Amazing footage of WWI battlefields
 

On Sunday the BBC is showing a documentry about WWI, with footage from the air. This video shows extraordinary views of the Western Front taken from a French airship in 1919. The extent of the chaos and devastation still very much visible.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11698287

In before Hunter's before/after photo. :O:

http://www.strangemilitary.com/image...ent/135663.jpg

This one?

Jumalauta! :stare:

anyway, that had to be one awesome tour to make.

HunterICX

Passchendaele
http://www.bricoleurbanism.org/wp-co...erial_view.jpg
;)

Really incredibly devastation from that war. I actually visited Ypres in April. Beautiful town, really no trace of the war anywhere...and not a single building older than 90 years I believe! Also, the war monument in commemoration of the BEF-soldiers who fell is quite a feast for the eyes. Huge place with thousands and thousands of names of fallen soldiers...what's really sad is that it only shows the BEF soldiers from that specific area, and not the unknown dead, the French, Americans or the Germans! Right bloody war that was...

I think that's one that's going to go into the planner. Thanks for the heads up. :yep: Makes me think of what my relatives went through, I honestly don't know how they made it out...well, those that did.

As my old social studies teacher said: "If I had to pick a war to fight in, I'd take any but World War I..."

Jeez, they really had a policy of shelling every square inch of a target area, didn't they? :o

I never did study much into WWI.

Bloodbath. I must confess my knowledge is not as good as some, Raptor1 (who has an encyclopedic knowledge of just about every war) has good knowledge of it. However, that which I know indicates the sheer meat grinder of the western front and the mess of Gallipoli and the doomed raids against the Ottomans.

The main reason for the bloodbath was the lack of realisation on both sides of the need for new tactics for the waging of war with the technological developments wrought by the industrial age.

Both sides general staff went into the war with a 19th century playbook against (admittedly early), 20th century weaponry.:nope:

In WWI there were artillery barrages that lasted for hours and even days. Imagine being shelled non stop for 10+ hours, or even around the clock?

I still have a hard time visualizing this. :nope:

Yep, I guess the closest one could come today is if they were to get into a sturdy wooden box, and have someone throw rocks, and exploding fireworks at them for a day... Not fun.

You left out the rats and the Lice. :yep:

My great grandfather was at Passchendaele ,ended up being gassed And catching TB from it - I've seen the still pictures like Biggles before and after but seeing that video and how bad it was really brings it home.

That wouldn't be even close. The noise of an exploding grenade can deafen you. The change in atmospheric pressure around it is enormous, let alone the fear of what happens to you if the next one hits just a bit closer. If you're lucky it will kill you instantly, if not you might be buried under mud to slowly suffocate or have some limbs being ripped of your body. I don't think one can get out of that without severe mental scars even if the body should have remained unharmed.:-?
What a pointless waste of lives!:nope:

And the trench foot. ;)

Did you know that for a short time the troops were given whale oil to put on their feet. The intent was to isolate the foot from the water outside the foot. Unfortunately, the problem is also the water inside the foot or on the surface. Putting oil on the feet prevented the sweat from evaporating actually making the problem worse.

Oops. Medical science at its best.

I did not know that. :hmmm: Good thing we learn from our mistakes. :DL


The older I get the more I realize the importance of WWI. When I was younger I sort of looked down my nose at the technology available at the time. After all, nothing that flew then could beat the sleek lines of a WWII warbird on any side. WWI was archaic in comparison. The result of this being, of course, that I overlooked a crucial turning point in history. :rolleyes:

Very interesting, especially the part about the pilot of that airship.

Anyone else who might be as curious as I am on this subject should check more on YouTube. They've got literally hundreds of videos about the Great War, pertaining to all kinds of different subjects. Just to throw a few out there:


Kaiser Wilhelm II - "An Das Deutsche Volk!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9yf6rlHnPs


Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg - "Dankrede an die Soldaten der 8. Armee nach der Schlacht von Tannenberg"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYzPi...eature=related


Skagerak (The Battle of Jutland)

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


"The Hell of Verdun"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKxhE9eY2uA


And some videos centered around footage compilations:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkxEyGLjwc4 (this has some of the rarest clips I've ever seen before, including some aerial footage)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d8g3...eature=related (color footage)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJEaU...eature=related (also in color)

And the influenza, mud and dirt and blood.