jameshr4
06-01-2006, 03:13 PM
06/01/2006
Remembering the Somme
http://timesnews.typepad.com/news/2006/06/remembering_the.html
July 1, 1916 was the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army - it suffered some 60,000 casualties, including almost 20,000 dead, on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
The Imperial War Museum has a graphic new exhibition on the battle, which can be enjoyed and explored online. http://www.iwm.org.uk/server/show/nav.00o
The permanent web exhibition includes vivid letters, diary entries and personal accounts from soldiers and their relatives. Individual items shown include JRR Tolkien's revolver and the football kicked across no-man's land by Captain Billie Nevill and the soldiers of the 8th battalion, the East Surrey Regiment.
Nevill was killed on the opening day of the Somme - he never quite made it across no-man's land - and the ball recovered from near the German barbed wire. His final letter, written to his sister on the eve of the battle in which he was to be killed, displays his courage. “As I write the shells are fairly haring over,” he tells her. “You know one gets just sort of bemused after a few million, still it’ll be a great experience to tell one’s children about.”
Or there's the goodbye letter written by 2nd Lieutenant Percy Boswell of the 8th Battalion, the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, which betrays little sense of the carnage just a few hours away. “We are going over the parapet tomorrow, when I hope to spend a few merry hours in chasing the Bosch all over the place,” he writes. I am absolutely certain that I shall get through all right, but in case the unexpected does happen I shall rest content with the knowledge that I have done my duty - and one can’t do more.”
There's even a film clip showing the Prince of Wales touring near German positions near Fricourt in August, 1916. The future Edward VIII served on the Somme as a staff officer and was said to have been disappointed not to be involved in the fighting.
By November that year, more than a million men had been killed and wounded on all sides. Britain and the Empire lost 125,000 men, Germany even more. A German staff officer described the Somme as ‘the muddy grave of the German field army.’
Well worth a visit.
The IWM site
http://www.iwm.org.uk/server/show/nav.00o
Remembering the Somme
http://timesnews.typepad.com/news/2006/06/remembering_the.html
July 1, 1916 was the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army - it suffered some 60,000 casualties, including almost 20,000 dead, on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
The Imperial War Museum has a graphic new exhibition on the battle, which can be enjoyed and explored online. http://www.iwm.org.uk/server/show/nav.00o
The permanent web exhibition includes vivid letters, diary entries and personal accounts from soldiers and their relatives. Individual items shown include JRR Tolkien's revolver and the football kicked across no-man's land by Captain Billie Nevill and the soldiers of the 8th battalion, the East Surrey Regiment.
Nevill was killed on the opening day of the Somme - he never quite made it across no-man's land - and the ball recovered from near the German barbed wire. His final letter, written to his sister on the eve of the battle in which he was to be killed, displays his courage. “As I write the shells are fairly haring over,” he tells her. “You know one gets just sort of bemused after a few million, still it’ll be a great experience to tell one’s children about.”
Or there's the goodbye letter written by 2nd Lieutenant Percy Boswell of the 8th Battalion, the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, which betrays little sense of the carnage just a few hours away. “We are going over the parapet tomorrow, when I hope to spend a few merry hours in chasing the Bosch all over the place,” he writes. I am absolutely certain that I shall get through all right, but in case the unexpected does happen I shall rest content with the knowledge that I have done my duty - and one can’t do more.”
There's even a film clip showing the Prince of Wales touring near German positions near Fricourt in August, 1916. The future Edward VIII served on the Somme as a staff officer and was said to have been disappointed not to be involved in the fighting.
By November that year, more than a million men had been killed and wounded on all sides. Britain and the Empire lost 125,000 men, Germany even more. A German staff officer described the Somme as ‘the muddy grave of the German field army.’
Well worth a visit.
The IWM site
http://www.iwm.org.uk/server/show/nav.00o