The Somme (2005 Docu-Drama)

2,086 Views | 7 Replies | Last: 4 yr ago by 30wedge
Waltonloads08
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AG
In anticipation of "1917" coming to theaters in December, I looked up other WWI movies, and came across this one. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0489278/




JABQ04
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AG
They shall not Grow Old is being released on a limited run in December as well
30wedge
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Watched it tonight, thanks for the heads up. A couple of years ago I read about the 1,000,000 casualties at the Somme and just shook my head almost in disbelief. Seeing the cemeteries at the end, both those of our Allies and of the Germans is sobering, even moreso in person. You can drive through France and suddenly you come upon a cemetery, be it French, German, or American. For the most part they are in pristine condition. To visit them in person brings home the enormity of the devastation of WWI. Even still, a million casualties is hard to comprehend.
Rabid Cougar
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AG
Waltonloads08 said:

In anticipation of "1917" coming to theaters in December, I looked up other WWI movies, and came across this one. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0489278/





Holy hell..... I have said this before, we cannot truly comprehend what these guys went through.
Waltonloads08
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AG
And you can't really capture it in a movie, but days or weeks of shelling...

How do you NOT lose your mind?
30wedge
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Waltonloads08 said:

And you can't really capture it in a movie, but days or weeks of shelling...

How do you NOT lose your mind?
Yeah for sure. On my first trip to Tarawa I waded into Red Beach 1 which is the beach where my dad made the wade. I walked out about 400 yards (he would have had a longer wade than that). I just wanted to walk the same ground he walked, although without getting shot at!

Although the heat was the same as it was (more or less) on the first day of the battle (I was there on the 72nd anniversary of it), I of course had much more technical and comfortable clothing than he would have had, and I wasn't carrying a BAR and ammo, helmet, etc., and though I could walk into the same place, nothing in the world could recreate the smell and sound, the absolute fury of all the shelling, constant machine gun fire, etc. I just don't see how anyone made it ashore and don't see how anyone kept their sanity facing all that.

I was having skin cancer surgery some time ago and took a book to read; the doc noticed the title and he and I got to talking about the war, and he mentioned his dad served somewhere (I forget where now) and his dad was under almost continual shelling for a long time. He said it messed up his dad and he survived the war but was never the same for the rest of his life.
IDAGG
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AG
This is why I chuckle at people calling the French cowards. Yeah it's funny to razz the French because they are kinda different. But consider this.

French war dead (combatants) in WWI = 1.36M = 4.3% of their entire population

US War dead in WW II = 407K = .32% of the entire US population

We think of WW II as being an all encompassing war for the US. And it was. But if we had lost as many dead as a percent of our population as the French had lost in WW I we would have lost 5.6M soldiers in WW II.

Or it would be like us losing 15M soldiers in a war in the current time.

It is no wonder the French had some mutinies late in the war.
Waltonloads08
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AG
30wedge said:

Waltonloads08 said:

And you can't really capture it in a movie, but days or weeks of shelling...

How do you NOT lose your mind?
Yeah for sure. On my first trip to Tarawa I waded into Red Beach 1 which is the beach where my dad made the wade. I walked out about 400 yards (he would have had a longer wade than that). I just wanted to walk the same ground he walked, although without getting shot at!

Although the heat was the same as it was (more or less) on the first day of the battle (I was there on the 72nd anniversary of it), I of course had much more technical and comfortable clothing than he would have had, and I wasn't carrying a BAR and ammo, helmet, etc., and though I could walk into the same place, nothing in the world could recreate the smell and sound, the absolute fury of all the shelling, constant machine gun fire, etc. I just don't see how anyone made it ashore and don't see how anyone kept their sanity facing all that.

I was having skin cancer surgery some time ago and took a book to read; the doc noticed the title and he and I got to talking about the war, and he mentioned his dad served somewhere (I forget where now) and his dad was under almost continual shelling for a long time. He said it messed up his dad and he survived the war but was never the same for the rest of his life.




I didn't know much about Tarawa, so I watched this. I can't imagine "storming" a beach riding rubber rafts like that.

Interesting story.
30wedge
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Not much storming occurred in the rubber rafts (that was done via LVT's and wading) and by the third day access to the landing beaches was better than on the first and second day (but was still dangerous as hell). Though the film says Red Beach 1, seeing the rubber rafts and seeing he was in 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, I am pretty sure that was Green Beach. 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines had cut off the end of the island, from Red Beach 1 to the ocean side which allowed men and tanks to come ashore on Green Beach. Tarawa was tiny, couple miles long and 800 yards wide at its widest. Like 350 acres or so.

Had not seen this particular clip, so thanks for posting. Would have loved to spend an afternoon with this guy and listen to his experience on Tarawa. He mentioned not seeing any Japanese really, since most were in bunkers or pillboxes covered with sand. Those I have interviewed all said the same thing, seldom was the enemy seen.
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