European Battlefields: The First World War

[Stealth Hunter]

Really good video. Friendo1231 has come out with several others that are really well done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkxEyGLjwc4

[Biggles]

Dear God...that war was so horrible (what I know). On some aspects, it was even worse than WWII.

[stabiz]

Awesome footage. I am reading this one at the moment:

http://www.amazon.com/World-War-I-HP-Willmott/dp/0756629675/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203890323&sr=8-1

[Torplexed]

Dear God...that war was so horrible (what I know). On some aspects, it was even worse than WWII.
Yeah...at least in WW2 the scenery changed a lot. All you have to do is look at a before and after aerial picture of the French fortress of Douaumont at Verdun to see where the fighting was deadlocked for weeks if not months. Just as ugly and intense as Stalingrad.

http://neptoon.homestead.com/Fort-Douaumont.jpg

[stabiz]

Holy crap. :huh:

[Dread Knot]

Whoa.

[HunterICX]

World War 1 was just horrible,
the foolish generals sending men in numbers just to get shot as they refuse to change their tactics.
also the scenery changed a lot
if you go to Verdun the scars are still visible.

HunterICX

[darius359au]

My great grand father was at Passchendaele (Third battle of ypre) with the 10th battalion AIF , this photo kind of says it all

http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/6035/passchendaeleaerialviewkj4.jpg

I can't remember his name , but one of Butcher Haigs aide's is said to have brokendown when he saw the battlefield and exclaimed "My God , we sent men to fight in This!"

[Biggles]

Not to talk about the gas...
http://www.scienceclarified.com/images/uesc_03_img0124.jpg
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/fileadmin/historyLearningSite/poison5.jpg
One of the worst weapons ever created...

And the senseless battles! At the Battle of the Somme, the British army lost 2 men per gained CENTIMETER! That is ONE 100th of a METER!!!

[TteFAboB]

Those aerial images are amazing! :huh:

[Biggles]

Those aerial images are amazing! :huh:

But accurate. Pretty much the look of every village that happened to come in the way of any of the major offensives...

[XXi]

However the WWII terrible was, I think the WWI was worse in few aspects.

First, I think that it was the worst war in terms of expectations and preparation of the generals and reality of the battlefield. In WWII, most commanders at least had an idea of the modern battlefield and quite many got to understand it, if not at first then lately. And even if not, blitzkrieg could teach them a lesson or two at relatively low price. In WWI, generals were sending troops into bloodshed with not a slightest idea what was going on and how futile waste of human life it was.

[Oberon]

Twas a sober moment for myself during Over Flanders Fields the other day when I received orders to strafe a target behind the lines. Flying towards the frontlines, you notice this brown line on the horizon, it gets bigger and bigger, and then the green countryside is gone and it's just brown mud and craters, with the sound of cannon fire rumbling like constant thunder.
It looks like hell from above, but on the ground... :nope:

If only it had been the war to end all wars... :damn:

[Stealth Hunter]

War will never end. As long as somebody has something that someone else wants, there will be blood for it. That's the way it's been for thousands of years, and that's the way it will continue to be, although I have a feeling that it will be war that destroys the entire race of man if not the Earth itself. Ever seen "On the Beach" with Gregory Peck? I could honestly picture something like that happening.