'All the King's Men"

[Sapper Will]

This was on PBS a few years ago. It dealt with the Sandringham Company, who were wiped out to the last man at Gallipoli. The uniforms and sets were very good, but without large numbers of extras, the Gallipoli scenes weren't terribly convincing.

[MartinWills]

I think it worth pointing out that this was a drama and not a documentary. Factually much was wrong and scenically the Spanish landscape & palm trees look nothing like Gallipoli.

The losses were not specific to one company, indeed they were spread across the four companies. There was not a specific Sandringham company at the time particularly after the change from an 8 company structure to a 4 company structure.

Some of the men lost at the time survived as POWs and most of the other casualties were concentrated from a mass grave to Azmak Cemetery where they lie un-named.

The casualties on the day specifically hit the 5th Norfolks because they advanced ahead of the units on each side, those units suffered unexceptional casualties, the Norfolks being the only part of the brigade, indeed of the division to suffer relatively heavy casualties. Many of the Norfolks went on to fight through the campaign - they were not, as popular myth has it "wiped out".

The definitive account of the Norfolks and these actions was published in "Stand To!" and republished as a supplement to "The Gallipolian"

This "drama" crops up regularly on this forum and a search will reveal several long and extensive threads.

Martin

[Guest Pete Wood]

The casualties on the day specifically hit the 5th Norfolks because they advanced ahead of the units on each side, those units suffered unexceptional casualties, the Norfolks being the only part of the brigade, indeed of the division to suffer relatively heavy casualties. Many of the Norfolks went on to fight through the campaign - they were not, as popular myth has it "wiped out".

Sorry to disagree, but the Isle of Wight Rifles (1/8th Hants) had 85 men killed over the 48 hour period - which is more than the rest of the brigade (both the Norfolk battalions and the Suffolks) put together.

But if you count wounded/sick as casualties, and I do, then the brigade ceased to be an effective force for some time (until replacements arrived).

[Sapper Will]

My apologies. I meant for this to go in the movies thread.