The Battle of the Somme

The first great war documentary, assembled from footage shot by official cameramen Geoffrey Malins and John McDowell during the opening of the Somme offensive in July 1916. Released in British cinemas while the battle still raged, it was seen by an estimated 20 million people in its first six weeks — audiences at home had never before watched soldiers go over the top on screen. Much of the most harrowing "combat" footage was staged behind the lines, a fact that sparked one of the earliest debates about documentary truth. As a British government film from 1916, it is in the public domain.