"The Wind in the Willows" is one of my favorite, children of all ages, books. Now for the hunt. The author of this book was a young man during the First World War when 58,000 men were lost on the first day of the Somme. These were 58,000 men from the British Isles, leaving 58,000 women without husbands then and in days to come. The war books don't talk about that. Well, our author was there on the front lines at The Somme. This questionable record of 58,000 men lost still stands as the most men lost on the first day of any known war.
(If you haven't guessed, it's A.A. Milne)