The Somme the battle for the truth 

My great grandfather was a stretcher bearer in the 16th Irish Division, 7th Royal Irish Fusiliers, and was wounded in both the Somme and Passchendaele, and evacuated in August 1917 never to return to his unit. Survived the war by the grace of God. I’m stunned by the aerial photos showing more craters than on the moon. I don’t know how anyone survived, frankly. If you ever have the chance, pick a unit and read it’s Battalion Diaries, which were written by the Adjutant every day and described the day’s significant events. Amazing reading of daily life.

How my Grandfather made it through the Somme, is amazing. He served with the Irish Guards Regiment from 1915 to 1919. He was born and raised in Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim, Ireland. 🍀

Love the blunt brutal honesty of some of these British gentleman who call it for what it was.

This is an EXCELLENT documentary. The level of research and rich detail about various key aspects and elements of the battle and the expertise of the contributors who appear on film is of the highest order. This has to be one of the best, most informative documentaries on the Great War and the Somme in particular that I've encountered anywhere. I hope that at some point you DO manage to complete the funding required to complete the project to your satisfaction with all the final polish and post production etc. My personal relationship with the First World War has changed dramatically over the past 12 months. I retired, took a DNA test and began researching my family tree. My family has always believed that we had no ancestors who fought in the 1914-1918 war. That family myth has been blown wide apart. To date I've discovered over 50 young men from across all branches of both my Maternal and Paternal lines who fought and died in the war. They were from across the British Empire, many had emigrated but returned to fight on the Western Front and every other theatre of war. It has been a humbling experience. Among them is a 2nd Lt who was awarded the Military Cross for his bravery during an action on the Somme. Another was a pipe in the Canadian Army who was awarded a Victoria Cross at the Somme for a truly incredible Boy's Own story of bravery. Both were killed in action. I discovered my father had an uncle of whom he knew nothing. He was killed 2 weeks after his 20th birthday and 2 weeks before the Armistice while fighting in Northern Russia with the Allied forces against the Red Army during the Russian Civil War.His sister, my paternal grandfather never mentioned his name. Tragically 3 brothers were killed in France and Gallipoli, wiping out an entire generation of one branch. Another poor bloke was kicked in the head by a viscous horse while on duty and invalided out of the army and the last to die on active duty succumbed to exposure while on patrol in the Egyptian desert in January 1919. There were also those who were disciplined for being found drunk on duty and subjected to field punishment No1. I felt sympathy with the 5"5" 19 year old who faced this horrific punishment twice before being killed in action 3 days after completing his 2nd humiliation. I feel a sense of pride for each and everyone of these boys and complete anger at their needless loss. No one had ever spoken of them- no photos, no stories, nothing. Discovering their stories has made me reassess the war in a far more direct and personal way. It really brings home just how far the war cut a wide swathe through an entire generation that spanned the entire globe. I never fully appreciated that before. I'm so glad I discovered this family history while both my parents, now in their late 80s, are still with us.

My father in law was there - Alfred Collington (Royal Garrison Artillery 93rd Garrison) & was injured (lost a leg) in July 1916 - I have with my wife visited Thiepval and other battlefield sites (now accurate with modern GPS) and the site of the loss of his brother 'James Collington' was killed at Richebourg. His grave we visited and paid our respects in 2016 - regard this grave with sorry, but with honour.......

I've only just stumbled across this on YT. Despite the missing funding to complete the job to your satisfacion, this is a fine documentary with an impressive cast of commentators delivering solid, well presented content. I remember encountering you on the edge of Hawthorn crater 16+ years ago (with Ian McEwan) when this project existed solely within your fevered imagination. You are one obsessive and self-driven guy. Truly brilliant job mate!

What a brillant doxumentary, my grandson is studying to be a historian, and he said he learned alot !

A really interesting documentary. You let the subject experts speak for themselves and narrated only enough to link your various interviews. Thank you for posting this.

My grandfather joined the Lancashire fusiliers in 1914 while underage, he was discovered and discharged. He joined up again in 1915 in the Staffordshire yeomanry and fought in Palestine and Mesopotamia, had he stayed in his original unit he would undoubtedly have been killed in this battle and I wouldn't be here writing this.

Very, very good, your contributors have excellent insights.

This excellent film is new to me but nonetheless extremely informative. Every film adds more detail, thank you so much for posting it.

Nicely done indeed...I have a hard time getting my head around the size and scope of The Somme and have looked at every documentary I can...this one adds to my understanding immensely...and it was a treat to put faces to some of the names I see on the many books I have read..Thanks again

Truly Excellent viewing with a world of info! Thanks very much,and may those who gave the extreme sacrifice,Those brave boys! R.I.P

An excellent, honest and passionate film Thanks. Exactly where my book is set, so especially interesting

Very informative and sad .thank you for posting.

Superb film. Best explanation of the battle I've seen. Thanks!

You've just gotta Love Peter Hart's passion for the subject AND regarding the waste of human life👍 It comes across in his books too-top man Pete,stay safe mate☮💚🖖

The best documentary I have seen on this subject, for once a balanced view.

This is one of the best docs on the somme i've seen with great historians and interviews

Sorry, but K1 (the first Kitchener Army of 100,000) started arriving in France in May 1915 and the first major engagement of K1 divisions was the Battle of Loos (started 25 September 1915).

A very interesting and informative video.

All brave young men lest we forget

Field Marshall Haigh "We are right ✅ behind you lads".....35 miles behind you.

I'm pleasantly surprised by this documentary. When I see the word "truth" in a video title, usually that means the video will be extremely slanted. I learned a lot, and I'm really pleased that not once did I hear anything that made me want to get out my BS detector :)

My great uncle Dan was killed in the Battle of the Somme.His body was not found.His name is on both the Thiepval and Ardrossan memorials.He was in a Scottish regiment.He was not a career soldier.

Very good,a truly informative documentary for a change and one that isn't nonstop musical score at irritating volume the entire way thriugh!Thanks for posting!

Cliff Notes Version: after British artillery fired off a bunch of duds and a shit-load of noisy shrapnel based explosives, an army of ill-trained British & French tried to walk across an open field toward German positions guarded by deep bunkers, barbed wire, accurately aimed artillery, and deadly accurate machine guns: the attackers were slaughtered, and their generals weren't hung.

Excellent documentary.

Greetings from New Zealand. Those poor brave men.They went through sheer hell.They were real men.

Great content, Well Done..

Superb.

These stories are so so interesting I often wonder have I seen my grand uncle marching past he was in the Dublin fusiliers killed in 1918

Massive respect to the French for giving the land that so many died fighting for to the respective countries involved in individual battles. ❤❤❤

a great documentary cause its full of common sense unlike alot of others which view everything thru the prism of uncontrolled emotions ((not to mention the comment sections where everyone says how they would do it better))

Bethmann Hollweg proposed peace talks in December 1916. The leaders of the Entente countries however, saw this as a sign of weakness and didn't pursue the possibility. Philip Snowden, Labour said of the british reaction, that, "Europe is not governed by reason" and called the countries which wanted to continue the war "from madness befallen gamblers".

So, we are told that Haig was an innocent victim of the French. I find that very hard to believe. We are told that Haig wanted to attack in Flanders. It is hard to conceive of a worse place for a WW1 attack, as later events would show. Haig wanted a "war of movement". He continued to think in terms of cavalry charges being loosed in the German rear areas after breaking through the German front lines. He did not comprehend the depth of the German lines, nor their deep dugouts, or the lethal effect of well-sited machine guns and massed artillery. He and his staff were, and many remained, willfully ignorant of the conditions into which they sent their soldiers. There is a story of a member of Haig's staff coming to the Passchendael battlefield after that battle, and exclaiming to his driver "Don't tell me we sent men to fight in that!" and his driver responded "Its worse further up". British and German artillery had reduced the battlefield to a toxic, stinking pool of deep mud in which men drowned if they slipped off the duckboards. The fragile system of waterways and ditches that drained the Flanders battle area had been destroyed. In preparation for the Somme attack of July 1, 1916, the British soldiers were told that the German barbed wire would be cut by the British artillery, and that the German forces would be so devastated that the British soldiers need only walk upright across a battle field empty of German soldiers and occupy the German positions. British trench raid parties had reported back that the German wire was not cut, but the British officer corps refused to accept any information that conflicted with their preconceived notions. After the colossal disaster of the first day of the Somme attack, Haig refused to accept that the British tactics were totally misguided. He is said to have hectored his battlefield commanders to continue the suicidal attacks, saying "just one more push" would carry the battle. Under his command, the British forces persisted in the attack for 4 months, with casualties mounting for negligible gain. The British troops entered the Somme battle with a touching faith in the wisdom of their officers. A member of the Newfoundland regiment (which suffered over 90% casualties on July 1st), is said to have returned to their trench after the near-total destruction of the regiment, to ask, innocently "Was the captain pleased?" After the Somme battle, the British troops are said to have called Haig "the butcher".

The noise must have been unreal non stop.

Very interesting a different point of view. Its a shame about the audio quality of the guys out on the fields.

Sound quality is unfortunately uneven.

Imagine the NCO screams over the top and out your stumble into the German machine gun fire friends laying and screaming all this for a mere 100m gain those men and “boys” where true hero’s and it’s sad they don’t get the recognition that a lot of other veterans get. 10th mountain division - climb to glory

No Hollywood movies made about this...one of most insane battles in history. Probably due to the fact the Americans were not in the war effort yet. The Canadians were (as under the British umbrella). Any Americans that joined the British voluntarily had to cross the boarder by train into Canada, and join there.

The Sommes was a matter of donkeys led by absolute total scumbags. Trying to sell Haig and the Masonic officer classes' sacrifice of countless lads is beyond ridiculous and ghoulish. This was a war of the ruling classes against the common people first and foremost.

Mr Corrigan makes it sound easy when not in the line they where on working partys taking supplies up 2 the line out in front of the line on wiring partys so i doubt it was much fun at any time

Nice to see a documentary about the Somme that doesn't stop after day one. It went on for months, and in the end was a lot worse for the Germans than for the British. By some estimates they ended up losing more men.

Company Sergeant Major Ernest Sargeant DCM, severely wounded by a Dum Dum bullet which removed one lung and nicked the other on September 16th near Delville Wood . Remembered seeing a tank then awoke in England- died in 1965

the guy saying that if they found a wounded man buried and was alive they would apply CPR, it wasn't until the 1950s that CPR became popular as it is now. The other guy saying that the British Tommie had only to stay in the first line for only 4 days and then they were withdrawn that was in an ideal situation and there are many accounts where the Tommie stay in the trench longer.

David Lloyd George suspended QC on the delivery of the shells to speed up production. Nice! Does it fly? No but....... Excellent strategy Sir! Treason in my book. 21:06 So that's why Haig was so far away. I often wondered why he was so far away from the action.

Blaming the French for their own commander's blunders

Blame the French? Dubious.

49:39 where is this footage from? Is it real ????

It's unimaginable to remember a time when a nation's leaders would send cadres of young people, just beginning their adult lives, into a maelstrom of its own creation. Oh wait.

What abattle. and waste of life. why do we do this?? *Still WHAT a BATTLE? **THANKS FOR THE INFO WELL DONE!

the audio tech for this film should never get work again too loud then too quiet again and again

Look at David Fletcher, he's great on the Tank Museum's channel

The bloodiest day in British military history. Yes, but the first day of the battle of Loos (Sept 25, 1915) was the worst day in terms of casualties per Division. Such was the slaughter.

Wow, 20 to 30 percent killed by friendly fire. 😥🙏

Some fine specialists and historians reporting here. You even here frustration and anger at British generalship. A colossal tragedy and folly.

I'll never understand how they thought running directly into machine gun fire was a good idea, after the first slaughter there should have been a major change in game plans/strategy

The British army carried out an attack that was like a mass suicide

Very interesting docu. Thanks. But why is everyone saying 'Briddish'?

NB the French corps south of the British was XX Corps not XXX Corps.

What part of this required you to battle to find the "tuth"

why didnt they Hit the dirt!!!??? wouldve atleast had a chance

Sound keeps dropping out.... Brilliant otherwise thank you

Pretty clear that at this stage of the war, too many factors piled up against the offensive troops for them to have any chance of genuine success. Not to mention that everyone was still learning how to wage this modern war and combine arms. 1918 would bring the adequate command and control, tactics and material.

Im currently visiting my dads great grandfathers grave in thiepval and its unbelievably sombre. The feeling weve all had here has been is something that will last with me for forever . His great grandfather and his 4 brother's all sent to their deaths. 2 of them leaning pregnant wives that turned out they'd never see or hold their first born child. Unthinkable

German cemeteries look so unloved and forgotten. Somehow, those guys died twice, once on the battlefield, and then a second time, in the memory of their people. WW1 in Germany practically doesn't exist. Armistice Day 11/11 coincides with the beginning of the carnival season in Germany, wich is allover the media that day every year, no mention of the war though. Very sad.

2,500 meters??

More then 70.000 on one day......o how proud we are that we think we can decide on someone else's life....and we raise the flag

At long last. What really happened at the Somme. The fact that the British were building up for an offensive in Flanders when Joffre demanded the Somme so that Hague had to secretly move everything South, more quickly than he wanted too and fight the Somme before he was ready is not given enough prominence nor Hindenburg’s remark after the battle that he knew that Germany could not win the war after the performance of the British at the Somme!

War of attrition... Never join a war.

37:36;CUT! Right get the cameraman&soundman in..... Ready? and...ACTION!

Read Corrigans book Mud Blood and Poppycock. Brilliant.

The summing up at the end of this documentary glosses over the crippling losses and repeated wholesale slaughter that went on here. Yes the mistakes were made again and again but ALL under the gaze of Haig. Saying that the British Army learnt is wrong - the battles in 1917 and 1918 around Ypres in particular showed the same lack of understanding and conditions which the men were told to fight in. Again all under the gaze of Haig. General Plumber I believe is one of the very few who comes out with any credit adopting the creeping barrage, bite sized objectives which the troops could then actually secure along with carefully briefing and planning. They were undoubtedly Lions led by Donkeys.

at 1:39 the guy says the British did not want a battle at the Somme> 30 seconds earlier, the show had explained that an attack at the Somme, was already planned, for later that same year... the German attack at Verdun, drew all the French reinforcements to curb that attack, and the British, were asked to move the planned attack up in date to relieve the pressure on the French. In less than 2 minutes of the show, the "experts" are already clouding the Truth, with BS and conjecture. not sorry I won't be watching this til it's conclusion.

G'day, Um, at 11 minutes in, no...; Cecil Lewis wasn't flying a *BIPLANE* over the Somme on 1 July 1916, he was in a French-built Morane Parasol Monolane.... At 11:21 you can see the "View from the Cockpit", looking out of a much later (1930s) variation of Morane Parasol's Cockpit, so the Scriptwriter actually outperformed the Talking Head Historian (!) ; they're Tractor-Engined with a single Wing, and the Fuselage hangs under it on a complex of Struts..., affording a superb view of what's underneath, and in 1916 the RFC had a couple of Squadrons worth of them, because the BE-2c was just so bloody awful by comparison, "not at all a fit contrivance, in which to go forth to pursue the King's Enemies....", as they said at the time. Have a good one, ;-p Ciao !

The hell did you do to the sound?

WW1 is to the British as our Civil War was to we USAers..a painful bloodletting...we lost approximately the same percentage of our population in our Civil War as did the British in World War 1..

Wonder how many of these brave boys just got through the Galipolli Disaster,should say The Churchill Disaster rather,only to be killed or mamed in this one? sadly wars will always be,Never in the history of this world was there ever a time when the entire world was at peace, might have been close maybe at one point,but africa was probably acting up with the Zulu"s,which reminds me, Where were the french foreign Legion during all this? maybe they werent formed yet, Another Story,Another Time.

Sounds cruel........ but it was a great thing people finally saw the light when it came to General Headquarters, Generals and the disregard for their own guys.

Misleading!! The battlefield guide who, at 23:00, describes the commander of the Welsh Division, Major-General Ivor Philipps, as an "amateur soldier" and "politician" is misleading. He fails to say that Philipps was originally a soldier, serving for twenty years with distinction in Burma, India and China. Like other older commanders he was recalled to service in 1914.The disasterous attack on Mametz Wood was based not on Philipps' orders but the XV Corps commander, General Henry Horne. For a more balanced view see the entry on Philipps in the Dictionary of Welsh Biography at yba.llgc.org.uk/en/s8-PHIL-IVO-1861.html.

History is a matter of looking into another age and culture that is beyond our own cultural concepts. Historians are never unbiased, when it comes to their sources, the fog of war is never foreseen, despite all the planning and tactics and strategy. The late general Pershing made a turn around like foch about the Versailles treaty, he said the allies should have beaten the German army on the field to the gates of Berlin. That alone made way for the myth of the stab intne back lie for the war of revenge .

Von Falkenhayn's unyielding defense strategy: If the Germans lost any ground, they were to immediately counter attack and retake it. That ended up about how you'd expect in hindsight. Tens of thousands pf needlessly dead German soldiers, who could have withdrawn to better defensive positions.

They talked a bout every commonwealth Country but the one who did the most they forgot ! Make it easy for you, they never lost a single battle after the Somme, they spear headed every major attack for the British and French, if you do not know who i am talking a bout then you have no clue a bout WW1.... best General too !

Never let the French make decisions for you. That's my takeaway.

Where currently working on gathering diplomats, for our submariner's and fresh water regions, has lord Ian dun,can Smith's overview was to follow up maximising potential it was noted that free independent thaught and choice direction is something worth looking at to see if there's any 🤣

The British learned something. And thought so they knew everything. But they did not develop their knowledge and therefore they were beaten at the beginning of the 2nd WW. In fact, they were losing. It was the Germans' lack of, or rather changed, strategy that made them have time to reorganize. + help from the USA.

Not like today battles...WW1...was truly... the WORST of the WORST... from the soilder...who just weeks before...was.a farmer...shop keeper. .. NOW here he is...on the battle field.... WHY...WHY...WHY....I am a farmer..............

It seems popular for British historians to blame the French for Haig's many mistakes at this battle. There was never going to be a big breakthrough anywhere with the tactics the British chose there.

Same old same old !!!!!!

Isn't amazing the poms always defend their officers.. Haig name THE BUTCHER was well deserved.. Loyd George was right what he said about him..500 casualties was a pin prick for Haig.. the man was a lunatic 😡😡

French Military: We have a plan!!! Everyone else: Yeah so,go sit down and smoke cigarettes!

An exhaust system glowing red hot at 120*f wtf is he smoking??

There were no regular soldier who were fat and far too old These blokes playing soldiers need to sort themselves out..

That German flag is handsome.

..."Battle for the Truth" ...??...What "truth"?? This stuff has been known for DECADES.

A lot of trolls in this comment section.

WW1 is remarkable for the ignorance, incompetence, and even buffoonery of the officer class and politicians. 1916 is notable for France losing control of the mighty Verdun fort complex from simple neglect to man it, maintain it, and enforce reasonable standards of vigilance by those tasked with protecting it. The German forces found it ridiculously easy to take many forts. Once the German attack advanced, the French were forced to devote huge resources of men and materiel to trying to retrieve the situation. French casualties were enormous, and the continued incompetence of their General Staff led the French armies to revolt the following year. 1916 is also infamous for the amazing stupidity and wastage of men by the British in the muddy Somme battlefield, where failed attack was followed by failed attack using the same futile tactics, again and again, until the campaign that kicked off on July 1, 1916, was finally called off in mid-November. For his part, Haig, in my opinion, should go down in history as a strutting buffoon whose main activity seemed to have been to hector his subordinates into continuing silly attacks by lecturing them on "pluck and persistence" being all that was necessary for success. Hundreds of thousands of willing soldiers lost their lives due to the ignorance, ill-preparedness, and wilful blindness of the British High Command, which was more often than not completely clueless about the state of the ground over which they were ordering attacks (Somme, Passchaendale, etc.), and refused as a matter of course to listen to any intelligence or information that came from lower ranks. It was not until some more junior officers on the British General Staff started a more scientific, evidence-based approach to attacks and to determining what tactics led to success that some successful attacks like that of the Canadians on Vimy Ridge (April, 1917) were possible. The creeping barrage, coordination of infantry with artillery, pinpointing the locations of enemy strongpoints and artillery, effective counterbattery fire, spotting aircraft communications to ground command via radio, and the use of tunnels for sheltering attacking troops and giving them ready access to front lines, all were necessary for the success of ground attacks, and almost all of these were lacking from the Allied tactics in 1916. The French and British had previously attacked Vimy Ridge on numerous occasions, suffering some 150,000 casualties using the earlier blunt-force approach of massed infantry attacks. The events at Beaumont Hamel should go down in history as the shameful, unmitigated disaster that it certainly was. The officers, in pure blind arrogance, and wilful ignorance to reports of scouts that the German wire had not been cut by the preparatory barrage, assured the men that the German resistance had been destroyed and the German wire cut. The men were sent off in full daylight to walk into the German fire, and the Newfoundland regiment lost about 90% of its men in very short order. And this is but one example of the futility and stupidity of the British attacks. By 1917, the wastage of men had advanced to the point that Allied Generals were in a panic that they were simply running out of men to occupy the trenches. Even in relatively quiet times, the Allies were suffering casualties of 30,000 per month. This is one of the reasons that the arrival of US troops was so significant - without the Yanks to bulk up the numbers again, the Allied Generals feared the collapse of the Western Front. One salutary effect of the woeful conduct of the war by the British Generals was the destruction of the aura of competence and wisdom that surrounded the British ruling class and the British Army.

More revisionist propaganda by the sounds of it. Please watch 'The Somme -Lions led by Donkeys' (in the right-hand column) and hear the actual veterans talk about this battle, no one has a better understanding of this fight than them, a completely different story and not single word of praise for Haig. Nuff said!

Belgium being a british clan state???? First time i hear that (1:35)