Well I just want to say that this time of year certainly makes you think. This was an excellent programme. Informative and moving. The letters home are always the most gut wrenching.
Well, although the documentary aspect of the programme was well researched, the dramatic reconstruction was so poor it would have been better to abandon it altogether and stick to archive footage.
The computer-generated overhead views of the battle were ridiculous showing fresh green pasture in no-mans land, which had already been fought over for more than a year. Echoing that, when we saw the troops going over the top, they walked through a pleasant grassy meadow towards the German lines without a shell-hole to be seen!
The voice-over talked of the tremendous bombardment in the week before the attack. Unfortunately the effect was lost somewhat by scenes of troops in the trenches subjected to rather less sound and fury than Bonfire night fireworks in our garden.
If two hours are going to be dedicated to a programme about this most important battle, at least find a production company that can do justice to the suffering undergone by many thousands of soldiers, not this over-sanitised version which would have left many young people wondering what all the fuss was about.
This was a brilliant program, the arieal shots of the trenchs were just stunning. Im glad also that they made it such a long program as many history documentarys seem rushed into a 1 hour slot.
Does anyone know if this is going to be available on DVD ever??
This was a truely brilliant and moving documentary.
Without sounding to much like a WW1 anorak, the costume dept should have done their homework. The gaffs in the uniform and equipment were dreadful. There is no excuse for such a mess these days. There are several 1st class living history groups covering WW1 who could have helped. A simple search on the net would have found them. The archive film and stills showed what the men looked like in real life, we had to put up with a bunch of tramps.
What was the point of telling the viewer how the bombardment had gone on for a week then showing the troops advancing across virgin meadows even when they had crossed the German front line! May I suggest the end of term report for the production team states 'could do better'.
If the producer wants some ideas on who to speak to before embarking on another WW1 epic please feel free to make contact.
I was always under the impression that the initial assault on July 1st was made across grassy meadows - the Somme sector had previously been the quietest part of the front - and that No Man's Land had been relatively undisturbed by shellfire as the bombardment, whilst being ultimately ineffective, had nonetheless been accurate.
If you watch the Daniel Craig/Paul Nicholls film 'The Trench', the film-makers also showed the troops advancing across green fields.
The depiction of green fields with weeds and long grass is entirely correct. Shell holes were confined to 20 yards each side of barbed wire on commencement of attack. Once the German army sent up their SOS flares, it wasa different story. I have descriptions of shells landing like a line of pine trees across No Mans Land. I would also like to ask, why concentrate on such a small area ..and what is this talk of breakthrough? There was NO breakthrough on 1st July. There were break-ins not exploited, certainly in the south sector. But what about 36th Div at Thiepval Wood/Ancre South? Who NO mention of the biggest advance by any formed unit of troops? Better a broad brush approach in my opinion. However, I commend C4 for their efforts. You will not please ALL of the people ALL of the time!!
Whilst I appreciate the fact that this programme was made at all, I still think the reconstructions failed to convey any sense of what it was like to be in a battle of this scale. Perhaps budgetary constraints were part of the reason, but to see it done right look at the HBO TV series "Band of Brothers" based in WW2.
As I said in my previous post, if the budget wasn't there to do it properly, I'd rather have seen it done "Ken Burns Civil War" fashion with maps, archive photos and voiceover.
I enjoyed the programme, and would give a special mention to the poignant music score, but what I found frustrating was that it perpetuated the myth that the Battle of the Somme was all about the first day. We had a two hour analysis of 1 July 1916, and a sentence at the end which admitted that another five months of hard fighting followed.
I take the point that the focus on a few characters in selected areas meant we got to "know" them better, but would have preferred a wider view even of the events of Day 1. Having visited the Somme only last month, I was struck by how limited this documentary was, and how very Anglo-centric. No mention of the Newfoundlanders or the Ulstermen, or the Welsh at Mametz Wood, or the South Africans at Delville Wood. Not even a mention of the first use of tanks in battle! So yes, a powerful evocation of the first day - but as an account of "the Somme", it was sadly lacking.
I echo what BtimR and some others stated, the scale of that battle and the amount of troops, different regiments ettc that didn't get a mention (tynside Irish/scottish etc) didnt give it justice. It seemed surreal to see troops walking over grassy meadows after 4 days or so of bombardment. If its true and the research was done then i apoligise but to me looking at old footage i couldn't see log grass like that! The other point (and no i'm not another anorak!) is that if you are going to do someting right...get the correct equipment, some of the troops were carrying Lee Enfields from WW2 not WW1...it was so obvious that the production team had only a few to go around and others were carrying German rifles to the front and Enfileds from the latter part of WW2. I take it there is a shortage of these rifles now to use??!! Just didn't look right ..sorry guys! Having said all that, i want to say thanks to Channel 4 for covering this War, we have far too much about WW2 and not enough about WW1. I'm looking forward to the next one on Sunday with Ian Hislop. Cheers.
Rawlinson played a leading role in what is termed the 'last 100 days' Aug to Nov 1918 when the British army broke the will of their enemy in a non stop campaign.
Programmes like this bring it all home a bit. A few years back I compiled a family history for my mother to prove to her that she did in fact have some family. All she knew was her mother and herself. I did find family ..... but they were all dead. Her father, my grandfather, went to war in June 1916 just a couple of weeks after her birth. He was 32, so they were obviously taking every last soul at that stage. I think he had been exempt prior to that as he was a Dock Labourer. He was blown to pieces on 18th November in the same year, the last day of the Battle of the Somme. His name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. Just one of 70,000 names of men who fell in that Battle and with no known grave. William Taylor - you will not be forgotten.
Thanks for that, Moatman, but did the disaster that was the first day of The Somme as depicted in the film damage his reputation? did he carry the can at all? It sounds from your answer like his reputation survived the war...
Rawlinson is rightly praised for his generalship during the last 100 days. At the Somme he simply did not give credit to the 'New Army' .. end of story. He did better in 1918 and military historians give him credit for that, but the losses incurred due largely to his plan for 1st July remain a huge stain on his reputation.
Taking into concideration the fantastic job Mr Steven Spielberg and Mr Tom Hanks made of 'Saving private Ryan'.It seems to me that if the above names could be persuaded to make a film about the first day on the Somme, I'm sure it would do wonders for the subject on many levels.Or is it because no Americans were there,there is no interest from the outside world? (sorry to be cynical)
If there are US film producers around who want to chuck money at me ... I can point them in the direction of a fair few Yanks who served at the Somme as soldiers in the British army!
Firstly, I must admit to some on the forum that I am a total anorak on the Great War and have been so for nearly 30 years. I found 'The Somme' both excellent and falling short of requirement. It was refreshing to see the sun and waist high weeds, as it was, on 1/7/16 and not the perpetual rain, mud and shell holes portayed in every film on the Great War (which the Somme became later on). Also, for once, no blame on Haig - rather Rawlinson whose actual battle plan was the one used. As a member of the Great War Society ('living history' group), I have to say the British uniforms, rifles, equipment were simply lamentable. At times this would have been almost laughable (I would like to have seen 'Pte Bundy' get his water-bottle out, trapped behind his entrenching tool helve carrier - also they went over in 'Battle order not FSMO with pack!)if the subject was not so serious or close to my heart. Oh, why did you not ask us in the GWS to do this for you, C4? We have the right kit and know how to use it. Still, the programme was sufficiently thought provoking for people at work to ask me about it. I have now helped one previous skeptic to trace his great-uncle killed on the Somme (yes, most were killed after 1/7/16) to the very spot on the ground. Overall - Well done C4!
