While based in Ypres, Belgium they discover a near working printing press. Their Sergeant used to work in newspapers and with his help they set up a satirical magazine and name it 'The Wipers Times' — in honour of the way 'Tommie's pronounce Ypres. They go for the ludicrous — where ever possible - and often take a swipe at those in command, but the paper is a hit and soon they are getting noticed. This is set during the destruction and slaughter of World War I and that is included in the film, as well as mustard gas, food shortages and the filth of the trenches.
The film recreates some of the sketches from the papers as black and white pieces using the same characters and this adds to the surreal nature of the paper and how it was a break from reality for those that read it. Starring Ben Chaplin as Roberts and Julian Rhind-Tutt as Pearson who are both perfect castings for their respective roles, this was produced by the BBC to mark the anniversary of 'The Great War', along with other memorable films and series.
This I felt was one of the best and dealt with an aspect of war that is often missed out, at one time it is said that 'war is nothing more than wallowing in a dirty ditch'; well this proved that humour could take men out of that ditch if even for a short time. Absolutely recommended and a credit to all involved in its production.
Details Edit. Release date September 11, United Kingdom. United Kingdom. Technical specs Edit. Runtime 1 hour 32 minutes. Related news. Dec 19 ScreenDaily. Contribute to this page Suggest an edit or add missing content. Top Gap. See more gaps Learn more about contributing. Edit page. Hollywood Icons, Then and Now. See the gallery. In May it was decided to evacuate the remaining civilians from Ypres who had wanted to stay in their town.
The last to leave was the mayor, Monsieur Colaert. Taking what they could carry, many of them either walked, were put on trains from Ypres or Vlamertinge station or were helped on their way in army lorries in the direction of Poperinge. A memorial in Ypres opposite the western end of the Cloth Hall commemorates the civilians killed during the war in and around Ypres. The history of Ypres up to records how the city was attacked and besieged over the centuries. Following a period of peace for Ypres after the founding of the Belgian nation in , the surviving defensive ramparts on the eastern and southern sides of the town once more took on the role of fortified, defensive strongpoints to protect the city from an invader.
The infantry barracks in the west side of the city had deep cellars, thick walls and could offer good protection from artillery shelling. The rooms and casemates around the Rijselpoort Lille Gate provided secure bombproof rooms for headquarters and accommodation. The regiment's rear headquarters and billets was in Ypres in what the men described as rat-infested, waterlogged cellars. Finding a printing press, paper and most of the type letters in a building near the market square, some of the officers and men of the Sherwood Foresters, including a former editor, decided to set it up to print pages with anything that came into their heads.
Clever text is written with good humour and illustrates well the tradition in which the British soldier has used his sense of humour to get him through very dark and difficult times. They moved it behind the lines to print the next two issues from Ypres. A further 11 issues were printed during the war from the Salient and the Somme battlefronts. During the four years that the British Army was holding the Ypres Salient thousands of British troops spent time in Ypres or passed through it.
They were either based in the town as part of a rear headquarters, running supply, pioneer, engineering and transport depots, or they were billeted in the town cellars and ramparts while out of the Front Line sector.
Some would pass through it on their march from the rear areas west of Ypres, passing through the city on their way to the Allied Front Line in the Ypres Salient battlefields. Many hundreds would never make the return journey.
In the early years of the war, and , accounts by soldiers describe how the town was busy in the day but that it gave the appearance of being deserted at night. From almost every aspect, through gigantic holes torn in the intervening walls, the rugged spikes of the ruined cathedral town mark the centre of the town. The Padre goes on to describe how the town became deserted at night when the soldiers had gone up to the Front Line area to carry out working parties or as reliefs:.
The town is well-nigh deserted. All its inhabitants, like moles, have come out at dusk and have gone, pioneers and engineers, to their work in the line. Night after night they pass through dangerous ways to more dangerous work. Lightly singing some catchy chorus the move to and fro across the open road, in front of the firing line, or hovering like black ghosts, about the communication trenches, as if there were no such thing as war.
The whole scene lights up in quick succession round the semi-circle of the salient as the cold relentless star-shells sail up into the sky. According to Veterans of the Ypres Salient, later in the war most movement by troops was carried out during the hours of darkness. Veterans have recounted how the shattered town was quiet with troop movement during daylight hours. This was likely due to the increase in enemy aerial activity by After darkness had fallen, however, the town and the surrounding area behind the British Front Line came alive with thousands of men, horses and wagons moving about to carry out reliefs for troops in the line or carry forward supplies and ammunition.
WW1 Veterans also used to say that the winter months were preferable to the soldiers, in spite of the bad weather, because the long winter nights provided them with more hours of darkness and the protection from being seen by the enemy. Two of the access routes in and out of the town on the east and south side of the city became very familiar to the British military units in the Ypres Salient. Taking the route from Ypres leading in the direction of Menin on the east side of the city, the soldiers would pass through the gap in the old raised ramparts where the originally named town gate called the Hangwaertpoort, Meensepoort or Porte de Menin had been located.
For most of the four years when the Front Line east of Ypres was stabilized about 4 kilometres east of Ypres this route would take them into the battlefield zone to the north-east at Wieltje and east to Hooge on the Ypres Salient battlefields. This was due to the fact that the Germans had a view of it from their positions on the higher ground further east and, as a major road route for the British into the Salient, the Germans shelled it constantly.
The access route to and from Ypres in the south of the city was very well used by troops making their way to and from the battlefields of the Ypres Salient. This gate was called the Rijselpoort and was the only one of the numerous formal town gates that had survived over the centuries in the form of an actual gateway. German artillery fired continuously onto the town of Ypres from mid November during the First Battle of Ypres 19 th October - 22 nd November The shells set fire to buildings in numerous places.
The German artillery fired incendiary shells onto the city from positions to the north-east, east and south-east of Ypres. The first serious damage to the buildings of Ypres occurred on 22 nd November Two of Ypres' most famous historic buildings, St Martin's Cathedral and the Cloth Hall Lakenhalle were set on fire by incendiary shells. Front cover from a later edition of 'The Wipers Times'.
Click the image to see this document in the collection. How did The Wipers Times begin? A group of soldiers led by Captain Fred Roberts discovered a printing press in the ruins of Ypres. There is plenty of ink and paper. The editorial den is set up in an old casemate under the old ramparts built by Vaubin. Piano, gramophone and printing press were soon fully operational.
They lived in rat-infested, water-logged cellars by day. Some two hundred copies were made of the next three issues. This is exactly what he did at the Battle of the Somme one hundred years ago. Even before the third issue of The Wipers Times had been completed, the Germans scored a direct hit on the printing press with a 5. This halted publication briefly, but the sergeant in charge quickly discovered a hand-jigger press and a lot more type up near Hellfire Corner.
He fetched the whole lot back with a team of men and publication resumed. Roberts and Pearson were very pleased with the results. I made several personal visits to Ypres, Hooge, Sanctuary Wood, Hill 62 and the surrounding countryside, where farmers still dig up unexploded ordnance on a regular basis.
The museum curators and First World War experts in the Ypres region were all very welcoming and most helpful. I remember mapping various trench systems, crawling through tunnels with colleagues and organising different photography sessions. S anctuary Wood trench system.
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