Which battle did J.R.R. Tolkien experience during World War I?

J.R.R. Tolkien experienced the Battle of the Somme during World War I.

Tolkien served as a second lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers and was sent to France in 1916. He took part in the Somme offensive, one of the war’s largest and bloodiest campaigns, before becoming ill with trench fever and returning to England.

The Battle of the Somme began on 1 July 1916 and continued until November. Many of Tolkien’s close school friends were killed in the war, an experience that shaped his understanding of loss and friendship. Readers often connect the war’s landscapes and trauma with scenes in The Lord of the Rings, but Tolkien did not present the novels as a direct military allegory. His wartime service is a biographical influence rather than a one-to-one code.