The Somme 1916 Mansel Copse

With access to both German and British archives, military historian Peter Barton re-examines one of the bloodiest battles of the First World War from both sides of No Man's Land.

This film which examines the background to the Battle of the Somme should be watched before our other films which cover a series of unit and formation actions during the campaign. During this film we look at the ground over which the battle was fought, the men that fought the battle, the Geo-political situation, the grand plan and of course the enemy, the Germans.

On the 1st July 1916 whilst many British Army Regiments attacks were turning into bloody ruin some were successful, particularly in the south. Why did this happen ? Was it skill and leadership, the training, the quality and bravery of the soldiers, luck, a successful artillery barrage or poor German performance. Most probably a bit of all these factors. This is the story of the 7th Bedfords, a Kitchener battalion in General Maxse's 18th Eastern Div. The Bedfords captured all their objectives, assisted the units on their flanks and established a new defensive line a mile beyond their objective.

This film tells the story of the 8th and 9th Devon's on the 1st July 1916, both served in 20 Bde of 7th Division. Their objective was the German Strong point of Mametz. By 5 pm the Devon's along with the rest of 7th Div had taken Mametz despite taking over 3300 casulaties.

On the 1st July 1916,the 1st Lancashire Fusiliers, part of 29th Division were tasked with capturing part of Beaumont Hamel. The 29th Division had recently arrived on the Western front from Gallipoli where the the Lancashire Fusiliers were famous for winning 6 Victoria Crosses before breakfast on Y Beach. On the 1st July at the sunken road they were once again carrying out an equally dangerous assault but this time despite doing their duty courageously there would be no VCs. this is the story of their attack.

Based on diaries, records and eyewitness accounts, this is the story of the two Battles of the Somme from the perspective of British and German soldiers. It shows how the major lessons learned by the British Army leadership after the disastrous first attacks of July 1916 were turned into victory at the second attempt in September 1916, arguably the turning point for the First World War.

The Trench tells the story of a group of young British soldiers on the eve of the Battle of the Somme in the summer of 1916, the worst defeat in British military history. Against this ill-fated backdrop, the movie depicts the soldiers' experience as a mixture of boredom, fear, panic, and restlessness, confined to a trench on the front lines.