"The Somme" (1976 BBC Documentary)

[Badger]

We've just added this excellent new video to the "The Screening Room" (click here). Lots of old SMLE's to see ...

"The Somme" (1976 BBC Documentary)

Regards,
Badger

Information

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[Roger Payne]

Thanks Badger. I remember VHSing that documentary in 1986 when it was re-screened! Purely coincidentally, I've just got back from there this evening. Managed to look up some friends & do a little field walking. It's amazing that material still turns up quite prolifically; yesterday: two Mills bombs (left well alone); numerous rounds of 303 & 7.92; a complete SMLE bayonet; & the major part of some poor devil's humerus bone......As there were no other bones, that, I also left where it was.

I also take every available opportunity to sign the War Graves Registers in the cemeteries over there. The money to fund them comes out of the defence budget & I feel the more names that go in there the safer this funding will remain......

ATB

[Siddley]

Cheers for that - my Grandad ( a US citizen who volunteered for the British Army ) fought in that awful battle.

He made it through the first two days but then got wounded badly enough to get sent back to Blighty. It still wasn't the end of his war though....

[enfield303t]

Thanks for the information on "The Somme". My dad went overseas with the 2nd Batallion CMGC (CEF) in 1915 and fought there and many other places. Walked The Somme the summer of 2005 with my good friend Peter Bunyan and his brothers Rob and Phil who still live in England. It was a rarity for my dad to tell me anything about his service as he lost too many friends. He rec'd a Battlefield Commission and ended up join the RFC near the end of the war. Was in pilot training when the war ended, maybe that was a good thing otherwise I might not be here. Strangest thing is in later life he just hated flying..go figure. He was a perfect dad.

[Surpmil]

High Wood. It is said that more than 8000 unrecovered dead lie within it. I've read that it is a highly "atmospheric" place. Roger, I think you'll recognize the photo.

[Roger Payne]

Robert,
Certainly do........I found the SMLE bayonet on almost that very spot last Saturday afternoon. It was taken on the road from Martinpuich to Bazentin le Petit, looking across to High Wood. I was exceptionally lucky just after Christmas in that I was allowed to accompany a very fortunate friend on a tour of High Wood; access is generally strictly forbidden; even the BBC have been refused. The family that own it are very private & the wood is also still used for hunting. There was a sprinkling of snow on the ground at the time, but I managed to take a few photographs. As might be expected the remains of trenches are still easily visible, as is a concrete machine gun position & of course, hundreds of shell craters. There are still numerous live artillery shells lying about. No one knows exactly how many bodies lie within, but it is thought to run into the thousands, &, like you, I have seen a figure of as many as eight thousand quoted.
HumblyATB

[Alan de Enfield]

We have all heard of the "Somme" but who knows of the "Battle of Towton" ?

Yorkshire history

The first day of the Somme offensive resulted in 19,240 dead.
The first day of the "Towton" offensive resulted in 28,000 dead.

The interesting thing was that almost 500 years separated the two events, with the battle of Towton taking place in March 1461, and in principle, was the "House of York" V the "House of Lancaster".

28,000 is thought to have been in excess of 1% of the total population at the time. The final death toll (after 3 days fighting) was 36,760.

I had never heard of this battle until a couple of days ago in a feature on the Radio - as horrific as both WW! & WW2 were, this Battle of Towton must have turned England upside down & inside out.