Posted on 01/20/2017 6:13:28 AM PST by artichokegrower
The Battle of the Somme was not only the bloodiest Western Front battle of WWI, it was one of the bloodiest military conflicts in human history, with over 1 million casualties. The subsequent documentary made by Geoffrey Malins and John McDowell has become an important piece of cinematic history, as well as an often-mined source of footage for WWI.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearlife.com ...
ping for later
For whatever reason I have a strong affinity for places. I can reminisce over photos or items but places hold the greatest mystique for me. To stand where others have before, to breathe the same air and feel the same sun gives me a great connection I don’t quite feel with an old hat they wore. Because of this I’ve always enjoyed “Then and Now” style photos. The maker of this film must have a similar affinity for location, to have spent years seeking them out to make this, a real labor of love. Interesting to see how much is relatively unchanged over 100 years.
This is awesome. I used to scan WWI and WWII graves in France with GPR to help out the cemetery officials. Using this we can trace the sites and look for buried artifacts. Got to watch for buried bombs, which I also did!
BFL
BUMP FOR LATER VIEWING
Thank you for posting this. And also thanks to the Freeper who posted the lip reading segment. Fascinating.
A lot of work went into the longer film. I can’t imagine how he found all of these specific places.
Last year I spent a week exploring WW1 sites around the Somme and down by the US battlefields from 1918. Other than the monuments and cemeteries - and there are a lot of cemeteries - there is not much left to indicate these enormous battles. Further south around Verdun there are woods where entire villages were destroyed and never replaced. Only some ruins and some modern signage remain. And some very large cemeteries.
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