Over the weekend I caught up with a documentary on BBC iPlayer called
They Shall Not Grow Old.
It is 1 hour and 35 minutes long and is the best documentary I have ever seen on the Great War. It consists only of the voices of those who took part (all deceased) explaining their experiences, emotions, fears, humour, injury and horrific deaths .
It starts with the usual small screen black & white film of the time, but then eventually, after about 24 minutes, turns into remastered full screen film, with 'sound', that has been wonderfully coloured. If anyone has any doubt about the day to day reality of being on the front line, or resting, with all the horrific images they would have seen (and smelt), then this documentary gives you a chance to be there as much as you would ever want to be there.
It is sickening and compelling at the same time, and I couldn't look away until the very end. This is one to watch, as an historian, or as anyone interested in WW1 or war generally. As someone who had the advantage of talking to those in my childhood about the Great War, of having a Great Aunt who constantly mourned the loss of her dear brother, my Great Uncle killed at Ypres 1917, and has read so many books on the subject, along with watching hundreds of hours of film from 1964, this production, produced in connection with the Imperial War Museum, is the one to give our children the reason why war should never be fought. It is full of the facts of reality as witnessed by these poor men.
This is a history lesson like no other.
