Documenting a Disaster: The WW1 Combat Cameraman (No AI)

Battle Guide  "Using a WW1 combat cameraman's diary and trench maps, this Battle Guide video precisely recreates a single day's filming. Original footage is overlaid on modern maps and drone shots. Experience the Battle of the Somme through a unique and perilous perspective." . . .

"These haunting battlefield scenes may well be the most recognisable footage of the First World War: men huddled in a sunken road, troops waiting to go “over the top,” a massive mine erupting under enemy trenches, and wounded men being rescued from no-man’s-land, but, did you know, it was all captured under fire by a single cameraman on a single day. "Join us as we follow that one man, using his own diary entries, matched precisely with trench maps, modern terrain footage, and the original film he shot, we’ll retrace his steps and investigate what he captured on the infamous opening day of the Battle of the Somme."

From the comments to this video:

"This is gold! I've seen this footage in piecemeal spread across various presentations without ever knowing where these places were. Like the scene with the men in the "sunken road." I never knew that footage was part of the Somme or that it had the name "sunken road." As a writer, I search for the littlest details in everything I write, so when I can see someone else pulling out details like that in a video, it's priceless. You put the actual trench lines to the current topography and you can still see where there are areas following trenches: the tree line in one place seems to just hug it like it can't grow any farther. I can understand why this was your hardest; this is also the most personal. Names and dates attached to faces. These aren't casualty numbers that get lost in history books: these are human beings. You did your part to keep them alive, to keep them human in a war that dehumanized and erased people by the thousands. Thank you!"

Beaumont-Hamel

The 1st Newfoundland Regiment was ordered in battle at the village of Beaumont-Hamel at the start of the Battle of the Somme, and at 07:30 on 1st July a coordinated attack on the German lines began.

 Beaumont Hamel -Memorial pictures

One of the few photos from before the Great War. No remnants of pre war locations exist because everything there was wiped off the map.