BlueDotMusic's video: ThiepvalMemorial The Battle Of TheSomme WW1Poetry: God How I Hate You by Arthur Graeme West

The Battle of the Somme (French: Bataille de la Somme, German: Schlacht an der Somme), also known as the Somme Offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British and French empires against the German Empire. It took place between July 1st and November 18th 1916 on both sides of upper reaches of the River Somme in France. It was the largest battle of World War I on the Western Front; more than one million men were wounded or killed, making it one of the bloodiest battles in human history. In the days leading up to the attack the Allies fired 1,627,824 shells at the German trenches, the greatest bombardment in history. The first day on the Somme (July 1st) was also the worst day in the history of the British army, which had c. 57,470 casualties, mainly on the front between the Albert–Bapaume road and Gommecourt, where the attack was defeated and few British troops reached the German front line. The British troops on the Somme comprised a mixture of the remains of the pre-war regular army, the Territorial Force and the Kitchener Army, which was composed of Pals Battalions. A German General made the comment that they were "Lions lead by Donkeys" At the Battle of The Somme the British were blooded, to their credit the Generals learned fro their mistakes. Afterwards, the British embarked on a top to bottom revolution. The big guns were trained to perform scientifically co-ordinated 'creeping barrages', behind which troops could advance to the very lip of the German trenches. The platoon of 40 men, the basic unit of the Army, became a punchier thing. Out went the line advance in favour of platoon rushes under covering rifle and machine gun fire. Tanks were used for the first time in warfare at Flers-Courcellette. On the killing fields of the Somme the British Army went from a amateur army to a mass professional one. German field officer Captain von Hentig called the Somme "the muddy grave of the German field army" The Battle of the Somme has been called the beginning of modern all-arms warfare, during which Kitchener's Army learned to fight the mass-industrial war, which the continental armies had been engaged in for two years. This view sees the British contribution to the battle as part of a coalition war and part of a process, which took the strategic initiative from the German Army and caused it irreparable damage, leading to its collapse in late 1918. Two years after the Somme the British Army achieved a string of military triumphs unmatched in their history. The victories in the final '100 Days' on the Western Front began with the sacrifice on the Somme. From Thiepval War Memorial (video thumbnail) you can look up and down the old frontline. The view is heart-rending. There is a necklace of Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries. In the sunlight, the white portland headstones glare like broken promises. In Winter , they jut like bones from the ground. Tens and tens of cemeteries create a map of the battle: the men were buried were they fell. Arthur Graeme West was born in Norwich, England and grew up in London, the son of an evangelist and former missionary. West attended Blundell’s School where he first met C.E.M. Joad, a lifelong friend who had much to do with West’s posthumous reputation. Both young men won scholarships to Balliol College, Oxford. Joad was a pacifist and early objector to World War I. West enlisted in 1914 and, after being turned down initially for poor eyesight, eventually saw action in the trenches in France. Promoted for officer training, West endured the incompetence of senior army staff and, coupled with the horrors he had seen in France, gradually lost his belief in the war and religion both. West returned to active duty as Captain and was killed by a sniper near Bapaume. 'God! How I Hate You' read by Anthony Davies from, The Great War Poets' Download here https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/the-great-war-poems/id268167309?i=268169767   WW1 Commemoration Poetry Playlist; https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqIk601MRX0gGX46Z7eZNnvUxuGzc_8ZF Join the Blue Dot Music Experience. http://www.youtube.com/BlueDotMusic http://www.facebook.com/BlueDotMusic ©2016 blue dot music All Worldwide Rights Reserved. Video created for blue dot music by Robert Nichol/Allcast http://www.allcast.co.uk