War Horse - Batte of the Somme

Never a better time to know how to play the bagpipes.

No one truely understands how scary it is to hear that whistle during ww1, no matter what side you were on

Fun fact: J.R.R Tolkien, author of Lord of the Rings, fought in this battle.

My grandfather was 5 and the youngest of 9 brothers when WW1 started, he was never old enough to join but all his older brothers did and all but one of them were killed... His parents received a plaque from the King as a token gesture of sympathy.

"Hey piper, are you coming?"......"ah nooooooo, you guys go ahead, the acoustics are much better from inside the trench, good luck though!!"

60, 000 men lost in one day. The absolute waste of a generation. Just to do it all again 20 years later.

It may be over a hundred years since, but the understanding of what that whistle means chills my blood to ice. Rest in peace, you brave heroes.

I think what makes this scene so effective is how loud it is. I remember in the theater how loud and abrasive the sound was. Can only imagine how loud an actual WW1 battle must have been.

"This whole blasted war would have been so much simpler if we'd just stayed at home and shot 50.000 of our own men a week" - Capt. Edmund Blackadder

Sacrifices 10,000 men to gain one Kilometer. WW1 General : I see this as an absolute win

For those who are wondering about the bagpipes, it's a pretty interesting story. During the war on the Western Front, when British Soldiers went over the top of the trenches, one of them would play a tune on bagpipes. Said tune would tune out the gunfire and explosions, and encourage the soldiers to press on. It was also to scare and confuse the enemy, as it was often hard to hear where it was coming from. One such piper was James Cealand Richardson. A young Scottish-Canadian man who was present at the First Battle of the Somme in 1916, where he was awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery. Sadly, he would die during the offensive. Anyway, the reason the piper in the video stayed behind was because towards the end of the war in 1918, the British were running out of pipers, so to save the remainders, they ordered that they stay in the trenches instead while the others went out into No Man's Land. That was probably for the better, as the Pipers didn’t possess weapons anyway because they were holding the bagpipes and couldn't hold anything else.

I couldn't begin to imagine what they lads went through back then, brutal

To all in the comments, this is the second battle of the Somme in 1918, not the 'worst day in British military history' which was day one of the first battle, July 1st 1916.

My momma always said learning Music can save your life

"The war to end all wars." The misery of WW1 is beyond human understanding. Being killed quickly by a machine gun burst in no-man's land would seem like a gift compared to those who were wounded and irretrievable between the lines. The heat, the cold, the flies, the mud, the mustard gas. Men who were born around the dawn of the 20th century in Europe and North America could not have imagined the misery that lay ahead of them.

Even if you're one of the "lucky" 1 in 100 who actually makes it to the other side, what're you going to do? There's thousands of Germans in that trench. What a ridiculous point in our history.

Boys: Playing with their plastic army men Mom: Aw so cute Boy's mind:

That moment when the German MG casually mows down a group of British soldiers who then topple into the muddy water... absolutely terrible

The Battle of the Somme serves as a poignant reminder of the futility of war and the immense human cost. We owe it to those who perished to strive for peace.

'Hey piper, you comin' with us?!' 'Sorry bro, long tune.'