A US navy tradition where submarines are concerned, they are said to be "still on patol" until their remains are recovered (unlikely with sunken submarines). they get a radio message each christmas day wishing them well. the tradition is not unlike this I think, like unknown soldier grave and similar.
I also like to think of the name "soldier of heaven" a reference to how in the tomb of the unknown soldier it says something like (don't know the exact words) "they are only known by God" or something like that, and that would make them his soldier, or in other words, the soldiers of heaven
The 2WW planes are there because the soul has stayed there for so many years that he witnessed the 2WW battles. I love this part, it's sad and touching, he's still somewhere there, watching, alone and frozen.
Crazy and sad to think about how many bodies are forever preserved and stuck on those mountains. December of 1916 alone saw at least 10,000 men buried in the snow and ice.
@@Troop3r666 i saw the end of war could be a refference to platos well known quote: Only the dead have seen the end of war. for every person alive will see war in one way or another. being part of it or just a witness of it happening elsewhere.
1. Joakim and Sabaton don't need jackets for winter and the Alps they're Swedish Pagans warmed and fueled by mead, ambrosia, and Sabatonium it's the strongest element known to mankind for its Unbreakable. 2. I've seen it all but none will hear my story is one of the greatest lines I've ever heard cause of the depth it has plus is a tragic reminder about the ones who never come home.
2. Yeah, reminds me of Rutger Hauer's final lines in Blade Runner: :O *I've seen things you people wouldn't believe... attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion... I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain...*
This story reminded me of Ötzi, the stone age man that was found frozen in the alps back in the 90s, and how future archeologists may find these men 1000s of years from now.
There are ongoing archaeological excavations to get a better picture of the Italian/Isonzo Front and of course to retrieve the killed soldiers' bodies. It will actually take a few centuries (or better funding lol) to find all the remains still scattered in the alps. The environmental conditions are quite volatile and can be merciless.
I'm ecstatic for The Unkillable Solider and the story they have for the absolute mad man that was Adrian Carton de Wiart. Also excited for Race to the Sea and Dreadnought but lets be honest I am excited for pretty much every Sabaton song.
@@Sempergrumpy441 i just read the wikipedia on Adrian Carton de Wiart... HOLY FUCK.... that man went through hell and beack just to go through hell again and still come back alive.
As an Italian i can say that it is very cool to hear a sabaton song on the italian front in ww1. I live in Verona (Veneto) so i can easly go to the places where the battles took place and also visit lots of museum and forts that the austro-hungarians owned. I hope that someday you'll visit some historic places here in italy. Anyway i really like your explenations in your videos so keep it on.
When I first saw the video I noticed the red biplane and then the WWII planes. As I see it, Sabaton visualized the fact that the soldiers have remained on their post since the Red Baron era, during WWII and still remain on their post.
You could say dying up there in those mountains was better for those poor souls who were literally drowning in mud. Their bodies decayed while your body is up there, preserved for decades and even centuries, watching the mountains. While it's tragic, considering how other people died in WW1, it's actually quite nice. And now more people finally talk about their story, thanks to Sabaton.
It's funny you should say that, because the British did send soilders to help the Italians, they actually did think the mountains had more of a sense of adventure compared to the mud of Europe.
sure, they just had to fight a vertical war, at -40°c, freeclimbing and had to bring up cannons and food by hands (the italians brought up a 149mm cannon ffs)because pathways were very limited and exposed to fire. With the particular kind of rock that form the alps that tend to shatter and fragment even by bullet hits, you would get a lot of shit flying around (ricocheting bullets, metal shrapnell, very sharp stone pieces, ice... the fucking snow that's probably over your head...)... if someone wont try to collapse the mountain UNDER you. Forget getting saved if you slip down a crepice or a hole, you would either die istantly or getting in a position where they wont be able to help you anyway. at least the mud was orizontal and muddled a bit the shells explosion lol. if you ever visit those trenches and fortifications, you can hear the clanging of their ghostly steel balls.
Hi there. Just to note: The song is about 2 events on 2 different mountains. "Blood Mountain" is not the Marmolada but the Col di Lana. Marmolada is the adjacent mountain where the so called "White Friday" event took place, both events taking place several months apart. The Col di Lana is also entirely ice free during the summer months and is accessible. The same goes for the slopes along the Marmolada. Frozen in time certainly is a great line, yet most of those missing are burried under rock debris rather than ice and snow. The peak of the Marmolada is, in turn, ice covered 24/7/365. Meaning that anyone preserved as described, would by default be frozen up on the peak of Marmolada.
Sadly, global warming is melting away the Marmolada glacier, 5-10 years tops and it won't be there anymore. This summer an avalanche from a fallen serac took the lives of 11 mountaineers, hiking on the mountain is now forbidden With the glaciers receding, several WWI soldier's remains have been found, and given burial too
I remember reading a history geographic novel in 2015 that had a recently discovered of a Austro-Hungarian and a Italian soldier from ww1 huddled together embracing eachother trying to keep warm, frozen in time, this was when a glacier was melting at an alarming rate.
I remember watching the Great War week-by-week and listening to Indy talk about Luigi Cadorna launching the Nth Battle of the Isonzo. There were 11 assaults by the Italians, most of which failed, and whatever incremental gains they made were reversed as their newly captured ground (at great cost) was exposed, outflanked and at risk of being cut off. The 12th Battle of the Isonzo was the joint Austro-Hungarian and German counterattack that drove the Italians back to the Piave River, also known as the Battle of Caporetto. During this campaign, a certain German infantry Lieutenant by the name of Rommel won the Pour le Merite for capturing the 10,000-strong 1st Italian Infantry Division with less than 150 men.
Cadorna was incompetent and a bastard didn't understand anything about war. (I say it from Italian) at the same time the Italians redeemed themselves on the Piave River
I also remember! That's exactly why I'm so happy to have a song about it. Their commanders were awful, but those men deserve respect just as much as the other armies.
Have been looking forward to your reaction of this song. "I will guard this post forever" it struck a nerve for me, thinking of all the young boys, on both sides, that was buried under the snow and never will come home. Musically I felt it was very diffrent from normal the normal Sabatonesque sound and I kinda like it. So looking forward what the rest of the album will contain both when it comes to the music but mostly for what other stories will be told.
While i do love the song, i have to disagree. It still has the usual Sabaton feel to it (not that that's bad, it's just kinda gets repetitive and boring) but yes, the chorus is great. That's why I love songs that are more unique sounding or out of their usual feel, like Blood of Bannockburn, The Last Battle, The Ghost in The Trenches, Hill 3234, Rorke's Drift (basically the entire The Last Stand album hahaha) etc etc. Also what I mean by "Sabaton feel" is the riffs, the licks, the chorus and sometimes the lyrics. Most of their songs have those elements almost copy and pasted into said songs. These are a bit more prevalent in their earlier albums. So, in summary, I disagree that this song is "very different from the normal" than their previous songs, because I think it's not, yet it's still epic. But I do agree that it is somewhat unique and stands out a bit. Tl;dr : Sabaton has a lot of the same feel for most of their songs and while it does make most of their songs boring to listen to after awhile, they're still an amazing band. The Last Stand is my favourite album, not because it's arguably their most popular, but because I think it's their most unique/creative sounding one. If you disagree in any way, feel free to reply! :D Edit : Rearranged some words to fix my jumbled sentences.
@@razormaw Hello Razor, first of all what a great comment. Thanks for the read and your input. I wonder if I was a bit suprised by the beginning and that stuck with me for the entire song. It sure has a lot of Sabatons signature but I felt like Defence of Moscow and Christmas Truce was more classical Sabaton if you understand how I mean. Doesnt mean this son was bad in anyway (au contraire) and it grows on me the more I listen to it. For me, as a Swede, I still have Carolus Rex as my favourite album but Last Stand is not far behind.
“I always dreamed that I would serve high above” may also be because mountain troops are right there next to paratroopers when it comes to elite troops. Mountain Troops where the special forces before WW2.
I watched the soldier of heaven with my family live when it came out. This is the first time sabaton has released somethin about the italian front in ww1. Love your content and i have soon listened to every single major sabaton song. Hope they do a video about the unkillable soldier who fought in africa before ww1 and fought in ww1 as well as ww2, he was wounded 11 times including losing his left arm. Also i would love if you did a video reacting to it. i would love to get to go the live in finland in april this year without getting covid (we have tickets to it) Hope everyone is safe and healthy
The song definitely took me by surprise by being less bombastic than some of their previous work but at the same time feeling very uplifting. Also i honstly never considered the deliberate use of avalanches in mountain warfare before and now that i know about it really amazes and scares me....i'd take any other environment in a heartbeat including desert or jungle over it
For us there in Slovenia this was really deadly front. On that front 1 million people died and Erwin Rommel was there to. The whole Mountain peeks were bombed or cowered with bodies. many men also died of starvation or rehidration becoast on places like Kras they didn't have water. It's really sad history of my country and we also lost really good economic city Trst.
Man, and here I was thinking the “soldier buried in ice” trope was just something the MCU did. The event brought up by this song almost makes for cryogenic-revival-plot fodder, I’d argue lol
I'm from Michigan and everytime the weather gets below 80 degrees here in Texas, I always smile! But I can't imagine how awful it must be to fight in the freezing weather these men went through, and how terrifying the idea of dying by the cold or worse by avalanche must be! RIP to those who did not come home or grow old...
I like how they show the bf 109 and another allied plane dogfighting. Just kind of shows that it is dedicated to all those who died frozen in a mountain throughout the ages.
I know your comment is two years old but if you think that the biplane on the video was bf 109 you need to get your eyes checked Edit: never mind I was too hasty I should have watched the entire video before commenting sorry if I was rude.
small clarification. Austria would have ceded part of the territories that Italy considered its by right if Italy had remained neutral. The British, on the other hand, promised Italy all the territories populated by ethnically Italian people, convincing it to enter the war but in the end they gave only the territories that Italy would have obtained from Austria for its neutrality.
Austria didn't even consult Italy before attacking Serbia (in breech of the terms of the Triple Alliance, which required Italy and Austria consult each other to discuss compensation before making any territorial change in the Balkans) To think Austria would cede its largest ports in exchange for neutrality is naive beyond all measure.
A few years ago, I was in Italy (or possibly Austria, can't remember exactly), we took a hike that took us through fortifications placed there during WW1, I remember seeing more fortifications in the Austrian mountains on the border with Italy in other locations, trenches and such. Rather interesting stuff.
In Slovenia on Bohinj you have the place called Rapallo border. There Austro Hungarians and Italians signed end of war. Today you have entire bunker in the mountain and small bunker 8 tons heavy. It's weary interasting
I'm Italian, and I'm from Veneto region. We have a saying that states "you're not a true venetian if you don't have at least one relative in Alpine Corps", so we are deeply related with those soldier corps. I'm so glad Sabaton did a song about our grandfathers. The Blood Mountain is the "Col di Lana" on Belluno's province Dolomites. But also there was countless huge and deadly fighting, like the Mount Ortigara battle near Asiago, or the defeat of Caporetto, so I think all of our region mountains are "Bloody Mountain", thinking about WW1.
One of my great great grandfathers fought on Italian front. From what I know from my grandfather who was able to speak with him as a kid it was very brutal. He returned home devastated physically and mentally too. He even lost two of his fingers because of frostbite.
Looking forward to this one! I love your content keep up the amazing work. Your episodes on Rorke’s Drift reminded me of when I dressed up as Shaka Zulu when I did a report on a historical figure. I remember during my research reading that Shaka forced his men to stomp on stickers to toughen their feet so they could be more effective in close quarters combat. I was an odd 11 year old when I gave a report about war in Southern Africa and the impact Shaka’s tactics had for years to come. :)
I'm not sure if it is an accurate assumption, but I enjoyed how they used the different plane models to show the passage of time buried on the mountain.
Your channel just adds another layer of excitement for this new album, not only do I get to listen to great music, but I get to see you make videos on it!
It's nice that I can rely on this channel for information whenever Sabaton releases a song, especially since the Sabaton History video isn't out just yet haha.
Awesome song and reaction as always Chris. The Great War Channel actually covers this front quite in depth. They actually went on location and visited the battlefields and even the bunkers carved in the mountains
I read a news article a few years ago about the remains of these frozen mountainous battlefields being revealed by the shift of glaciers, essentially 'washing' everything from the remains of soldiers, rusted barbed wire and pieces of military equipment.
When i first heard it, i thought its about the 11th Airborne Division, Nickname the "Sky Soldiers". And its interesting, that they switched to WWII in the later Part, when one of the Bf109s was shot down by AA Fire. As you know, less than 3 decades later, another war raged over Europe
My grandfather s Brother fought and died in the alps against the Italiens. He was born in Teschen, bohimia Part of Austria-Hungary and He was Part of the k und k Armee
Tnx for the background info, been listening to this song on repeat since yesterday, but did not know the history behind it yet, only makes it better. Keep up the awesome work
Ah 1 of 2 places the Italy kingdom fought with the other being the Battles of the Isonzo, (1915-17), 12 battles where fought along the Isonzo River and each time the Italian and Austria-Hungarin military high command would immediately plan to getake the river it even became a meme on the great war channel back when Indy was the host.
Imagine being crushed to death all the while you’re unable to do anything as your bunker collapses all around you, or any and all exits and entrances are completely blocked leading to mass suffocation all the while the cold crawls closer towards you
I live very very close to Mount Marmolada in Italy, and this song hits very very hard, knowing our great grandfathers fought up there while now we can only watch up on it, thinking about those who lost their lives for us
The quote "Only the dead have seen the end of war" is referenced in the lyric "I've seen the end of war." It's a quote from George Santayana, a writer and philosopher whose quotes are extremely well known these days even if their source has been forgotten and attributed to others. That particular quote is often said to be from Plato. I'm guessing he's not given attribution because he's just not famous enough to quote correctly on Facebook posts. He's also the guy who came up with "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." He had his own issues that people would rightfully frown on these days, but honestly, they were pretty standard for his era.
Just Jen had found in beginning of her live stream a short documentary which included computer colored film material. It also had some info like this, though some material was really shocking for sensitive minds. You were talking about bodies preserved in ice. Ideal example would be Ötzi who was found in Tirol area. Though in his case the deep freeze must have been near perfect. When ice covers in the mountains keeps melting the might come really scary sights.
Interestingly this song is about multiple events on the Alpine front. While White Friday is the more notable feature of the song which happened at Mount Marmolada, the mountain the Italians called "Blood Mountain" actually refers to Col di Lana, where the Italians engaged in mine warfare after losing the peak to Austria-Hungarian forces. A section of Col di Lana was almost completely destroy by the mine detonations and that's what the giant explosions in the background of the music video appear to represent.
As I understand it, the reason the subject is referred to as “soldier of heaven” is because the soldiers on both sides became very deeply religious due to how awful and fatalistic the conditions were. They built hundreds of shrines and churches across that mountain and many others which were fought over. Col di Lana is a holy place now.
Per my previous comment. OR, (because they’re too knowledgeable to make this mistake) they used WWII fighters because it looked badass flying behind Hannes.
Otzi "the Iceman" was found in '91 in the Austro-Italian Alpes. Had been there something like 5100 years. Can still make out some tattoos on their skin. Certainly a kind of immortality. Also, "only the dead have seen the end of war", which is commonly attributed to Plato but is in fact George Santayana.
I think the title might be a reference to the event happening on and around 13th of December, the feast of Saint Lucia, which is an important day for Italian Catholics.
This reminded a bit me of the battle of St Louis Bridge in WW2 where a single bunker manned by 9 French soldiers held back 5000 Italian soldiers for 11 days.🤔
If my memory serves correct the Bf-109s are those that were deployed in the 2nd Battle of the Alps from March 23rd - May 2nd 1945. where 4 Battalion 2 of which were Italians and 2 were German fought of several French Battalions. Though since this is 1945 the Luftwaffe was dead and gone.
6:56 I choose to think of it as soldiers who think they’ll be immortalized in history, like how the Lost Battalion was, but instead end up immortalized as ‘the ones who never came home’
In some catholic regions Wednesday is or was known as 'little Friday', because wednesday was a day for fasting, too. Perhaps there is a link. (During WW I, when food supplies were low, german Propaganda even used this, to give the fasting dictated by war a religious touch. They tried to regulate, what food should be eaten on which day of the week. And by using Fridays and Wednesdays for more fasting, they could relay on a lot of priests to preach for this fasting.)
I'm looking forward to a Yarn Hub video of this song. I looked it up before watching, though, and yet another amazing story I would know nothing about if it weren't for Sabaton.
It is scary to think about the fact that some of the soldiers on these mountains are probably still there perfectly preserved by the sub zero temperatures of the alps
Sabaton is awesome tbh never heard of the band before joining this channel i think its a great way to get people talking about history in a fun way from all walks of life. Looking forward to some o g content from France be great to see some content on the Newfoundland regiment just a walking distance from one of the locations you will be visiting and would be highly appreciated from many Newfoundlanders and fans here on the east cost of Canada
During World War I, the Dolomites were the site of a confrontation between the Austro-Hungarian army and the Kingdom of Italy. In both, 150-180 thousand were killed. people, including as many as 60 thousand, were devoured by avalanches. At the amount of 2 thousand. meters, the snow cover of the winter of 1916/1917 was 6 meters, by 3,000 meters - as much as 9. The shots caused avalanches that swept the soldiers into the abyss. Thousands of people died of cold and hunger, because it was simply impossible to deliver supplies to some positions. The worst was Friday, December 13, 1916, when a sudden thaw and heavy rain followed after the great frosts. Great sheets of snow rushed from the slopes of the mountains and buried troops. The biggest tragedy happened in the Marmolada massif near Gran Poz, where the cable car ended and an Austrian military camp was set up. In a matter of minutes, an avalanche killed 300 soldiers. Their bodies had been carried downstairs for many months. The balance of people killed by avalanches on this unfortunate day on both sides is 10,000. people, which to this day is considered the greatest mountain tragedy caused by avalanches.
People ask what or who is a Hero. A true hero? Yes, a hero is someone who goes above and beyond the call of duty and who with disregard for his own life, saves or attempts to save the lives of his comrades or achieves an extra ordinary event of valor. I tell you now that all those Men AND Women knowing they may never return, no matter how frightened they were, still took up a post and did their duty are forever hero's also. Give a salute to those Italian, Austro-Hungarian {Croation, Slovenian and Slovakian} and Serbian Soldiers who fought and died atop those mountains.
The theory I've seen on why it's called white Friday is that the base that was destroyed by the avalanche didn't check in on the telegraph and it took 2 days to confirm that they were gone.
I remember going on holiday to the south of Austria on the Italian border. If you hike up some mountains there you can walk through some of the trenches they used in ww1. Some are being restored. I found it fascinating to walk through the trenches so high up and thinking that people fought a war up there is amazing.
Whats really sad is these men are now resurfacing as global warming melts the glaciers and once permanent snow caps leaving them to be found by tourists thrill seekers. Feels like a disservice to these men that suffered and died and now after so long may not have family to claim them.
I won't be coming home I won't be going anywhere I will guard this post forever Here on the Alpine slope Where I did my final stand I shall remain Among the ice and snow that binds me to this mountain
The WWI begun by assasination of Franci Ferdinand d’Este. So we could say Austria-Hungary declared war because of this. And Serbia is friend with Russia, Russia is friend with France. So technically Germany fought defensive war.
Because of the Italian connection, I'm going to say this is the more religious idea of "immortal". There's also the fact that it occurred on St Lucia's Day, a Catholic holy day. As to why it would be called White Friday, I'm wondering if the event was reported first on the following Friday.
Being high up in the sky = Heaven as imagery likely has something to do with the day to day word for the sky literary is "heaven" so tall mountains etc. being close enough to touch heaven is sort of not an uncommon associations. Combine with the alps that have a sort of revered status similar to the rockies or smoky mountains and it's very easy for a swede to draw parallels to Heaven and immortality in the religious sense.
As a Sabaton nut, this is officially my favourite Sabaton song (closely followed by Union, Unbreakable, Attack of the Dead Men, Back in Control, Great War, Metal Machine, Uprising, Ghost Division, Primo Victoria, Metal Crue, The Lost Battalion, etc, etc, etc and You're in the Army Now).
Speaking of the soldiers being preserved it’s absolutely fact and we have bodies from early man that were preserved in ice and although tragic it is amazing to see
Actually blood mountain refers to the Col di Lana (in that time called Col di Sangue) ^^ A mountain where pretty heavy mining from both sides took place (if memory serves right, the Italians blew up the whole peak of that mountain where the Austro-Hungarian Army had a post)
![Soldier of Heaven - Mountain Warfare in WW1 - Sabaton History 108 [Official]](/img/1.gif)
A US navy tradition where submarines are concerned, they are said to be "still on patol" until their remains are recovered (unlikely with sunken submarines). they get a radio message each christmas day wishing them well. the tradition is not unlike this I think, like unknown soldier grave and similar.
Only In Death Does Duty End
Fair Winds and Following Seas
On Eternal Patrol
@@warrior7ra Well said.
I also like to think of the name "soldier of heaven" a reference to how in the tomb of the unknown soldier it says something like (don't know the exact words) "they are only known by God" or something like that, and that would make them his soldier, or in other words, the soldiers of heaven
The 2WW planes are there because the soul has stayed there for so many years that he witnessed the 2WW battles. I love this part, it's sad and touching, he's still somewhere there, watching, alone and frozen.
Damn, I didnt even consider that. Thanks for that comment and know those planes makes so much sense.
That honestly makes it even sadder....
Crazy and sad to think about how many bodies are forever preserved and stuck on those mountains. December of 1916 alone saw at least 10,000 men buried in the snow and ice.
It's the lyrics right after the first chorus
"I saw the end of war, I watched the soldiers come and go and I kept my watch forever"
@@Troop3r666 i saw the end of war could be a refference to platos well known quote: Only the dead have seen the end of war. for every person alive will see war in one way or another. being part of it or just a witness of it happening elsewhere.
1. Joakim and Sabaton don't need jackets for winter and the Alps they're Swedish Pagans warmed and fueled by mead, ambrosia, and Sabatonium it's the strongest element known to mankind for its Unbreakable.
2. I've seen it all but none will hear my story is one of the greatest lines I've ever heard cause of the depth it has plus is a tragic reminder about the ones who never come home.
Oh thats the material joakims knees are made of
2. Yeah, reminds me of Rutger Hauer's final lines in Blade Runner: :O
*I've seen things you people wouldn't believe... attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion... I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain...*
And the triplane was the red barons plane
2. And now Sabaton will let their stories be heard
Joakim warms himself via the kinetic energy he’s stored in his knee
I would say everyone saw this coming
Count me on that, brother.
This story reminded me of Ötzi, the stone age man that was found frozen in the alps back in the 90s, and how future archeologists may find these men 1000s of years from now.
yea also known as the First Murder Mystery
They’ll be finding these men’s bodies for centuries, unfortunately.
There are ongoing archaeological excavations to get a better picture of the Italian/Isonzo Front and of course to retrieve the killed soldiers' bodies. It will actually take a few centuries (or better funding lol) to find all the remains still scattered in the alps. The environmental conditions are quite volatile and can be merciless.
Another example of preservation, which is from the alps: Ötzi. Thousands of years and still pretty recognizable
Ah yes
Ötzi and the legend of the first dab.
true and most of these people will probably suffer the same fate.
I found this song quite interesting and I can't wait to see what the rest of the album entails.
I'm always glad to see your thoughts on Sabaton
yeah im looking forward to shocktroopers, Hellfighters and Dreadnought(yay more naval songs).
I bet the next video Sabaton puts out is Lady in the Dark they teased this at one of their gigs it's another Yarnhub video like No Bullets Fly
I'm ecstatic for The Unkillable Solider and the story they have for the absolute mad man that was Adrian Carton de Wiart. Also excited for Race to the Sea and Dreadnought but lets be honest I am excited for pretty much every Sabaton song.
@@Sempergrumpy441 i just read the wikipedia on Adrian Carton de Wiart... HOLY FUCK.... that man went through hell and beack just to go through hell again and still come back alive.
@@raikbarczynski6582 yea he's a forever soldier and the soldiers soldier for sure. I think he'll make for an awesome song.
As an Italian i can say that it is very cool to hear a sabaton song on the italian front in ww1.
I live in Verona (Veneto) so i can easly go to the places where the battles took place and also visit lots of museum and forts that the austro-hungarians owned.
I hope that someday you'll visit some historic places here in italy. Anyway i really like your explenations in your videos so keep it on.
When I first saw the video I noticed the red biplane and then the WWII planes. As I see it, Sabaton visualized the fact that the soldiers have remained on their post since the Red Baron era, during WWII and still remain on their post.
You could say dying up there in those mountains was better for those poor souls who were literally drowning in mud. Their bodies decayed while your body is up there, preserved for decades and even centuries, watching the mountains. While it's tragic, considering how other people died in WW1, it's actually quite nice. And now more people finally talk about their story, thanks to Sabaton.
not nice at all. Suffocation is not the best death i can imagine.
It's funny you should say that, because the British did send soilders to help the Italians, they actually did think the mountains had more of a sense of adventure compared to the mud of Europe.
I prefer a warm bed.
sure, they just had to fight a vertical war, at -40°c, freeclimbing and had to bring up cannons and food by hands (the italians brought up a 149mm cannon ffs)because pathways were very limited and exposed to fire. With the particular kind of rock that form the alps that tend to shatter and fragment even by bullet hits, you would get a lot of shit flying around (ricocheting bullets, metal shrapnell, very sharp stone pieces, ice... the fucking snow that's probably over your head...)... if someone wont try to collapse the mountain UNDER you.
Forget getting saved if you slip down a crepice or a hole, you would either die istantly or getting in a position where they wont be able to help you anyway.
at least the mud was orizontal and muddled a bit the shells explosion lol.
if you ever visit those trenches and fortifications, you can hear the clanging of their ghostly steel balls.
@@Silverized84 and one of those guns are still up there protecting the dead
🪦🪦🪦 🪦🪦🪦🪦
DEDICATED TO
ALL THOSE UNKNOWN
HEROES WHO NEVER
CAME HOME
🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦
Hi there. Just to note: The song is about 2 events on 2 different mountains. "Blood Mountain" is not the Marmolada but the Col di Lana. Marmolada is the adjacent mountain where the so called "White Friday" event took place, both events taking place several months apart. The Col di Lana is also entirely ice free during the summer months and is accessible. The same goes for the slopes along the Marmolada. Frozen in time certainly is a great line, yet most of those missing are burried under rock debris rather than ice and snow. The peak of the Marmolada is, in turn, ice covered 24/7/365. Meaning that anyone preserved as described, would by default be frozen up on the peak of Marmolada.
Sadly, global warming is melting away the Marmolada glacier, 5-10 years tops and it won't be there anymore. This summer an avalanche from a fallen serac took the lives of 11 mountaineers, hiking on the mountain is now forbidden
With the glaciers receding, several WWI soldier's remains have been found, and given burial too
I remember reading a history geographic novel in 2015 that had a recently discovered of a Austro-Hungarian and a Italian soldier from ww1 huddled together embracing eachother trying to keep warm, frozen in time, this was when a glacier was melting at an alarming rate.
I remember watching the Great War week-by-week and listening to Indy talk about Luigi Cadorna launching the Nth Battle of the Isonzo. There were 11 assaults by the Italians, most of which failed, and whatever incremental gains they made were reversed as their newly captured ground (at great cost) was exposed, outflanked and at risk of being cut off. The 12th Battle of the Isonzo was the joint Austro-Hungarian and German counterattack that drove the Italians back to the Piave River, also known as the Battle of Caporetto. During this campaign, a certain German infantry Lieutenant by the name of Rommel won the Pour le Merite for capturing the 10,000-strong 1st Italian Infantry Division with less than 150 men.
Cadorna was incompetent and a bastard didn't understand anything about war. (I say it from Italian)
at the same time the Italians redeemed themselves on the Piave River
I also remember! That's exactly why I'm so happy to have a song about it. Their commanders were awful, but those men deserve respect just as much as the other armies.
@@gabrielepinzi4441 mf's mind still stuck in the Napoleonic Era
Five Italian victories, three Austro-Hungarian victories, three inconclusive, one German victory.
Have been looking forward to your reaction of this song. "I will guard this post forever" it struck a nerve for me, thinking of all the young boys, on both sides, that was buried under the snow and never will come home.
Musically I felt it was very diffrent from normal the normal Sabatonesque sound and I kinda like it. So looking forward what the rest of the album will contain both when it comes to the music but mostly for what other stories will be told.
While i do love the song, i have to disagree. It still has the usual Sabaton feel to it (not that that's bad, it's just kinda gets repetitive and boring) but yes, the chorus is great. That's why I love songs that are more unique sounding or out of their usual feel, like Blood of Bannockburn, The Last Battle, The Ghost in The Trenches, Hill 3234, Rorke's Drift (basically the entire The Last Stand album hahaha) etc etc. Also what I mean by "Sabaton feel" is the riffs, the licks, the chorus and sometimes the lyrics. Most of their songs have those elements almost copy and pasted into said songs. These are a bit more prevalent in their earlier albums. So, in summary, I disagree that this song is "very different from the normal" than their previous songs, because I think it's not, yet it's still epic. But I do agree that it is somewhat unique and stands out a bit.
Tl;dr : Sabaton has a lot of the same feel for most of their songs and while it does make most of their songs boring to listen to after awhile, they're still an amazing band. The Last Stand is my favourite album, not because it's arguably their most popular, but because I think it's their most unique/creative sounding one. If you disagree in any way, feel free to reply! :D
Edit : Rearranged some words to fix my jumbled sentences.
@@razormaw Hello Razor, first of all what a great comment. Thanks for the read and your input. I wonder if I was a bit suprised by the beginning and that stuck with me for the entire song. It sure has a lot of Sabatons signature but I felt like Defence of Moscow and Christmas Truce was more classical Sabaton if you understand how I mean. Doesnt mean this son was bad in anyway (au contraire) and it grows on me the more I listen to it.
For me, as a Swede, I still have Carolus Rex as my favourite album but Last Stand is not far behind.
“I always dreamed that I would serve high above” may also be because mountain troops are right there next to paratroopers when it comes to elite troops. Mountain Troops where the special forces before WW2.
I watched the soldier of heaven with my family live when it came out. This is the first time sabaton has released somethin about the italian front in ww1. Love your content and i have soon listened to every single major sabaton song. Hope they do a video about the unkillable soldier who fought in africa before ww1 and fought in ww1 as well as ww2, he was wounded 11 times including losing his left arm. Also i would love if you did a video reacting to it. i would love to get to go the live in finland in april this year without getting covid (we have tickets to it) Hope everyone is safe and healthy
The song definitely took me by surprise by being less bombastic than some of their previous work but at the same time feeling very uplifting. Also i honstly never considered the deliberate use of avalanches in mountain warfare before and now that i know about it really amazes and scares me....i'd take any other environment in a heartbeat including desert or jungle over it
I wouldn't be too sure about that, thirst and malaria is a hell of a way to go
I think the feel of it fits the tribute it's meant to be very well
For us there in Slovenia this was really deadly front. On that front 1 million people died and Erwin Rommel was there to. The whole Mountain peeks were bombed or cowered with bodies. many men also died of starvation or rehidration becoast on places like Kras they didn't have water. It's really sad history of my country and we also lost really good economic city Trst.
Man, and here I was thinking the “soldier buried in ice” trope was just something the MCU did.
The event brought up by this song almost makes for cryogenic-revival-plot fodder, I’d argue lol
Only, that - if you are from Europa - Your very own Great- or even Grandfather might be stuck out there, and for them, it may be impossible to return.
I'm from Michigan and everytime the weather gets below 80 degrees here in Texas, I always smile! But I can't imagine how awful it must be to fight in the freezing weather these men went through, and how terrifying the idea of dying by the cold or worse by avalanche must be! RIP to those who did not come home or grow old...
I like how they show the bf 109 and another allied plane dogfighting. Just kind of shows that it is dedicated to all those who died frozen in a mountain throughout the ages.
I know your comment is two years old but if you think that the biplane on the video was bf 109 you need to get your eyes checked
Edit: never mind I was too hasty I should have watched the entire video before commenting sorry if I was rude.
@@Jogoat860 No worries, we're all human and prone to mistakes.
small clarification. Austria would have ceded part of the territories that Italy considered its by right if Italy had remained neutral. The British, on the other hand, promised Italy all the territories populated by ethnically Italian people, convincing it to enter the war but in the end they gave only the territories that Italy would have obtained from Austria for its neutrality.
Austria didn't even consult Italy before attacking Serbia (in breech of the terms of the Triple Alliance, which required Italy and Austria consult each other to discuss compensation before making any territorial change in the Balkans)
To think Austria would cede its largest ports in exchange for neutrality is naive beyond all measure.
Your mention there to those killed in combat having a look of peace brings some reinforcement to the quote "Only the dead have seen the end of war"
A few years ago, I was in Italy (or possibly Austria, can't remember exactly), we took a hike that took us through fortifications placed there during WW1, I remember seeing more fortifications in the Austrian mountains on the border with Italy in other locations, trenches and such. Rather interesting stuff.
In Slovenia on Bohinj you have the place called Rapallo border. There Austro Hungarians and Italians signed end of war. Today you have entire bunker in the mountain and small bunker 8 tons heavy. It's weary interasting
I'm Italian, and I'm from Veneto region. We have a saying that states "you're not a true venetian if you don't have at least one relative in Alpine Corps", so we are deeply related with those soldier corps. I'm so glad Sabaton did a song about our grandfathers. The Blood Mountain is the "Col di Lana" on Belluno's province Dolomites. But also there was countless huge and deadly fighting, like the Mount Ortigara battle near Asiago, or the defeat of Caporetto, so I think all of our region mountains are "Bloody Mountain", thinking about WW1.
One of my great great grandfathers fought on Italian front. From what I know from my grandfather who was able to speak with him as a kid it was very brutal. He returned home devastated physically and mentally too. He even lost two of his fingers because of frostbite.
Looking forward to this one! I love your content keep up the amazing work. Your episodes on Rorke’s Drift reminded me of when I dressed up as Shaka Zulu when I did a report on a historical figure. I remember during my research reading that Shaka forced his men to stomp on stickers to toughen their feet so they could be more effective in close quarters combat. I was an odd 11 year old when I gave a report about war in Southern Africa and the impact Shaka’s tactics had for years to come. :)
I'm not sure if it is an accurate assumption, but I enjoyed how they used the different plane models to show the passage of time buried on the mountain.
It was a front of WWII, so that makes sense.
I wish I had a history teacher anywhere as close as you are to being "committed".
Greetings, and Hail thee, from Germany!
Your channel just adds another layer of excitement for this new album, not only do I get to listen to great music, but I get to see you make videos on it!
It's nice that I can rely on this channel for information whenever Sabaton releases a song, especially since the Sabaton History video isn't out just yet haha.
The great war channel actually have a video about this with indy neidell :) i watched it before watching the sabaton music vid
Awesome song and reaction as always Chris.
The Great War Channel actually covers this front quite in depth. They actually went on location and visited the battlefields and even the bunkers carved in the mountains
A heart for the young men who never returned.
I read a news article a few years ago about the remains of these frozen mountainous battlefields being revealed by the shift of glaciers, essentially 'washing' everything from the remains of soldiers, rusted barbed wire and pieces of military equipment.
Thanks Chris for introducing me to Sabaton. I enjoy there music, and what a way to educate people through song, the universal language.
I've heard when you die in war you're soul/spirit stays on the battlefield
When i first heard it, i thought its about the 11th Airborne Division, Nickname the "Sky Soldiers". And its interesting, that they switched to WWII in the later Part, when one of the Bf109s was shot down by AA Fire. As you know, less than 3 decades later, another war raged over Europe
Because the soul has stayed there for so many years that he witnessed the 2WW battles too.
@@biteme4322 i Know, and the guys are still there. Its like climbing up Mt. Everest, dead bodies all over
My grandfather s Brother fought and died in the alps against the Italiens. He was born in Teschen, bohimia Part of Austria-Hungary and He was Part of the k und k Armee
Tnx for the background info, been listening to this song on repeat since yesterday, but did not know the history behind it yet, only makes it better. Keep up the awesome work
The line that got me "I have seen it all but none will hear my story"
Imagine what it must've been like to see about roughly 200,000 tons of snow and ice just coming down the mountain like a tsunami of snow
Ah 1 of 2 places the Italy kingdom fought with the other being the Battles of the Isonzo, (1915-17), 12 battles where fought along the Isonzo River and each time the Italian and Austria-Hungarin military high command would immediately plan to getake the river it even became a meme on the great war channel back when Indy was the host.
A force of nature sent from above. That says it all.
The triplane was the red barons and the soldier saluted sabaton
I sure hope Sabaton makes it to Cleveland this year. I would be great to see you there as well.
Nice to hear an actual story behind the song :D.. Great reaction and backup information. Keep up the good work.
Imagine being crushed to death all the while you’re unable to do anything as your bunker collapses all around you, or any and all exits and entrances are completely blocked leading to mass suffocation all the while the cold crawls closer towards you
I live very very close to Mount Marmolada in Italy, and this song hits very very hard, knowing our great grandfathers fought up there while now we can only watch up on it, thinking about those who lost their lives for us
You should react to Sabatons "Ghost in the Trenches" it's my favorite one!
Thx for the extra research in the end. It's nice to know some extra things about this song.
The quote "Only the dead have seen the end of war" is referenced in the lyric "I've seen the end of war." It's a quote from George Santayana, a writer and philosopher whose quotes are extremely well known these days even if their source has been forgotten and attributed to others. That particular quote is often said to be from Plato. I'm guessing he's not given attribution because he's just not famous enough to quote correctly on Facebook posts.
He's also the guy who came up with "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." He had his own issues that people would rightfully frown on these days, but honestly, they were pretty standard for his era.
Just Jen had found in beginning of her live stream a short documentary which included computer colored film material. It also had some info like this, though some material was really shocking for sensitive minds. You were talking about bodies preserved in ice. Ideal example would be Ötzi who was found in Tirol area. Though in his case the deep freeze must have been near perfect. When ice covers in the mountains keeps melting the might come really scary sights.
Interestingly this song is about multiple events on the Alpine front. While White Friday is the more notable feature of the song which happened at Mount Marmolada, the mountain the Italians called "Blood Mountain" actually refers to Col di Lana, where the Italians engaged in mine warfare after losing the peak to Austria-Hungarian forces. A section of Col di Lana was almost completely destroy by the mine detonations and that's what the giant explosions in the background of the music video appear to represent.
As I understand it, the reason the subject is referred to as “soldier of heaven” is because the soldiers on both sides became very deeply religious due to how awful and fatalistic the conditions were. They built hundreds of shrines and churches across that mountain and many others which were fought over. Col di Lana is a holy place now.
Per my previous comment. OR, (because they’re too knowledgeable to make this mistake) they used WWII fighters because it looked badass flying behind Hannes.
Otzi "the Iceman" was found in '91 in the Austro-Italian Alpes. Had been there something like 5100 years. Can still make out some tattoos on their skin. Certainly a kind of immortality.
Also, "only the dead have seen the end of war", which is commonly attributed to Plato but is in fact George Santayana.
I think the title might be a reference to the event happening on and around 13th of December, the feast of Saint Lucia, which is an important day for Italian Catholics.
I'm really grateful that you got into the history behind this song, Sabaton History will be awesome too but I appreciate alternative narratives
This reminded a bit me of the battle of St Louis Bridge in WW2 where a single bunker manned by 9 French soldiers held back 5000 Italian soldiers for 11 days.🤔
7:20 "ötzi" comes to mind, the men of the copper age men that died roughly 5000 years ago only to be found in alp in 1991.
had this song running on repeat since release ..... Good stuff.
Great video!
If my memory serves correct the Bf-109s are those that were deployed in the 2nd Battle of the Alps from March 23rd - May 2nd 1945.
where 4 Battalion 2 of which were Italians and 2 were German fought of several French Battalions.
Though since this is 1945 the Luftwaffe was dead and gone.
Small correction. White Friday is the second deadliest avalanche. There was an avalanche in Peru during the 80’s that destroyed several villages.
The 80’s hadn’t happened yet. So it was the worst in history when it happened.
6:56 I choose to think of it as soldiers who think they’ll be immortalized in history, like how the Lost Battalion was, but instead end up immortalized as ‘the ones who never came home’
In some catholic regions Wednesday is or was known as 'little Friday', because wednesday was a day for fasting, too. Perhaps there is a link. (During WW I, when food supplies were low, german Propaganda even used this, to give the fasting dictated by war a religious touch. They tried to regulate, what food should be eaten on which day of the week. And by using Fridays and Wednesdays for more fasting, they could relay on a lot of priests to preach for this fasting.)
The dove is also a biblical symbol of heaven, so doubly fitting
I'm looking forward to a Yarn Hub video of this song. I looked it up before watching, though, and yet another amazing story I would know nothing about if it weren't for Sabaton.
I think when he says “I’ll be immortal” he’s referring to going down in history as a hero
Yessss I loved this I wondered when you were going to react
It is scary to think about the fact that some of the soldiers on these mountains are probably still there perfectly preserved by the sub zero temperatures of the alps
Can only imagine how many bodies are still buried frozen up in those mountains
Love this channel
Sabaton is awesome tbh never heard of the band before joining this channel i think its a great way to get people talking about history in a fun way from all walks of life. Looking forward to some o g content from France be great to see some content on the Newfoundland regiment just a walking distance from one of the locations you will be visiting and would be highly appreciated from many Newfoundlanders and fans here on the east cost of Canada
Sabaton concept albums. AKA Historian catnip.
During World War I, the Dolomites were the site of a confrontation between the Austro-Hungarian army and the Kingdom of Italy. In both, 150-180 thousand were killed. people, including as many as 60 thousand, were devoured by avalanches. At the amount of 2 thousand. meters, the snow cover of the winter of 1916/1917 was 6 meters, by 3,000 meters - as much as 9. The shots caused avalanches that swept the soldiers into the abyss. Thousands of people died of cold and hunger, because it was simply impossible to deliver supplies to some positions. The worst was Friday, December 13, 1916, when a sudden thaw and heavy rain followed after the great frosts. Great sheets of snow rushed from the slopes of the mountains and buried troops. The biggest tragedy happened in the Marmolada massif near Gran Poz, where the cable car ended and an Austrian military camp was set up. In a matter of minutes, an avalanche killed 300 soldiers. Their bodies had been carried downstairs for many months. The balance of people killed by avalanches on this unfortunate day on both sides is 10,000. people, which to this day is considered the greatest mountain tragedy caused by avalanches.
People ask what or who is a Hero. A true hero? Yes, a hero is someone who goes above and beyond the call of duty and who with disregard for his own life, saves or attempts to save the lives of his comrades or achieves an extra ordinary event of valor. I tell you now that all those Men AND Women knowing they may never return, no matter how frightened they were, still took up a post and did their duty are forever hero's also. Give a salute to those Italian, Austro-Hungarian {Croation, Slovenian and Slovakian} and Serbian Soldiers who fought and died atop those mountains.
The theory I've seen on why it's called white Friday is that the base that was destroyed by the avalanche didn't check in on the telegraph and it took 2 days to confirm that they were gone.
Might I suggest a reaction to the “War of 1812” series by drawn of history.
Did anyone else notice the Red Baron is in this video
Song is a big mash up by their song's 🤟 You can here The Last Stand, Sparta and a few more beats/text's in the song! 😎🇸🇪
Approaching a quarter-million subs! Great video.
I just want to say thank you for introducing me to sabaton, they are amazing.
I remember going on holiday to the south of Austria on the Italian border. If you hike up some mountains there you can walk through some of the trenches they used in ww1. Some are being restored. I found it fascinating to walk through the trenches so high up and thinking that people fought a war up there is amazing.
Whats really sad is these men are now resurfacing as global warming melts the glaciers and once permanent snow caps leaving them to be found by tourists thrill seekers. Feels like a disservice to these men that suffered and died and now after so long may not have family to claim them.
Sabaton are fantastic metal music! 🥇Wow, meraviglioso tutto, il video, la musica💣👏Capolavoro, 👏❤️😘👏🔝💪♥ Grazie.🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹
I've actueally never heard about this front, only the trenches. Thanks once again to Sabaton for shedding the light on this part of the war.
I won't be coming home
I won't be going anywhere
I will guard this post forever
Here on the Alpine slope
Where I did my final stand I shall remain
Among the ice and snow that binds me to this mountain
The WWI begun by assasination of Franci Ferdinand d’Este. So we could say Austria-Hungary declared war because of this. And Serbia is friend with Russia, Russia is friend with France. So technically Germany fought defensive war.
I need to visit that mountain, i am living in south tirol where mount marmolada is located.
Because of the Italian connection, I'm going to say this is the more religious idea of "immortal". There's also the fact that it occurred on St Lucia's Day, a Catholic holy day.
As to why it would be called White Friday, I'm wondering if the event was reported first on the following Friday.
I love your channel keep up the great stuff!!
I love this song. So sad thinking those men are still frozen there.
Being high up in the sky = Heaven as imagery likely has something to do with the day to day word for the sky literary is "heaven" so tall mountains etc. being close enough to touch heaven is sort of not an uncommon associations. Combine with the alps that have a sort of revered status similar to the rockies or smoky mountains and it's very easy for a swede to draw parallels to Heaven and immortality in the religious sense.
It's interesting to think that some of these soldiers will be resting there for thousands of years
As a Sabaton nut, this is officially my favourite Sabaton song (closely followed by Union, Unbreakable, Attack of the Dead Men, Back in Control, Great War, Metal Machine, Uprising, Ghost Division, Primo Victoria, Metal Crue, The Lost Battalion, etc, etc, etc and You're in the Army Now).
there is a reason to why germany trained "Gebirgsjäger" = mountain hunters.
to this day btw.
Huzzah! More Sabaton
Speaking of the soldiers being preserved it’s absolutely fact and we have bodies from early man that were preserved in ice and although tragic it is amazing to see
Actually blood mountain refers to the Col di Lana (in that time called Col di Sangue) ^^ A mountain where pretty heavy mining from both sides took place (if memory serves right, the Italians blew up the whole peak of that mountain where the Austro-Hungarian Army had a post)