Debunking the myths of Britain’s bloodiest battle
There has been some excellent programming to mark the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, and The Somme 1916: From Both Sides
of the Wire (BBC Two) was no exception. This in-depth three-parter examines the First World War’s bloodiest battle from both German and British perspectives to tell a story that contradicts the many myths that have arisen over the past 100 years.
Our guide was military historian and battlefield archaeologist Peter Barton: an engaging, James May-ish presence who sported a sedona hat, tweed waistcoat and formidable knowledge – the fruits of three decades of research, half-a-dozen books and palpable passion for his subject. Barton posited the notion that, traditionally, we’ve been given a one-eyed view that ignores the experience on the other side of No Man’s Land. With access to hitherto ignored German maps, diaries and documents, he sought to redress the balance.
In this opening instalment, Barton recounted events leading up to the illfated first offensive, which saw 19,240 British deaths – the worst day in our military history – despite the fact that Allied forces outnumbered the foe by four to one.
Walking the battlefield, wielding a .303 Lee-Enfield rifle, Barton argued that July 1 1916 wasn’t the unmitigated disaster so often portrayed – yet he was unflinching in his analysis of our mistakes.
General Douglas Haig, who ordered the Somme offensive, didn’t come out of it at all well, his strategies being deemed simplistic. The Germans were shrewd, well-prepared, far more experienced in combat than our plucky “pals’ battalions” and used the topography of the Somme skilfully to maximise British casualties. Ours was a tragic tale of tactical naiveté, faulty ammunition and fatally underestimating the enemy. Not unlike the England football team at major tournaments, in fact.
In what was doubtless uncomfortable viewing for some, Barton also demonstrated how much the Germans knew about Allied plans from intercepted phone calls, interrogations of captured Tommys, dossiers found in their pockets and deserters spilling the beans. Careless talk truly did cost lives.
For future generations, the Somme became a symbol of senseless slaughter and the futility of war. More than a million soldiers were wounded or killed. The Allies advanced just seven miles. Heart-wrenching footage of men, grinning shyly at the camera and about to go to their deaths, hammered that home in this powerful documentary.
Those of a squeamish disposition would have struggled at one point with the third episode of Forces of Nature with Brian Cox (BBC One). This featured footage of Maasai tribespeople in Tanzania slaughtering a bull and drinking its blood – part of a ceremony marking the transition from child to elder.
This week’s sprawling instalment saw Professor Brian Cox examining Earth’s elements, which form the building blocks for life. It took in travel brochure-worthy locations, from the volcanos of Indonesia to the deserts of Africa, from Italian mountainsides to Icelandic fjords.
Stunningly shot sequences included cave-diving in the Dominican Republic, firefly squid putting on a spectacular display of deep-blue light in Japan and, most memorably of all, ibex kids scaling a queasily steep Alpine dam. No wonder goats are often described as “giddy”. I had to peep through my fingers in case one lost its footing (or should that be its hoofing?) and plummeted to its death.
Cox was an endlessly enthusiastic host, gazing awe-struck at acorns or perching on a rock while promoting the elegance of physics. Yet he seems to have dumbed down rather for his debut series on BBC One. The narration felt repetitive because he kept reminding us of what he’d said before. He crowbarred in clunky colloquialisms about “doing science” and helpfully described water as “the liquid we drink”. Illustrative footage was over-reliant on cute children, raising the suspicion that he was treating viewers like children too.
However, just as I was getting huffy about Cox’s patronising tone, he lost me with an impassioned speech about “proton waterfalls”. Come again? Perhaps he hasn’t dumbeddown after all.