The Somme

[socks 32,253]

The bloodiest day in British military history. Today, 1916, the First Day on the Somme, British (incl Irish), Newfoundland, South African & Indian troops launched the Somme offensive. By the end of the day they had sustained 57,470 casualties, including 19,240 Killed in Action.

[tatsblisters 7,936]

My great grandfather was injured in the shoulder in this battle and escaped being killed then later on was nearly beat to death for poaching a few rabbits on the Fitzwilliam estate i never met him but was told he was a very bitter man.

[DIDO.1 20,851]

4 hours ago, baker boy said:

Cannon fodder was all the working class was for the ruling elite mate

Not exactly true. The aristocracy lost as many, if not more sons. 

[TOMO 24,873]

4 minutes ago, DIDO.1 said:

Not exactly true. The aristocracy lost as many, if not more sons. 

is that a real statistic ...???

i have to say i find that hard to believe ....

[DIDO.1 20,851]

8 minutes ago, TOMO said:

is that a real statistic ...???

i have to say i find that hard to believe ....

I'm sure a history buff will give you facts. I only know the amount of masters of hounds and estate owners sons that never came back to carry things on. 

My local pack of harriers hunts a country once cover by 9 packs....all finished after the war, many because the masters didn't come home. 

[DIDO.1 20,851]

Roads to the Great War: World War I and the Decline of Downton Abbey's Aristocracy

ROADSTOTHEGREATWAR-WW1.BLOGSPOT.COM

---

The First World War had a devastating impact on the British upper classes. Those sons of...

 

[TOMO 24,873]

interesting....it does say proportionately though... 

[waltjnr 5,971]

Dido ,want to say bollucks ! The upper classes lost equivalent to the working class??? Obviously their losses were far more substantial, a master of hounds ,compared to a common factory work ,farm worker ,is Obviously a bigger loss ! 

[gnasher16 29,646]

" admiration "......." pride "....." gratitude "........probably should of done what this era is willing to do and just pass the problem onto the next generation i cant feel anything other than " sorrow " for them poor ol fuckers these days.

[DIDO.1 20,851]

2 hours ago, waltjnr said:

Dido ,want to say bollucks ! The upper classes lost equivalent to the working class??? Obviously their losses were far more substantial, a master of hounds ,compared to a common factory work ,farm worker ,is Obviously a bigger loss ! 

I didn't say that did I. 

 

[steve66 3,085]

wonder how many survived ? what i always found heartbreaking about ww1 was those how where shot for cowardice when clearly suffering from ptsd / shell shock and the stigma there familys sufferd  

[THE STIFFMEISTER 14,558]

I sure I wrote this before about a remmberence Sunday but about three  years ago I was asked to lay a wreath in a tiny minuscule Suffolk village close to work as we were allocated local churches to attend in lieu of a larger scale contingent . 

the village I was asked to go to was tiny , literally a row of houses , a shop and a church. 

on the memorial it became very apparent that the lads who were killed in world war 2 were the unborn infants , the nephews , the sons of those killed in world war 1

there was around 30 names for each war on the memorial . One little tiny post stamp village on the Suffolk coast . 
 

terrible the price that was paid by that generation 
 

 

[Arry 18,577]

Whilst doing ancestral research I had some info past to me about my Grandads Brother Jack who was in the trenches of ww1. It was a letter from a Lady farmer who was requesting he be released from the front to come back to do the harvest, which apparently he did. I often wonder what it must have been like for him to come from that Hell to the beautiful fields of Devon knowing you have to go back to Hell when the harvest was over.

My Grandfather was Navy and in the Battle of Jutland. What that generation went through only to lose their sons 22 years later as he did, fathers brother went down with his ship off Alexandrea. Also his cousin lost his life shorty after Spitfire Pilot in Egypt. 

I have been to the Somme and its very sobering all those grave stones. The pictures of all the smashed trees and woods hard to image just how bad it was. Bayonet charges into the faces of machine guns and just being cut down. Heard tale of lads would take their Bayonet off stick in a sand bag hang their wedding ring and message on it knowing they would not make it.

Arry

Edited July 3, 2021 by Arry