The Great War

[menright]

I am hoping someone might help me locate the sources of two quotations that appear in part nineteen of the BBC series 'The Great War'.

The first and more important is from an 'English gunner officer' and commences, "About your book. I've read it carefully and candidly I don't think much of it...."

The second is from a German soldier and commences, "According to the newspapers, the French are a crowd of degenerates, the English a cowardly lot of shopkeepers.....".

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Michael

[Heid the Ba]

The second sounds like Walter Bloem in "The Advance from Mons" but I don't have my copy to hand so can't check.

[Rob Connolly]

This might be a bit difficult - IIRC, there aren't any on-screen credits for the talking heads, although the complete collection (as against the ones given away in the Daily Mail) has an extra disk that might indicate who's who.

Or are you talking about an unattributed quote spoken by Michael Redgrave?

[menright]

This might be a bit difficult - IIRC, there aren't any on-screen credits for the talking heads, although the complete collection (as against the ones given away in the Daily Mail) has an extra disk that might indicate who's who.

Or are you talking about an unattributed quote spoken by Michael Redgrave?

Rob,

Yes, the latter. I would rate this episode as one of the most engaging and at the same time frustrating; quite a few excellent observations narrated by Redgrave but unfortunately no names.

Michael

[Heid the Ba]

I checked Bloem's book but can't find it so probably not him.

[menright]

I checked Bloem's book but can't find it so probably not him.

Well, thanks anyway: much appreciated

Michael

[Rob Connolly]

The relevant quotation is at about 19 minutes in and is quite lengthy, but as you say no attribution is given, nor is any reference made in the closing credits. Since this part was written by John Terraine, who is long dead, you can't ask him what the source is; there may be a reference in production notes, but that means writing to the BBC. If I get time this weekend I'll type up a transcript of the quote and post it here, that may jog memories.

[menright]

The relevant quotation is at about 19 minutes in and is quite lengthy, but as you say no attribution is given, nor is any reference made in the closing credits. Since this part was written by John Terraine, who is long dead, you can't ask him what the source is; there may be a reference in production notes, but that means writing to the BBC. If I get time this weekend I'll type up a transcript of the quote and post it here, that may jog memories.

Rob,

That is very thoughtful of you. The reason I am hoping to locate the source is to include that observation in a book on Australians on the Western Front. I am yet to locate such an eloquent version of the horrors of war from an Antipodean source and think its deserves inclusion, albeit, I suspect an Englishman's words. Even that is significant. My research to date suggests that probably eighty per cent or more of the AIF were British migrants or first and second generation types.

Michael

[Rob Connolly]

Here's the quote in it's entirety:

"About your book. I’ve read it carefully and, candidly, I don’t think much of it. The piece about the horses isn’t bad, but all the rest – excuse the word – is tripe. The same old tripe we’ve read a thousand times. My grief,but we’re fed up to the back teeth with war books, war verse – all the eyewash stuff that seems to please the idiots at home. What’s the good of war books if they fail to give civilian readers an idea of what life is like in the firing line? You might have done that much. From you, at least, I thought we’d get an inkling of the truth. But no. You rant, rattle, beat your drum and blow your tuppeny trumpet like the rest. “Red battle’s glory”, “Honour’s utmost task”, “Gay, jesting faces of undaunted boys”. The same old Boys Own Paper balderdash.Hang it, you can’t have clean forgotten things you went to bed with, woke with, smelt and felt.All those long months of boredom streaked with fear, mud, cold, fatigue, sweat, nerve strain, sleeplessness, and men’s excreta, viscid in the rain, and stiff-legged horses lying by the road, their bloated bellies shimmering, green with flies."

No other identity other than he was a gunner officer and the relevant book had been written by another officer in his battery.

[Private Baldrick]

On ‎02‎/‎06‎/‎2010 at 10:27, menright said:

I am hoping someone might help me locate the sources of two quotations that appear in part nineteen of the BBC series 'The Great War'.

The first and more important is from an 'English gunner officer' and commences, "About your book. I've read it carefully and candidly I don't think much of it...."

The second is from a German soldier and commences, "According to the newspapers, the French are a crowd of degenerates, the English a cowardly lot of shopkeepers.....".

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Michael

 

The first quote is from Gilbert Frankau's poem "The Other Side", which is in his book "The Judgement of Valhalla". The other quote is from "I Was a German" by Ernst Toller.