Though we've known this as the Great War, we were still taken aback by the amount of casualties in total - over 10,000,000 soldiers killed - and over a million from individual countries.  There is one cemetery after the other on the Western Front, each one near a battle field where soldiers were lost.  The British Commonwealth have white headstones, the French and American graves have white crosses, and the German graves have black crosses.   

British and French graves in Thiepval - Peronne in Somme, France

German cemetery in Fricourt, in Somme, France

American Cemetery, Bony in Somme, France

We were also amazed at how many memorials there were that commemorated missing soldiers. For example, this one gate, Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium, displays over 54,000 names of soldiers from the British Commonwealth lost in battle with no known graves.

And, here at Tyne Cot, Belgium, another 35,000 names on the walls around the cemetery of missing soldiers with no known graves from the British Commonwealth, including New Zealand.  This is a continuation of names from the Menin Gate.

There are also tributes to all the animals killed in WWI, including 800,000 horses.  This war animal memorial is in the Somme region.