 | 13 November 2014 |
| |
| BBC Homepage | | |
| |||
| Contact Us | | |
World War 1You are in: Hereford and Worcester > World War 1 > Back from the dead  Walter witnessed the horror of the Somme Back from the deadby William R Donley A chilling story about how difficult it was to tell the living from the dead in the Great War. World War I factsGreat Britain spent £3,334,174,005 on the army alone during the Great War - that's £158 billion, at today's prices. The average DAILY expenditure by Great Britain on the war by 1918 was £7,443,000 - that's £355m pounds a day at 2006 prices. The British army fired 170,385,295 shells during the war. On the 28/29 September 1918 the cost of the artillery shells fired was £3,871,000 - that £184m at today's prices. During the first two weeks of the Battle of the Somme the British Army fired 3,526,000 shells - that's 75,000 tons of high explosive. Source: Statistics of the military effort of the British Empire during the Great War - published by the War Office in 1922My Great Great Uncle was a medic in the Ulster Division at the Battle of the Somme. After the battle he had to go into the battle zone and put the dead bodies into sacks, after identifying who they were. The sacks were then tied up to stop the rats getting at them, and burial parties then came along to inter them. My Great Great Uncle, Private Tommy Robinson, had to help get the sacks ready for burial, and when he trod on one of the sacks and the soldier inside screamed out in pain. He was still alive after being put in the sack three days ago. My Grandmother told me this story when I was a boy. last updated: 11/11/2008 at 10:19 SEE ALSOYou are in: Hereford and Worcester > World War 1 > Back from the dead
|
| | About the BBC | Help | Terms of Use | Privacy & Cookies Policy |
Watch the