THE BLACK WATCH ON THE SOMME

Two soldiers on opposing sides whose pictures show they were really just the same

Lost photographs from the Somme together for the first time as son of German trooper meets grandson of english Tommy and they find the two lads had much in common.They were sworn enemies – two soldiers entrenced on opposite sides of the Western Front. William ­Smallcombe, 24, and Walter Kleinfeldt, just 17, were at times only two miles apart. Each carried a small camera - permitted by the German army but banned by the British - to document the horrors of the First World War . And the pictures, which have emerged for the first time, show eerie ­similarities on both sides of the trenches. Initially, the two young men took shots of smiling comrades. Then in 1916 the Battle of the Somme , the bloodiest in British history, took place. William buried his best friend and photographed his makeshift grave, while Walter took pictures of the dead. As Walter’s son Volkmar Kleinfeldt explains: “The images became more stark, more sombre. He must have been deeply affected by what he experienced. After all, he was only a boy.” This week a TV documentary sees Volkmar meet William’s grandson Michael Smallcombe as they compare the images of war taken almost 100 years ago.Read More HERE

With it being the 100th anniversary of the First World War I will be posting articles relating to this dreadful period of history.

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

ROYAL WARWICKSHIRE REGIMENT

RoyalWarwickshire Regiment  

GUARDIANS OF THE SOMME

THE SOMME

Hundreds of 'forgotten’ dead from the World Wars are discovered

Researchers have identified almost 2,000 “forgotten” servicemen who died in the two World Wars but were never officially commemorated.When Lance Corporal Paul Pollock went “over the top” on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, he became one of 20,000 British soldiers who, by the end of it lay dead or dying, on what was the bloodiest day in the country’s military history. But when the names of the dead, along with all others who fell during the First World War, were later collected by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), to ensure their sacrifice was remembered, that of the 21-year-old was not among them.It meant that, due to an apparent bureaucratic lapse, Pollock, whose body was never found, was not recorded alongside his fallen comrades on any official memorial.Now, after almost a century, that omission has been rectified after it was discovered by a team of amateur historians, and Pollock’s name has been added to the Thiepval Memorial, in France, to those missing from the battle.He is one of almost 2,000 other “forgotten” dead from the two world wars whose deaths were accidentally overlooked by the authorities but whose names have now been added to memorials, following research by the In From The Cold Project (IFCP).Read More HERE


WE WILL REMEMBER THEM ALL

GUARDIANS OF THE SOMME

Forever on stag, R.I.P


HT/ and more fabulous art work here at Spud Jock Milne