Pals (2007)

Pals details the history of the 11th 'Accrington Pals' Battalion of the East Lancashire regiment during the Great War of 1914-18. The major contributors are the late Bill Turner, a Lancashire historian who began researching the history of the Pals in the 1970s when there were still a number of survivors around to interview, and Wade Russell, a former Lieutenant-Colonel of the Tank Regiment who now works as a WWI battlefield guide. Bill gives us the 'grunts-eye view' of the Pals' tragic story, while Wade puts it into a wider context. Between them they cover the recruitment and training of the Pals, their initial service in Egypt, their posting to France and the fateful first day of the Battle of the Somme, July 1st 1916, when so many of them lost their lives.