Line of fire - Battle of the Somme part 4

[brybry12341515]

sigh, sometimes i think if all these decent young men didnt sacrifice their lives we wouldnt have the scum walking the streets like we do today

[trippletear]

The British produced poor generals in the 20th century. The days of Henry V, Nelson and Wellington were over. Yes, I know Nelson was an admiral, not a general.

[Stansman63]

Rest in peace lads, your sacrifice hasn't been forgotten.

[ar2110302]

They should have used : FUS RO DAH!!!!!!!!!

[RayneStrifeSway]

@baconbits also we forget the newfoundland regiment wasnt part of canada on the opening day of the somme offensive...they see canada much differently then the western provinces..that was the event that pushed them to confederation with canada...i always feel a sadness for them that day.,..i give them my moment of silence..

[RayneStrifeSway]

@baconbits13

Being a Canadian and a younger study of the events of the first decades of the 20th century i feel pulled in mostly by my countries sacrifices toward the struggle of the western front. I guess every country feels they did a good part like the canadians,anzacs,sikhs etc. in my collection of books and documentries i see the absence of conformity when some battles are being written about. im only 30 i feel too young somtimes to have a pull to a war beyond my mindscape

[robertgeorg]

@MrShallad

Sweden was neutral, but it highly possible that there was swedes or people with swedish ancestry in the american and canadian armies as immigrants would often fight to gain citizenship.

[spermwaste]

it's a long way to tipperary, it's a long way to go!

[DonkeyFlavourGum]

@gtofan2005

Sorry if I got your name wrong but I'm on my iPod atm so...

I think you'd have a different perspective of that if you were to be shot at dawn for cowardice...

[breezeman199]

@whengoodtimesgobadd Agree 100%. You can thank the labour party for this. Britain has foolishly allowed dangerous alien communities to rise up within its own midst. Crazy and very bad indeed. Those Tommies didn't fight for this. Britain should have avoided war with Germany, which it could easily have done so. I can't think of one single thing the U.K. gained from choosing to fight WW1 & 2. Patrick Buchanan wrote a great book about this.

[churdude]

Over rated boys club BS general from 10 mile behind the lines, what a damn waste ! !

BUT we will never for get them those boys and men and their officers who walked with them into that hell. I make a point of stoppin at any monument thats displays the names of local fallen in WW1 and WW2 and say thanks to them for givin their lives for my freedom thanks again !

[THthefirst]

Also, why is there NO mention of the politicans' roles in this?

They were equally responsible if not more so, for not reignging in the generals.

This documentary is pretty poor - it relies on cliches. Haig was under a lot of pressure to produce a decisive victory and he didn't want small scale victories.

As for the Somme making no difference, even Ludendorff said it was responsible for losing Germany the war eventually and it helped to develop the tank and other tactics in 1917/18.

[THthefirst]

@whengoodtimesgobadd So why do you choose to live in London? Is it because, actually, for a third world City, it still has the City, lots of money, lots of opportunities and a vibrant world culture and history?

I live in Oxford, which is beautiful. Oxfordshire is beautiful too.

Why do you make the issue one of race? These brave men would be disgusted by the WHITE chavs who live in this country. Yet you only make the blacks and muslims the scapegoats.

[THthefirst]

"British and Canadian Armies"

Well, of the 100,000 that took part on 1 July 1916, ALL were British, apart from 800 who were from Newfoundland, which (a) isn't really enough to call them a Candadian Army and (b) Newfoundlanders did not regard themselves as Canadian in 1916, they were an independent province.

I am not impressed with this documentary - too many lazy, easy myths. Read Trevor Wilson's book - actual evidence is used.

[Almin192]

@THthefirst actually they called themselves the CANADIAN NEWFOUNDLAND REG sorry for caps :P

[cavaleer]

Completely and totally inept leadership.....but all the leaders lived.

[grfiuonegrbi34809]

Please,

Respect the common naive men on both sides of the WWI conflict who were tricked into participating and killed or mamed for no obvious reason.

It took one more European war to understand that cooperation is a better solution, which brought us EU.

For many reasons EU is not my favorit, but if it prevent another European war for 100 years it is the better solution.

If you have experienced a conflict like WWI or II you will know that war is the worst solution. If not, don't comment.

[NotoriousMannk]

Its a limited view portrayed in this documentary. It doesn't take into account the role that the Somme played in ultimate victory in 1918. I would imagine the soldiers would rather their battle be remembered for the role it played in the larger picture than as some sort of mindless blundering cock up that needn't have happened! Big disservice to a whole generation of heavily armed men! It portrays Haig as some sort of war criminal!

[breezeman199]

Yeah, great work there Limeys. You fought an avoidable war with Germany. You lost your empire and your position in the world. Your shitty little island is now overrun with Pakis and blacks. London is a third world shithole. The Kaiser has the last laugh.

[InfernalOneShot]

@breezeman199 You're from the hat of America, no-one gives a fuck about Canada.

[13Baconbits31]

@InfernalOneShot you shut the fuck up, Canada had a major role in WW1. At the battle of Ypres the Germans used gas on the allied forces, the British and french troops retreated from the gas. Canadian troops held the line by breathing through pissed on rags. they were the only soldiers who stayed to defend from the Germans and they succeeded. Need more examples, check out vimy ridge, passchendaele, or billy bishop. They had the best soldiers then and they have the best soldiers now.

[InfernalOneShot]

@13Baconbits31 I stand by my previous statement, the Canadian's role in WW1 was minor at best.

[UdallIn72]

@InfernalOneShot

The manpower could probably been found elsewhere, yes, but Canada's one oversized corps drove off or destroyed fully forty-seven German divisions during the last hundred days of the war. That's no mean feat.

[TheSmithDorian]

@13Baconbits31

The Canadians ultimately did not have a major impact in overall terms in WW1, but this was because of their relatively small numbers. When you have over 2 million men in the field no small single group can significantly influence the outcome.

Having said that; except for the original 1914 BEF, the Canadians were, man for man, probably the best soldiers on the allied side during the war. Extremely brave, extremely effective and usually given the most difficult assignments.

[13Baconbits31]

@TheSmithDorian id agree with that

[huytiopful]

just for the record the word casualties means killed or wounded, but still a very big sacrifice

[TheHarlequin13]

@whengoodtimesgobadd So the actions of a few reflect those of the many now? I've been attacked and harassed by white yobs on more than one occasion, so does that mean, as a white British man, that I should fuck off back to Scotland/Northern Germany. I'm glad most people reject this nonsense, otherwise I fear I'd be tarred with your ludicrous, racist brush.

[TheHarlequin13]

@whengoodtimesgobadd In what way is London like a third world city? If London is third world then nowhere is first world. Your appeal to the dead of World War I to support your bigotry shows a staggering ignorance of the reasons the war was fought and the fact that thousands of Muslims and Blacks - the two groups you pick out for your ire - died in that very conflict.

[pcaso100]

why do they always get british dudes to speak on these things, british accent pisses me off!!

[ManicMammoth]

@pcaso100 its our language faggot if you dont like the accent then dont speak and listen in ENGLISH.

[Themaxo488]

@pcaso100 shut the fuck up, u piss people off u twat

[gtofan2005]

really the sad thing bout ww1 the tatics were still way far behind the tech of the time. you'd have a hard time convinceing me to climb out of the realtive safety of the trench in to the wide open of no mans land and into the sights of a german machine gun nest,

[slowmonkey156]

I don't think it's accurate to dismiss the Somme as "pointless slaughter". Yes, the first day certainly was, and so was much that came after. But I think it should be said that the offensive DID ease the pressure on the French at Verdun by diverting German resources. That alone may have saved the Allies from defeat in 1916. Still, idiotic strategies and tactics needlessly killed many brave young men...my Great-Grandfather among them.

[dinubunica]

The only officer I have respect for is the one that sais "follow me"!!! The rest are just some yellow bastards who don't give a shit about your life....

But peoples never get the history lessons do they?

Kids today, go in Irak/Afganistan thinking it's like in Call of Duty or other vodeo game... you get hit and loose just some points! Well, boys, in reality you loose body parts.

And all that for some guy to make more and more money.... sad!!!

All kids should see these films to see reality.

[Attila709]

Walk across no mans land??? I would have said screw that!

[jbake9210]

@Attila709 amen to that. even knowing that most germans would be dead would not have convinced me to walk

[LopSidedBobb]

Two words...Pointless Slaughter

[huytiopful]

i don't get it, the germans were defending doing all the right things

yet they said in the end the germans suffered 600k causualities, and the british suffered 420k, the british that suffered 1 seventh of their causualties on the first day

[SaintsSpecOps]

@huytiopful

artillary, britush soldiers must be better:D

[berserkerulf]

@huytiopful Quite the opposite is true. The Allies (British & French) lost more than 600k, the Germans about 450k

[mferrell525]

Just fascinating. I am just reading Ken Follett's Fall of Giants and was trying to find more info about the Somme. This was just perfect. I have ordered a couple DVDs to learn more but at this point was impatiently looking for something.... Thanks to this poster. Can anyone else suggest other good on-line WWI videos.

[honour123]

World War 1 ended with the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. War is a terrible thing.

[reyhaasan]

the retard haig was shit at tactics even i could have done better than that. All Haig wanted was the glory he didnt care what was going to happen he just wanted the victory and to be famous. ***** wa rubbish and that is why 420,000 people died

[ToaJoe]

@reyhaasan You're an idiot, the myths about Haig are mostly incorrect

[NotoriousMannk]

theres a bit missing between 3 and 4

[silver760]

Unfortunately my great uncle Sargent James Laird of the Scotts Highlanders was there on the first day of the Somme.He is remebered on the Thiepval memorial as he has no known grave.Another of the many millions of lives lost fighting a war that could not be won.

[steve5123456789]

July seems to be a bloody day of fighting in warfare

[nylonTS]

what is a great shame is we never learn from history

All we learn is to become better soliders

[Dekar41]

who was the general or person who wasn't born at the time, who would have fought it differently??

[suffern63]

Without the Somme,would the French have lost at Verdun?

[knorrecheck123]

Thanks a lot for uploading this documentary! It helped me a lot with writing an essay about the Battle of the Somme.

[luvpump1]

I would recommed a visit to the somme to anyone who has not been , Me & a buddy went twice this year & will probably be going next year .. Its always a good idea to take a book if you can, something that will give you a idea of where the british & canadians lines were & for me made it a much more personal experiance, ,The somme by peter Barton (who ironically we met outsdide mamets) is a super book ... One thing tho if it is a trip that makes you understand the madness of war ..

[MpLMx]

It's clear -after watching these videos- that Haig and Rawlinson were completely stupid generals...

[Drakken682]

@MpLMx

That's easy to say: What would you have done in their steads? They had nothing to pierce through the lines yet, tanks were still in state of prototypes.

Rolling barrages were a good step forward until then.

[THthefirst]

@MpLMx No, that is with the benefit of hindsight. Their approach was the agreed approach by ALL generals on ALL sides - artillery bombardment followed by frontal attack. Without tanks or airplanes (developed later) what was the alternative to get the Germans off foreign soil?

Every plan has its flaws in every campaign, there is no such thing as a perfect attack, but any attack would have been costly - just like ALL the battles of the war on ALL sides. Don't believe in the myths.

[gurgast]

Fellow dogs, if you want to know what caused the battle of the Somme take a look below. Human nature, as we dogs know very well, is disgusting. We crap in the park, but they crap everywhere, especually on each other. But don't worry, humans are so despicable that the planet will eradicate the nasty vermin quite soon now.

Rover

[tuveeux]

@gurgast then do something about it -.-

[THthefirst]

@gurgast And humans are also capable of incredible acts of kindness and charity as you will see if you ever visit hospitals and see nurses paid a pittance to care for people.....or go to slums in India and see volunteers.......or the people that run marathons for good causes or are incredibly brave in the face of terminal illnesses. Sure, we have the capacity for destruction, but have some faith in the good of mankind too - otherwise without hope we are truly fucked!

[robinaboy]

In all these Somme documentaries I've heard the Germans suffered 600,000 casualties in the battle. But none of these films goes into any detail about how they died.

Obviously the Allies must have made some inroads but how? Going to Wikipedia now to see if I can find out how the battle was eventually won.

[fp470]

@robinaboy The Battle of the Somme actually lasted 5 months but all documentaries tell you that it was a one day disaster. Truth is that the British actually win the Battle of the Somme, develop new and better tactics and begin to outfight the German in 1917. A Good Documentary is 'The Somme: Defeat to Victory'

[robinaboy]

@fp470 thanks mate, I'll look it up! Cheers.

[xwingclass]

i think winston churchill says about haig the best:

Winston Churchill, whose "World Crisis" was written during Haig's lifetime, likened him to a surgeon who had to act dispassionately for the long-term good of the patient, no matter how messy were the short-term means, although in another passage he accused him of blocking enemy machine-gun fire with "the breasts of brave men".

unbelieveable.

[xwingclass]

jesus 30000 men in 1 hour! my God i am saying it to myself you cant even imagine that.

if you look at 1:07 the tommy being held up looks at the officer on our left with disgust, its true a picture says alot. I would like to know what a tommy was thinking.

[lordrexus]

Every fucking vid i go on there is people arguing and i can't even work out how it started...just shut it and watch the video.

[sqTake2]

Looks like we need some comment maintenance on here by the video poster.

[machierl]

You should learn to take things a little bit cooler Squire19IUK. I can only pray for you that the things you write here about Germany are just an reaction to this idiot´s comments on this vid. I´ve been to the battlefields of the Somme some months ago, Thiepval, Vimy Ridge and so on. Very sad. Many young men died on both sides.....for nothing. Unluckily there are still some jerks who laugh about that. Happy New Year.

[Squire19lUK]

its hard to take things cool when you listen to some of the ridiculous comments some people say I have more respect than most when it comes to soldiers and my great granddad died at the Somme so Im in no way disrespectful to either side I was replying to idiot who was calling us evil etc which is rich coming from any country because all countries are guilty of some horrific things what I was trying to get into his thick skull was its the soldiers who pay the price not the government.

[Squire19lUK]

another thing m8 Im really not a ignorant arsehole who thinks every country is bad apart from my own all the comments here are a reply to evil fuck if you read some of the things he was writing about you would understand why I have wrote the things I done he was so disrespectful to my country yet he lives here and enjoys the benefits of this country that really boiled my blood Im sorry if anyone is offended I mean no offense to anyone apart from that disrespectful fuck I was replying to

[machierl]

No problem. There will always be left a few who have nothing else to do but sitting behind their computers and abuse other people, just because in real life they are absolute losers. I also do not agree with everything the UK does or did. But hey, as a German I think I´m one of the last who should point with the finger at others. And that´s why I also went to the British Memorial in Arras and prayed for the fallen Allied soldiers of this fucking war. May we never forget them all.

[koddswollop]

the more you learn about the historic facts the more you hate the americans for how they portray german soldiers. did you know when the americans joined the war they kept singing "the yanks are coming, the yanks are coming, the war is over!" but when they got there hundreds and thousands of them were slain, german soldiers were fantastic but the allies held all the cards

[koddswollop]

the germans raped everybody in ww1 and ww2

[KarenChessman2009]

the aim of this was to slaughter as much "poor" people as possible in order to stop the socialism expansion in europe so its not surprising

[AmersfoortTristan]

No. It was 19th century tactics in a war with 20th century technology.

It was plain stupidity and senselessness. Nothing more- nothing less.

[gloomypete]

" the aim of this was to slaughter as much "poor" people as possible in order to stop the socialism expansion in europe so its not surprising "

What a STUPID fuckin statement

[lectocom]

"Good morning, good morning!" the General said,

When we met him last week on the way to the line.

Now the soldiers he smiled at are most of 'em dead,

And we're cursing his staff for incompetent swine.

"He's a cheery old card" grunted Harry to Jack,

As they slogged up to Arras with rifle and pack.

But he did for them both with his plan of attack.

(Siegfried Sassoon)

Justice would have had Haig and the other incompetent swine in front of a firing squad.

[ericlinthwaite]

the ending of pt 4 doesn't seem to sync w/ the end of pt 3 - how much is lost?

[Maird79]

lions lead by donkey's

[s2kitz]

lol, hahhaha

[durks2514]

Interesting stuff, thanks for uploading

[paulmadryga]

"By noon, the British and Canadian armies had taken 50,000 casualties."

Ummm.... there were no Canadians on the Somme on 1 July (the Newfoundlanders there were part of the British army).