The Somme 1916

Fretwired

The battle of the Somme kicked off 100 years ago .. my grandfather was there .. spare a thought for those who lost their lives. The loss of life defies belief. May it never happen again.

lloyd

Jesus what a cluster fuck of wasted lives.

Poor bastards, I weep when I see the graves or any footage.

Lost a lot of great grand uncles as most did, the only reason I'm here is because my great grandfather got "lucky"

Disgusting chapter in Europes history.

RIP to the fallen and hats off to the French that keep the graves bloody immaculate.

ICBM

The worst thing is that this takes place a month after the 100th anniversary of the Battle Of Jutland.

If you're not familiar with the history of WWI, it's very simple - the failure of the German navy to win at Jutland and break the naval economic blockade made it impossible for Germany to win the war… and the admirals, high commands and governments on both sides knew it even at the time as records have now shown. That means that even if you could argue that the first part of the war was worthwhile, the huge waste of life on the battlefields from the Somme until the end of the war was almost completely pointless - if the Allies had simply stayed put, fought a purely defensive war and waited for the Germans to run out of food and raw materials, they would have won eventually… which is more or less what happened anyway.

My grandfather was there too and somehow went through the entire war from 1914 to 1918 in a front-line regiment, and never got a scratch... some people are just lucky. So many weren't.

I've been to the war graves too - it's absolutely overwhelming how many there are in some of the big cemeteries... and those are only the ones who could be found and identified. All for nothing.

RIP

Clarky

RIP to so many that were killed and horribly wounded

may we never see anything like that happen again

Tone71

It is awful, my grandfather was also there and returned. Not too many did.

http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af349/Tone71/IMAG0017_zps5rkryrao.jpg

I took this pic at the Imperial War Museum as it made me stop dead in my tracks and think due to the bleakness. 

Chalky

A terrible event that should never be repeated. Men fought and died for what they believed in. Thankfully, people are apathetic these days.

Col_Decker

I'll raise a glass or three tonight for Great Granddad Tom and co.

Terrible waste of lives, and we never learn do we?

equalsql

The terrible and needless loss of an entire generation. 

Brave lads and their pals led to their slaughter by an ignorant and indifferent elite.
Utterly heartbreaking. 

My friend and neighbour who sadly died in January this year was born of the eve of the battle of the Somme. He recalls as a young boy, seeing the shattered, mutilated survivors begging on the streets of Derby. Soldiers with horrific wounds being left to fend for themselves, limbless, pulled on little trollies with signs around their necks asking for charity. No gratitude from the country for which they sacrificed so much for.

Anthem For Doomed Youth - Wilfred Owen

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?

Only the monstrous anger of the guns.

Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle

Can patter out their hasty orisons.

No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells,

Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, -

The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;

And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?

Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes

Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.

The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;

Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,

And each slow dusk a drawing down of blinds.

rlw

lloyd said:

Jesus what a cluster fuck of wasted lives.

Poor bastards, I weep when I see the graves or any footage.

Lost a lot of great grand uncles as most did, the only reason I'm here is because my great grandfather got "lucky"

Disgusting chapter in Europes history.

RIP to the fallen and hats off to the French that keep the graves bloody immaculate.

It isn't the French but the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. (I think).

Fretwired

rlw said:

lloyd said:

Jesus what a cluster fuck of wasted lives.

Poor bastards, I weep when I see the graves or any footage.

Lost a lot of great grand uncles as most did, the only reason I'm here is because my great grandfather got "lucky"

Disgusting chapter in Europes history.

RIP to the fallen and hats off to the French that keep the graves bloody immaculate.

It isn't the French but the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. (I think).

French workers I think. Funded by the War Graves Commission.

earwighoney

Did anyone see Frank Gardner's segment on Springwatch about the Somme war?  A very poetic polemic to a really dark chapter of history.  

Fretwired

Mametz Wood red dragon Somme memorial is amazing - the sculpture is dedicated to thousands of men of the 38th (Welsh) Division who died on the Somme in 1916. Worth going to France to see the battlefields and this memorial.

http://www.greatwar.co.uk/somme/memorial-38-division.htm

Rocker

RIP for all those brave lads who died in the trenches. 250K Irish went to fight in that war. About 50K did not return. What a waste. Weak and stupid politicians could have stopped the war much sooner than they did. RIP.

Fretwired

As it happened news reporting .. grim reader. The Ulsters were brave lads ....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/01/the-battle-of-the-somme-as-it-happened-on-july-1-1916/

ICBM

Fretwired said:

Mametz Wood red dragon Somme memorial is amazing - the sculpture is dedicated to thousands of men of the 38th (Welsh) Division who died on the Somme in 1916.

My grandfather was in the Royal Welch Fusiliers, which makes his survival all the more remarkable really. I don't know if his unit was directly involved in the worst battles, but either way it really emphasises the sheer random pointlessness of it all. Thousands of other men from where he came from never made it.

dogload

ICBM said:

The worst thing is that this takes place a month after the 100th anniversary of the Battle Of Jutland.

If you're not familiar with the history of WWI, it's very simple - the failure of the German navy to win at Jutland and break the naval economic blockade made it impossible for Germany to win the war… and the admirals, high commands and governments on both sides knew it even at the time as records have now shown. That means that even if you could argue that the first part of the war was worthwhile, the huge waste of life on the battlefields from the Somme until the end of the war was almost completely pointless - if the Allies had simply stayed put, fought a purely defensive war and waited for the Germans to run out of food and raw materials, they would have won eventually… which is more or less what happened anyway.

My grandfather was there too and somehow went through the entire war from 1914 to 1918 in a front-line regiment, and never got a scratch... some people are just lucky. So many weren't.

I've been to the war graves too - it's absolutely overwhelming how many there are in some of the big cemeteries... and those are only the ones who could be found and identified. All for nothing.

RIP

Sadly the Battle Of the Somme was partly necessary to relieve the weight of the German offensive at Verdun, which was costing the french heavily ion manpower. Whatever the cost to the men in the Somme battles, it served the purpose of drawing German forces away from Verdun. 

I visited the Newfoundlanders' section of trenches near Beaumont-Hamel a couple of years back. Almost the entire regiment was wiped out there. It was an eerie feeling being in those trenches, more so because it was the middle of a glorious July and the place was surrounded by trees, and alive with flowers and the sounds of birds and insects. Very moving.

Fretwired

dogload said:

Sadly the Battle Of the Somme was partly necessary to relieve the weight of the German offensive at Verdun, which was costing the french heavily ion manpower. Whatever the cost to the men in the Somme battles, it served the purpose of drawing German forces away from Verdun. 

I visited the Newfoundlanders' section of trenches near Beaumont-Hamel a couple of years back. Almost the entire regiment was wiped out there. It was an eerie feeling being in those trenches, more so because it was the middle of a glorious July and the place was surrounded by trees, and alive with flowers and the sounds of birds and insects. Very moving.

True, although recently released documents show senior officers discounted British intelligence reports that the German bunkers on the front were untouched by British shelling. The intelligence officers interviewed shattered German prisoners who were quite happy to talk for a cigarette and some coffee. Shifting the focus of the attack could have secured a victory and saved a lot of lives.

TheBlueWolf

It must have been horrific

My mum's dad fought in The First World War and, although I've no idea where, he survived.

RIP to all those who tragically died

JezWynd

The First war seems to have an enduring fascination for us, mainly I think because it was the first modern war, fought with high explosive shells, gas, tanks and aeroplanes and yet followed the battle structure of previous generations where two sides line up and proceed to beat hell out of one another.

The first war where photographic records are freely available, with all the heartbreak of denuded woods, acres of lethal mud and smiling groups of pals awaiting slaughter. The photographic record gives subsequent generations a lesson in the futility of war, of how it's possible to turn a lush green landscape into a poisonous wasteland, the sheer hell of it all.

When I was a small boy I befriended an elderly neighbour; his shed was a wonder, a hand made structure filled with animal skins, shotguns and crossbows he made himself with a triggering mechanism he kept secret. He worked his whole life as a gamekeeper,was a crack shot and taught me to shoot crows on a nearby farm. It was only much later that I learnt that he had been a sniper during the first war, he never mentioned it at all. Whenever I  think of the men who fought, I think of him, an extremely decent man with a childlike delight in machines and mechanisms and a wealth of experience under his flat cap.

ESBlonde

My maternal grandfather was at Ypres, he lied about his age and volunteered, was shot in the leg whilst machinegunning, two laid beside him died.

I finally took my mother to Ypres three years ago with my youngest son who was about the age of my grandfather when shot. A very moving place/experience. We simply cannot understand the grim horror of thier situation. Sanctuary wood and Hooge museum were visited amoung others, I recommend others to do similar.

It might interest people to know that the road near Mons has two small monuments, one for where contact was first made between C squad 4th Dragoon guards and German cavalry, and another where the last shots and death occured in the conflict 4 years later. They are both within a few kilometers of one another on what is now th N6 roar north out of Mons toward Soignies/Brussels. You could walk in in 10 minuets!

May we never forget what civilised people can do to one another and brave men do in the name of nation.

Edit
You could walk in in 10 minuets!
Having looked the monuments are 400 yards apart, 4 years of fighting and 400 yards! Anyone interested go to maps and 'Casteau' then street view. One is a plaque on a restaurant wall the other an unassuming stone block north on the other side of the road.

blobb

It was a success, in part. The aim was to punch a hole, send the cavalry through and roll up the Hun all the way to the sea. They broke through in the South because they borrowed some heavy guns from the French. The cavalry was standing by but by the time the commanders had realised there was a gap, it was too late to exploit it. There were interpersonal squabbles going on regarding who had the final say on such matters, regardless of why, it stands as one of the biggest lost opportunities in history. Haig didn't trust the new army to be capable of anything more than walking slowly across no mans land so he loaded them up like pack horses and they walked to their death with rifles ported. Every other man had to carry a shovel! The PBI got a bellyful and the rest is history.