#4528457 - 07/02/20 09:33 PM
Re: Somme
[Re: Sluggish Controls]
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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 1,402
Zamzow
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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 1,402
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Hard to comprehend how the top brass could accept those numbers back then. Is it to say the elite folks were nothing more than savage baboons? Looks like it Most of you probably read Somme Mud by E P F Lynch, and if you have not, I strongly recommend it, pronto. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Somme-Mud-P-F-Lynch/dp/0553819135Cheers, Slug Ages ago I was reading somewhere about acceptance of casualties in modern times vs long ago - one comment went something like "A Roman Centurion might say 'Take these thousand men. 500 don't come back? Then take the surviving 500 and 1000 more'". Maybe WW1 "top brass" wasn't that extreme about it, but I imagine in those days they still had a lot more of that mentality than today... I'd also imagine that both of the above mentioned periods had far more people who honestly didn't have much to live for...
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#4528493 - 07/03/20 07:43 AM
Re: Somme
[Re: Zamzow]
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Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 763
WhoCares
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Member
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 763
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Hard to comprehend how the top brass could accept those numbers back then. Is it to say the elite folks were nothing more than savage baboons? Looks like it Most of you probably read Somme Mud by E P F Lynch, and if you have not, I strongly recommend it, pronto. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Somme-Mud-P-F-Lynch/dp/0553819135Cheers, Slug Ages ago I was reading somewhere about acceptance of casualties in modern times vs long ago - one comment went something like "A Roman Centurion might say 'Take these thousand men. 500 don't come back? Then take the surviving 500 and 1000 more'". Maybe WW1 "top brass" wasn't that extreme about it, but I imagine in those days they still had a lot more of that mentality than today... I'd also imagine that both of the above mentioned periods had far more people who honestly didn't have much to live for... In many of the waring nations of WW1 there was still a significant disconnect between the ranks and the officers corps, and even more so the farther up you look, Gods and Generals and such, you know. Especially in the highest positions, Army leadership, the guys commanding the overall goings, there is also a significant political and in modern terms "networking" component, especially in the monarchies, which is why these ranks are mostly filled with aristocrats. About the Centurion example, in WW1 they were often still very much the same, like Falkenhayn (Chief of Staff at the time) intentionally turning Verdun into a meatgrinder, with the idea to bleed the French dry...
Last edited by WhoCares; 07/03/20 07:43 AM.
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#4528495 - 07/03/20 09:08 AM
Re: Somme
[Re: Roudou]
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Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 2,760
BD-123
Old Scroat
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Old Scroat
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Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 2,760
Naunton Beauchamp Worcestershi...
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When WW1 began, everyone ran to join the military and fight. It was an adventure and the duty for many who didn't never been farther than a few miles away from home.
You forget one thing, there was conscription in France and probably in other nations too. French menfolk had to undertake three years of obligatory service I believe. In UK the professional Regular Army was considered enough manpower to deal with Jerry, as 'it will all be over by Christmas'. Conscription was not deemed a necessary action until January 1916, as volunteerism dropped off as the reality of this awful unprecedented slaughter became apparent, and Reserved Occupations' were narrowed down. Britain, more so than other combative nations, put women into work to release more men for service what became a war of attrition. As NFB stated, at the start of hostilities, many joined as from a sense of adventure, escape from a humdrum existence with little prospects or poverty. The recruiting centres were initially overwhelmed with cheering crowds eager to 'take the King's Shilling'. Many of these young chaps were unfit for service, especially from the industrial conurbations due to conditions and complications often due to malnutrition, often the result of childhood illnesses. As many I would surmise as from a sense of duty, patriotism, or fear of the 'Dastardly Hun'. As NFB again states, the majority, certainly working class British citizens did not travel far from home. Even residents of adjacent towns and villages regarded each other with suspicion and alienation, so as an Island Race, one can imagine with limited education and media access, how easy it was to convince the British public of the evil intentions of a remote foreign power by propaganda portraying them as monsters. Though the later conflict, my Father joined up in 1940 having drifted from job to job after being laid off by a Shipping Line in 1936, attracted by the fact he would be paid, fed and clothed doing what he liked best, riding motorcycles!
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#4528503 - 07/03/20 10:23 AM
Re: Somme
[Re: Mad Max]
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 5,534
Alicatt
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 5,534
Ice Cold in Alex or Eating in ...
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My maternal grandfather's brother William was wounded during WW1 by a German bayonet which caught him in the upper left arm, you could see the entry and exit of it, he was captured and spent the rest of the war as a POW, I cannot remember when or where it happened, he was telling me a little about it while we played chess one day in the back garden, mum later confirmed that it was true. My father's cousin George was wounded and captured in Italy during WW2 This is him with the X above his head, where or what they are doing I don't know. Edit: According to the war records he was wounded and captured in Greece and then shipped to Stalag XVIII-A and the above photo is from 18 Jan 1942 in the POW camp.
Last edited by Alicatt; 07/03/20 10:39 AM. Reason: Just found out more details.
Chlanna nan con thigibh a so's gheibh sibh feoil Sons of the hound come here and get flesh Clan Cameron
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