The Somme Centenary.

[keepitcovert 842]

 

When I read of all the deaths in ww1 I find myself thinking what would Britain be like today if it had never happened with the larger population etc. While out me and the wife always look at the war memorials in the small villages and towns and it's hard to believe how many men from small communities were lost. Must have been heartbreaking, RIP.

 

 

i was watching a quiz show the other day,one question was ,,,,when did londons population get back up to the same as 1939,,,,,,the three choises were 1955,,,95,,,or 2015,,,,,i thought it would be 55 but was shocked it was 2015....

 

with the two world wars ,,,and spanish flue in the early 20th centuray,,,we lost alot of humans

 

Truth is mate the human race think they are the master race but war is a way of curbing overpopulation, the human race will eventually destroy the planet.Going back to the somme, the greatest blunder was the order walk do not run, had they been quick enough to reach the front line trenches before jerry recovered than things could have been so different. I am old enough and lucky enough to have talked to some men that were there and have nothing but respect for them, but there was certainly bitterness and resentment on the stupidity of the way it was conducted by the men who were there. But then again war is stupid, because basically the human race is self destructive and stupid.

[bird 10,013]

 

 

When I read of all the deaths in ww1 I find myself thinking what would Britain be like today if it had never happened with the larger population etc. While out me and the wife always look at the war memorials in the small villages and towns and it's hard to believe how many men from small communities were lost. Must have been heartbreaking, RIP.

 

 

i was watching a quiz show the other day,one question was ,,,,when did londons population get back up to the same as 1939,,,,,,the three choises were 1955,,,95,,,or 2015,,,,,i thought it would be 55 but was shocked it was 2015....

 

with the two world wars ,,,and spanish flue in the early 20th centuray,,,we lost alot of humans

 

Truth is mate the human race think they are the master race but war is a way of curbing overpopulation, the human race will eventually destroy the planet.Going back to the somme, the greatest blunder was the order walk do not run, had they been quick enough to reach the front line trenches before jerry recovered than things could have been so different. I am old enough and lucky enough to have talked to some men that were there and have nothing but respect for them, but there was certainly bitterness and resentment on the stupidity of the way it was conducted by the men who were there. But then again war is stupid, because basically the human race is self destructive and stupid.

 

didnt know it may have been bit different if they ran and not walked .? but your right with your thread here deff

[gnasher16 30,594]

 

Truth is mate the human race think they are the master race but war is a way of curbing overpopulation, the human race will eventually destroy the planet.

 

 

Just out of curiosity if humans are not the master race then who or what is ?

[WILF 48,264]

 

When I read of all the deaths in ww1 I find myself thinking what would Britain be like today if it had never happened with the larger population etc. While out me and the wife always look at the war memorials in the small villages and towns and it's hard to believe how many men from small communities were lost. Must have been heartbreaking, RIP.

 

 

i was watching a quiz show the other day,one question was ,,,,when did londons population get back up to the same as 1939,,,,,,the three choises were 1955,,,95,,,or 2015,,,,,i thought it would be 55 but was shocked it was 2015....

 

with the two world wars ,,,and spanish flue in the early 20th centuray,,,we lost alot of humans

That's mad, I am shocked that there were 10 million people in London in 1939 !!!

[Blackbriar 8,569]

 

 

 

When I read of all the deaths in ww1 I find myself thinking what would Britain be like today if it had never happened with the larger population etc. While out me and the wife always look at the war memorials in the small villages and towns and it's hard to believe how many men from small communities were lost. Must have been heartbreaking, RIP.

 

 

i was watching a quiz show the other day,one question was ,,,,when did londons population get back up to the same as 1939,,,,,,the three choises were 1955,,,95,,,or 2015,,,,,i thought it would be 55 but was shocked it was 2015....

 

with the two world wars ,,,and spanish flue in the early 20th centuray,,,we lost alot of humans

Truth is mate the human race think they are the master race but war is a way of curbing overpopulation, the human race will eventually destroy the planet.Going back to the somme, the greatest blunder was the order walk do not run, had they been quick enough to reach the front line trenches before jerry recovered than things could have been so different. I am old enough and lucky enough to have talked to some men that were there and have nothing but respect for them, but there was certainly bitterness and resentment on the stupidity of the way it was conducted by the men who were there. But then again war is stupid, because basically the human race is self destructive and stupid.

didnt know it may have been bit different if they ran and not walked .? but your right with your thread here deff

 

I think that sometimes we judge history too harshly. If you look at things WITHOUT the benefit of hindsight, you sometimes see things differently........

 

The average Tommy was a volunteer - most had never seen a gun before, let alone handled one. Very few had any previous military experience. They were given only a few weeks of very basic training, before being sent to the front. The majority of the officers were also volunteers, chosen to be an officer simply because they had a 'respectable' profession - bank manager, lawyer, doctor - they had a little more training, but most had no leadership experience. To further dispel the myth that they had a charmed life, remember that 60% of officers sent to the front died there !

 

Then there's communications.....

Radio was still in its infancy. What equipment they had would have been crude and unreliable. Just passing orders down a trench was fraught with problems. So, orders had to passed verbally or in writing, often travelling hundreds of miles and to dozens of people. By the time orders were received, the information they were based on was often out of date. The army still used carrier pigeons, for goodness sake !

 

And finally, of course,the technology........

Weaponry advanced very quickly in a very short period of time. Tanks, long range mortars, land mines, machine guns - troops faced weapons, the like of which had never been seen before. Sadly, tactics hadn't advanced as quickly, against weapons that had seemingly appeared from nowhere. 18th century frontal attacks were deployed against 20th century mass destruction.....with tragic results.

 

There certainly were military amd tactical mistakes, but I think that to 'blame the generals' is to oversimplify the situation they all found themselves in. A 'perfect storm' of inexperienced troops, poor communications and advanced weaponry............

[The Seeker 3,048]

I was at the Somme and Ypre only a couple of weeks ago, me and a mate went on a battlefields tour something I've always wanted to do. It was incredible and I advise anyone with an interest in ww1 to visit. No photo can give the real feeling of the amount of loss that occurred until your stood in the Tyne Cot cemetery (so named because one of the soldiers suggested the buildings on the ridge reminded him of cottages on the Tyne back home)

 

An interesting fact I learned was of German chemist Fritz Haber, he won a Nobel peace prise for his works and was famous for using chemicals used for pest control. His work led him to develop chlorine gas and then onto the much worse mustard gas used in the First World War.

 

After the war he continued and developed his pest control chemicals and eventually created Zyklon B which was used extensively in the gas chambers in Auschwitz etc.

 

The thing is old Fritz Haber was a Jew....!