The First World War 'Battle Of The Somme' like you've never seen before: A.I. enhanced and in color!
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- Опубліковано 8 сер 2022
- The Battle of the Somme took place between 1 July 1916 and 18 November 1916. It was one of the major battles of World War 1, fought between the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire and took place along the banks of the French river Somme, East of the town of Albert. The full 72 minute enhanced and colorized version of this film can be viewed here : • Stunning footage of th...
This film concentrates on the battles around the 1 July 1916 and is viewed entirely from a British perspective with a substantial amount of glorification of the battle results.
The army of the British Empire is often referred to as "Kitchener's Army" or even "Kitchener's mob" in view of the fact that it largely comprised of volunteers drafted as the result of an agressive "Call to Arms" campain setup by Field Marshall Lord Kitchener in August 1914. Kitchener who originally was a succesful British commander of the Egyptian army, had been appointed as Secretary of State for War by prime minister Herbert Asquith. His army initially consisted of traditional batallions manned by lower class soldiers. However, after forming socalled "Pals" battalions, huge numbers of middle class recruits joined as well to form groups that were separate from the lower class battalions.
By the summer of 1916 the recruitment had been so successful that the British were able to form no less than 5 armies comprising of approximately 2 million men. Unalike WWII there was no role for women in WWI.
To avoid a misconception, Lord Kitchener was never directly involved in the Battle of the Somme, simply because he was already dead at that time. Kitchener was on his way to Russia on HMS Hampshire to attend negotiations with Tsar Nicholas II when on 5 June 1916 it was struck by a German mine near the Orkney islands, Scotland. It sank taking Kitchener down to a seamans grave as one of the 737 casualties.
Preceeding the main attack on 1 July, a severe bombardement of the German lines started on 24 June, the so called drum fire or Trommelfeuer, which lasted until it peaked at "Zero Hour" on 1 July. Kitchener's men could only hope that this bombardement had stunned the enemy into submission.
Once the attack started, the British and French soldiers were pushed towards "no mans land" into a stream of machine gun fire and under continuous bombardements from both sides of the line. Kitchener's men underwent a fate of mixed success and failure, largely related to the leadership, terrain, the width of no-mans land and other local circumstances.
The losses on the British side were staggering, with 19,420 men dead and 35,493 wounded in that first day. 2,737 men went missing or became POW resulting in a total number of losses of 57.000 men. It was the bloodiest day in British military history ever. In particular at Serre, and at La Boisselle heavy losses were due to strong German resistance.
In the months thereafter the battle continued, but at a less intense level until it died down on 18th November due to rain and winter conditions.
This film starts with splended shots of battallions preparing for the attack at the end of June followed by many shots behind the combat lines of men preparing for attacks, resting after the attacks on 1 July, wounded being carried away from the battle scene, being treated for their injuries and soldiers marching away to regroup for new attacks in the days and weeks ahead.
The original B&W film was clearly shot in the lee of the actual battle as it hardly contained any close up views of the atrocities that took place.
In view of UA-cam's rules, the remaining scort scenes with combat fatalities are not shown. It is quit obvious that the results of the British army were glorified in the making of this film.
This is a 16 minute summary. You will be able to view the full 75 minute film soon on my channels. Just follow the link at the end of the video and in the description once it becomes available.
The full 72 minute enhanced and colorized version of this film can be viewed here : • Stunning footage of th...
I am not Peter Jackson with a budget of millions, but as a mere film restoration hobbyist and colorizer with basically no budget, I am quite proud of these results. Watch the original poor quality footage on archive.org do make a comparison!
NOTE: There are no attrocities nor dead, mutilated casualties shown in this film.
Thanks for watching!
Source: Archive.org (57 minute B&W Public Domain film, stretched to 72 min. due to speed correction).
Music:
- Bonnie Grace - "March Towards The End"
- Jon Björk - "The Great War"
- Bonnie Grace - "Heroes Will Fall"
- Bonnie Grace - "In The Red Soil"
- Gerald Franklin - "For The Greater Good"
- Jon Björk - "The Launch"
- Bonnie Grace - "March Towards The End".
*Please don't forget to subscribe to my channel! There are nearly 300 restored and colorized historic videos on this channel* .
*The full 72 minute enhanced and colorized version of this film can be viewed here* : ua-cam.com/video/32WjuRZJsts/v-deo.html
This video contains scenes that some viewers may find distressing. However, care has been taken not to show violent combat footage.
Please try to view this highly interesting material from a WW-I (1916) perspective and kindly avoid making comparisons with today's bizar world. The prime objective of this channel is to re-live history and soak up visual and audio impressions as the world used to be!
*My most important films can now also be watched (in higher quality!) on* archive.org *via my website* : www.ricksfilmrestoration.com/indexEN1.htm
Thanks for giving history a chance to speak again. As always, well done Rick
Thanks for sharing this B&W footage and make it more relatable to this day and age. Absolutely depressing and hellish war to be in.
Is het mogelijk om elders de gevechten wél te zien? Mvg Zito
Exceptional work 👏
Fascinating and upsetting at the same time.
My paternal grandfather, born in 1890, took part in the Battle of the Somme. Luckily, he survived. His older brother, Robert, born in 1889, didn’t, and is one of the 72,337 British and Empire troops commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. My grandfather who rose to the rank of Captain, was demobbed in 1919, having volunteered in 1914. He never spoke about his war service. On his death bed in 1980, slipping in and out of consciousness, mentally he was back in the trenches giving out orders. His last words were “the horses, the horses, we’ve got to save the horses”. In peace time he was a farmer in Devon, later Cornwall and always had a special bond with horses.
Mark, how fascinating. Very similar to my paternal grandfather. He was 18 at the Battle of the Somme and 'copped his Blighty wound' there. The story was always a bit garbled as he wouldn't talk about it, but after a series of strokes towards the end of his life he began to regress just like your grandad. My spine is tingling now as I recall him lying in what was to be his deathbed in his bungalow on the south coast all those years ago screaming and shouting in a cockney accent I had never heard during my lifetime. "Ow, aghhhh, the bleeders have got me." It seems he was caught in an artillery blast and was semi-conscious in a shell hole for a day or so. He was found and evacuated. And then he woke up in a field hospital in Kent some 10 days later! He essentially lost one of his kneecaps and had his leg was buggered and he used a walking stick from then on. I remember my dad saying that when he grew up, "There were an awful lot of young men using walking sticks." He went on to become a teacher and then headmaster. After he died we found his medals. I had them restored and mounted and they are in my living room along with a photo of him and his army pals in a village in France in 1915. Incredible that this was over a century ago.
Grande Herói, e de coragem.
@@bilbobigbollix7318 Homens de coragens. Parabéns.
@@mastomasto6197 obrigado.
It’s unimaginable what these boys went through, but with this film is gives a small snapshot.
The fact that this footage is still around after 107 years blows my mind. Beautiful job enhancing it. The haunted looks in their eyes are very disturbing. Kids that went in at the age of 17 look like they've aged 60 years. Thank you for your service.
My pleasure
I'm German. My mother told me that my grandfather was in war from day one till the end. He came back with tuberculosis, mental damage and in general total worn, He survived just a few years more also due to the hunger years following the lost war. That was the fate of millions. More people died after the war than during. Later on two brothers from my mother did not come back from Russia anymore in the 1940.
My father had to go to war just 18 years old in 1941 to Russia and later to France. He came back in 1949 from POW time then 26 years old. As my mother said no more teeth, no more hear amd weighing less than 50 kg, 40 kg lesser than in 1941. He lost also a brother. My mother was a young nurse and survived the destruction of three mayor cities in Germany (Darmstadt, Mainz and Frankfurt) including of course the hospitals she worked. The final she said wad always the same. The Americans bombarded at day, the English at night. When looking back at my childhood now I understand their behavior towards us children much better. They had very little love to give because of their biography. But they teached us how to survive by simply saying from small on that we have to solve our problems alone. They had not extra resources left for us, dealing with their traumata all the rest of their lifes. .
Family of Braves...
It's so humbling to see these brave men smiling and interacting with each other, I can't even begin to imagine how terrible it must of been to fight that war. Your enhanced and colourised videos truly do bring it all to life. My grandparents (sadly all deceased now) fought in the second world war and they never wanted to talk about it with me when I was a child, my maternal grandfather was very upset when remembering his time fighting.
I am German and my grandfather served in this useless insane war.... he was a real Saxon from Westphalia.... It's so sade that Anglo-Saxon and Saxons killed each other... we are one tribe.... one family the closest tribe in Europe... 🙏❤️🏴🇩🇪
Da ist doch mal wieder der Wunsch Vater des Gedankens. 💩 Niedersachsen und Westfalen sind die gutgläubigsten Regionen, wie man an den immer gleichen Wahlergebnissen sieht. Wann siedelst du über? In Sussex soll es schön sein.
Very well said common sense view 👏
@3 tours mkay troll 😂
I am English from a county called Essex (East saxon).
My great grandfather was killed in the battle of the somme, his body was never recovered.
Yes it was an insane stupid war with many pointless deaths on both sides.
The main thing is that we are now friends and allies.
I hope you're grandfather went on to live a long healthy life.
Happy new year to you and your family. 🏴🇩🇪
@@johnspencer6777 people from my area founded the Kingdom of Wessex = Westsachsen.... I have been in Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Herefortshire, Sussex, Kent, City of London and many other cities.... In the recent years.... I love country and people... despite the past we are one Anglo-Saxon tribe...
I can’t watch a video like this without being overwhelmed by the logistics of what had to be done to prepare for an offensive, or the sheer amount of men, equipment, ammo, etc. that must be moved around & handled all day. It’s just mind-boggling! 😵💫
It's impossible to watch a video like this and not feeling immense sadness for the meaningless loss of life
My great grandfather survived it, Officer Horace Winstanley.
@@frankp7411 Haha wake up Frank. gOd iSNt reAl :)
It is a whole different look after being enhanced and colour. I’m actually amazed. I thank these people who served in World War 1 for their services participating in one of the deadliest , bloodiest wars in history.
Each and everyone of these men had a name, a surname, a family, a childhood, a life.
Brings so much more understanding and humanity than black and white photos that is normally seen. 👍🏻
It's crazy knowing that every single person in this footage is now deceased. May you all rest in peace.
The only thing we learn from history is that we don't learn from history.
June 1st 1916 800 + soldiers of the First Battalion, Newfoundland Regiment. went over the top at Beaumont-Hamel. The next day 68 survivors answered the Roll Call, the rest having been killed, wounded or missing, although some of the missing made their way back to British lines over the next few days. The Regiment had been raised in the then-colony of 250,00 inhabitants, and the losses made such an impression that is still being remembered in the now Canadian province today, Every July 1st., Canada's National Day, is also Memorial Day, and in the morning flags fly at half-mast and a military parade and wreath-laying ceremony is held at our 'National War Memorial' in St. John's. At noon, the flags are raised to full mast and Canada Day is celebrated.
Thanks, I didn't know about First Battalion, Newfoundland Regiment. Terrible losses. I was in Canada this last July 1st, Vancouver, and got to enjoy the celebration of Canada Day. Met some excellent people, including some vets. I found out then it was also Canada's Memorial Day.
Interesting. Do you mean `June 1st` or July 1st ??
@@Rick88888888 Sorry! July 1st of course
Beautiful! The best, loved it, thank you Rick. All those faces
Incredible frontline footage!!
Such a senseless war where leaders egos brought the worst of consequences.Thanks again for bringing us these crisp clear images of what it was like during WW1.
This is really quite an extraordinary short film of the Great War! The colorization is remarkable and the accompanying music is well thought out! Probably the best work that I have seen of The Somme! Everyone involved is to be congratulated!
Great video of moments in time that have not been seen in 75+ years, thank you for sharing this and keeping history alive. Cheers and stay safe. Pete
Our pleasure!
Incredible video !
Thank you so much !
👏👏
Glad you liked it!
The most savage and suffering war fought in the Modern era.
Vraiment, vraiment formidable, c'est émouvant de pouvoir visionner cette tragédie du passé,beau travail 👍🙏👏
The major thing I noticed was German POWs just striding along side their captures, even helping carrying the wounded. Just that little bit of humanity peeking thru is amazing to me.
During ww2 my father had German POWs ( volunteers) work as fire crews at his airstrip.
He told me they were very professional and saved many bomber crews that crash landed.
How ironic that the enemy was helping their enemy that was bombing the enemy.
@@julianwaugh8221 Many Germans went because they had to. Refusing service was no option. Perhaps they were glad to be out. Read Heinrich Böll.
When you think you're having a hard life today. Just look at these poor souls in this video. And I guarantee any of them would trade you places in a heartbeat.
These guys on the front lines look happier than the people I see at the grocery store in 2023
*Happy Christmas* to all my viewers! Here is my *Christmas Music Playlist* , enjoy!
ua-cam.com/play/PLP_6hUsQRi8vaFzHH-8A43zIf3IhFpofr.html
Superb work as always. Your videos are literally a magic portal to a different, long vanished world.
This is not just a film. This is a Movie of a war. Very Fantastic and beautiful. and the Music in the background.
Thanks!
My great uncle died the first day on the Somme at Beaumont Hamel they never found his body .
What a blessing to get a leg wound and get sent home from that hell hole
The novelty of being filmed is clearly expressed on the faces and responses of these men. There is some parallel with the photographs of the Civil War where photography was a very new technology. Thank you for upgrading these films to color. It really brings out a new dimension you don't get in B&W.
My great grandfather served in the Somme...got shot through his shirt pocket (or tunic pocket or whatever it was they wore), the bullet passed through a pocket bible he had in it and stopped at a spoon behind it...that spoon was a family heirloom, but it's whereabouts has since become a mystery!! The story lives on though!! He survived the Great War, for if he hadn't there would have been a long lineage that would never have existed!!
This is really amazing footage and information.
Thank you very much
This is my great grandfathers war. So much suffering. Thank you God that I am not made to die for a rich man to win.
There’s a good documentary on Tubi about George Hackney a British Lance Corporal photographer in WW1 called “The Man Who Shot The Great War”. There are images never seen before that are incredible.
Interesting, thanks!
This is an amazing video, we take it for granted nowadays but having the opportunity to see the faces of these men is something special.
My great grandfather fought, he was wounded by shrapnel, it stayed with him until the very end, even though he had dementia and couldn't remember his own family the war was not forgotten, he went crazy once and locked my nan in the bedroom thinking she was a German prisoner it's very sad at least I was honoured enough to have met him ❤
My Grandfather was there from 1914 - 1917 when he was captured by the Germans, he somehow ended up in Ukraine and didn't get home untill 1921.
Excellent presentation and great footage. Thank you.
We still have not learned anything. Look how bloody the 21st century has started.
My Grandfather, Billy Burke fought from 1914 till the war ended in 1918, hospitalised and repatriated to a hospital in England for a machine gun wound to his left leg. He walked with a bad limp for the rest of his life. Migrated with his family and settled in Kearsley, near Cessnock and worked as a mine deputy.
Respect 🙏
All for nothing , look what the politicians have done today ..
So sad
Never saw this kind of footage “ amazing “
I can't even imagine what these men went through. We all need to watch and read about our history and be so thankful for our freedom. 🇺🇲🤝🇬🇧🤝🇨🇦🤝🇫🇷
🇷🇺, 🇮🇹 and others?
Main reasons why July 1st was a disaster;
1/The 'drum fire' artillery bombardment had absolutely no effect as the Germans were all safely sheltered deep underground in trench bunkers. 2/ The ground was just a quagmire full of shell holes and the going was impossible. 3/ All the troops were overloaded taking supplies forward. 4/ All the troops were told to WALK towards the German lines as none of the Germans could have survived the artillery. 5/ Not a single German machine gun was damaged BEFORE the troops 'went over the top' . Lions led by Donkeys cost 60,000 casualties on the First Day July 1st 1916.
Subscribed. Absolute madness. Thank you for these images.
I went on a leger travel coach tour a few years ago. Ypres,Hooge crater etc and many places on the Somme. . A real eye opener.
I'll never forget one day stopping at a small military cemetery in the middle of the Somme as a special request for one of our coach party. I and my wife didn't walk around this small cemetery but we walked down a small county lane, through an open gate and into a recently planted corn field. We just stepped inside a few yards and there in the soil were bones. What looked like part of a jawbone lay there An almost complete femur was just lying there in the young corn too. When we boarded the coach,I told our tour guide and he said that unfortunately,it is perfectly normal to find bones like this. That more than anything else bought home the horror of WW1 for us.
I don't believe in ghosts but it seems I had a vivid snapshot of the devastation a picture in my mind of cartwheels and dead horses and the detritus of gear no humans just a still death the whole area arras Amiens mons has an ominous and dreadful aura about it despite being beautiful countryside..
My daughter asked me once. " What started WORLD WAR 2. I ANSWERED WORLD WAR 1"..
My great great grandad fought and died here.
He was in the Lancashire 8th battalion if I remember right.
He now rests in one of the war cemetery in France.
I Love these videos as it brings them back to life as you can see them as people with the massively improved footage.
@7:11 lower left, 2 poor souls have the 1000 yard stare, that really illustrates how some were laughing and smoking and jesting, while others right next to them were in full shell shock.
My Grand Pap fought in The Great war. Said it was very bad. He was shot twice He lived to the age of 98.
It was a stupid war with an insane waste of human life on unprecedented scale and mainly due to two royal families who had a tiff with one another. What a discrace to their people ...after all they were all related
English ,Saxon the same...damn waste
One thing i always found fascinating was that writing on projectiles is nothing new, humans have been doing that for thousands of years. Archaeologists found lead balls used by auxiliary slingers in the roman army that had messages carved into them. Stuff like "ouch!" and "watch out" lol.
wow thank you for such a beautiful work impressive indeed!
My Greatgreatgrandfather was in the Belgian Army at the time, he was in King Albert`s General Staff.
Absolutely amazing footage
Thanks! Don't forget to watch the full 72 minute version on my other channel!
ua-cam.com/video/32WjuRZJsts/v-deo.html
Haunting, I like to freeze frames now and again to look into some of these soldiers faces and wonder what they were thinking.
Probably thinking of getting out alive and being home with their family and eating a warm shepherd's pie. Soldiers lose faith in humanity quickly after seeing the first casualty..
same here....
This is incredible thank you for this.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Respect, God bless those able to bring footage back to light. One able to upload this, God bless you as well.
Love the BF1 sound effects there at one point.
Great video. Thankyou for posting. Shed a tear for all the boys who wasted their lives for nothing. My GF was wounded twice but survived 1915 and 1918. If those poor lads could see how shit the country is now, would they have fought? I doubt it. I certaintly wouldn't.
This is stunning. A truly humbling 16 minutes.
WOW! I've not seen any of this before, thanks dude!
My grandfather was at the somme he said it's was a terrible experience and a huge waste of human lives on both sides which achieved nothing. God bless all those brave men on both sides 🙏 rest in peace
Another amazing upload. The skill and software used in this is such an incredible feat. Thank you so much.
Thank you very much
Great video rick, amazing footage, great work 👍😀
Amazing footage I’ve never seen. Thank you
Thanks for watching
The sounds and smells that my Grandad experienced. Australian infantry and then Machine Gun Corps. A hard man.
This footage is great, and I like the commentary too
Wow! Thanks for this- over 100 yrs. ago & looks like it was filmed around 40 in this restoration. All the better to learn from this dark period.
Magnificent work Rick, a reminder of the great "They Shall Not Grow Old" by Sir Peter Jackson. Thank you!
Imagine showing those lads what the UK has become today . Our politicians have spat on everyone of these lads and the generation that came 20 years later.
My great uncle was killed that first day, and like so many others, was never found. His name is on the wall at Thiepval.
Awesome footage!!
Absolute famous work! Well done! More and many thanks for you work!
Our pleasure!
Mooie tijdsdocument, heel knap gedaan !
Fantastic video and a look at real life in the trenches and WW1
I get a feeling of melancholy knowing all the people in this video are long gone. Like a film of ghosts.
Humanity has learned nothing from all that sacrifice , tragic waste of life.
I was camped on the British front line on 1st July 2016, and did the walk "over the top" just as the troops did that morning. The TV war historian Andy Robertshaw was there with a few guests, and as he guided them through the morning, I and a few others were invited to join him.
It's crazy to think that every single person in these recording's is no longer alive. RIP to the men of war. Sad that it has become normal
The leaders of countries cause this . Innocent Men and innocent horses far too many lost their precious lives before they had a chance to even experience so many things
Really really Sad and it’s still going on all over this Planet
Thanks to these Brave people and animals I’m sorry that you had to go through that Hell you deserved much better ❤
Excellent thank you so much. Don’t know how I feel mind blowing.well done.
So nice of you
Brave men who would weep if they could see how they have been betrayed.
I like to think these soldiers were a lot like me. They were just young and wanted to have fun and live their life. But when the times got hard they didnt ask questions and they stepped up to the task. They didnt stop to think about the things they were doing until they were over and it was too late to change any of it. They didnt have any clear idea why they were there, they didnt have any way of coping with their allies death, they didnt get any say when stuck in the trenches for years.
Kinetograph footage of 1916. Outstanding although heartbreaking to see.
I don't think it was from a Kinetograph, just an nitrate film made with an early film camera.
A very fine video. Thank you
My great grandfather fought on the Somme & was severely wounded by a bullet slicing through his upper jaw fracturing it into pieces. Shrapnel logged into his skull & pieces remained there as it was to dangerous to remove them. He suffered from excruciating headaches the rest of his. He survived his wounds & joined the Royal Flying Corps (RFC). The war ended before his 1st mission.
mine was in the Otago regiment he had shrapnel through the knee but as we read in his diary on the boat home, he was far more concerned about a rumor that he had been seasick. Balls of steel.
Thank you Rick.
My great grandfather was there at the Somme. Eventually sick with trench fever and met my great grandmother who was a nurse.
This is incredible, i had no idea their even was footage of the Somme.
Good work, thank you.
Thank You for this footage...
The innocence and naievity of these 'Victorian Soldiers' facing an industrial slaughterhouse always renders me heartbroken .
The First World War was the greatest crime ever to befall humanity!!
Then you haven't heard about it's sequal, the Second World War
Serviu para desmascarar as mornarquias, e vitalizar o comunismo.
You win Somme, you lose Somme.
Fantastic piece of history 👍🇬🇧
Rick,im stunned at your work 😢 truely remarkable what you've acheived here 👏..liked n subscribed n shared your work To Many Who Know that what your doing is extremely Valuable to ALL OF US..😊
Thank you very much!
And all for what' just look at the UK today.
I did love the commentary keep it up Rick
Great images high quality of lenses very clear and detailed images. Wonderful job in correcting and coloring
Thank you very much!
With respect and un-ending rememberance to all Brits and all Germans who served Their nations.
We treasure Your memory and seek to remember the lessons of Your time.
We honour Your sacrifice on this Armstice day, 2023.
You gave everything, and We won't forget You. 💮