You know that very famous old picture? The one where one British soldier is hauling his friend through the trenches? This picture is more than a photograph. It’s in fact from a very important movie that was made during the war, called The Battle of the Somme.
They filmed this on July 1, 1916. That had been the worst day Britain had ever lost men. The person doing the filming was a lieutenant by the name of Geoffrey Malins. He was one of the few to be allowed to film the actual fighting.
What he caught footage of was a soldier, known as a “Tommy”, trying his best to drag his injured friend away to the safety while bombs were exploding all around. It shows what real manliness and friendship mean in the worst place.
But here is the piece which just breaks your heart. When they received the film back home they saw a message on the screen. It said that even after all that effort and getting him out, the injured man “died 30 minutes after reaching the trenches.”
It showed people back home that even the hardest try might not do it. Death was everywhere. It put it into everyone’s heads the awful cost of the Somme. They believe the soldier in charge of carrying was Private Edward Warner. He made it through the war thank goodness but died a few years later. The man he carried, whose name was not known, represents every single young man that was lost that day.
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