Soldiers leaning on a pile of 18-pounder shells near Becourt Wood on the Somme, September 1916. Lantern slide, World War One, Western Front (1914-1918), 1916. During the Battle of the Somme Beocurt was the location of a British artillery depot. Between 1 July and 18 November 1916 the British fired over 15 million shells. Of those, some 10 million were 18-pounders. From a box of 50 lantern slides.