The saddest thing is that many of the new regiments were what were called "Pals" battalions. This meant that whole streets and areas joined the same battalion. People who were related or grew up together and went to the same schools. Unfotunately with the huge casualties in World War I that meant that whole streets and areas would see most of their menfolk not return after fighting in the a battle
Burnley lad here, the Accrington and Burnley pals is a very sobering story every time I hear it, the entire town was devastated and there were very very few men who returned after the way, a very very noticeable loss for 2 small towns. There’s a great song about the Pals Battalions too “Accrington Pals” by Mike Harding
Accrington lad here. The Pals Battalion is deep in the town’s soul, isn’t it. Almost an entire generation of a town’s men deleted in a matter of hours, maybe even minutes. And the same happened in many other towns. Chilling.
@@elitestarquake3597 Always make sure I give a nod to the Accrington Pals mural when I go past on the train over the bridge through Accy. Will be at the Burnley remembrance service on Sunday, next to the quite hidden Burnley Pals memorial
Harry Patch, born 1898, was the last surviving British Soldier from WWI having fought at Passchendaele. He was also the last surviving soldier from WWI from any country. He passed in 2009 at the age of 111.
@@debnbhuy given his experiences that's an understandable view and not one I can totally disagree with save for saying that if something is legal, then it can't be a criminal offence, so it's a pretty good oxymoron like definitely maybe or partially pregnant. Having served myself and been in some interesting situations I don't know anyone similar that didn't think long and hard about the implications of choosing such a job and were very much cognisant of the impact of the decisions made and actions undertaken. Sadly though, whilst there are countless examples in recent history of atrocities that required specific military intervention and force, war, at least from the perspective of the developed world and not some dictator, or despot, is the last resort, when politics and negotiations fail to achieve the desired result and should never be undertaken lightly. It is disappointing when someone like Putin decides to not follow the rules and just do what he wants regardless and invade Ukraine, which in my mind isn't any different than Saddam Hussein's decision to invade Kuwait. All it takes is one idiot in power.
They shall not grow old . As we that are left grow old . Age shall not wiery them Nor the Years condemn . And they wonder why true Brits have the soul of Lions
You missed him say 20,000 KILLED on the single day. Total casualties, both sides, came to about 1,000,000. The Somme was planned to help relieve the massive pressure the French were under at Verdun. Verdun last from Feb to Dec 1916 and cost the French 336,000 casualties, 143,000 KIA. The Commonwealth did get better at it, learning VERY hard lessons. Tanks were invented by the necessity. By 1918 it was a magnificent and highly professional Army - which we then threw away in peace time and had to do it all over again just over 20 years later. Places like the Somme made the British much more cautious to infantry losses - the US might hate Montgomery - but he was a veteran of this trench warfare, and it did affect him deeply.
The top brass were cluless. Veterans with knowledge do not make these kind of errors. Or if they do they think fast and mix it up with new tactics. To just hit repeat shows either a lack of tactical skill or no emotions towards the men your sending to die. Or both.
@@craiggibbons8228 They were the tactics of the Victorian age. The machine gun was new, they really thought Artillery would do the job. Same for the French, even the Germans - all attacked the same way. It was something totally new, industrial warfare and painful as it was, they learned.
JRR Tolkien took part in, and survived, this battle. Look for 'the Dead Marshes' in the muddy cratered hell that was No Man's Land. As an aging Englishman, this war formed the distant backdrop to all life in England for it left a permanent mark on the history, geography, and psychology of a nation, and still does. Remembrance Day/ Armistice Day (the 11th of the 11th) is still a deeply felt commemoration of the end of the Great War. Over 100 years ago now .... Lest We Forget
Rudyard kipling the author ( jungle book ) lost his only son .in the first world war. Such a senless war so much pain and sorrow. In my local church there are so many many graves from both ww1 and ww2 including two German pilots who were shot down over the coast of Kent the town I live in....on a clear day you can see the coast of France , when standing on the beach. In Britain you can't move without falling over some wonderful history , even sad history !
My grandfather was Lancashire Fusiliers but he was in Gallipoli - Thankfully he got a Blighty machine gunned in both legs - and survived the war... People forget there were more British troops at Gallipoli than Anzacs.
To American friends watching this: it is customary in British countries for people to stop work at 11am on this day, 11th November, to mark the moment when the guns fell silent at the moment of the armistice that ended the fighting in WW1. The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. It’s almost poetic.
We celebrate it as well on Nov 11th but we call it Veterans Day. It’s meant to honor all Vets of all wars but yes it came from the Armistice. A lot of people get the full day off since it’s a government holiday.
@@ryanhampson673 I wasn’t sure if this specific date was observed in the US so I’m pleased to hear that it is, what with Americans also taking part in WW1. I guess the same may apply to Commonwealth nations that fought too but I haven’t checked (e.g. Canada, New Zealand, Australia, India and others). I didn’t know that it was a full National Holiday in the US though but that makes sense as WW1 can reasonably be regarded as the first “modern” war.
You must come to Verdun…….the sites the silence the sadness the bodies are still there. Unimaginable horror, so many people that suffered. You can see and feel in your heart and most probably you will cry.
Only 2 films I cried at, they shall not grow old and war horse. Being an ex squad and lived in a gun pit for 165 days, I have an incling of what they went through.
My Grandfather survived this battle, he was trapped in no man’s land injured and fell into a bomb crater with barbed wire wrapped around his legs. He was there for around 18 hours before being rescued. His survival meant he was able to go home unlike many of his friends. My father was born in 1912 , two years before the start of the war and he could remember the day his daddy came home.He remembered hiding behind my Grandma because he didn’t recognise his own father.
My grandad was also in this battle,but as a medical orderly.. his qualifications for this, he worked as a morticians assistant at Royal hospital Portsmouth. It was his second battle Mons being first..he was wounded at Ypres and returned home..he carried shrapnel lodged in his neck, till his death in 1977 aged 99...
@@ronaldshiers9709I hope he found peace after the war. It must have been harrowing to witness what he saw and a lot of the poor vets had nightmares for many years after the war. It would affect many for the rest of their lives
Guys, my Grandad was a Gordon Highlander and fought at the battle of the somme, the second battle of the somme and other battles before he was taken POW and made into forced labour in a salt mine. He survived (just) and he did all that wearing a kilt. Hero
I would love to know what my Great Grandfather and his brother did in WW1. All I know was they were Blackwatch. I have a picture of them both, his brother is in trousers , cap and cane/stick and my Great Grandfather was in a kilt. I do not even know if there is a reason for this different dress. And perhaps the cane/stick was a prop for the picture.
If you contact the Black Watch museuem with their details, they will be able to provide you with their service history. We did this for my Grandad and the details they provided were great, including even what his occupation was before joining up. Good luck @@susanjohnston8267
My great uncle survived Gallipoli, landed in Anzac cove the first day, with the 16th battalion. He was wounded in a section attack, he was the only survivor and lay for 12 hours in no man’s land. but didn’t survive the Somme, died the 29th August aged 22 years old. Buried where he fell, his body was lost to counter artillery fire. Lest we forget.
My Great Uncle also survived Gallipoli, and was in the first wave at Beaumont Hamel where he still remains. RIP Pte Freddie Edwards 18514 2nd Btn South Wales Borderers.
I just want to say thanks for doing these reactions. There are not many people who do these lengthy reactions and you have done multiple, and the passion is real. Thanks for raising awareness, you are not only educating yourselves, but many others.
My great grandfather was shot in the arm at the Somme, he recovered and was then shot in the right shoulder at La Bas. He survived and returned home to his wife and seven children. After he recuperated he went back to the coal mine and died in his 80's. Another great grandfather was mustard gassed during his time in the trenches, he died in 1937, his lungs were always affected. So proud of both of them.
You can now understand why WW1 casts a long dark shadow. Harold MacMillan who was Prime Minister after WW2 fought in WW1. He was at university when he went to fight, of the 30 students in his class only 2 survived the war.
My Grandfather went to Ypres in 1915 as a 17 yr old had a gun shot wound to his leg 1916 Battle of Bellewaard Ridge gun shot wound to his scalp 1916 Ypres gun shot wound to his calf 1917 High Wood battle of the Somme gun shot wound to his arm and gassed Survived and came home to have 4 sons , his brother in law was a sapper and his job was to collect the bodies and bring them back I knew both of them as a small child my grandad was a poorly man drinking bottles of milk of magnesium for his gassing issue, his brother in law was damaged in a different way , known now as PTSD . My grandad had 4 stripes on the sleeve of his uniform 1 for each wound , the photos of him look like a damaged version of my Dad , quite scary really Well done boys , I have 3 members of my immediate family that did Iraq 2 and 1 that has done 2 tours of Afghan, God bless them all that served
Both my grandfathers were in WW1 and my father in WW2. Great uncle Samuel was lost at the Somme. His remains were never found. I have his bronze death plaque which was issued to the families of the lost. Unimaginable horror.
I had three great uncles in WWI. One of them spent over 2 years on the Western Front in France 1916-1918. Uncle Dave told me as a boy about the men going crazy from shell shock (the percussive effects of heavy artillery during sustained bombardments), the rats, the mud and filth. He said the best you could hope for was to "get a Blighty" - a wound that left you in one piece but disabled some part of you so you were unable to fight and got sent back to England for long-term care. He fought at the battle of the Somme with the New Zealand Division, which was deployed for the third assault on the German lines in September 1916. He fought on until a few weeks before the Armistice in 1918, when he was gassed in a German attack and got his "Blighty". The English doctors gave him 3 years to live - said his lungs would give out due to the effects of breathing mustard gas. He had the last laugh - he lived into his 90s and died in 1984.
I was in the pub after one remembrance service with the coastguard when i seen an old guy sat by himself so i invited him to join us. Asking about his medals he said i won this etc etc then casually said i got this one in the Somme 😮
my great grandfather was too old to join. He was an experienced soldier before the war. He volunteered as a stretcher bearer,unarmed and was shot and killed on the somme in the september. He is and always will be my hero!
for a bit of further viewing have a look for the 36th Ulster division " road to the somme" its quite interesting how it was formed for one purpose and then volunteered ( no conscription at this point) as a formed division to join the British Army and was regarded as one of the most battle ready divisions for the offensive
"Forward he cried from the rear and the front ranks died, the generals sat, and the lines on the map moved from side to side." Roger Waters, Pink Floyd. Excellent reaction👍👍
And yet officers, including generals and brigadier generals died at a higher percentage than enlisted ranks. They might have their flaws, but you can't accuse them of staying constantly in safety
@@89KeithGenerals died at a greater rate than enlisted men? One general died and he died at home in London. A few Major Generals and lots of Brigadier Generals but your down to a rank expected to be in or near the front lines at that stage. The men who were directing the war were generally safely ensconced in a chateaux well away from danger.
@@Dreyno If you are going to make comments, I suggest you have actually looked at the facts, because 89Keith is absolutely correct. In WWI 78 British soldiers of General rank were killed in action. Not died of illness, or in accidents, but in ACTION, due to ENEMY fire. 78. Killed. Those mens names are literally a matter of public record and can easily be verified. I am sorry to inform you of this, but in the British Army Brigadier Generals and Major generals ARE GENERALS. They are classed as such and treated as such. Do you know why the Corps and Army commanders were in Chateaux? Its not why you think. Corps and Army require large staffs because no man can control all the things required to keep a modern formation of that size operating without a staff. If you need a large staff to, you know, ensure your troops are supplied, that they are billeted out of the line, they are properly rotated, and all the thousands of other things required to keep a formation that size operating smoothly you need SPACE.. You need space to house the officers and men who make up the staff, you need space for them to work, you need a large space where large scale maps can be laid out so they can plan movements, actions and so on. The Chateauxs HAD that space, and were well connected by phonelines. Even a Divisional Staff can number over a hundred men and women, a Corps and Army Staff is MUCH larger. They need to be set up in a place with the ROOM they need to function, with the Communications equipment they need to fulfil their duties..... It is NOT the job of a modern Divisional, Corps or Army Commander to be in the Front Lines. As the saying goes, the general in the front lines controls the company to his left, and the company to his right, but who is controlling his army?
@@alganhar1 He specified “generals” as separate from “brigadier generals”. Now, while I appreciate the effort you made with your “Great War for Dummies” assessment of the very basics of early 20th century warfare, but if you engage your brain and read it again, you would see that I am correct and that one, single general died during the war. Now, I can count as well as the next man and if I was a contrarian, I could try and find someone to bore to death with what I believe to great knowledge. But alas, as I have a habit of reading precisely what people wrote and with such tiresome fastidiousness, I would realise that, in this instance, I would have nothing worthwhile to add. Oh that you were so minded.
I had an old aunt who had two brothers who fought in this battle. They survived but never spoke of their experiences. She also had a fiancé who came home on leave in 1917 when they got married. He returned to the front shortly afterwards and fought in the battle of Arras. He was in the London machine gun corps. He was killed about two months later. He had had no known grave. She never remarried and remained a spinster for the rest of her life. Using The Commonwealth War Graves Commission web-site, I managed to find out that his name was inscribed on the memorial at Arras. I only found this out a long time after she died. By way of remembrance, I’ve been there and located his name on the memorial (identified by the CWGC) and placed a small memorial cross and poppy. As they say, lest we forget.
I remember as a child, seeing a photograph of my very young looking grandfather in a kilt and military uniform, and asking him about "The War". He told me that soon after their eighteenth birthday he and some of his friends joined up. He did his basic training and was sent to a camp in England but before they were moved on to France, the armistice was signed. He recalled the disapointment that they felt at having missed out on the great adventure and it was only much later, after hearing the stories of older soldiers and seeing the phyisical and mental scars that many of the veterans had as well as discovering how many of their comrades did not come back, that he realised how lucky he had been at quite literly having "dodged a bullet" and his gratitude that he was too old to be conscripted by the time WWII came along.
A few years ago maybe 2015, an artist did an installation at the tower of london. It consisted of ceramic poppies, one for ever person from the UK and commonwealth. It filled the moat and was a very moving sight. There are videos it on TH-cam
You have to remember that this was also a tiny fraction of the battlefield. It didn’t even have the time to cover the months of tunnelling both sides took part in to try and reach behind the others lines. The British ended up getting their first and planted large mines under fortified German redoubts. These were detonated 10 minutes before 0 hour, and if I’m not mistaken, are considered to be the largest conventional explosive detonations of any war.
And somewhere amongst all this on another line perhaps, Tolkien is somewhere getting his inspiration for a fellowship fighting against evil. No prizes for guessing where he got the idea. There's no fellowship quite like the bond between battle brothers facing their demise for nothing more than honour and friendship to their allies. You see these themes in his work. Whether it's the riders of Roharim answering the call, or Faramir riding out to what must seem like his inevitable death at the orders of his father and steward.
Well said. Imagine the absolute carnage he saw ?? How did Tolkien write that story. I would love to bring him back to warch the movie would he like it ???
My great grandfather (51st Highland Light infantry) fought at the Somme. He'd already been seriously wounded twice before he got there (a head wound and buried by a shell burst). He was gassed at the Somme and invalided out of the war. One of his brothers was killed a few weeks before the war ended at Le Cateau and his other two brothers both lost limbs.
my great uncle was a coal miner. He was a reserved occupation because of this however when the Royal Engineers needed miners to dig tunnels under the frontline he was one of those that volunteered. He survived the war and returned to the coalfields where in the 1920s he died in a mine collapse
my great uncle I think was also in the Somme and was a coal miner. He survived all four years and then worked 50 years in the mines. He was killed by a drunk driver in the 70's a week after he retired
My grandfather fought on the Somme in that war. Miraculously he survived. He married my grandmother on his return. Had he died on the Somme, I would not exist! It’s been an education reading his military papers and records during family tree research. Sadly he died 12 years before I was born, shortly after WW2. It’s certainly been different watching this with you guys rather than the comedy shows, but really appreciated your commentary on this. 👍
Was Documentaries like this that made me a history buff. It got me in to World War One reenacting and helped me learn about my Great-Great Uncle who was killed at the Somme.
Same and I'm starting to find The Somme isn't as black and White as popular memory like to portray like walking across No Man's Land that has kinda become a bit of myth some regiments did the majority ran but I saw someone says that every stupid mistake the British high command made the Germans doubled it.
@@samuel10125 it’s one of the many things I love about reenacting, dispelling myths and talking about live of the average soldier. Along with some blackadder goes forth quotes for laughs and an easy way to break the tension with members of the public.
My great grandfather's unit (The Hampshires) were facing the Saxons at Ploegsteert wood near Bailleul. Known to the Brits as 'Plug Street'. They got a message from the Saxons who were withdrawing from the line: 'Being replaced by Prussians. Give them hell.' Hey, we're all Angles and Saxons. 🙂
My Grandad fought at the Somme. He died in the 50s off complications from the things he suffered in the great war. My Dad cared for him as he was bed ridden for his final year.
God bless his soul and you and all those that gave their lives and those that survived , no longer on the planet and all the ladies that helped a great deal .
My paternal grandfather served in this battle, he was in the Royal Engineers from the first day of the war to the last, and came home a mere shadow of a man with ill health. His mental unbalance and continuing distance from his family through his whole life left emotionally damaged children for three generations after, compounded by the death of some of my father's siblings in the second war. I am hoping that the generations recently born are finally free of the anger, sadness and grief that impeded the emotional development of pretty much my whole family before and after mine. I have the letters and mementos of the ones who didn't make it through, I still tear up a little when I read them. Such monumental stupidity.
My grandfather,whom I never met,was one of the Old Contemptibles from 1914 .The British Expeditionary Force (As Emperor Wilhelm II called them). He survived that only to die several years after the end of the war from the effects of mustard gas.
Modern chemotherapy was discovered because of scientists studying the effects of mustard gas on soldiers. Just goes to show that something good can come even from the worst of manmade horrors.
@@BlameThande . Had no idea about that. Thank you for your response. I think that contact lenses came about from the fragments of cockpit windshields hitting the eye. It was found that Perspex doesn’t cause infection.
I know that the program was about specific people and units, at the battle of the somme, but one thing they missed was the mines the British had planted under parts of the German trenches, by tunnelling 'under' no mans land, and hollowing out large cavens and filling them with explosives. The tunnel war on the somme is something of interest.
Aircraft were originally used for reconnaissance, pilots even waved at enemy planes as they flew past. As tension grew they started obscene gestures which led to throwing stuff at them. This evolved to firing guns at each other which led to adding guns to planes and the birth of air combat.
My granddad was at the battle Somme with the artillery. He got gassed and buried alive. He survived it all and died in 1967 when I was 1 so I never met him. Would have loved to hear his story. I’m ex forces of 22 years. We all have things to say but don’t like talking about them outside any one who’s served.
This battle went on for months, on the 7th of july the 38th Welsh Division were ordered to take Mametze Wood, by the 12th it was taken but the 38th ceased to exist as a division with 4000 casualties and was withdrawn and did not enter the war again until july 1917.
So sad. My Great Grandfather who was 14 made it out to fight in WW2 aswell. He made it home from that too but so many young lads didnt return. Never forget these brave men.
You'll be hard pushed to find any UK family not touched by WW1 (as well as WW2) if they track back. My own grandfather joined in 1915 (not sure if he joined, or was called up). But he never really recovered, having come from a quiet countryside background working as a farm labourer, to serve on the Western Front. After the war he suffered two breakdowns, but unlike today where he would have received help. In those days he was simply locked a way in a mental asylum for a large part of his life. As a foot note, for those who remember Dads Army. Both Private Fraser (John Laurie) and Private Godfrey (Arnold Ridley) were at the Battle of the Somme. John Laurie, I believe served right through to November, but Arnold Ridley was severely injured by a bayonet wound and also subsequently suffered blackouts, after a rifle but to the head. This was compensated for in the show when he needed to be excused, sit down etc.
I remember when this was aired on TV, its a drama documentary, but gives an interesting view from the individuals involved. The inventor of the most widely used pattern of machine gun was Hiram Maxim, born in Sangerville,Maine and lived the end of his life in Britain. What made this tragedy worse, was that the British regimental system meant that most men came from the same geographic area, so a disaster often meant that the area lost a lot of their young men, sometimes on the same day. My maternal great grandfather, and his two brothers, took part in this battle, in an attack on Mametz Wood on the 7th July 1916. The two brothers were both wounded, but by some miracle they all survived the war.👍🇬🇧
I'm so glad that you guys covered this documentary with us. I think we can all see why there is such a strong bond between the USA and the UK. The USA of course joining us as allies. My great Uncle apparently was sitting writing a letter home, when a bomb went off beside him. His pal was killed instantly, and all that happened to him was the corner of his letter being blown off. That sums up the ridiculousness of war. Yet, like you say, sometimes we have to defend ourselves and our freedoms. But the cost is terrible and it's no good pretending that it isn't. I was one of the thousands of people who volunteered to place ceramic poppies around the moat of the Tower of London here in the UK. That was in 2014 to commemorate a hundred years since the Start of world war one. Over 880,000 ceramic poppies were handmaid. It was the most humbling and yet proud moment of my life. God bless them all, their families & all loved ones. We will Remember Them. ❤
My grandfather was a Lewis gunner in this war, wounded three times and gassed twice. He never, ever spoke of it, like most of the soldiers, and I only found out a little of his story after he died. I later toured the battlefields and cemeteries in Picardy and Belgium and the sheer numbers of it all just destroyed me, still does, even now. Remembrance Day, to me, forever means the First World War.
@gigmcsweeney8566 When he first enlisted he was in 307 Battery, Royal Horse Artillery, but swiftly transferred to 15th (Service) Battalion, Sherwood Foresters, 35th Division, where he remained for the rest of his time in the Army, finally being discharged at the end of the war with the rank of Lance Corporal. Thank you for your interest!
Young men , brothers , sons , fathers all with just normal lives thrust into battle, we should never forget the sacrifices made for our freedom and so we may live in peace .
My Grandad was on the Somme. His mental health never recovered. He would sink into silences and wouldn’t speak for months on end. He would’ve been diagnosed with PTSD today but back then you just had to get on with it. I have several other relatives whose remains lie on the Somme to this day. They were never found. The Somme was nothing more than slaughter. Lions led by idiots. There are some great documentaries on TH-cam- one called the Last Tommy and one called Game of Ghosts. Really sobering to hear the story from men who were actually there. I visited the WW1 battlefields and it was just the saddest thing.
My grandad was blinded in this battle by gas. Never got to meet him as he died around 1960 before I was born. Poignant with Remembrance Day tomorrow 11th of the 11th
Two of my Great-Great Grandfather's and a Great-Great Uncle were in the 94th Brigade, as part of the 11th East Lancashire Battalion. This was a "Pals" battalion made up of men from the towns of Accrington, Burnley, Chorley, Oswaldtwistle, Rishton, Clayton, Baxenden and Great Harwood. They suffered some of the highest casualties of any battalion on the first day, whilst attacking the village of Serre. Both Grandfather's were wounded and my Uncle killed in Action.
My husbands grandad was blinded by mustard gas at the Battle of the Somme he joined the Essex Regt at 16 he lied about his age… he got his sight back to a degree but he never got over what he saw he lived to his late 90’s a lovely kind gentle man
It was once said in a documentary that if there was any kind of media coverage then the war would lasted weeks not 4 years total madness men against modern weapons 🇬🇧
is there mention here of the allies support? there were over 23000 Australian casualties and nearly 7000 KIA at the Somme alone . My great uncle also enlisted for WWI at age 16, but his mum found out before he actually disembarked so he was brought home by the ear. He fought in WWII and ended up as a POW working on the Burma Railway of which he survived - no doubt because he was small in stature.
You should watch a ww1 documentary, I think its called, "the last platoon", recorded around 2006, this features half a dozen survivors of ww1 who are all aged between 98 & 104 , they tell it from their own experiences, with historical footage included, its incredibly touching & amazing they survived action & lived to be a hundred. One of the best ww1 documentary I've ever watched. It will unfortunately have you in tears, so kleenex on standby.
My Great Grandfather was at the Somme I remember him when I was a boy never ever spoke of it to anybody. He served from 1914 to 1918 in the Derbyshire Yeomanry . Grandad was a dessert rat and I’m an Bosnia vet it’s the family tradition
My grandfather was born in 1900, he lied about his age and went to war at just 15 years old, i can't imagine what he went through at such a young age, he survived the war and passed away in his 80's, he lost brothers and friends in the war
I've recently read a book written in about 1920 ("Chemical Warfare" by Fries and West) about gas warfare, advocating the use of gas as being more humane then bullets, shells, bombs. They describe the effect of all the various gases and seem to exult in more effective and unpleasant gases.
Most of the Volunteers joined at the outset from Aug 1914. Britain had a very Professional arguably the most Professional Army in the world but a small Army prior to 1914 as Britain's Army was Volunteer not conscript. Between 1914 and 1917 Britain asked for Volunteers to fill the ranks. In the early days 1914-16 the Army was almost swamped with Volunteers fro the UK and Ireland and across the Dominions and Empire. However it took time to train these men and they never would have the experience of the original small few Corps of Professional Troops sent to France in 1914. These chaps were partially trained from volunteer civilians full of vim and courage but very little experience! They often do wonders via their courage and enthusiasm but also suffer very heavy losses! 😞
Australians were volunteers from the onset in 1914, and a referendum held in 1916, was about Conscription, thoroughly defeated, because returning military told the truth about the situation in Europe`s war.
I'm 70 years old. I was told this story by my next door neighbour as a 15 year old in about 1968. Me and a pal were crossing no man's land. We heard the whine of a large shell coming our way. We dived into a nearby crater. The earth literally moved and everything went black. I awoke some time later and felt a burning sensation in my left arm. There was a large piece of shrapnel sticking out of it. I looked around for my friend and could not find him. I realised that the fine pink mist I was breathing in was all that was left of him. I was violently sick. I tried to stand up to get away from the pink mist and found that I had a large chunk of muscle missing from my thigh. I passed out again. I came to on a stretcher. I was never able to walk properly again, but I consider myself to be one of the lucky ones. More than 50 years have passed but I still have nightmares about the pink mist.
There's an incredibly deep TV series called "our world war" that was written entirely from the diaries of those who fought. It has 3 films following the stories of 3 different individuals and I highly recommend it
A couple of bits of information. The writer of The Lord of The Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien fought in the Somme. He survived but lost all of his friends there. On the other side, a young man called Adolf Hitler fought for the germans. He did not lose all of his friends, but he did recieve a shrapnel injury to his left leg. Unfortunately, he did recover.
7 years with the Royal Tank Regiment. Also, during the First World War, the birth of the first main battle tank called Big Willie, which to this day is our emblem. Our motto was "fear naught." Both of my great-grandfathers were at the Somme. Unfortunately, one died on that battlefield, leaving his child and wife behind. My other grandfather was severely wounded, losing his left eye, and he returned home. I actually have both pictures of him in his spiffy uniform and medals. It definitely was a tragic battle and such a huge waste of human life. Unfortunately, the British high command at the time didn't care. Also, with volunteers, entire families were wiped out. So, by the Second World War, brothers, fathers, etc., were split up to minimize losses, just like the scene in "Saving Private Ryan" to split them up to minimize losses. But all but one fell. This documentary obviously hits home hard for me, and I know others who had family that took part in this offensive.
I’m sure you know, as an ex royal tank regiment member, that the first person to recognise the importance of coordinated tank and infantry movement was the Australian John Monash. The greatest allied general of ww1.
@@bradwaghorn8955 There have definitely been a lot of great generals: Desert Fox, Patton, Montgomery, to name a few. But yes, in WW1, he is definitely up there as well. What people don't get is that tanks and crewmen are shock troops. They go in first with the cover of artillery and smash the lines. People don't realize how big tanks actually are.
Guys masterfully handled as always. Have lived in awe of my Grandad who survived WW1 and later volunteered to rejoin before he could be considered too old for the draft for WW2 . He survived that too. RIP grandad Jack
There was a war memorial in my old secondary school detailing former students lost in WWI & II. The school lost all of its male students at the Somme who were of fighting age, and the head teacher eventually committed suicide because of it.
My great-grandfather fought at the Somme. After the war, he was determined that his son (my grandfather) join the Army rather than go down the mines, because he still thought the military was the safer place to be (let that sink in). Ironically, in WW2 my grandfather was then sent to the Pacific front and captured by the Japanese...who promptly sent him to work down a mine as part of their harsh treatment of POWs.
I went for a walk through the cemetery that is next to my street last night to pay my respects to the fallen. It has many graves of soldiers that were brought to my town (Weymouth, Dorset) to recover from their wounds during the First World War, many died, hence the graves. It was also a staging point for soldiers and many of the street names on my estate reflect this (eg. Kitchener Road). My uncle fought and was wounded in the first battle of the Somme (at the age of 17) and died the same year I was born so I never got to meet him sadly.
I could see that Spenser was affected but I was more concerned abut Daniel and how he felt. Thinking also of the British poets who wrote about the futility of war especially Wilfred Owen 'Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.' Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs, And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots, But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of gas-shells dropping softly behind. Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!-An ecstasy of fumbling Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time, But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.- Dim through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. In all my dreams before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin; If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,- My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori. Notes: Latin phrase is from the Roman poet Horace: “It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.” N/a Source: Poems (Viking Press, 1921)
Look at a documentary about Battle of Passchendaele, the third battle of Ypres, or indeed any of the Ypres documentaries. Any of the battles of WWI are beyond harrowing!
Growing up in the 60s England in my rd alone were 5 widows who never remarried one man who lost a leg and one man who had been gassed and never stopped shaking till the day he died and a nurse who served in France.. The cencored stories she told me kept her awake at night for most of her life till she died in her 90s.
my greatgranddad was a sgt at the somme with the royal welsh fussilliiers,he was in the boer war before that, ,joined at 14 in 1901 ,he saved his officers life by carrying out of no mans land ,was shot in the leg shoulder and had a mortor go off near him,,out of his group of men of regement only 78 lived the rest kia miA or injured in the first day but he was recovered and sent back to the somme in late 1917, and high woods went out on a recon and was shot in his ear and came out his neck,,andshot in the side ,went with 3 brothers 5 cousins only 2 came back,he died in 1982 sgt owain owen williams
My grandfather , Harry Clarke, joined up as a regular in 1913 with 1st Btn The Royal Warwickshire Regiment, in 1916 he was a Sergeant and on 1st July 1916 at the Battle of The Somme he had the front right corner of his head shot out. While in hospital he met his future wife, Annie Weaver, who was an Irish nurse. On release from convalescence he was promoted to 2nd Lt and went back into the line with 1st Btn The Manchester Regiment at the Second Battle of The Somme in 1918. At the end of the war he was a Captain and was put in command of a Chinese Labour Btn clearing the battlefield and setting up the cemeteries. In 1922 he resigned his commission because his wife had severe bronchitis (COPD) and they returned to Leamington Spa where Harry became a solicitors clerk and was also one of the original members of The Manchester Unity of the Society of Oddfellows.
My Great Grand Uncle George died in this terrible battle on the 16th October 1916 May he Rest in Peace along with the other heroes who saved our freedoms 🙏
Britain was well aware of the conflict horrors wasn't a house that didn't serve. My gr. Grandmother wore the canteen uniform, her job was to feed the boys comin back from war. Other women wore uniforms of mechanics, medical, transport n so on. Her husband was a seargent when he signed back up after the boar war, and those who fought taught. The British Army was born. My gr grandma died of ovarian cancer just after the war age 32.
My grandfather joined the Canadian military at 17 years old (he lied about his age)and learned to fly. He spend 1 year in the UK flying combat missions. He was a map maker and so his job was to take off and fly a specific route and make notes while flying about ground conditions and return and draw a map for strategic decisions. He was not apart of this battle as this happened was before he had enlisted. I always idolized him for having so much courage. Really enjoy your work guys Love and Respect
My great Grandfather died on the somme and in 1998 we found his grave and took a tracing and photos. My Grandmother was in her 90s and had never seen her Fathers grave. She kept that tracing in a locket until she died 2 weeks before her 100th birthday.
My Father a medical student at Guys Hospital London volunteered for the 6th City of London Rifles Regiment in 1915. He fought on the Somme for 2 and half years and went through all the great Battles. He was decorated , and finally wounded out in 1918 with Gas burns phosgene and Mustard Gas.. He was brought back to England, and took 2 years to fully recover. He was always erratic for the rest of his life, and even volunteered for the WW2 ,but was turned down as he was 41. He had to be in it and became the Head of the West London Heavy Rescue in the blitz. What an awful time to be born. He did have 3 Sons though.
At 56 minutes, the wristwatch was very much new in that time. The main fashion for timepieces was pocket watches, and it was the need for accurate timekeeping that saw by 1916 about a quarter of soldiers having wristwatches.
The Royal Newfoundland regiment took part in this battle. They attacked at Beaumont-Hamel. 780 men attacked,110 ten survived and only 68 were available for duty the next day.
Blackadder Goes Forth, in my humble opinion is one of the greatest comedy series ever made. If you have watched the entire series then you know the ending, which was poignant, delivered with respect and consideration and hit the absolute mark in remembering those that paid the ultimate sacrifice. Today is Armistice Day, 11 November. WWI - Great Uncle, the Somme; Great Grandfather, Malta, Gallipoli, North Africa. WWII - Grandfather, D Day, Liberation of Belgium. Malaya - Father, during a career spanning 39 years. Kosovo War, Northern Ireland, Iraq - Me. Edit - I have recently received from my Aunt, letters and postcards sent from my Great Grandmother to her husband and son, that have been kept in the family for more than 100 years. I continue to research the history of my family to make sure that it is preserved.
My father's cousin was killed on the Ypes Salient. Never found, he is just a name among thousands on the Tyne Cot memorial. The dead man's name lived on in his cousin born nine months later. His plain white marker is in the Netherlands - along with the other crew of his Lancaster bomber.
At 16,10 you asked what the Brittish volunteers thought. Strangely they were very optimistic. They really had the idea that they would make the great push. After 18 months of training and the huge bombardement of the German trenches they actually thought it would be easy. One day later all this chanched naturally.
Millions gave their lives. So many from each village or community died together, wiping out whole families, this is why it’s so important that we never forget.
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The saddest thing is that many of the new regiments were what were called "Pals" battalions. This meant that whole streets and areas joined the same battalion. People who were related or grew up together and went to the same schools. Unfotunately with the huge casualties in World War I that meant that whole streets and areas would see most of their menfolk not return after fighting in the a battle
Burnley lad here, the Accrington and Burnley pals is a very sobering story every time I hear it, the entire town was devastated and there were very very few men who returned after the way, a very very noticeable loss for 2 small towns. There’s a great song about the Pals Battalions too “Accrington Pals” by Mike Harding
And that was why in WW2, people were split up into battalions with men from diverse areas of the country.
Accrington lad here. The Pals Battalion is deep in the town’s soul, isn’t it. Almost an entire generation of a town’s men deleted in a matter of hours, maybe even minutes. And the same happened in many other towns. Chilling.
@@elitestarquake3597 Always make sure I give a nod to the Accrington Pals mural when I go past on the train over the bridge through Accy. Will be at the Burnley remembrance service on Sunday, next to the quite hidden Burnley Pals memorial
@@MrSapperb3 We must value and respect them all, my friend. And we shall remember them. I will fall silent at 11am today and on Sunday.
Canada lost 24,000 men at the Battle of the Somme where we fought under the flag of the Union Jack.
Our Brothers in arms
Newfoudland, not part of Canada at the time, fought separately. On July 1st Newfiundland celebrates Memorial Day due to The Battle of The Somme.
Harry Patch, born 1898, was the last surviving British Soldier from WWI having fought at Passchendaele. He was also the last surviving soldier from WWI from any country. He passed in 2009 at the age of 111.
Claude Choules R.N
@@manchestertart5614 almost. Choules 110 years 63 days, Patch 111 years 38 days. Both great men.
And the best Harry Patch quote "war is legalised murder ". The human race needs to evolve before we lose the whole race.....
@@debnbhuy given his experiences that's an understandable view and not one I can totally disagree with save for saying that if something is legal, then it can't be a criminal offence, so it's a pretty good oxymoron like definitely maybe or partially pregnant. Having served myself and been in some interesting situations I don't know anyone similar that didn't think long and hard about the implications of choosing such a job and were very much cognisant of the impact of the decisions made and actions undertaken.
Sadly though, whilst there are countless examples in recent history of atrocities that required specific military intervention and force, war, at least from the perspective of the developed world and not some dictator, or despot, is the last resort, when politics and negotiations fail to achieve the desired result and should never be undertaken lightly. It is disappointing when someone like Putin decides to not follow the rules and just do what he wants regardless and invade Ukraine, which in my mind isn't any different than Saddam Hussein's decision to invade Kuwait. All it takes is one idiot in power.
Did he get his watch back?
20,000 dead. Over 57,000 casualties in total on the British side. ( On the first day of the battle)....Lest We Forget!
They shall not grow old . As we that are left grow old . Age shall not wiery them Nor the Years condemn . And they wonder why true Brits have the soul of Lions
Jack bar, those numbers are for the first day of The Battle of the Somme.
Today's British Army literally wiped out in a day.
My great grandfather died at the somme. I always have and will remain proud to be descended from that hero of an Englishman.
You missed him say 20,000 KILLED on the single day. Total casualties, both sides, came to about 1,000,000. The Somme was planned to help relieve the massive pressure the French were under at Verdun. Verdun last from Feb to Dec 1916 and cost the French 336,000 casualties, 143,000 KIA. The Commonwealth did get better at it, learning VERY hard lessons. Tanks were invented by the necessity. By 1918 it was a magnificent and highly professional Army - which we then threw away in peace time and had to do it all over again just over 20 years later. Places like the Somme made the British much more cautious to infantry losses - the US might hate Montgomery - but he was a veteran of this trench warfare, and it did affect him deeply.
Superb comment. The Somme taught the top brass that you couldn't win this war by just blasting away.
The top brass were cluless.
Veterans with knowledge do not make these kind of errors.
Or if they do they think fast and mix it up with new tactics.
To just hit repeat shows either a lack of tactical skill or no emotions towards the men your sending to die.
Or both.
@@craiggibbons8228 They were the tactics of the Victorian age. The machine gun was new, they really thought Artillery would do the job. Same for the French, even the Germans - all attacked the same way. It was something totally new, industrial warfare and painful as it was, they learned.
@@craiggibbons8228they didn't know what they didn't know. Everyone is a genius with hindsight.
We forget that the best/outstanding General in WW2 fought in the far east ie Uncle Bill that is William Slim.
JRR Tolkien took part in, and survived, this battle. Look for 'the Dead Marshes' in the muddy cratered hell that was No Man's Land.
As an aging Englishman, this war formed the distant backdrop to all life in England for it left a permanent mark on the history, geography, and psychology of a nation, and still does. Remembrance Day/ Armistice Day (the 11th of the 11th) is still a deeply felt commemoration of the end of the Great War. Over 100 years ago now ....
Lest We Forget
❤
Rudyard kipling the author ( jungle book ) lost his only son .in the first world war. Such a senless war so much pain and sorrow. In my local church there are so many many graves from both ww1 and ww2 including two German pilots who were shot down over the coast of Kent the town I live in....on a clear day you can see the coast of France , when standing on the beach. In Britain you can't move without falling over some wonderful history , even sad history !
❤
I am 75 and my dad was a sergeant in the Lancashire Fusiliars in WW1 and was at the Somme.
My Grandad was a medic in the Lancashire Fusiliers in WWII.
Omnia audax (Everything is bold)
God rest their souls. 🇬🇧 ❤
@@whitedwarf4986 I guess we the people do not declare wars others do that for us.
My grandfather was Lancashire Fusiliers but he was in Gallipoli - Thankfully he got a Blighty machine gunned in both legs - and survived the war... People forget there were more British troops at Gallipoli than Anzacs.
To American friends watching this: it is customary in British countries for people to stop work at 11am on this day, 11th November, to mark the moment when the guns fell silent at the moment of the armistice that ended the fighting in WW1. The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. It’s almost poetic.
We celebrate it as well on Nov 11th but we call it Veterans Day. It’s meant to honor all Vets of all wars but yes it came from the Armistice. A lot of people get the full day off since it’s a government holiday.
they were there to mate
@@ryanhampson673 I wasn’t sure if this specific date was observed in the US so I’m pleased to hear that it is, what with Americans also taking part in WW1. I guess the same may apply to Commonwealth nations that fought too but I haven’t checked (e.g. Canada, New Zealand, Australia, India and others). I didn’t know that it was a full National Holiday in the US though but that makes sense as WW1 can reasonably be regarded as the first “modern” war.
You must come to Verdun…….the sites the silence the sadness the bodies are still there. Unimaginable horror, so many people that suffered. You can see and feel in your heart and most probably you will cry.
Have you seen Peter Jackson's 'They Shall Never Grow Old'? It's an incredible look at WW1.
Remember that. Exceptional.
I love this. Thanks Mr Jackson.
It was exceptional x
Only 2 films I cried at, they shall not grow old and war horse. Being an ex squad and lived in a gun pit for 165 days, I have an incling of what they went through.
A MASTERPIECE.
My Grandfather survived this battle, he was trapped in no man’s land injured and fell into a bomb crater with barbed wire wrapped around his legs. He was there for around 18 hours before being rescued.
His survival meant he was able to go home unlike many of his friends. My father was born in 1912 , two years before the start of the war and he could remember the day his daddy came home.He remembered hiding behind my Grandma because he didn’t recognise his own father.
That is heartbreaking 💔
God bless them, and you too pal 🙏
My grandad was also in this battle,but as a medical orderly.. his qualifications for this, he worked as a morticians assistant at Royal hospital Portsmouth. It was his second battle Mons being first..he was wounded at Ypres and returned home..he carried shrapnel lodged in his neck, till his death in 1977 aged 99...
And he probably spent the rest of his life feeling guilty for surviving… we owe them a great deal, a debt that can never be fully repaid ❣️
@@ronaldshiers9709I hope he found peace after the war. It must have been harrowing to witness what he saw and a lot of the poor vets had nightmares for many years after the war. It would affect many for the rest of their lives
Guys, my Grandad was a Gordon Highlander and fought at the battle of the somme, the second battle of the somme and other battles before he was taken POW and made into forced labour in a salt mine. He survived (just) and he did all that wearing a kilt. Hero
I would love to know what my Great Grandfather and his brother did in WW1. All I know was they were Blackwatch. I have a picture of them both, his brother is in trousers , cap and cane/stick and my Great Grandfather was in a kilt. I do not even know if there is a reason for this different dress. And perhaps the cane/stick was a prop for the picture.
If you contact the Black Watch museuem with their details, they will be able to provide you with their service history. We did this for my Grandad and the details they provided were great, including even what his occupation was before joining up. Good luck @@susanjohnston8267
My great uncle survived Gallipoli, landed in Anzac cove the first day, with the 16th battalion. He was wounded in a section attack, he was the only survivor and lay for 12 hours in no man’s land. but didn’t survive the Somme, died the 29th August aged 22 years old. Buried where he fell, his body was lost to counter artillery fire. Lest we forget.
Lest We Forget.
lest we forget.
My Great Uncle also survived Gallipoli, and was in the first wave at Beaumont Hamel where he still remains. RIP Pte Freddie Edwards 18514 2nd Btn South Wales Borderers.
@@jonnytrueblue8407 lest we forget
@@jonnytrueblue8407I was there in Golipolli last Oct, Turkish people have done amazing job
I just want to say thanks for doing these reactions. There are not many people who do these lengthy reactions and you have done multiple, and the passion is real. Thanks for raising awareness, you are not only educating yourselves, but many others.
My great grandfather was shot in the arm at the Somme, he recovered and was then shot in the right shoulder at La Bas. He survived and returned home to his wife and seven children. After he recuperated he went back to the coal mine and died in his 80's.
Another great grandfather was mustard gassed during his time in the trenches, he died in 1937, his lungs were always affected. So proud of both of them.
You can now understand why WW1 casts a long dark shadow. Harold MacMillan who was Prime Minister after WW2 fought in WW1. He was at university when he went to fight, of the 30 students in his class only 2 survived the war.
A similar story for JRR Tolkien, it is said he drew a lot of his inspiration for his work on his experiences in the trenches.
I would take that with a pinch of salt.
@@anthonyeaton5153 Why don't you make the effort and look it up, its well documented.
The British Army lost almost 20,000 KILLED on 1st July. There were about 60,000 casualties. Ther battle lasted till October.
Mid-November actually.
November the 14th. My great grandfather was killed at Beaumont Hamel on the 13th.
@@lordprefab5534Sorry to hear.
Bet he went out like a lion x
My Grandfather went to Ypres in 1915 as a 17 yr old had a gun shot wound to his leg
1916 Battle of Bellewaard Ridge gun shot wound to his scalp
1916 Ypres gun shot wound to his calf
1917 High Wood battle of the Somme gun shot wound to his arm and gassed
Survived and came home to have 4 sons , his brother in law was a sapper and his job was to collect the bodies and bring them back
I knew both of them as a small child my grandad was a poorly man drinking bottles of milk of magnesium for his gassing issue, his brother in law was damaged in a different way , known now as PTSD . My grandad had 4 stripes on the sleeve of his uniform 1 for each wound , the photos of him look like a damaged version of my Dad , quite scary really
Well done boys , I have 3 members of my immediate family that did Iraq 2 and 1 that has done 2 tours of Afghan, God bless them all that served
Both my grandfathers were in WW1 and my father in WW2. Great uncle Samuel was lost at the Somme. His remains were never found. I have his bronze death plaque which was issued to the families of the lost. Unimaginable horror.
I had three great uncles in WWI. One of them spent over 2 years on the Western Front in France 1916-1918. Uncle Dave told me as a boy about the men going crazy from shell shock (the percussive effects of heavy artillery during sustained bombardments), the rats, the mud and filth. He said the best you could hope for was to "get a Blighty" - a wound that left you in one piece but disabled some part of you so you were unable to fight and got sent back to England for long-term care. He fought at the battle of the Somme with the New Zealand Division, which was deployed for the third assault on the German lines in September 1916. He fought on until a few weeks before the Armistice in 1918, when he was gassed in a German attack and got his "Blighty". The English doctors gave him 3 years to live - said his lungs would give out due to the effects of breathing mustard gas. He had the last laugh - he lived into his 90s and died in 1984.
I was in the pub after one remembrance service with the coastguard when i seen an old guy sat by himself so i invited him to join us.
Asking about his medals he said i won this etc etc then casually said i got this one in the Somme 😮
My Oldest Great Grandpa served in World War One. Henry Otto Grill Private First Class United States Army 1895-1979. I was born in 1997.
My great grandfather lost his leg at the Somme, I still have his kilt with the patch over the hole where the German machine gun bullet took it off.
My great uncle died at the Somme, my great grandfather died at Passchendaele - without knowing my grandfather was born 😭
my great grandfather was too old to join. He was an experienced soldier before the war. He volunteered as a stretcher bearer,unarmed and was shot and killed on the somme in the september. He is and always will be my hero!
for a bit of further viewing have a look for the 36th Ulster division " road to the somme" its quite interesting how it was formed for one purpose and then volunteered ( no conscription at this point) as a formed division to join the British Army and was regarded as one of the most battle ready divisions for the offensive
"Forward he cried from the rear and the front ranks died, the generals sat, and the lines on the map moved from side to side." Roger Waters, Pink Floyd. Excellent reaction👍👍
And yet officers, including generals and brigadier generals died at a higher percentage than enlisted ranks. They might have their flaws, but you can't accuse them of staying constantly in safety
@@89KeithGenerals died at a greater rate than enlisted men? One general died and he died at home in London. A few Major Generals and lots of Brigadier Generals but your down to a rank expected to be in or near the front lines at that stage. The men who were directing the war were generally safely ensconced in a chateaux well away from danger.
@@Dreyno If you are going to make comments, I suggest you have actually looked at the facts, because 89Keith is absolutely correct.
In WWI 78 British soldiers of General rank were killed in action. Not died of illness, or in accidents, but in ACTION, due to ENEMY fire. 78. Killed. Those mens names are literally a matter of public record and can easily be verified.
I am sorry to inform you of this, but in the British Army Brigadier Generals and Major generals ARE GENERALS. They are classed as such and treated as such.
Do you know why the Corps and Army commanders were in Chateaux? Its not why you think. Corps and Army require large staffs because no man can control all the things required to keep a modern formation of that size operating without a staff. If you need a large staff to, you know, ensure your troops are supplied, that they are billeted out of the line, they are properly rotated, and all the thousands of other things required to keep a formation that size operating smoothly you need SPACE..
You need space to house the officers and men who make up the staff, you need space for them to work, you need a large space where large scale maps can be laid out so they can plan movements, actions and so on. The Chateauxs HAD that space, and were well connected by phonelines.
Even a Divisional Staff can number over a hundred men and women, a Corps and Army Staff is MUCH larger. They need to be set up in a place with the ROOM they need to function, with the Communications equipment they need to fulfil their duties.....
It is NOT the job of a modern Divisional, Corps or Army Commander to be in the Front Lines. As the saying goes, the general in the front lines controls the company to his left, and the company to his right, but who is controlling his army?
@@alganhar1 He specified “generals” as separate from “brigadier generals”. Now, while I appreciate the effort you made with your “Great War for Dummies” assessment of the very basics of early 20th century warfare, but if you engage your brain and read it again, you would see that I am correct and that one, single general died during the war. Now, I can count as well as the next man and if I was a contrarian, I could try and find someone to bore to death with what I believe to great knowledge. But alas, as I have a habit of reading precisely what people wrote and with such tiresome fastidiousness, I would realise that, in this instance, I would have nothing worthwhile to add. Oh that you were so minded.
I had an old aunt who had two brothers who fought in this battle. They survived but never spoke of their experiences. She also had a fiancé who came home on leave in 1917 when they got married. He returned to the front shortly afterwards and fought in the battle of Arras. He was in the London machine gun corps. He was killed about two months later. He had had no known grave. She never remarried and remained a spinster for the rest of her life. Using The Commonwealth War Graves Commission web-site, I managed to find out that his name was inscribed on the memorial at Arras. I only found this out a long time after she died. By way of remembrance, I’ve been there and located his name on the memorial (identified by the CWGC) and placed a small memorial cross and poppy. As they say, lest we forget.
God bless ya both for respecting our fallen,I'm sure they would all feel the same
I remember as a child, seeing a photograph of my very young looking grandfather in a kilt and military uniform, and asking him about "The War". He told me that soon after their eighteenth birthday he and some of his friends joined up. He did his basic training and was sent to a camp in England but before they were moved on to France, the armistice was signed. He recalled the disapointment that they felt at having missed out on the great adventure and it was only much later, after hearing the stories of older soldiers and seeing the phyisical and mental scars that many of the veterans had as well as discovering how many of their comrades did not come back, that he realised how lucky he had been at quite literly having "dodged a bullet" and his gratitude that he was too old to be conscripted by the time WWII came along.
A few years ago maybe 2015, an artist did an installation at the tower of london. It consisted of ceramic poppies, one for ever person from the UK and commonwealth. It filled the moat and was a very moving sight. There are videos it on TH-cam
You have to remember that this was also a tiny fraction of the battlefield. It didn’t even have the time to cover the months of tunnelling both sides took part in to try and reach behind the others lines. The British ended up getting their first and planted large mines under fortified German redoubts. These were detonated 10 minutes before 0 hour, and if I’m not mistaken, are considered to be the largest conventional explosive detonations of any war.
That's Messines ridge in Belgium
And somewhere amongst all this on another line perhaps, Tolkien is somewhere getting his inspiration for a fellowship fighting against evil. No prizes for guessing where he got the idea. There's no fellowship quite like the bond between battle brothers facing their demise for nothing more than honour and friendship to their allies. You see these themes in his work. Whether it's the riders of Roharim answering the call, or Faramir riding out to what must seem like his inevitable death at the orders of his father and steward.
Well said. Imagine the absolute carnage he saw ??
How did Tolkien write that story. I would love to bring him back to warch the movie would he like it ???
My great grandfather (51st Highland Light infantry) fought at the Somme. He'd already been seriously wounded twice before he got there (a head wound and buried by a shell burst). He was gassed at the Somme and invalided out of the war. One of his brothers was killed a few weeks before the war ended at Le Cateau and his other two brothers both lost limbs.
my great uncle was a coal miner. He was a reserved occupation because of this however when the Royal Engineers needed miners to dig tunnels under the frontline he was one of those that volunteered. He survived the war and returned to the coalfields where in the 1920s he died in a mine collapse
Exact same thing happened to my great grandfather. Survived the horrors of the first World War only to die in a mine collapse in the 1920's.
My great grandfather was a miner too and helped build the tunnels he survived the war but died in 1920
Of TB
my great uncle I think was also in the Somme and was a coal miner. He survived all four years and then worked 50 years in the mines. He was killed by a drunk driver in the 70's a week after he retired
My grandfather fought on the Somme in that war. Miraculously he survived. He married my grandmother on his return. Had he died on the Somme, I would not exist! It’s been an education reading his military papers and records during family tree research. Sadly he died 12 years before I was born, shortly after WW2.
It’s certainly been different watching this with you guys rather than the comedy shows, but really appreciated your commentary on this. 👍
Was Documentaries like this that made me a history buff. It got me in to World War One reenacting and helped me learn about my Great-Great Uncle who was killed at the Somme.
Same and I'm starting to find The Somme isn't as black and White as popular memory like to portray like walking across No Man's Land that has kinda become a bit of myth some regiments did the majority ran but I saw someone says that every stupid mistake the British high command made the Germans doubled it.
@@samuel10125 it’s one of the many things I love about reenacting, dispelling myths and talking about live of the average soldier. Along with some blackadder goes forth quotes for laughs and an easy way to break the tension with members of the public.
My great grandfather's unit (The Hampshires) were facing the Saxons at Ploegsteert wood near Bailleul. Known to the Brits as 'Plug Street'.
They got a message from the Saxons who were withdrawing from the line: 'Being replaced by Prussians. Give them hell.'
Hey, we're all Angles and Saxons. 🙂
House of Sachsen Coburg Gotha aka Windsors, The british King was a Cousin of the German Kaiser, who also was a Cousin of the russian Zar.
My Grandad fought at the Somme. He died in the 50s off complications from the things he suffered in the great war. My Dad cared for him as he was bed ridden for his final year.
Sorry to hear.
Both heroes in different ways x
God bless his soul and you and all those that gave their lives and those that survived , no longer on the planet and all the ladies that helped a great deal .
Thank you so much for his service love peace n RESPECT xx
My great great uncle died on the first day of the Somme. His younger brother died on HMS Queen Mary at Jutland
My paternal grandfather served in this battle, he was in the Royal Engineers from the first day of the war to the last, and came home a mere shadow of a man with ill health. His mental unbalance and continuing distance from his family through his whole life left emotionally damaged children for three generations after, compounded by the death of some of my father's siblings in the second war. I am hoping that the generations recently born are finally free of the anger, sadness and grief that impeded the emotional development of pretty much my whole family before and after mine. I have the letters and mementos of the ones who didn't make it through, I still tear up a little when I read them. Such monumental stupidity.
My grandfather was gassed in WW1 and survived, lungs shot. When WW2 declared my mum found him crying
Lest we forget
My grandfather,whom I never met,was one of the Old Contemptibles from 1914 .The British Expeditionary Force (As Emperor Wilhelm II called them). He survived that only to die several years after the end of the war from the effects of mustard gas.
Modern chemotherapy was discovered because of scientists studying the effects of mustard gas on soldiers. Just goes to show that something good can come even from the worst of manmade horrors.
@@BlameThande . Had no idea about that. Thank you for your response. I think that contact lenses came about from the fragments of cockpit windshields hitting the eye. It was found that Perspex doesn’t cause infection.
I know that the program was about specific people and units, at the battle of the somme, but one thing they missed was the mines the British had planted under parts of the German trenches, by tunnelling 'under' no mans land, and hollowing out large cavens and filling them with explosives. The tunnel war on the somme is something of interest.
The Dead Marshes in Lord of the Rings were based on Tolkien's memory of No Man's Land in the rain.
Aircraft were originally used for reconnaissance, pilots even waved at enemy planes as they flew past. As tension grew they started obscene gestures which led to throwing stuff at them. This evolved to firing guns at each other which led to adding guns to planes and the birth of air combat.
My granddad was at the battle Somme with the artillery. He got gassed and buried alive. He survived it all and died in 1967 when I was 1 so I never met him. Would have loved to hear his story. I’m ex forces of 22 years. We all have things to say but don’t like talking about them outside any one who’s served.
You guys should react to the film, They Shall Not Grow Old, a WW1 Documentary by Peter Jackson. What an amazing piece of cinematic brilliance.
or the classic masterpiece "all quiet on the western front".
absolutely agree
, so evocative and truly captured every essence of a time of young men and familes with their losses.. no war wins
Now you know why remembrance day means so much to the UK,there wasn't a town or village in the country that didn't lose loads of men.
This battle went on for months, on the 7th of july the 38th Welsh Division were ordered to take Mametze Wood, by the 12th it was taken but the 38th ceased to exist as a division with 4000 casualties and was withdrawn and did not enter the war again until july 1917.
So sad. My Great Grandfather who was 14 made it out to fight in WW2 aswell. He made it home from that too but so many young lads didnt return. Never forget these brave men.
You'll be hard pushed to find any UK family not touched by WW1 (as well as WW2) if they track back. My own grandfather joined in 1915 (not sure if he joined, or was called up). But he never really recovered, having come from a quiet countryside background working as a farm labourer, to serve on the Western Front. After the war he suffered two breakdowns, but unlike today where he would have received help. In those days he was simply locked a way in a mental asylum for a large part of his life.
As a foot note, for those who remember Dads Army. Both Private Fraser (John Laurie) and Private Godfrey (Arnold Ridley) were at the Battle of the Somme. John Laurie, I believe served right through to November, but Arnold Ridley was severely injured by a bayonet wound and also subsequently suffered blackouts, after a rifle but to the head. This was compensated for in the show when he needed to be excused, sit down etc.
That's was a perfect way to honour the fallen for me thank you I just felt I needed to comment you are beautiful souls many blessings ❤️
Boys and men, they never gave up. All gave some, some gave all, Lest We Forget ❤
I remember when this was aired on TV, its a drama documentary, but gives an interesting view from the individuals involved.
The inventor of the most widely used pattern of machine gun was Hiram Maxim, born in Sangerville,Maine and lived the end of his life in Britain.
What made this tragedy worse, was that the British regimental system meant that most men came from the same geographic area, so a disaster often meant that the area lost a lot of their young men, sometimes on the same day.
My maternal great grandfather, and his two brothers, took part in this battle, in an attack on Mametz Wood on the 7th July 1916.
The two brothers were both wounded, but by some miracle they all survived the war.👍🇬🇧
I'm so glad that you guys covered this documentary with us.
I think we can all see why there is such a strong bond between the USA and the UK. The USA of course joining us as allies.
My great Uncle apparently was sitting writing a letter home, when a bomb went off beside him. His pal was killed instantly, and all that happened to him was the corner of his letter being blown off. That sums up the ridiculousness of war.
Yet, like you say, sometimes we have to defend ourselves and our freedoms.
But the cost is terrible and it's no good pretending that it isn't.
I was one of the thousands of people who volunteered to place ceramic poppies around the moat of the Tower of London here in the UK. That was in 2014 to commemorate a hundred years since the Start of world war one.
Over 880,000 ceramic poppies were handmaid. It was the most humbling and yet proud moment of my life.
God bless them all, their families & all loved ones. We will Remember Them. ❤
My grandfather was a Lewis gunner in this war, wounded three times and gassed twice. He never, ever spoke of it, like most of the soldiers, and I only found out a little of his story after he died. I later toured the battlefields and cemeteries in Picardy and Belgium and the sheer numbers of it all just destroyed me, still does, even now. Remembrance Day, to me, forever means the First World War.
Was your grandfather in the Machine Gun Corps, or another unit?
@gigmcsweeney8566 When he first enlisted he was in 307 Battery, Royal Horse Artillery, but swiftly transferred to 15th (Service) Battalion, Sherwood Foresters, 35th Division, where he remained for the rest of his time in the Army, finally being discharged at the end of the war with the rank of Lance Corporal. Thank you for your interest!
@@TenCapQuesada Thanks for the info on him. It's good to know that you keep his memory alive. Cheers.
Young men , brothers , sons , fathers all with just normal lives thrust into battle, we should never forget the sacrifices made for our freedom and so we may live in peace .
I've seen a lot of documentaries on WW1 over the years, they're so painful to watch. So very sad, heartbreaking 😢💔
My Grandad was on the Somme. His mental health never recovered. He would sink into silences and wouldn’t speak for months on end. He would’ve been diagnosed with PTSD today but back then you just had to get on with it. I have several other relatives whose remains lie on the Somme to this day. They were never found. The Somme was nothing more than slaughter. Lions led by idiots. There are some great documentaries on TH-cam- one called the Last Tommy and one called Game of Ghosts. Really sobering to hear the story from men who were actually there. I visited the WW1 battlefields and it was just the saddest thing.
My grandad was blinded in this battle by gas. Never got to meet him as he died around 1960 before I was born. Poignant with Remembrance Day tomorrow 11th of the 11th
Two of my Great-Great Grandfather's and a Great-Great Uncle were in the 94th Brigade, as part of the 11th East Lancashire Battalion. This was a "Pals" battalion made up of men from the towns of Accrington, Burnley, Chorley, Oswaldtwistle, Rishton, Clayton, Baxenden and Great Harwood. They suffered some of the highest casualties of any battalion on the first day, whilst attacking the village of Serre. Both Grandfather's were wounded and my Uncle killed in Action.
My husbands grandad was blinded by mustard gas at the Battle of the Somme he joined the Essex Regt at 16 he lied about his age… he got his sight back to a degree but he never got over what he saw he lived to his late 90’s a lovely kind gentle man
Many lied about their ages. My Step Grandfather did.Brave young men.
It must have seemed like an adventure for these young men lying about there age to join up
It was once said in a documentary that if there was any kind of media coverage then the war would lasted weeks not 4 years total madness men against modern weapons 🇬🇧
@@alansalter1836 or they thought they were doing their duty
My grandfather fought at both the Somme and Gallipoli, he was one of the lucky ones, he passed away in 1976
is there mention here of the allies support? there were over 23000 Australian casualties and nearly 7000 KIA at the Somme alone . My great uncle also enlisted for WWI at age 16, but his mum found out before he actually disembarked so he was brought home by the ear. He fought in WWII and ended up as a POW working on the Burma Railway of which he survived - no doubt because he was small in stature.
You should watch a ww1 documentary, I think its called, "the last platoon", recorded around 2006, this features half a dozen survivors of ww1 who are all aged between 98 & 104 , they tell it from their own experiences, with historical footage included, its incredibly touching & amazing they survived action & lived to be a hundred. One of the best ww1 documentary I've ever watched. It will unfortunately have you in tears, so kleenex on standby.
My Great Grandfather was at the Somme I remember him when I was a boy never ever spoke of it to anybody. He served from 1914 to 1918 in the Derbyshire Yeomanry . Grandad was a dessert rat and I’m an Bosnia vet it’s the family tradition
My grandfather was born in 1900, he lied about his age and went to war at just 15 years old, i can't imagine what he went through at such a young age, he survived the war and passed away in his 80's, he lost brothers and friends in the war
You can join the army at 15 an 7 months
@@joeobrien4869 yes, but you won't be going to an active warzone
In ww1 you got recruited but initially was atleast a year or 2 before being in the trenches
I've recently read a book written in about 1920 ("Chemical Warfare" by Fries and West) about gas warfare, advocating the use of gas as being more humane then bullets, shells, bombs. They describe the effect of all the various gases and seem to exult in more effective and unpleasant gases.
Most of the Volunteers joined at the outset from Aug 1914. Britain had a very Professional arguably the most Professional Army in the world but a small Army prior to 1914 as Britain's Army was Volunteer not conscript. Between 1914 and 1917 Britain asked for Volunteers to fill the ranks. In the early days 1914-16 the Army was almost swamped with Volunteers fro the UK and Ireland and across the Dominions and Empire. However it took time to train these men and they never would have the experience of the original small few Corps of Professional Troops sent to France in 1914. These chaps were partially trained from volunteer civilians full of vim and courage but very little experience! They often do wonders via their courage and enthusiasm but also suffer very heavy losses! 😞
The pals
Australians were volunteers from the onset in 1914, and a referendum held in 1916, was about Conscription, thoroughly defeated, because returning military told the truth about the situation in Europe`s war.
I'm 70 years old. I was told this story by my next door neighbour as a 15 year old in about 1968.
Me and a pal were crossing no man's land. We heard the whine of a large shell coming our way. We dived into a nearby crater. The earth literally moved and everything went black. I awoke some time later and felt a burning sensation in my left arm. There was a large piece of shrapnel sticking out of it. I looked around for my friend and could not find him. I realised that the fine pink mist I was breathing in was all that was left of him. I was violently sick. I tried to stand up to get away from the pink mist and found that I had a large chunk of muscle missing from my thigh. I passed out again. I came to on a stretcher. I was never able to walk properly again, but I consider myself to be one of the lucky ones. More than 50 years have passed but I still have nightmares about the pink mist.
There's an incredibly deep TV series called "our world war" that was written entirely from the diaries of those who fought. It has 3 films following the stories of 3 different individuals and I highly recommend it
Do you not mean the television thing called "the world at war"
A couple of bits of information.
The writer of The Lord of The Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien fought in the Somme. He survived but lost all of his friends there.
On the other side, a young man called Adolf Hitler fought for the germans. He did not lose all of his friends, but he did recieve a shrapnel injury to his left leg. Unfortunately, he did recover.
7 years with the Royal Tank Regiment. Also, during the First World War, the birth of the first main battle tank called Big Willie, which to this day is our emblem. Our motto was "fear naught." Both of my great-grandfathers were at the Somme. Unfortunately, one died on that battlefield, leaving his child and wife behind. My other grandfather was severely wounded, losing his left eye, and he returned home. I actually have both pictures of him in his spiffy uniform and medals. It definitely was a tragic battle and such a huge waste of human life. Unfortunately, the British high command at the time didn't care. Also, with volunteers, entire families were wiped out. So, by the Second World War, brothers, fathers, etc., were split up to minimize losses, just like the scene in "Saving Private Ryan" to split them up to minimize losses. But all but one fell. This documentary obviously hits home hard for me, and I know others who had family that took part in this offensive.
I’m sure you know, as an ex royal tank regiment member, that the first person to recognise the importance of coordinated tank and infantry movement was the Australian John Monash. The greatest allied general of ww1.
@@bradwaghorn8955 There have definitely been a lot of great generals: Desert Fox, Patton, Montgomery, to name a few. But yes, in WW1, he is definitely up there as well. What people don't get is that tanks and crewmen are shock troops. They go in first with the cover of artillery and smash the lines. People don't realize how big tanks actually are.
Guys masterfully handled as always. Have lived in awe of my Grandad who survived WW1 and later volunteered to rejoin before he could be considered too old for the draft for WW2 . He survived that too. RIP grandad Jack
Thank you for doing this guys. You two are great, down to earth people. The best.
My grandfather volunteered in 1915 in the Australian infantry and was at Ypres and the Somme for 3 years until the end of the war.
There was a war memorial in my old secondary school detailing former students lost in WWI & II. The school lost all of its male students at the Somme who were of fighting age, and the head teacher eventually committed suicide because of it.
My great-grandfather fought at the Somme. After the war, he was determined that his son (my grandfather) join the Army rather than go down the mines, because he still thought the military was the safer place to be (let that sink in). Ironically, in WW2 my grandfather was then sent to the Pacific front and captured by the Japanese...who promptly sent him to work down a mine as part of their harsh treatment of POWs.
Your family's story shows, grimly, both the tradegy and irony of War.
The first industrial war. Small towns in Australia lost an entire generation to WW1. Thanks for being respectful. 👍
I went for a walk through the cemetery that is next to my street last night to pay my respects to the fallen. It has many graves of soldiers that were brought to my town (Weymouth, Dorset) to recover from their wounds during the First World War, many died, hence the graves. It was also a staging point for soldiers and many of the street names on my estate reflect this (eg. Kitchener Road). My uncle fought and was wounded in the first battle of the Somme (at the age of 17) and died the same year I was born so I never got to meet him sadly.
I could see that Spenser was affected but I was more concerned abut Daniel and how he felt. Thinking also of the British poets who wrote about the futility of war especially Wilfred Owen 'Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.'
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!-An ecstasy of fumbling
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.-
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,-
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Notes:
Latin phrase is from the Roman poet Horace: “It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.”
N/a
Source: Poems (Viking Press, 1921)
Look at a documentary about Battle of Passchendaele, the third battle of Ypres, or indeed any of the Ypres documentaries. Any of the battles of WWI are beyond harrowing!
So many great stories on this chat, everyone of them are total legends
Growing up in the 60s England in my rd alone were 5 widows who never remarried one man who lost a leg and one man who had been gassed and never stopped shaking till the day he died and a nurse who served in France.. The cencored stories she told me kept her awake at night for most of her life till she died in her 90s.
my greatgranddad was a sgt at the somme with the royal welsh fussilliiers,he was in the boer war before that, ,joined at 14 in 1901 ,he saved his officers life by carrying out of no mans land ,was shot in the leg shoulder and had a mortor go off near him,,out of his group of men of regement only 78 lived the rest kia miA or injured in the first day but he was recovered and sent back to the somme in late 1917, and high woods went out on a recon and was shot in his ear and came out his neck,,andshot in the side ,went with 3 brothers 5 cousins only 2 came back,he died in 1982 sgt owain owen williams
My grandfather , Harry Clarke, joined up as a regular in 1913 with 1st Btn The Royal Warwickshire Regiment, in 1916 he was a Sergeant and on 1st July 1916 at the Battle of The Somme he had the front right corner of his head shot out. While in hospital he met his future wife, Annie Weaver, who was an Irish nurse. On release from convalescence he was promoted to 2nd Lt and went back into the line with 1st Btn The Manchester Regiment at the Second Battle of The Somme in 1918. At the end of the war he was a Captain and was put in command of a Chinese Labour Btn clearing the battlefield and setting up the cemeteries. In 1922 he resigned his commission because his wife had severe bronchitis (COPD) and they returned to Leamington Spa where Harry became a solicitors clerk and was also one of the original members of The Manchester Unity of the Society of Oddfellows.
My Great Grand Uncle George died in this terrible battle on the 16th October 1916
May he Rest in Peace along with the other heroes who saved our freedoms 🙏
No-one saved anything in WWI, the entire war was pointless
Britain was well aware of the conflict horrors wasn't a house that didn't serve. My gr. Grandmother wore the canteen uniform, her job was to feed the boys comin back from war. Other women wore uniforms of mechanics, medical, transport n so on. Her husband was a seargent when he signed back up after the boar war, and those who fought taught. The British Army was born. My gr grandma died of ovarian cancer just after the war age 32.
My grandfather joined the Canadian military at 17 years old (he lied about his age)and learned to fly. He spend 1 year in the UK flying combat missions. He was a map maker and so his job was to take off and fly a specific route and make notes while flying about ground conditions and return and draw a map for strategic decisions. He was not apart of this battle as this happened was before he had enlisted. I always idolized him for having so much courage. Really enjoy your work guys Love and Respect
My great Grandfather died on the somme and in 1998 we found his grave and took a tracing and photos. My Grandmother was in her 90s and had never seen her Fathers grave. She kept that tracing in a locket until she died 2 weeks before her 100th birthday.
My Father a medical student at Guys Hospital London volunteered for the 6th City of London Rifles Regiment in 1915. He fought on the Somme for 2 and half years and went through all the great Battles. He was decorated , and finally wounded out in 1918 with Gas burns phosgene and Mustard Gas.. He was brought back to England, and took 2 years to fully recover. He was always erratic for the rest of his life, and even volunteered for the WW2 ,but was turned down as he was 41. He had to be in it and became the Head of the West London Heavy Rescue in the blitz. What an awful time to be born. He did have 3 Sons though.
Wow, you are doing well for someone who would be around 100 years old now if your father fought in WW1!
Wilfred Owen, a WW1 poet said ‘what passing bells for these who die as cattle.’ He was killed one week before the armistice.
I believe the first day of the Somme was 60,000 casualties, roughly 20,000 killed 40,000 wounded
(Also around 10,000 German casualties)
At 56 minutes, the wristwatch was very much new in that time. The main fashion for timepieces was pocket watches, and it was the need for accurate timekeeping that saw by 1916 about a quarter of soldiers having wristwatches.
The Royal Newfoundland regiment took part in this battle. They attacked at Beaumont-Hamel. 780 men attacked,110 ten survived and only 68 were available for duty the next day.
Blackadder Goes Forth, in my humble opinion is one of the greatest comedy series ever made. If you have watched the entire series then you know the ending, which was poignant, delivered with respect and consideration and hit the absolute mark in remembering those that paid the ultimate sacrifice.
Today is Armistice Day, 11 November.
WWI - Great Uncle, the Somme; Great Grandfather, Malta, Gallipoli, North Africa.
WWII - Grandfather, D Day, Liberation of Belgium.
Malaya - Father, during a career spanning 39 years.
Kosovo War, Northern Ireland, Iraq - Me.
Edit - I have recently received from my Aunt, letters and postcards sent from my Great Grandmother to her husband and son, that have been kept in the family for more than 100 years. I continue to research the history of my family to make sure that it is preserved.
My father's cousin was killed on the Ypes Salient. Never found, he is just a name among thousands on the Tyne Cot memorial. The dead man's name lived on in his cousin born nine months later. His plain white marker is in the Netherlands - along with the other crew of his Lancaster bomber.
At 16,10 you asked what the Brittish volunteers thought. Strangely they were very optimistic. They really had the idea that they would make the great push. After 18 months of training and the huge bombardement of the German trenches they actually thought it would be easy. One day later all this chanched naturally.
Millions gave their lives. So many from each village or community died together, wiping out whole families, this is why it’s so important that we never forget.