Guest Hill 60 Posted 13 March , 2003 Share Posted 13 March , 2003 Years ago I read a story about a kid who 'time-travelled' by 'climbing' into his television and then conducting a bit of looting. One day his mum is watching the TV when she see's her son in a war documentry about to be executed for looting, when he is shot the sound comes from his room. Up she goes and finds her son, dead on the floor, with the executioner looking at him from the TV. So, maybe we shouldn't try this 'time-travelling' lark after all!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Reed Posted 13 March , 2003 Share Posted 13 March , 2003 Cynthia - I don't think yours or any of the other postings were "bloodthursty" in wanting to see the essence of battle on the front line. This often is the most difficult aspect of the Great War - of any war - for people to imagine and I can understand why they would want to see it. For most British soldiers their experience of war wasn't all trenches, mud and rain; it was comradeship, life behind the lines - time away from the wasteland. Because soldiers didn't spend all their time in the front line they would have known the ground between Poperinge and Ypres better than the ground beyond Ypres; indeed many of the veterans I knew if they ever had a wish to return, it was to places they were billeted rather than the forward zone - a place which usually brought back too many bad memories. That is why I have always felt that books like Her Privates We give us a much better impression of the war - because most of it is set behind the front. But whatever, some interesting comments here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Somme1916 Posted 13 March , 2003 Share Posted 13 March , 2003 As always some very interesting postings, for me if I had to pick just one I would want to see the tanks attack for the very first time, 15 Sep 1916. The dawn of the armored fighting vehicles that would eventually change the face of warfare so dramatically, what an event that would be to see! If I could see some other things I too would have like to have seen the Christmas Truce, the Messines mines and a big WW1 dogfight; Camels, Fokker Triplanes, SE 5’s and some Albatrosses mixing it up over no man’s land. In a Macomb/Gothic Horror kind of way I also think seeing the first poison gas attack at Ypres in 1915 would be a very dramatic scene to behold but just reading “Dulce et Decorum Est” gave me nightmares so I’m not sure how long I could make myself watch that horrid event, if at all. Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve_McGarry Posted 13 March , 2003 Share Posted 13 March , 2003 I think the idea of seeing these battles "in the flesh" sounds attractive... But I think if you could actually "be There"as a witness you would be horrified.. But there are plenty of men I would have liked to have sat down and had a beer with. Mr coppard would have been one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Reed Posted 13 March , 2003 Share Posted 13 March , 2003 George Coppard? I was lucky to meet him very briefly once, when he lived in Brighton - I did stay in touch by letter, but I fear he faded away some years ago now... having spoke to him I felt he didn't realise how influential his book was or would be... I am sure he is smiling down on it all now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 14 March , 2003 Share Posted 14 March , 2003 For those who cited the charge at Beersheeba and can't borrow the Tardis (Dr. Who's time machine) you can always track down the video (available in Aus. and for order over the web) of Chauvel's film Forty Thousand Horsemen. The action is worthy of Cecil B de Mille. "The Lighthorsemen" is also very watchable. A similar feel to the series "Anzacs" (not helped by the fact that several actors appear in both!), but a damn good story! Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim_davies Posted 14 March , 2003 Share Posted 14 March , 2003 For those of you interested in the charge at Beersheeba the follwoing website might be of interest: http://www.lighthorse.org.au/histbatt/photo.htm Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted 14 March , 2003 Share Posted 14 March , 2003 If we time travellers aren't able to alter or prevent history, then we want to witness events, to either see things happen or solve a mystery. My desire would be to do one of the second options. I'd like to determine what really happened on 2 June 1917, after which Lt W A 'Billy" Bishop of No 60 Sqn RFC was awarded the VC. Officially, flying Nieuport 17 B1566, he attacked a German aerodrome in the Estourmel area single-handed, downing three enemy aircraft while doing so. According to their records, the Germans didn't seem to notice the event. However, there is a suggestion that he really landed on the Allied side of the lines, removed his Lewis gun and shot up his own aircraft, before returning with the story about the Estourmel raid. I have read that this couldn't have occurred - how could he have re-started his engine on his own? There are committed believers for both versions, but only one can be the truth. The question is, which one? Dolphin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 14 March , 2003 Share Posted 14 March , 2003 I think I would really like to ride with my Grandfather Sergeant Trumpeter Edward Levingston 19th Hussars from the excited chaos of mobilisation at Hounslow through the first months of the war to witness Mons, Le Cateau etc from astride a good horse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Coulson Posted 14 March , 2003 Share Posted 14 March , 2003 I think I would like to go back and see action with 280th Siege Battery RGA. That way I could get to know my Grandad who I never met unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Baker Posted 14 March , 2003 Share Posted 14 March , 2003 I would like to have been in the room when Sir John French met with General Lanrezac, and the ADCs quietly left them to it. There's old Frenchie, tongue tied and desperately trying to remember his schoolboy French. He points to the great map on the wall and struggles over a placename; an important river crossing that the enemy seems to be heading for. Lanrezac is getting steamed up. Would the entire course of the war have changed if I had jumped up and said "It's Huy, you bloody fool! General Lanrezac, veuillez agréer nos excuses..." I often wonder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hill 60 Posted 14 March , 2003 Share Posted 14 March , 2003 I'd like to have been in the cafe, somewhere in France, the moment my grandfather & his mate ran out without paying for their meal! I bet he never moved so fast in his life!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_Bluestein Posted 14 March , 2003 Author Share Posted 14 March , 2003 Thanks to all for such interesting replies!!! I have enjoyed reading each of them. I would like to ad to my first comment, that given such an opportunity, I would have liked to have been with my uncle (Pte. Samuel Bluestein 1st Bn. London Regt. Royal Fusiliers) on the day he was killed at the Somme. This would end age old family questions of "What happened to Sam?" as we will never otherwise know. He was presumed to have been killed on Sept. 15, 1916 and his remains were never recovered. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts, it has been great to read them! Best wishes David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conor Dodd Posted 14 March , 2003 Share Posted 14 March , 2003 It would have to be the 16th and 36th Divisions at Messines for me !!!! Conor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 14 March , 2003 Share Posted 14 March , 2003 I think I'd also like to have seen Jutland from the vantage point of an aeroplane,just to see two great navies smashing each other to the point of uselessness. dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conor Dodd Posted 14 March , 2003 Share Posted 14 March , 2003 I think I'd also like to have seen Jutland from the vantage point of an aeroplane,just to see two great navies smashing each other to the point of uselessness. dave Charming Dave !!!! Conor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 14 March , 2003 Share Posted 14 March , 2003 I think I'd also like to have seen Jutland from the vantage point of an aeroplane,just to see two great navies smashing each other to the point of uselessness. dave Charming Dave !!!! Conor Can't help it Conor! I don't think you can beat the spectacle of a great sea battle from on high! Lucky it was the Army I served in!!!! Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest john craven Posted 14 March , 2003 Share Posted 14 March , 2003 Buying an advance ticket for a seat at the top of Ulster Tower. But, come the day of the match, would I really have the Courage to take up my seat. John Craven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Thompson Posted 15 March , 2003 Share Posted 15 March , 2003 I think that I would like to have stood next to Charles Douie when he visited Authuille Military Cemetery as he so eloquently described later in the Weary Road. Marc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Somme1916 Posted 15 March , 2003 Share Posted 15 March , 2003 Another one I thought of today: 1100hrs, 11/11/18. I bet the quite was deafening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Bowbrick Posted 15 March , 2003 Share Posted 15 March , 2003 21 March 1918 0445 hrs with the 9Bn East Surrey Regt, helping my great-uncle Charlie carry Bert Skinner back in the Retreat. I would pick him up at the point when my great-uncle had to leave him to become a POW! Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 15 March , 2003 Share Posted 15 March , 2003 Another one I thought of today: 1100hrs, 11/11/18. I bet the quite was deafening. Especially after several artillery units had whiled away the previous few hours trying to fire off all their shells so they didn't have to carry them home! Anyone got any idea about German casualty figures (esp.KIA) for 11/11/18 ? Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian Whippy Posted 21 March , 2003 Share Posted 21 March , 2003 "would I like to have been there?" this is a debate me and a mate often have. we have never reached a conclusion. Only those that have done so can really say either way. But to experience it all must be life changing. I am now seeing British troops fighting in the deserts of Iraq. Who would want to be there !! Thanks to those that are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jjeffwilson68 Posted 2 April , 2003 Share Posted 2 April , 2003 I would liked to have been in Sarajevo to stop the assassination of the Arch Duke that started it all. Then I could have maybe known my Grandad and my dad his father. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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