Bombardier
29-06-06, 18:01
Through German Eyes: The British and the Somme 1916
http://www.militaryimages.net/imagehost/images/Snapper/somme.jpg (http://www.militaryimages.net/shop/shop.php?c=001&n=1025612&i=0297846892&x=Through_German_Eyes_The_British_and_the_Somme_19 16)
Want the book?, buy it HERE (http://www.militaryimages.net/shop/shop.php?c=001&n=1025612&i=0297846892&x=Through_German_Eyes_The_British_and_the_Somme_19 16)
During the war and for some years afterward, the British effort on the Somme in 1916 was regarded by those who were there as a very considerable achievement. Denied by David Lloyd George in his scurrilous "War Memoirs" and, in the descending gloom of the thirties, denigrated by the highly seductive and pernicious view of waste, disenchantment and futility purveyed by poets and intellectuals, the Somme descended into mythology that persists to this day. Alan Clarks "The Donkeys" and "Oh It's a Lovely War" in the anti-establishment sixties perpetutated the myth, building it into a fortress that has proved virtually impregnable. Thousands of accounts - at times you would never the believe the war continued after 9am on 1st July 1916 - of brave pals, never before into action, slaughtered by the machine guns of Serre, Beaumont Hamel, Thiepval, La Boisselle. Powerful imagery, deep emotion. The impact of the loss on 1 July was immsense and still has the power to shock us today and quite rightly. But where is the memory of hard-fought success on the first day; of the brilliant capture of the German second line on 14th July; of the incredible intensity of the fight for Guillemont; the extraordinary advances on 15th September; the fast-paced development of new structures of command, of tactics, of logistics; even of the monumental effort to fight in the mud of October? "But we lost hundreds of thousands of men ... surely stupid... how can you call that a success"? Surely those who took part deserve better of us than to keep on accepting this line. Surely we need to take the Somme into proper perspective. "Through German eyes: the British & the Somme 1916" is certainly among the most powerful works to help us do so.
army;
http://www.militaryimages.net/imagehost/images/Snapper/somme.jpg (http://www.militaryimages.net/shop/shop.php?c=001&n=1025612&i=0297846892&x=Through_German_Eyes_The_British_and_the_Somme_19 16)
Want the book?, buy it HERE (http://www.militaryimages.net/shop/shop.php?c=001&n=1025612&i=0297846892&x=Through_German_Eyes_The_British_and_the_Somme_19 16)
During the war and for some years afterward, the British effort on the Somme in 1916 was regarded by those who were there as a very considerable achievement. Denied by David Lloyd George in his scurrilous "War Memoirs" and, in the descending gloom of the thirties, denigrated by the highly seductive and pernicious view of waste, disenchantment and futility purveyed by poets and intellectuals, the Somme descended into mythology that persists to this day. Alan Clarks "The Donkeys" and "Oh It's a Lovely War" in the anti-establishment sixties perpetutated the myth, building it into a fortress that has proved virtually impregnable. Thousands of accounts - at times you would never the believe the war continued after 9am on 1st July 1916 - of brave pals, never before into action, slaughtered by the machine guns of Serre, Beaumont Hamel, Thiepval, La Boisselle. Powerful imagery, deep emotion. The impact of the loss on 1 July was immsense and still has the power to shock us today and quite rightly. But where is the memory of hard-fought success on the first day; of the brilliant capture of the German second line on 14th July; of the incredible intensity of the fight for Guillemont; the extraordinary advances on 15th September; the fast-paced development of new structures of command, of tactics, of logistics; even of the monumental effort to fight in the mud of October? "But we lost hundreds of thousands of men ... surely stupid... how can you call that a success"? Surely those who took part deserve better of us than to keep on accepting this line. Surely we need to take the Somme into proper perspective. "Through German eyes: the British & the Somme 1916" is certainly among the most powerful works to help us do so.
army;