More than four in 10 Britons do not know in which conflict the Battle of the Somme took place, according to new research ahead of the 100th anniversary of the calamitous First World War offensive.

Some 43 percent of people did not know the battle, the bloodiest in the British Army's history, occurred during the 1914-1918 war, according to a survey by the National Army Museum.

Almost half (46 percent) were unaware it took place in 1916 or that the artillery-scarred battlefield was in France.

And the group that expressed the least knowledge about the battle was the "baby boomer" generation, with 88 percent of those aged 55 to 64 saying they knew little or nothing about it.