Somme selfies: one of the unknown

In the run-up to July’s centenary of one of the bloodiest battles in human history, The Independent is publishing a different Tommy’s picture every day

It is impossible to read this regimental soldier’s shoulder badges. Our guess is that he was a medic. The image was taken in the village of Warloy-Baillon, eight miles behind the front line in northern France, the site of a British field hospital. On each day until the centenary on 1 July, we are publishing a “Selfie from the Somme” – an image chosen from a collection of more than 700 long-lost photographs brought to light by The Independent in recent years.