Battle of the Somme - WW1 Documentary

The noise of the 6-day bombardment could be heard in the Netherlands. My grandma (born 1902) told me. I’m 70 now. Greetings from the Netherlands.

When I was a kid delivering newspapers I had a stop to an old man and his wife. He always gave me a tip. At the time I thought nothing of it. Long story short he invited me into his home and I seen the photos from WW1 and listened to his stories and always with a cup of tea. I will never forget him and the stories he shared with me.

JRR Tolkien fought in this battle. He was "lucky" enough to contract trench fever from lice and be shipped back home for treatment after surviving 2 major assaults. Imagine how many Tolkiens we lost in this war on both sides. People who if they lived their lives in peace could contribute their intellect to better society. How much art, science, music, literature etc. lost from men who never got to follow their dreams?

My Grandad was in this battle. He joined up in 1914 having lied about his age he was 14. He was a soldier to the end. He was also at Dunkirk. He was lucky to survive both.

The soldiers on both sides were so eloquent in the letters. The way they spoke was so poetic.

What I really love about this documentary is how it shows the suffering of both sides, portraying the Germans as being no less human than the Brits and the French. Big kudos for that.

I remember when I was a teenager, my grand-uncle Paddy, a Dubliner, was still alive and often came to visit his sister, my grandmother. A dapper little man, he had been in charge of a gun-and-horses limber in The Great War. Fifty years later, he had not got over it. Usually very chipper and humorous, now and then, suddenly, he would get up and disappear into the back yard, where we saw him one day cowering and shaking in the dark of the shed. I never forgot it. No counselling in those days! He wasn't the only elderly man of those days going around the cities with a mind full of the horrors of that war, long into the decades. What he had witnessed I can hardly imagine. Or perhaps one can imagine all one wants.

My grandfather was a medic in 314th regiment. Completely shell shocked, so they pulled him out of the line and made him a field hospital orderly. He came back with a whole list of psychological problems including turning into a compulsive thief. He would steal completely useless things that never helped him but did get him into trouble. He lost numerous jobs but people in the small community understood the war messed him up so he was never convicted of the crimes. He would be smoking quietly and suddenly just start to shake uncontrollably. We grandkids were always asking” what’s wrong with grandpa?”

This is absolutely superb. The acting is on a par with anything I've seen in any big-budget Hollywood film.

My grandad fought in the Somme. He survived with a bullet wound in his side. He worked with the horses. Never spoke of the horrors he saw. He lived to 95 and loved a whisky with his cigarettes. He had 12 children. A gentle soft spoken man who never complained

My 2x great grandad fought in the 2nd battalion Royal Irish Regiment at the Somme. His name was Sargent Patrick Nolan, 65% of his regiment were killed or missing on the 1st day. Somehow he survived and unfortunately was killed at the 3rd battle of Ypres. Thinking of the horror he must have gone through brings tears to my eyes. We will never forget their sacrifice!

The thing this documentary does which I have always appreciated more than anything else is emphasis on its connections to the people who participated. The scene of the men reflecting on that last additional evening before they went into battle moves me so deeply every time. If anything else, I am glad those tens of thousands killed in this horrific conflict got to witness even one last sunrise. Lest We Forget.

We cannot possibly can even come close to knowing their fear, their sadness, their sacrifices, how tired, hungry, cold, hot they were through their crucible.

Everyone should visit these battlefields once in their life it’s an eerie feeling you’ll never feel anywhere else and a reminder of what was there

There is something pleasing and warm about the way they wrote to their loved ones ("My dearest mother"), and their comments on their own terrifying situation are stoical and insightful. The overall impression is of a nobler and warmer generation than our own.

I'm glad people are taking a closer look at WW I now. The amount of battlefield deaths and injuries was horrendous. I hope more footage, pictures and firsthand accounts can be found and put into historical works so that the period will stay well documented and remembered.

Imagine being 15 and becoming a man who's seen more horrible things than almost anyone you meet for the rest of your life.

I knew two veterans from this battle. One was shot in the head, survived and went back for the second battle. Both survived the war and lived into their 90s

Charlie May's letter is one of the profound pieces of WW1 history I have ever heard.

i am completely impressed with the production of this documentary. i love the realistic skits especially!