"Shot on the Somme: Extraordinary footage taken seconds before soldiers went over the top.

All film of the carnage was thought to have been faked, but now some of it has finally been authenticated.

And it reveals the heroics of Captain 'Pongo' Dawson.

By Jonathan Thompson
Published: 25 June 2006 "

Check out: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_brit...icle1096231.ece

Regards


Richard

is this Dawson

TV Prog concerned is on Channel 5 on Saturday.

I notice the Independent article describes Henry Allingham as " the last British survivor of the Somme".
Surely this is incorrect? He was not at the Western Front until 1917, recovering crashed aircraft for the RNAS.
Was Harry Patch at the Somme?

Adrian

I note that the report in the Independent says "The first day of the Battle of the Somme was the bloodiest 24 hours in the history of the British Empire. By the next morning, nearly 60,000 young men - a large number of them civilian volunteers - would be lying dead or wounded on the killing fields of north-western France."

What do they mean by ''civilian volunteers''.

Not professional soldiers.

As long as we assume every other sentence is the product of 'journalistic creativity" no matter which waste paper it's printed on, we won't go far wrong.

All the usual nonesence is about to be wheeled out again, I fear.

How's that for grumpy?

Not grumpy at all Ken IMHO. We should brace ourselves this week for, as Churchill said, "Every cliche except "God Save the King" and "Please adjust your dress before leaving"."

Chris C

Going back to the first post

Does anyone know whether those pictured in the sunken lane were ever identified?
It is an iconic phot so I hoped Pals might be able to help

Stephen

As a one time photographer on two provincial daily papers I have to say that you'd be right to make your assumption. I often read reports, of events that I'd photographed, and found myself wondering if the reporter and I had been at the same event.
A useful test is to listen to or read carefully a report on a subject about which you have some expertise. You will often find that sections of the report are just plain wrong. My wife and I find this to be the case with law related matters. This innevitably leads you to wondering what else they are getting wrong.
I am afraid that you're right about the usual nonsense. The problem is that many reporters are simply not interested in the event they are covering to make much of an effort. The result is that cliches and pap get regurgitated.

Did anyone see the programme? - my video machine failed (again) and I lost both this programme and Doctor Who


If so, did we learn any more names of soldiers who appear and whether the research is to be published ?

Stephen

I ahve a DVD copy of it, all bar the first 60 seconds... finger was a bit slow on the remote! Let me know if you want a copy. I'll throw in teh ads for free;)

Andy M

Gentlemen

In answer to the question is the research in "The Battle of the Somme: the true story" going to be published I can say "Yes it is". Andy Robertshaw, Steve Roberts and myself have been carrying out research on the footage shot by Geoffrey Malins in the days before 1st July 1916 as well as that taken on the day itself. A lot of what we have found did not appear in the documentary and we hope to publish the full story next year. I cannot go into detail but we have traced a number of other locations and identified several individuals by name using the techniques demonstrated in the film. We are very excited about this work and will let you know when the project is nearer completion.

Regards
Alastair Fraser

Alastair - that's brilliant news; keep us informed please

Stephen

Andy M
- sorry for the late response -
yes please will PM my address

Stephen

Patrick I agree wholeheartedly about this. I find it particularly interesting the way that even reputable journalists writing in quality national papers frequently totally fail to understand the difference between the European Court of Human Rights (which, as you will know, interprets the European Convention on Human Rights) and the European Court of Justice (which is the European Union's court). The two have totally different functions and the press either deliberately or accidentally completely confuse them.