave, after he was taken as a host by wasps affected by an alien device. (PROSE: Eater of Wasps)
Do you remember what the Somme looked like afterwards? All churned‐up mud, without a single tree or building left standing? Blasted and blasted until there was nothing but... well, desolation.
Weeks hinted to Charlotte Pollard that he had fought in the Somme. (AUDIO: Storm Warning)
Frances' fiancé Michael Thomas also fought in the battle. (AUDIO: The Mouthless Dead)
Behind the scenes
- In reality, the battle took place from 1 July to 18 November 1916. However, within the Doctor Who universe, the date is disputed with several sources contradicting one another.
- The comic story Time Bomb! does actually specify it as the "First Battle of the Somme", which is the most technically correct designation. Nevertheless, "Battle of the Somme" generally means to most people the 1916 action, not the 1918 "Second Battle of the Somme".