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The Great War Wanderers

Steve_PeartSteve_Peart
in Football

Following @Jonny_King's excellent article "Wycombe Wanderers and the Great War (1914-1918)" in The Wanderer, COTN has today published its latest special, "The Great War Wanderers 1914-18" :

http://www.chairboys.co.uk/history/2018_11_wanderers_in_great_war.htm

For each player it has a helpful link to their CWGC entry in France or Belgium, should you find yourself in the area and want to pay your respects.

Comments

  • PeterLernerPeterLerner

    An excellent and thought provoking article. Thank you.

  • micramicra

    Interesting reading. Thanks Steve.

  • Jonny_KingJonny_King

    A brilliant article. Thanks for putting it on here Steve.

  • OxfordBlueOxfordBlue

    Astonishing that someone managed to mislay the original plate. I hope one day it is recovered and fully restored.

  • Steve_PeartSteve_Peart
    edited November 2018

    As an aside, I have just watched Peter Jackson's Great War documentary "They Shall Not Grow Old", available on iPlayer. This is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen, not just on war.

    When the colourised sequences, a superb technical feat, start a third of the way in, the effect is both mesmerising and chilling. It makes it so much more realistic, and brings home what life was really like in the trenches. The "going over the top" part is especially gripping. The voice overs of the soldiers' experiences reveal some surprising attitudes and I especially like the addition of dialogue to the original film, made possible by forensic lip readers.

    My grandfather was in the Royal Engineers in the Great War, and this film really helped me understand what he went through. He was one of the lucky ones, he survived intact although he suffered from nightmares for years afterwards.

    The Great War, like most wars, was caused by Nationalism and it was pleasing to hear President Macron say on Armistice Day, “Patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism. Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism."

  • WendovermanWendoverman

    Agreed with all of the above @Steve_Peart . I was talking to someone from the Imperial War Museum the other day who was explaining why there is no 'real' foortage of the fighting on the ground. As cinema had only been invented ten years before and as the German snipers were shooting people just lighting fags, three blokes manhandling a large hand cranked camera on a tripod about would not have posed much of a problem for the Hun marksmen...therefore all the 'over the top' footage was generally filmed during trench war practice behind the lines or reconstructions for the cameras. The aftermatch scenes were chilling though when you are used to seeing the scratchy, grey film of the time. An amazing technical achievement by the chief Hobbit and very moving use of voice-over from the soldiers themselves. I would recommend to all while it is still on the iplayer!

  • micramicra

    Thanks guys. Have just “scheduled” it.

  • Steve_PeartSteve_Peart

    I've been sent some fascinating film links about why and how this was made. Mark Kermode interviews Jackson on the making of it, and a longer one (login with your BBC account) on his motivation and the techniques he used. His Great War obsession includes a large shed of original artefacts, and faithful reconstructions of aircraft.

    What an interesting man he is, it's reassuring to know that there are decent, kind and thoughtful people like Jackson around.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0brzngq/what-do-artists-do-all-day-27-peter-jackson?fbclid=IwAR1tTN0jRjN13F3-Qn2xMe0doOykbCww7kx8-A_7EMzL31tPjI76d_NUcPM

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