>>20679799
>On a single day the year before, 60,000 British troops had been killed.
There were indeed close to 60,000 British casualties on the first day of the Somme Offensive, July 1, 1916. That figure, however, includes both killed and wounded. The numbers of killed and wounded vary slightly by source:
British casualties on the first day โ numbering over 57,000, of which 19,240 were killed โ make it the bloodiest day in British military history. https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/10-significant-battles-of-the-first-world-war
On the first day alone, the British endured more than 57,000 casualties. The nearly 20,000 British troops killed on day one of the infantry assault was so high it remains the single worst day in British military history.
https://www.history.com/news/why-was-the-battle-of-the-somme-so-deadly
By the end of the first day on 1 July 1916, British forces had suffered 57,470 casualties, of whom 19,240 were killed. This represented the largest losses suffered by the British Army in a single day.
https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-battle-of-the-somme#