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100 Years Since Battle of The Somme


Len Cnut

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I once read a stat that more people died in the first day on the Somme than the entire Vietnam conflict.  Dunno how true that is but either way a seriously grim episode in human history.  In a day when things like 'the old shouldn't be allowed to vote because it dont effect their future' are bandied around in our culture it should be remembered the fuckin' shit some people went through so we could have our soft carpets and central heating.  

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12 minutes ago, Len B'stard said:

I once read a stat that more people died in the first day on the Somme than the entire Vietnam conflict.  Dunno how true that is but either way a seriously grim episode in human history.  In a day when things like 'the old shouldn't be allowed to vote because it dont effect their future' are bandied around in our culture it should be remembered the fuckin' shit some people went through so we could have our soft carpets and central heating.  

the very definition of hell on earth. i couldn't imagine being in the situation those people were put in, and what they went through. somme went on for what 4 months? over 1million casualties, with 300,000 dead.

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25 minutes ago, bran said:

the very definition of hell on earth. i couldn't imagine being in the situation those people were put in, and what they went through. somme went on for what 4 months? over 1million casualties, with 300,000 dead.

I mean the thick of the fray was one thing but even just general trench life, when you look into it with any degree of depth just your average day is like...wow.  And to think it was like average lads like you and me, only younger, some a lot younger, the fuckin' foot rot and the sleeplessness, the constant fuckin' shelling, people coming in and out of your life that you dont know are gonna live or die, the fear of sentry duty, i mean i have a hard time staying awake on the sofa these days, imagine being on fuckin' sentry duty and knowing you might get picked off at any minute. 10/11 hours a fuckin' night (they took it in shifts im led to believe but still).  And the garish up closeness of it all, men with their fuckin' guts hanging out, men who can't function cuz their brains turn to mush from shell-shock.

When you really think about it the human race are the most fucking beastly creatures out there, the things that we do to each other and for what end of the day, whats it all worth?

Was it 20,000 men Dies' said?  20,000 men blinked out of existence in a matter of hours...Christ Almighty...what good is even victory after that, 20,000..and thats just one few hour stretch.

300,000 was it altogether?  Fuck me :(

Edited by Len B'stard
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What a hopeless situation, the worst possible to imagine. If they didn't go over the top then they would be shot by their own side. Everything I've ever read about it is just horrifying to the core on a mass scale. It makes me look at my little boy and hope to god we have at least learnt something at all :( 

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4 minutes ago, MillionsOfSpiders said:

If they didn't go over the top then they would be shot by their own side.

As a side note, a bit too much is made of that y'know.  Not by you, i mean in general, in this sort of contemporary assessment of them as a bunch of men who had no choice and faced death either way, it insinuates that the broad majority of them were there under duress or something.  Just a side point.  Remember thousands upon thousands of men had multiple tours where they could've got away with not doing so in that war. 

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The British thought they could just pulverise the Germans with mass artillery, and that the infantry would just go over the top and find dead Germans. The problem was twofold. Firstly, night-by-night artillery barrages merely alerted the Germans to exactly where and when the attack was going to take place, and when the guns finally stopped they knew the infantry was coming. Secondly, German entrenchments were far more sophisticated than expected, employing successive lines in depth (for instance, an outer slightly manned perimeter would have further trenches in the rear holding the bulk of the German army which shielded them from the majority of the allied artillery). So essentially when the artillery finally stopped, the Germans, knowing the British infantry were arriving, promptly moved out of their front line trenches and to their machine gun emplacements to meet the attack.

(It has to be said though that the British artillery was not totally ineffective, and that German casualties at The Somme were also appalling.)

The British however learnt from their mistakes at the Somme, employing the lessons learnt later in the war. They started employing shorter more nuanced artillery barrages and the 'creeping barrage' (which continued forward as the infantry advanced in its wake, targeting deeper enemy trenches), as well as pioneering the use of new weaponry such as planes (for aerial reconnaissance) and the tank. Much of this was used for the final allied successes of the war.

Edited by DieselDaisy
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