In which 1916 battle was J.R.R. Tolkien serving as a signals officer when he became ill?

J.R.R. Tolkien was serving as a signals officer during the Battle of the Somme in 1916 when he became ill.

Tolkien served in the British Army during the First World War and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers. He took part in the Somme offensive, one of the war’s largest and bloodiest campaigns, which began on 1 July 1916.

After several months of service, Tolkien became ill with trench fever. He was sent back to England for treatment and did not return to active service in France. Many of his close school friends were killed during the war, an experience that deeply affected him.

Readers often connect the war directly to individual episodes in Tolkien’s fiction, but Tolkien resisted simple one-to-one interpretations. His military experience nevertheless formed an important part of his life and historical background.