This interview with a German Captain has been edited from a
series of interview rushes conducted for With Heart and Hand: Battle
of the Somme, a programme commemorating the 50th anniversary of the
Battle of the Somme. The interviewee paints an eloquent and visceral picture of
the devastation of warfare, describing the changes to villages and landscape as
the war rumbled on, month after month. He speaks of the gallantry of British soldiers
and describes an episode of paradoxical camaraderie between the opposing
troops, who applauded an opera singer before resuming fire moments later. On of
the most striking aspects of this testimony is that it highlights the duration
of the Battle of the Somme, as each side suffered appalling losses from July until
late November 1916.