July 1st. 100 year anniversary of Battle of Somme

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...ersary-8313773
1st day of the Battle of the Somme the British had 57,000 casualties, including 19,000 killed, as young men were ordered to charge entrenched German Maxim machine guns. Soldiers who didn't charge the machine guns were killed by special squadrons of their own men. The battle lasted 141 days and resulted in over 1,000,000 casualties. In the end, the British and French gained 6 miles of ground.
Just think we should remember the bravery of the young men who fought such battles even though they were betrayed by their politicians and generals.
The excellent BBC program (on Netflix) "Peaky Blinders" is about a group of young men who were "tunnelers" in WW1, they return home with severe PTSD and start a criminal organization.
This kind of insanity is why nuclear weapons scare the shit out of me.

I have walked that battlefield and thoughts of all the lives lost brings tears to my eyes.

Today, they are soft rolling hills and farm land--100 years makes a big difference.

Suggest that anyone who is a WWI/WWII history buff, travel to Europe and walk those battlefields today. There are great museums and historical markers to assist the visitor.

To some extent, the Somme is the to Brits as Omaha Beach and D-Day are to the Americans.

The most moving and rememberable battle field for me is Omaha Beach from D-Day. The movie "Saving Private Ryan" had that day just about right, but in the real world, the cliffs were higher and the German fire more devastating than was shown in the movie. My next door neighbor from way back was a young infantry lieutenant with 29ID that day on Omaha Beach. We had some serious discussions about his experiences before he recently died, thankfully of old age.

Thank-you. That is a very touching remembrance BB. My father fought in WWII, North Africa, France, and Germany. Saw his best friend killed and received a near fatal machine gun wound in the back.
Some companies at Omaha Beach had 90% casualties. These were 20yo men who had spent the previous two years living and training together. I cannot imagine living through that kind of horror.

As much as I've read and seen about WW I it's still hard to wrap my head around the number of lives lost.

Even on our own soil, to walk the fields of Gettysburg or Antietam, has to stir the heart at the losses on both sides.

I love history; and yes the battle of Somme is very sad. I probably would ball my eyes out to walk the fields. So many lives lost; any battle. I remember, once in 7th grade I read a poetry book about battles America had fought. Many of the poems came from soldiers who had fought; other poems were written by family of soldiers. I couldn't read more than 1 or 2 without crying. I learned a lot though.

Very sad indeed.
But sometimes surviving the battle was worse.
Andersonville saw some of the worse savagery and inhumanity towards another human being ive read about

My fav historian is Victor Davis Hanson and he describes how the unique fighting qualities of the German army in WWI led the British and French to do nothing after they declared war on Germany in 1939. Their populations wouldn't let them do anything because they wouldn't tolerate another slaughter like the previous war in which the Germans set up machine guns with overlapping fire to mow down anyone who charged them, no matter what their numbers might be. Sometimes in the middle of a costly war it might be a good idea to try to negotiate. But somehow the leaders are reluctant to do that. So the killing just continues until one side or the other is exhausted.

Thank-you. That is a very touching remembrance BB. My father fought in WWII, North Africa, France, and Germany. Saw his best friend killed and received a near fatal machine gun wound in the back.
Some companies at Omaha Beach had 90% casualties. These were 20yo men who had spent the previous two years living and training together. I cannot imagine living through that kind of horror. Originally Posted by chuckles

Yes, the 1ID and 29ID were on the line at Omaha Beach and the 4ID was at Utah Beach that day, while the 101 and 82 ABN were behind the lines interdicting German resupply and reinforcements.

29ID was especially hard hit as they were MD/VA National Guard units that were composed of folks from the same small towns across both states. There are stories of 5-10 boys killed in one day from many small towns during D-Day.

Not to forget the challenges faced by the USMC in the Pacific where my uncle was killed in March 1945 at Iwo Jima.

Some of the highest casualty rates were with the 8th and 15th US Air Forces who were bombing Germany from both England and Africa during 1943-1945. Crews had to fly 25 combat missions and then were released to return home to states. Not all that many would make it as some days 20-25% of the bombers would be shot down over Germany or on the way to/from the targets.

The US population is simply not ready to deal with casualties like those numbers again. We have grown too soft and will likely pay a high price one day battling ISIS/ISIL or similar groups who do not value life, but instead want to inflict their way of life upon us. I do not doubt that US will respond, but it will be a delayed and measured response, not the total aniliation that is needed to eliminate this evil scourge of the earth.

Those who fail to learn history's lessons are doomed to repeat those mistakes.

Yes, the 1ID and 29ID were on the line at Omaha Beach and the 4ID was at Utah Beach that day, while the 101 and 82 ABN were behind the lines interdicting German resupply and reinforcements.

29ID was especially hard hit as they were MD/VA National Guard units that were composed of folks from the same small towns across both states. There are stories of 5-10 boys killed in one day from many small towns during D-Day.

Not to forget the challenges faced by the USMC in the Pacific where my uncle was killed in March 1945 at Iwo Jima.

Some of the highest casualty rates were with the 8th and 15th US Air Forces who were bombing Germany from both England and Africa during 1943-1945. Crews had to fly 25 combat missions and then were released to return home to states. Not all that many would make it as some days 20-25% of the bombers would be shot down over Germany or on the way to/from the targets.

The US population is simply not ready to deal with casualties like those numbers again. We have grown too soft and will likely pay a high price one day battling ISIS/ISIL or similar groups who do not value life, but instead want to inflict their way of life upon us. I do not doubt that US will respond, but it will be a delayed and measured response, not the total aniliation that is needed to eliminate this evil scourge of the earth.

Those who fail to learn history's lessons are doomed to repeat those mistakes. Originally Posted by BugleBoy

Some units had high casualties and others did not. When you consider how many millions of men the U.S. had under arms there weren't that many killed or wounded as a percentage. But as for fighting ISIS the U.S. has an all volunteer force today and they will deploy wherever they're sent. They haven't been sent to fight ISIS in their little shitty "Califate" because it's on the other side of the world in a fucking desert and not a single American would be harmed by them going on for a while where they are. The world is full of assholes but unless they raise a million man army and a navy with nuclear weapons like ours they aren't coming here so settle down.