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The Great Folly of 1916 by Jason Askew. (GL) - Direct Art
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The Great Folly of 1916 by Jason Askew. (GL)


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The Great Folly of 1916 by Jason Askew. (GL)

Assault in the vicinity of Thiepval by the Ulster division-1st July 1916. The 11th Royal Irish Rifles, moving forward from the A line of trenches, and moving forward to attack the B line of trenches, the attacking infantry are preceded by Bombers - seen carryng grenades in green canvas buckets - who are engaged in throwing grenades in anticipation of the rifle company assault on the enemy trenches; an activity barely changed since the days of Marlborough. The rifle companies are armed with the Lee Enfield SMLE - a superb rifle, though expensive to make. The advance is made with bayonets fixed, as trench clearing involved numerous hand to hand confrontations and bayonet fights. The rifle companies are supported by two Lewis gun teams per company. Note that visible in the painting is a man carrying an orange painted steel marker, painted on one side only. The markers are to to indicate to British artillery observers as to the most forward positions taken by the British advance. Naturally, one does not present the orange side to the enemy!
Item Code : DHM1802GLThe Great Folly of 1916 by Jason Askew. (GL) - This EditionAdd any two items on this offer to your basket, and the lower priced item will be half price in the checkout! Buy 1 Get 1 Half Price!
TYPEEDITION DETAILSSIZESIGNATURESOFFERSYOUR PRICEPURCHASING
GICLEE
CANVAS
Limited edition of up to 50 giclee canvas prints.

Size 40 inches x 26 inches (102cm x 66cm)Artist : Jason Askew
on separate certificate
£100 Off!Now : £565.00

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Other editions of this item : The Great Folly of 1916 by Jason Askew.DHM1802
TYPEEDITION DETAILSSIZESIGNATURESOFFERSYOUR PRICEPURCHASING
PRINTSigned limited edition of 1150 prints. Image size 18 inches x 12 inches (46cm x 31cm) Artist : Jason AskewHalf
Price!
Now : £40.00VIEW EDITION...
ARTIST
PROOF
Limited edition of 50 artist proofs. Image size 18 inches x 12 inches (46cm x 31cm)Artist : Jason Askew£35 Off!Add any two items on this offer to your basket, and the lower priced item will be half price in the checkout!Now : £95.00VIEW EDITION...
PRINTLimited edition of 20 publishers proofs.Image size 18 inches x 12 inches (46cm x 31cm)Artist : Jason Askew£110.00VIEW EDITION...
PRINTArtist Special edition of 50 prints, printed on giclee German etching stock. Image size 26 inches x 18 inches (66cm x 46cm)Artist : Jason Askew£180.00VIEW EDITION...
GICLEE
CANVAS
Limited edition of up to 50 giclee canvas prints. Size 36 inches x 20 inches (91cm x 51cm)Artist : Jason Askew
on separate certificate
£100 Off!Add any two items on this offer to your basket, and the lower priced item will be half price in the checkout!Now : £500.00VIEW EDITION...
GICLEE
CANVAS
Limited edition of up to 50 giclee canvas prints. Size 30 inches x 14 inches (76cm x 36cm)Artist : Jason Askew
on separate certificate
£100 Off!Add any two items on this offer to your basket, and the lower priced item will be half price in the checkout!Now : £400.00VIEW EDITION...
ORIGINAL
PAINTING
Original painting, oil on canvas by Jason Askew. Size 48 inches x 30 inches (122cm x 76cm)Artist : Jason AskewHalf
Price!
Now : £4500.00VIEW EDITION...
POSTCARDCollector's Postcard - Restricted Initial Print Run of 100 cards.Postcard size 6 inches x 4 inches (15cm x 10cm)none£2.70VIEW EDITION...
REMARQUERemarque edition - limited edition of 10 giclee prints featuring an original pencil remarque.

SOLD OUT.
Image size 26 inches x 18 inches (66cm x 46cm) plus border with text and remarque drawing.Artist : Jason AskewSOLD
OUT
VIEW EDITION...
EX-DISPLAY
PRINT
**Signed limited edition of 1150 prints. (One print reduced to clear)

Ex display print with some light damage to border and a handling dent or scratches. Will not been seen once framed.
Image size 18 inches x 12 inches (46cm x 31cm)Artist : Jason Askew£25 Off!Now : £50.00VIEW EDITION...
General descriptions of types of editions :







Extra Details : The Great Folly of 1916 by Jason Askew. (GL)
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More about this painting :

Note that visible in the painting is a man carrying an orange painted steel marker, painted on one side only. The markers are to to indicate to British artillery observers as to the most forward positions taken by the British advance. Naturally, one does not present the orange side to the enemy!

Markers such as these indicated which trenches had been captured, and allowed the artillery to create shellbursts and lay down fire ahead of the attacking infantry waves. The high visibility of these markers minimised the casualties due to friendly fire by the artillery, though shorts did inflict unnecessary casualties. Shorts are caused by faulty shells/shell fuses, or by continuous firing of artillery barrels over long periods, causing the ambient heat in the barrel to cause inaccuracies, as well as wearing out the rifling in the artillery barrels, causing inaccurate fire.

When Lloyd George became PM, he forced through a reform that increased the proportion of Lewis guns per company to nine - this was done in the face of extreme opposition from high ranking British officers, who, inexplicably, consistently failed to grasp the realities of modern warfare.

Also to be noted is the fact that many of the British shells fired at the Somme simply failed to explode, duds - failing to cut the German wire, and obviously failing to cause German casualties and failing to minimise German resistance. It is estimated that up to a third of the British shells fired during this offensive were duds. This failure on the part of the shell manufacturers exacerbated the infantry casualties during the Somme battles, totally letting the side down, and led to the shell crisis that gave Lloyd George his great political opportunity.

Also to be noted is the great amount of kit being carried by the soldiers, including picks and shovels and empty sandbags. This was in order that the ramparts of captured German trenches could be reversed to face the enemy. It is estimated that the amount of kit carried, including ammunition, 24hrs rations, extra water, changes of socks and clothing, lice -free underwear, blankets, poncho, etc weighed up to 60 pounds. The sheer physical effort needed to carry this considerable load also slowed down the advance, reducing the speed of infantrymen to that of tortoises as physical and emotional exhaustion set in. German observers were quick to note this aspect of unreasonable weights being carried by the attacking personnel. At Verdun, a battle that was taking place at the same time as the Somme offensive, German assault troops were not weighed down by piles of kit like the unfortunate British tommies, who were laden down like pack-horses.

The Somme offensive was a British effort made in response to a French request to take pressure of the French defending Verdun.

When German stormtroopers were trained for the great German offensives of 1918, German planners made sure that their stormtroopers were lightly equipped, wearing a light 1918 fighting rig, the equivalent of combat fighting order and were hence able to move quickly from objective to objective, whilst the picks and shovels, water, rations, and all the heavy stuff was carried by the succeeding waves of reinforcing and mopping up infantry.

Another extraordinary aspect of the Somme offensive is that many British troops were told they would be able to walk towards the enemy, it being presumed, wrongly, that the artillery would dispose of any Germans waiting in their trenches. Part of the reason for this presumptuous view was a deep rooted British regular army bias and prejudice towards many of the British territorials and part time volunteer battalions, civilians in uniform, Kitcheners army, in the terminology of the time. It was felt by the powers that be, that these volunteers were not real soldiers at all, hence the rather condescending and unrealistic order to them - to simply walk in line towards the German positions whilst the artillery and the real soldiers did the heavy lifting. It was felt by the British regular army hierarchy that as these soldiers were not regulars, but were just civvies in uniform, they were therefore pathologically and temperamentally incapable of being trained up to regular army standards, therefore they could not possibly be trained in fire and movement and complex assault techniques; techniques it must be mentioned being used very successfully by the German army at Verdun, concurrent with the Somme battle!

On a positive note, the extremely heavy casualties suffered by the British army during the Somme battles did change perceptions amongst the old and the bold in regard to the capabilities of volunteer soldiers. Many fought stubbornly, even in impossible circumstances during the Somme offensive. By 1918, most of the British army on the western front was composed of conscripted men, in contrast to commonwealth forces, who continued to function and recruit without conscription and compulsion.

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