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Have we largely forgotten the 1st World War centenary ? I noticed today was the 100 years.

  • Thread starter Deleted User X18H
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D

Deleted User X18H

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....anniversary of the end of the four day 'Battle of Guillemont' part of the Somme offensive.

Two years ago the BBC broadcast 'Our World War' the first episode showing the horrors and overall triumph of the Battle Of Mons.

I have watched it many times. The audio of Sussex man Sid Godley from the early 50;s describing his role and the recovery of Fred Steele's diary, which is shown, being carefully placed at the Imperial War Museum, brings a lump to the throat.

I hope we wont forget the other battles that took place, prior to the certain and much deserved outpouring of commemoration in November 2018,
 




T

theboybilly

Well-known member
Apr 25, 2013
6,177
Along the Shoreham Road in er, Shoreham
hove born&bred said:
....anniversary of the end of the four day 'Battle of Guillemont' part of the Somme offensive.

Two years ago the BBC broadcast 'Our World War' the first episode showing the horrors and overall triumph of the Battle Of Mons.

I have watched it many times. The audio of Sussex man Sid Godley from the early 50;s describing his role and the recovery of Fred Steele's diary, which is shown, being carefully placed at the Imperial War Museum, brings a lump to the throat.

I hope we wont forget the other battles that took place, prior to the certain and much deserved outpouring of commemoration in November 2018,
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I hope not but I'm not confident of what's being taught in schools now. I knew WW1 veterans when they were in their late 50s when I was a youngster. Now we are fast approaching the day when the last surviving World War Two combatant will pass on. Britain is so very different now and many young people have no connection with the First World War. As for myself I'm following the War Diary of my granddad to see what he was up to. 100 years ago he was in the Somme area but it won't be too long before he's heading up to the Arras region
 


A

atomised

Well-known member
Mar 21, 2013
5,111
You missed all the Somme 100 events that started in July then. Think its just you that had forgotten
 


beorhthelm

beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
35,303
hove born&bred said:
....anniversary of the end of the four day 'Battle of Guillemont' part of the Somme offensive.
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if we had some marking of each battle, we'd probably need a programme or two every week. there's been things on over the summer as noted.
 








G

Gwylan

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
31,336
Uffern
theboybilly said:
Now we are fast approaching the day when the last surviving World War Two combatant will pass on.
Click to expand...

Not that fast I hope. The last WW1 survivor lived 93 years after the end of the war: if the last WW2 survivor lived that long (and we're living longer), we have another 22 years before the last one dies.There are some tough old bones out there
 


Eeyore

Eeyore

Colonel Hee-Haw of Queen's Park
NSC Patron
Apr 5, 2014
23,537
dangull said:
The Amristar massacre in India 1919 never gets remembered by the media either. Lets move on.
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In fairness, it's been mentioned in historical commentary. I wonder if the Morning Post are still running a fund for General Dyer....
 




Theatre of Trees

Theatre of Trees

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
7,718
TQ2905
theboybilly said:
I hope not but I'm not confident of what's being taught in schools now. I knew WW1 veterans when they were in their late 50s when I was a youngster. Now we are fast approaching the day when the last surviving World War Two combatant will pass on. Britain is so very different now and many young people have no connection with the First World War. As for myself I'm following the War Diary of my granddad to see what he was up to. 100 years ago he was in the Somme area but it won't be too long before he's heading up to the Arras region
Click to expand...

World War One is still taught for a term in Year 9, though mainly concentrating on life in the trenches. Some GCSE courses go into considerable depth. It remains a popular subject and you would be very surprised how many kids actually have family heirlooms from distant relatives who fought in the war. I personally used to teach a lesson on child soldiers often starting with a quote from 1950s band leader Victor SIlvestor which went along the lines of, "I decided to bunk off school that day and went and joined up instead".
 




HastingsSeagull

HastingsSeagull

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Jan 13, 2010
9,257
BGC Manila
I think it was great to have lots of coverage 100 years on from the start, and expect similar for the centinary of the end......... but making a big thing of each notable event would quickly bore people. Think the balance will be found
 




B

Brovion

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 6, 2003
19,363
hove born&bred said:
....anniversary of the end of the four day 'Battle of Guillemont' part of the Somme offensive.

Two years ago the BBC broadcast 'Our World War' the first episode showing the horrors and overall triumph of the Battle Of Mons.

I have watched it many times. The audio of Sussex man Sid Godley from the early 50;s describing his role and the recovery of Fred Steele's diary, which is shown, being carefully placed at the Imperial War Museum, brings a lump to the throat.

I hope we wont forget the other battles that took place, prior to the certain and much deserved outpouring of commemoration in November 2018,
Click to expand...
In fairness I think all the offensives such as Fromelle, Delville Wood, Bazentin Ridge, Pozierers, etc have been covered by the generic 'Battle of the Somme' commemorations. They'd be different commemorations almost every week if we try and remember every single sub-battle.
 


GT49er

GT49er

Well-known member
Feb 1, 2009
46,717
Gloucester
HastingsSeagull said:
I think it was great to have lots of coverage 100 years on from the start, and expect similar for the centinary of the end......... but making a big thing of each notable event would quickly bore people. Think the balance will be found
Click to expand...

Agreed. If we marked the centenary of every event, we'd be heading for a sort of 'centenary over-kill'. Every day now for the next two and a bit years is the anniversary of the deaths of far too many young men, who shouldn't have died and should have had another fifty or sixty years of life. Although they are all equally deserving, we cannot celebrate every one - as you say, I think a balance will be found.
 


Triggaaar

Triggaaar

Well-known member
Oct 24, 2005
50,171
Goldstone
I went to the Sussex graves in France in June, 100 years after The Day that Sussex Died.

There have been threads here about the war, but room for more.
 






M

Mo Gosfield

Well-known member
Aug 11, 2010
6,284
A war to end all wars.....except it wasn't. A second, even worse conflict followed, to again try and protect our democracy and prevent Germany from creating a European super empire, stretching from Britain to Russia. Thankfully, the millions and millions who died, didn't do so in vain, Germany learnt her lesson and no such thought of a European superstate has reared its ugly head again.
 








S

Seagull over Canaryland

Well-known member
Feb 8, 2011
3,549
Norfolk
HastingsSeagull said:
I think it was great to have lots of coverage 100 years on from the start, and expect similar for the centinary of the end......... but making a big thing of each notable event would quickly bore people. Think the balance will be found
Click to expand...

I agree it is important to strike the right balance. It seems entirely reasonable to have a national commemoration for the centenary of The Somme but also to acknowledge the massive loss of life elsewhere along the Western front. There will be other significant centenaries to commemorate over the next year or two.

Such commemorations should inform current and future generations that 'the Somme' was a series of offensives comprising individual and protracted, grinding battles along a whole front. Ditto in Flanders. So many Regiments sustained horrific casualties during brief individual attacks and too often the brave young men (including from Sussex) were decimated in just one morning. So it is important that each community remember their local fallen on the appropriate anniversary. I'm gratified to see the numbers of local communities in my area holding suitably dignified events to respect their local men (and women).

Equally we should not focus exclusively on the Western front. WW1 was truly a global war with significant losses of life and casualties at Gallipoli, in the Alps, on the wider Eastern front, in Africa, the Middle East and beyond - plus at sea and in the air. There were significant civilian casualties in many of these theatres and instances of cynical ethnic cleansing against Armenians etc.

Finally it is relevant for current generations to understand that the seeds for much of the unrest and conflict in the Middle East were sown by the British, French and Americans during and after WW1, and these effects are still being felt today, not just in the Middle East but increasingly on the streets across Europe. We haven't really learned the lessons from 100 years ago.
 


GT49er

GT49er

Well-known member
Feb 1, 2009
46,717
Gloucester
Seagull over Canaryland said:
Finally it is relevant for current generations to understand that the seeds for much of the unrest and conflict in the Middle East were sown by the British, French and Americans during and after WW1, and these effects are still being felt today, not just in the Middle East but increasingly on the streets across Europe. We haven't really learned the lessons from 100 years ago.
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Probably more accurate to say that we haven't found away to go back and change what was done nearly a hundred years ago.
 


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