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combat dealers on now chan 167 quest channel


griff66

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Agreed get past the contrived banter and it's interesting ,I view it in the same vein as the American series weapon hunter ,look past the made for tv bit and under neath is some interesting stuff , speaking as one of the masses :D

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Militaria in all its varied incarnation is a narrow interest field. Any TV series that showed it like it really is would never get made as no network would buy it.

 

'In tonights episode, we see Dave spend six hours removing a broken bolt and evesdrop a heated two week discussion about the correct shade of olive drab'

 

Combat Dealers is for the masses, that's what TV is. Think of it as a comedy drama where the participants play themselves!

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I saw an episode last night where the main subject was the Great War mainly about The First battle of the Somme. BTW there was another one in 1918. I disagree 95% of what Bruce said with regard to why it was started and the relationship between officers and the men they commanded. I will have to watch it again to pick out specific errors.

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What a revelation Combat Dealers was last night. Bruce et al and their trip to France to purchase some Great War trinkets. The show followed the usual format of buying cheap with the prospect of selling for 'loads of money!' The French character 'Michelle' with his outrageous Anglo-French accent had earlier found fame as a voice over for some of the French knights in the film 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail.'

 

The new scrip writer, Ben Elton certainly added his touch to the program with Bruce's explanation of the class struggle in the Great War. Telling how the 'lower orders' ( A term used by some on here) where sent to wash in shell holes chewing on a stale bully beef sandwich, whilst the landed gentry officer class are eating well in some chateau miles away from the front dinning as if nothing had changed. But it wasn't all beer and skittles, the officer class still had to make do with French plumbing as a consequence brought along their own portable sinks.... Bruce also mentioned that back home in Blighty the governing classes were worried about revolution breaking out and so promised a 'Land fit for Heroes' and 'Homes for Heroes' which were more mere slogans and things quickly returned back to the pre-war norm of poverty. It took another war and Clement Attlee's 1945 Labour government for things to improve for the 'lower orders.'

 

Some of those Tommie's looked like Americans.

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Do not get worked up. What about the Quad?

 

It looked rather nice albeit in the somewhat striking camouflage pattern that didn't come in until the war was almost over. I see that it has a winch under the body which is not common. I think the owner "Cat" supplied Rowley and Colin with the ammunition body's on their Quads. There was a photo on the wall of another restored early lorry but couldn't see what it was. I think that Cat also owned a WW1 German lorry which is unrestored.

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amazing that they were able to find that guy on a WW1 memorial by just going off the small amount of info on his medal. It would be really interesting to find out why he used a pseudonym and what he got the award for.

 

I've learned a lot from this show about history. I knew there was some of what was described in the British army between the lower and upper classes, but never the extent of it until last night.

Bruce kept saying " amazing that there was never a revolution" , that's putting it mildly.

 

Seems like not everyone is in agreement though with this opinion. He did say that officers had to be pulled and promoted from the ranks and made into "temporary gentleman" when they started running out of commanders from nobility. That would seem to contradict the theme that all officers/landed gentry were 2 miles behind the front eating roasted meat and bathing in personal lavatories?

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What is really amazing the programme made such a thing about the man with two names winning a Military Medal but gave no indication what act of bravery he preformed.........Surely his former regiment no matter how many times it had been amalgamated would be able to provide the citation or even his local newspaper. Did not the London Gazette print such things? What ever happened to the internet or simple research?

 

As Bruce said in the last but one episode, the MG42 fires 1,600rpm, should that not be 1,200 rpm, mi old cock sparra.

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I've learned a lot from this show about history. I knew there was some of what was described in the British army between the lower and upper classes, but never the extent of it until last night.

Bruce kept saying " amazing that there was never a revolution" , that's putting it mildly.

 

 

 

Please don't judge the incredibly complex relationship between officers and soldiers which has existed in the British Army since its very beginning by the remarks to camera of one man on a silly TV programme. Firstly, you have to remember that one cannot judge the past by today's standards and looking at that past through the prism of present day experience will inevitably make things look rather odd. Was it LP Hartley who said, "the past is a foreign country, they do things differently there"? And if you seriously think that the officers were miles behind their soldiers, then you might wonder why the life expectancy of a subaltern in France in WWI was three weeks. Look at the casualty lists - they make sober reading.

 

Secondly, it is almost impossible for someone who has not served to understand the closeness which can, should, and usually does, develop between a platoon commander and his men and the subtlety of that relationship. As in every army at every time there would have been good and bad officers and good and bad soldiers, but, remember, in the British system, officer cadets are trained, at Sandhurst, primarily by NCOs not by officers. It is fair to say that, probably at any time in history, the British soldier was thought more highly of by his officers than would be the case in any other army.

 

Don't forget, in war each, whether soldier or officer, pledges to give his life for the other - and thousands have done so and more will do in the future. And, after the "Old Contemptibles", increasingly the Army comprised volunteer and conscripted civilians, not professional soldiers - the same in the Second World War after Dunkirk. These men, for they were mainly men in those days, served with distinction of the highest order - both soldier and officer. It is all too easy and glib for us now to see their world as some sort of Blackadder parody. And, even the generals were subalterns once - they did their apprenticeship! Read a few biographies of those who served and you'll get a rather more balanced view.

10 68

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Mr Draganm

The Great War is a very complex and vast subject and that to state 'this happened or this was what I perceive as their thinking at the time' is not wise. We cannot judge from 2017 what was the state of mind of the people involved one hundred years ago. A TV show like Combat Dealers is not how history should be presented, as others on the Forum say its an entertainment show. Having just written that, is war and destruction entertainment i.e. fun ? Obviously not.

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The fake accidents are ridiculous i.e. one of the twins takes the Harley for a ride and off camera we hear a crash , they all rush over to the scene of the faked accident ( the bike has obviously been pushed into a bush ) and somebody says " oh its really broken, Bruce will not be happy " This is the type of TV that 5 year olds would enjoy

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It is one way to get the Next generation interested in history and preservation. There is no perticular reason why war breakes out between Nations, but if we can understand why it has in the past maybe there will be less reasons for it to break out in the future. There is no definative answer. You can only try to prevent it, but fighting breakes out sometimes because some people like to fight and that is the curved ball, the unseen factor. For some people preserving vehicles and equipment is only a starting or stepping stone in there journey, a piece of the jigsaw a tool in their quest for knowledge. At least Bruce has added to the conversation for that at least I thank him.

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