Battlefield of Verdun, France - World War 1
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- Опубликовано: 11 ноя 2019
- We explored the battlefield in Verdun, France. A huge battle which raged between the French and Germans during World War 1. Learning about the battle as well as the war was eye opening. How anyone survived is unbelievable.
Hopefully you learn something new and this video peaks your interest into learning more about World War 1. May we never forget.
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My father took me here as a child, and to this day I cannot shake the eerie feeling I get when thinking of what everyone went through there.. truly horrific. It makes me very emotional.
Your not alone. What a waist of man.
My great Grandfather was a Doctor in Montreal (French Canada) in 1912 he had been in practice for 3 years at the time and decided that he would move to Paris to practice medicine instead of staying in Quebec in 1913. At the start of the war in 14’ he enlisted with the French Army and due to his already having medical credentials and being fluently French and English speaking he turned out to be quite useful in some situations especially later in the war when more Americans showed up who hadn’t had enough time to pick up a few words of French. He ended up getting military position as a doctor in 14’ but saw no combat, but by 16’ he was moved closer to the Frontlines and was stationed near Verdun during the battle and he wrote how it was easily the “worst, bloodiest, horrible battle I ever fought”. He survived the war and returned to Montreal before moving to a small farming town in Ontario before WW2. During WW2 he was “too old to serve” by a few years but still felt he was in good shape and wanted to fight, he falsified some documents in his name and signed up to the Canadian armed forces and was stationed in England at the start of the war helping with wounded and the such. He didn’t get anywhere near frontlines until D-Day. After that he was constantly on the move from place to place in through France and Germany until the wars conclusion. He noted far less about his experiences in WW2 than WW1, but returned to his work he actually only died a few years after I was born but in 2003 he passed away. We still have some of the French and Canadian commendations he got which is pretty cool.
Incredible story ❤ may he rest in peace
@maximjayaweera7836 sorry, corrected it.
In the UK , we have sadly and shamefully failed to understand, appreciate and acknowledge the staggeringly immense contribution and sacrifice France made in WW1. In Britain's defence this failure is largely the result of us being traumatised by the pain and suffering caused by our own losses rather than wilfully ignoring, forgetting and underplaying France's, role in the war. Nevertheless this does not excuse us and on behalf of the nation I would like say " thank you & Vive la France" your service and sacrifice will not be forgotten.
Yeah it’s sad France just got memed because WW2 completely ignoring what they went through in WW1
France is criminally underrated
When I went to France in 2008, I, as an American servicemember, was immediately seen and assumed stupid and uneducated, and the locals looked at myself and my comrades with disdain and angry eyes. Although I personally respected the French and their history, it does not matter because of what I represented to them. It's one of the sadder things in life knowing better yet still treated like you don't. France got left in the dust by America after the revolution, didn't get paid for all the help they gave us in the war and they ended up losing the war in Europe ultimately, had their people struggle and starve, prompting a nice invasion attempt by Napoleon to increase not only land ownership but also economic reasons. I believe this is why a lot of Europeans hate us (US). We use the help we are given and take it for granted and then leave our allies in the dirt to fend for themselves. At least, from observations, this seems to be true. It at least contributed, I think.
@@thirdgen377 I think the real problem between France and the United States is that when American people talk in general about war in US, they don't know what a war is because there is no direct confrontation on American soil since civil war, they talk about war with pride and fierce they don't realize that a war is not a game, in France you see the marks of war as in Verdun, you know what it is to bomb a city defigured, I remember my grandparents telling me about the lack of food and the destruction during the ww2 the death, if i see this big cimetery i have no fierce no pride, when I see this big cemetery, I tell myself that humanity is so stupid that it could be exterminated himself! All the poor guys forced to fight at 20 for governments and officers for whom they were just numbers that could be sacrificed same as Stalingrad
how about understanding that wars are financed both sides by your z_i0nist banksters residing in your neck of the woods?
It's all down to the narrative the Brits are constantly fed by British medias on WW1 : "we came to save them (the French)". Many Brits are so infatuated with themselves when it comes to WW1 that some might even ignore that Germans also took part in that war.
It just has to be disregarded as childish seeking all attention behaviour.
It’s amazing that the battlefield has been preserved like this especially after World war 2.
I agree! It was incredible to be able to still see the effects today
@@ourwildroots5989 thank you for sharing this history with us.
@@darthwarspite8544 Im really glad you enjoyed it
Because there was so much ordnance expended by both sides, all of the terrain around Verdun is still packed with live artillery shells, grenades, bombs, & explosives. The land will probably never be developed due to the dangers still held within. Tourists are only allowed in certain tightly controlled areas due to the dangers of unexploded ordnance.
In fact we needed to wait 30 years before trees could grown on the terrain because of iron condensation due to the artillery, during world war 2, there was no reel big fight over there. The main french and british troops traped at Dunkerque and inside the Maginot line. There is a lot of interesting stories about verdun, most part about ww1 the french general who was leading the frech forces was nobody else than the general Vichy, more knowed to the World as the president of the french puppet state of nazi germany. He was seen as a hero after 1914-18 he is now seen as a traitor after 1939-45. WW1 saw the rise of many heroes and the fall of human dignity, many of thoses stories should not be remembered... Because no one want to remember the atrocious of this war
As a youngster I went on a school trip to Verdun and although it was more than 20 years ago I still remember perfectly the sights, the landscapes and the awe in which I was. This place really leaves a mark on you. A century after the war, the atmosphere of horror is still perceptible...it's almost as if it never left that place. The ossuary is also something you don't easily forget, especially as a kid.
*I'd like to thank you very deeply for making this video.* It brought back lots of memories, especially because since then I dug into my family's past and realized that a lot of men fought and died in the war, although not necessarily in Verdun. I even found the helmet that wore one of my great uncles, and a medal belonging to my great grand father who died there ; his son, my grand father, who passed away a few years ago, was the only male left in his family when he was born at the end of the war, becoming a ward of the nation. Although virtually all French families went through similar tragedies, these memories are not often shared and passed through new generations. The horrific toll paid by French population during this war, as exemplified by this battle, sadly lead to the country suffering some sort of societal PTSD. Even if monuments were built in all villages to honor the fallen heroes, people just wanted to forget about the war, forget about the horror, and never talk or hear about it again. Many veterans never ever shared their stories to their relatives, having suffered so much they could not suffer to talk about it. It is unfortunate because we need to remember so that it never happens again.
Anyway, thank you. Your comments were simple, informative and yet very touching. I did not know an American cemetery for soldiers fallen in WW1 was located in the area - it is indeed kind of unexpected since American troop did not take part in the battle of Verdun which happened in 1916. If I ever go there I'll definitely check it out!
Thank you so much for sharing your experiences and memories. It is stunning how affected and interconnected people are and we need to be sharing stories so that people aren't forgotten.
My grandfather fought in WWI. He would never talk about it to my grandmother or his children. His lungs were permanently damaged from the mustard gas. I wish I knew more of what he went through, but I was very young when he passed away.
I don't know much about what my grandpa and great grandpa did during the wars either, I bet it would be extremely difficult to talk about. The things those men saw would be heartbreaking.
As someone who has studied and visited Great War battlefields for the past 25 years or so I’d like to commend the way you have presented this, thank you for posting.
Thank you so much, that really means a lot to me!
Thank you for this video, my great grandfather Éloi fought in Verdun.
I am French and I hope one day I would be able to go to Verdun for my ancestor, he was born in 1891 and died in 1972, he was too old to fight in WW2 but an ancestor of mine and the mother of my grandmother was a part of the French Resistance 🇫🇷🙏🏻✝️
So incredible to hear people's stories and ties to Verdun. It was an eye opening visit and a place I encourage people to visit. I hope you get a chance!
I visited Verdun in 2017, i highly recommend a trip here, its an extremely interesting place.
I was fortunate to be able to bring my son to Verdun in June of 2013 as a Graduation Gift when he completed High School in May of that year. The overall scope of the destruction and suffering that the French and German soldiers experienced during the 10 month battle cannot be fully imagined. For example; the 130,000 un-identified human remains contained within the Ossuary are only counted by the number of human skulls that the battlefield has given up over the past 100 years. The bone fragments are uncountable. What was most impressive to me was the was the way the French maintain their military cemeteries to honor the soldiers of all nations who died on French soil; Roman, African, English, Irish, Canadian, Australian, German, Polish, American and more. Thank you, Our Wild Roots, for opening our eyes to the lasting memories of human wars.
The French only manage the French cemeteries. Americans manage theirs, Brits too and so on.
thank you for this video! I'm homeschooling my three grandsons and we are studying WW1. I was fortunate as a child to be able to tour Verdun at about age 10. The bones in the basement of the memorial, and the white crosses on the graves have always stayed in my memory. And the silence....
I’m so glad you could share with your grandsons while they homeschool! And that you could relate your experiences to them as well. It’s wonderful to make history come alive for younger generations so they can grasp the impact.
Good job. As an Englishman I was taught a lot about the history of the War when at school. This war wiped out a generation of young men in Britain so our focus is probably a little concentrated on the British and Commonwealth Forces. However people in Britain are very aware of the horrendous losses suffered by the French. Verdun was probably the worst Battle of WW1. Brave young men who must never be forgotten.
I travel to France often as I have an interest in military history. When you go to any memorial or cemetery in France I don’t think nationality is relevant. Just young men who died doing their duty what ever uniform they wore. We will remember them all.
Stories of Verdun - I've been there for the first time as a young boy with my grandfather, who's father was still a soldier fighting at the "Toter Mann". When I've been there first, the vegetation was nowhere near where it's nowadays. The artillery craters were still naked brown and burnt soil, and that was more than 50 years after the last shell dropped... It really is a high place that belongs to the dead more than to the living.
300 days of endless war ! That's insane
and to this day they are still finding remains of soldiers and some area's where those craters are people are still not allowed to walk because of unexploded ammunition and the grass is kept low by using sheep's
2 million shells fired in just the first 8 hours.
I think it’s great that you brought your child there. Newer generations like mine should be educated in wars of old. Even if she doesn’t remember this particular trip in the future, she will still be aware of the carnage of war.
Yeah we definitely plan to show her these places as she gets older too. It's so important we don't forget how tragic war is and the only way to do that is to pass on knowledge to future generations. I'm glad you enjoyed the video!
I have been to all the major battlefields and verdun has a feeling of its own its very odd place you can feel the slaughter around you
Excellent choice of music. When panning over the sea of crosses, it conveys the deep sadness of war that snatches the future away from the young.
Thank you
"You will soon understand that these low and dirty insignificant material things are much more important to you than the whole superior spirit of combat.
Brutally, in the midst of a battle that seemed to be taking place for legitimate spiritual needs, you feel that in reality you have been illegally forced into a simple debate between yourself and pain, yourself and the necessity to live, yourself and the will to live, that everything is there; that if, simply you die, there is no more battle, nor homeland, nor right, nor reason, nor victory, nor defeat, and as such they made you strive painfully towards nothingness. There is no epic so glorious that the respect of its glory can pass before the needs of a digestive track. The one who built the epic with the suffering of his body knowns that during these so-called moments of "glory", in fact, baseness occupies the sky.
Under Verdun's iron, soldiers are holding. For a spot I know, we hold because the gendarme prevents us from leaving. They placed stations even in the middle of the battlefield, in the support trenches, above the Tavannes' tunnel. If we want to get out of there we need an exit ticket. Stupid but exact. No, not stupid, horrific.
During the beginning of the battle, some soup carriers still manage to pass through the artillery barrage, once there they need to search in their bandolier and show to the gendarmes the ticket signed by the captain. The heroism of the official press release must be controlled carefully here. We can, in good faith, say that we are staying on this battlefield because they are carefully preventing us from escaping.
Regardless, here we are, here we stay, so we fight ? We look like fierce attackers, but the truth is that we are running away on all sides. We are between the hospital's battery, a small fort, and the fort of Vaux, which we are tasked with reconquering. This has been going on for ten days. Every day, at the battery of the hospital' between two rows of dirt bags, they execute those they call deserters on the spot, without any trial. Those who haven't ticket.
We can't leave the battlefield, so now we hide in it. You dig a hole, you bury yourself, you stay there. If you are found, you are dragged to the battery and, between two rows of dirt bags, your brains are blown out. Soon, every man will have to be followed by a gendarme. The general says "They hold". In Paris there is a historian who will soon conjugate the verb "to hold in Verdun" at every tense and for every pronoun, including his own. They hold, but general, I wouldn't get rid of the gendarme nor advise clemency to this colonel of the 52nd infantry regiment staying at the hospital's battery.
This has been going on for fifteen days.
For the last eight days the soup carriers are not returning. They leave in the evening in the darkest of the night and it's over, they melt like sugar in coffee. Not a man returned. They were all killed, absolutely all, every time, every day, with no exception. We don't go anymore. We are hungry. We are thirsty.
We see over there a dead laying on the ground, rotten and full of flies, but whose belt is still holding canteens and balls of bread held by an iron thread. We wait. For the bombing to calm. We crawl to him. We detach from his body the balls of bread. We take the canteens that are full. Some have been pierced by bullets. The bread is flabby. One just has to cut away the part touching his body.
That's what we do all day. This has been going on for twenty-five days.
For a long time, there are no more of these pantry-corpses. We eat whatever. I chew the strap of a water tank. Around the evening a buddy came with a rat. Once skinned, its flesh is white like paper. However, with my bit in hand, I still wait for the darkest part of the night to eat. We have an opportunity for tomorrow. A machinegun that was coming as reinforcement was pulped with its four servants twenty meters behind us. Later we will go pick up the haversacks of these four men. They came from the battery. They must have brought food for themselves. But we have to be careful not to let the ones on our right go there before us. Our "brothers in arms". They must be watching too from inside their hole. We watch. What matters is that the four of them are dead. They are. It's for the best.
This has been going on for thirty days.
It's the "great" battle of Verdun. The whole world has its eyes riveted on us. We have terrible worries. Win? Resist? Hold? Do our duty?...
No. Relieve ourselves. Outside, it's an iron storm. It's very simple, a shell of each caliber lands every minute on every square meter of land. We are nine survivors in a hole. It's not a shelter but the forty centimeters of dirt and logs above our head are in front of our eyes like an eyeshade against horror. Nothing in the world would make us go out of here anymore. But what we ate, what we eat, wakes up multiple times a day in our belly. We need to relieve ourselves.
The first among us who couldn't contain himself anymore went out. For the last two days he has been there, three meters in front of us, dead pantless. We do in paper and we throw it there in front of us. We did in old letters we kept. We are nine in a space in which normally we would barely fit three tightly. We are somewhat tighter. Our legs and arms are tangled. Even when one wants to only bend his knee, we are all forced to move in a way that will allow him. The earth of our shelter shakes around us constantly. Relentlessly the gravel, the dust and the splinters blow in the side that is open to the outside. The one who is closest to this kind of door has his hands and his face flayed with thousands of small cuts.
After some time we stop hearing the shells exploding. We only hear the loud hit when they land. It's an uninterrupted hammering. We have been there without moving for five days. Neither of us has any paper left. So we do in our haversacks and we throw them outside. One has to untangle his arms from other arms, remove his pants, and go in his haversack that is pressed against a friend's belly. When we are done we pass our dirty deed to the one in front of us, who passes it to the other who throws it outside.
Seventh day. The battle of Verdun carries on. More and more "heroic". We still don't leave our hole. We are only eight left. The one who was in front of the door has been killed by a large splinter that cut his throat and bled him to death. We tried to cover the door with his body. We were right to do so. A sort of grazing shot that has focused on our area for the last few hours makes splinter rain on us. We hear them hit the body blocking the door. Even though he was bled like a pig with his open carotid, he keeps bleeding with each wound he receives after his death.
I forgot to say that for more than ten days none of us has had a rifle, nor ammunitions, nor knife, nor bayonet. But more and more, we have this terrible, never ending need, tearing at us. Particularly since we tried to swallow little balls of dirt to calm our hunger, and also because this night it rained and because we had not drunk for four days we also licked the rain water filtering through the logs and also the one coming from outside dripping along the corpse blocking the door. We go in our hand. It's a dysentery flowing through our fingers. We can't throw that outside. The ones in the back wipe their hands against the dirt near them, the three closest to the door wipe themselves against the dead's clothes. That's how we realize that we are doing blood. Thick blood, absolutely ruby colored. Beautiful. This one thought that it was the dead, against whom he wiped his hands, who was bleeding.
But the beauty of the blood made him wonder.
The corpse has been blocking the door for four days and we are now August 9th, and we see well that it is rotting. This one had relieved himself in his righthand, so he passed his left hand against his rear. It came covered in fresh blood. During that day, we realize one by one that we are defecating blood. So we just do on the spot, there, under us. I said that we haven't got have weapons anymore, not for a long time. But we all have our cup passed in a belt because we are at all times consumed by a burning thirst and, once in a while, we drink our urine.
It's the "admirable" battle of Verdun.
Two years later, in the Chemin des Dames, we would revolt (at this point I would be the only survivor of these last eight) for similar ignominies. Not at all for great motivations, not at all against the war, not at all to give peace to Earth, not at all due to great commandments. Simply because we can't take going in our hand and drinking our urine anymore.
Simply because deep in the army, the individual became filth."
Jean Giono. Extract from "Search of Purity". 1939
19 years old during the war. French survivor of Battle of Verdun. Nobel prize in literature.
Wow. That was incredible to read. Gave me goosebumps and I was so able to visualize exactly what he was talking about having been there. Such horrific circumstances I can't even imagine how anyone survived. Thank you so much for sharing that excerpt, I'm going to have to read this book, although I'm sure it will be an incredibly tough and emotional read. Thank you again for sharing.
@@ourwildroots5989 I always thougt those powerful words say much more about Verdun, about WW1, than any historical documentary.
Jean Giono becames a pacifist after the war (How can we not understand him after having experienced such atrocities...). He wrote a lot, especially as the WW2 approached.
He felt History would repeat itself again.
Charles de Gaulle always considered there had not been 2 wars, but only once, with a twenty-years break between the two. For him it was the same war. Simply both nations, France and Germany, was too destroyed, bruised, and they had no longer sufficient human and material resources to continue the war. Twenty years. This is exactly the time for a new men generation to come...
For many, the seeds of WW2 were already written in the treaty of Versailles, signed in a train-wagon in Compiegne forrest in France in 1918. The Germans' rancour and lust for boasting would only increase. And it's not by chance if 22 years later, in June 1940, Hitler forced Petain and the French authorities to sign the armistice treaty and the french defeat in... the same train-wagon in Compiegne forrest again.
History never repeats itself, but it stutters all the time.
@@Caporal_Blutch Really well put, we were just discussing the other day that WW2 is the continuation of WW1. As I've learned more and more about the wars while living over here it's really clear that the 20 years in between were just a break. Really tragic and as we move farther away people are truly forgetting and we seem doomed to repeat our mistakes...
This is the most horrible picture of war I've ever encountered.
_Horse Shit_
_"They died for nothing"_ - No, they died for *everything* and it's this self-hating _nonsense_ that has subjugated our culture beneath the _worst_ of the _worst_ of human civilization that exists to this day. The _greatest_ human civilization in history, the civilization that has brought us _everything_ in modern society, is being destroyed and forgotten whilst dismissing _everything_ these men fought for as _"nothing."_
I was just listening to Dan Carlin's Hardcore History, Blueprint for Armageddon IV, and I just had to see Verdun today on RUclips, so I found this video. Thank you for the tour.
you're welcome! We love his podcasts!
Our family visited Verdun battlefield in 1965. The experience left an indelible memory. I remember seeing stacked skeletal remains thru the window of the ossuary building. Also, very limited walking trails due to unexploded ordnance (many skull and crossbones warning signs and lots of barbed wire). The site of the bayonets sticking out of the ground indicating where soldiers were buried alive in their trench from an exploding shell was horrifying to a 7-year old kid (me). Didn't have PTSD from the visit, but it did jolt my young mind into thinking about history and bigger things. Prokofiev's "Field of the Dead" seems appropriate music for Verdun battlefield.
Thank you guys for sharing that. It was great seeing those places.
Excellent job, guys! I learned a lot from this video!
Your video is amazing! I am a historian that has walked those same fields, & I could not possibly have given a better tour in such a "short" video!! You described the horrors of Verdun from the heart, & through the eyes of people who have not spent so many hours studying & analyzing the battle ... which is the way it should be done!! Your perspective makes the trials of those who suffered through Verdun very understandable, & enjoyable!! I wish that I could have had todays technology available, so that I might have done the same thing! But alas, such techno devices did not exist, & I had to resort to the proverbial boring lecture! THANK YOU for your video tour!!!
Thank you so so much for your kind words! I'm throughly glad you enjoyed it. It's honestly one of the most interesting places I've ever been in my life and I tried to do it justice.
@@ourwildroots5989 You certainly DID INDEED do it justice!!! For the length of time that you had available, you did it MORE THAN JUSTICE!!! I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed your video tour!!
Tremendous! The best I've seen so far. Well done to all concerned.
Thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Dan Carlin does this story justice, not that you didn't, I just want to give people an opportunity to find him. Amazing podcast.
UK here, I was fully aware of the importance of Verdun to France. To alleviate the pressure the Somme was opened as a second battle front. I have never taken France for granted in the 1st and 2nd world wars. We came to the war as an ally of Belgium and France despite our close ties to Germany through trade and royalty. The reality is that no one should forget that millions of people died because old people got angry and threw their young to the slaughter. That is what I will never forget.
I was listening to Dan Carlin's podcast (and you are right, it's excellent), and wanted an idea of what the Verdun battlefield looks like now. Your blog is what came up in my search--well done and very informative! I hope to visit myself someday.
Thank you so much! Im glad you enjoyed the video and the podcast as well! We really liked it
I can just picture myself standing there id close my eyes and imagine all the horror that happened right in that spot. I believe only when you put yourself in that moment can you truly appericate it
Thanks for taking us along. This was very interesting and well done.
thank you!
Hearing your daughter trying to play peekaboo while you're talking about fort douaumont brought tears to my eyes. I hope hers or any generation can live without such carnage.
I hope so as well. Im glad she will have these videos to look back on since she's too little to remember
Some errors in this video.
The French definitely had trenches, & didn't shelter in shell craters for 300 days. They'll have used craters for shelter as they were advancing though, as was standard practice.
The only report of anyone drinking water from shell craters, was after the fighting at Fort Vaux, when the soldiers inside who surrendered, had had no water for days. It certainly wasn't a common occurrence.
Excellent tour. Thanks.
Imagine the countless souls unrecovered under his feet still laying where they died. "Ils ne passeront pas!"
Few thousand...
Between 12 000 and 33 000
Both side
Amazing video! I love the walkthrougj and details you guys gave
thank you!
Very thorough explanation thank you
You should have a million views
That would be incredible! Maybe one day :)
Thank you for this video. We plan on visiting in September
Wow...Just remarkable and so poignant...Thank you for this Video...!!!
Fascinating. Good content. Thanks.
Thank you!
Subbed solely because of this video. Ils ne passeront pas!
Brilliant Video well put together 👍
Amazing video loved it
This was awsome to watch. One day I would love to visit verdun. Tought me well
Im so glad you enjoyed it!! Definitely worth the visit
I have visited this horrific place and "sights". I recommend visiting. Reg. this video I would recommend is using a "wind stopper" which you can put on the mike to reduce the irritating noise.
Yeah unfortunately we didn't have mics at this time and we had a wind stopper on the camera mic but it was so windy it wasn't enough. We did our best to work around it, Thanks for the tip!!
Very WELL DONE
Amazing post below by Caporal Blutch.
Good video blog , respectfully put together. I have visited Verdun , 2019 , and appreciate your visiting of the various cultural memorials. A lot of people pass those by and bee line for the French cemetery and Ossury.
Thank you. It is such a moving place, we didn't want to miss any of it.
Such death, such destruction, such pain and suffering, yet we will again fail to learn from the past
In our first visit in 1917, the cemetery contained the older crosses and monuments. What was missing and a bit disappointing in our 2018 visit were the family photographs and the individual soldier portraits found on those older monuments. As striking as that cemetery still is, seeing Cpl. Degas or Pvt. LaSalle, posed in a family portrait with his wife and three kids was heartwrenching. One of my companions of the first trip. Joan Fenfert only made it to the third row before she completely broke down. - Ken Trynosky Aug 2020
Wow...that would have been incredibly moving and heart wrenching. I wish that was still there, brings a whole new sense of reality to the cemetery, brings a human element.
You visited in 1917?
Impressive! 🤣
Went to verdun last weekend with my dad
Intressting fact: the villages in the argonne are largely empty but all of em have at least a church and a mayors office building. The reason is most villages there were wiped off the face of the earth during the battle. They were then rebuild by germany as repaying france with just a church and the mayors office building at first to lure the natives there back to rebuild wich didnt really worked out as much but the villages are still there
The village is was staying was originally buildt top of the hill where the miniature statue of liberty tower is. But all that was left was an 200 year old church ruins
Great video! I was at the places you all covered in Late October 2018 for 100 anniversary of Armistice day!
Amazing! I hope you enjoyed them! Its such an interesting place. So much history
Thank - you for letting me see this place where all those victims hopelessly tried to stay alive a few minutes more .
When fort doualmont was captured the french fired at the germans but it was so foggy they thought they were french. just a few germans were able to enter the almost empty fort and capture it. the taking of the fort was almost failed when the germans discovered a mess hall with tons of food and began gorging themselves on the food. or at least i think that was fort doualmont. if not then im thinking of fort Vaux.
great video!
Just think about how many future Dads, inventors, actors, playwrights, authors, musicians, and doctors were lost in this battle, like all battles. At least J.R.Tolkien survived WW1., and Hemingway.
I Know. I wonder about that all the time. How many great ideas were lost...it's incredibly sad
dude i remember when ww1 vets were alive, crazy because we are down to the last few ww2 vets.
talking to a ww1 vet, is talking to a person from the 1800s that went war in the 1900s and saw ww2 happen.
i was born in 1994 so ill see the year 2100 maybe even 2112. and people will look at me, like i look at people from the 1800s........1894 just wow .....time..
Funfact: if we shifted, WW2 would happen september 1st 2039-september 2045
WW1 from july 28th 2014- november 11th 2018
American Civil War from april 12 1961-may 9 1965
American Revolutionary war from 1875 to 1883
30 Year War from 1718-1748...
so much war and boy how it has changed.
Whoa! It's wild to think about it in that perspective!
i was born in 2001 and i dont even think ill reach the year 2100 myself lol
The US Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that the last WW2 vets will be gone in 10 years
@@MrHistory269 that's wild..that's a whole generation.
Thank you for this well made report from Verdun. This place I will visit.
My pleasure! Thanks for watching. It was an incredible place and well worth the visit.
Very informative my friend. Regards from the Philippines!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed!
@@ourwildroots5989 I did.
'The Meatgrinder of Verdun' was just that! A horrific war of attrition, where Erich von Falkenhayn attempted to 'bleed the French Army white'.
75% of the french soldiers served at verdun cuz of how they rotated the troops. The germans would leave a regiment at a spot untill they were essentially wiped out.
The Nazis didn’t destroy it because there are German soldiers buried in there as well as French. Please educate yourself before making inaccurate comments
The nazis generally didn't touch WW1 memorials at all.
Hi,see that one year later after you visit my hometown...weather was not good,and so,you can imagine the life in the trenches during winter season!have you visited the saillant of St Michael battle memorial and the American cemetery of Thiaucourt?nice to see you on Meuse,Come back again😉
as the drumm roll started on that day heard a hundred miles away a million shells were fired and the green field turned to grey
The Canadian Corps, and the Australian Corps with an American division attached first kicked in the door at Amiens 8 Aug '18, overwhelming the German army to deliver a stunning defeat from which they couldn't recover.
The AEF St Mihiel offensive was likely the hit that convinced the Germans to negotiate an armistice while they still had some semblance of a fighting force.
Si Verdun était tombée, la guerre se serait terminée en 1916.
Some semblance of a fighting force? Wrong, the Germans had no semblance of a fighting force well before that and what convinced them to surrender was the advent of the modern tank - the Renault RT17. The Allies were preparing a major tank assault on German lines retreating along the northern salient and had no answer for the tank. Their artillery could not repel it or knock it out of action which meant a slaughter was imminent.
The German archives opened recently made clear how important this was to Germany's decision to ask for an armistice.
The Second Battle of Marne, rather than St Mihiel, is considered to be the true turning point of the War and the fatal blow for the German army on the Western Front, with twice as many POWs as in St Mihiel and an abrupt end to Germany's spring offensive
My great-uncle Paul O'Beirn was killed at St. Mihiel on 25 Sept. 1918. Both of my grandfathers were there and both were lifelong alcoholics.
Land remembers everything.
Great job,I've subscribed...Like see some WW2 stuff and more ww1 also, Don't hear much bout it
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! We were hoping to do some more traveling this year but Covid ind of put a damper on that :( We will have to see what we can do in the new year!
I'm curious about the plaques in the Village of Fleury that mark the spaces where certain buildings stood.. the plaques look very nice and new while the stones that they are attached to look as old as the earth itself. I'm curious if there's a possibility that these stone markers were made from remnants of buildings or a building that stood in the old village? I could be completely wrong and they just polish the plaque and ignore the stone on purpose to give it that feel. Either way I love the video and thank you for sharing your experience and view of the area. I hope to visit the battlefields of WW1 and WW2 some day, hopefully with my wife and kids as well!
Very good footage.
I have been there several times and even a hundred years after the war, it is quite a dark area to visit.
Not even Vaux or Douaumont, but also the surrounding area, like the remains of Fleury, Froideterre or „Le Mort Homme“.
So appreciate the effort and knowledge conveyed on this video. Regretfully had to turn it off as the audio was just terrible. Thanks, I will visit Verdun for sure.
Ok amendment. I stuck it out and glad I did. Excellent!
Yeah unfortunately we didn't have mics yet and it was extremely windy. We tried to work around it as best we could.
Listen to sabatons song, 82nd All the way. Its about The Meuse-Argonne offensive and which was the largest in United States military history, involving 1.2 million American soldiers
Where was no man's land located at verdun or what part of the battlefield was most fought on
We Americans joined WW1 in 1917. The U.S. Army and Marines fought there in Verdun too. God bless all that served in WW1.
the battle of verdun took place in 1916 before the usa entered the war in april 1917
@@genzalarboa3110 no kidding smarty pants. There were several battles fought there not just the first time around in ww1
You need to use something on the mic to help keep the sound of the wind at bay.
17:28 insane to think about heading straight into artillery hell
The colonial troops were not the majority of Verdun's French soldiers, either who fought or died. They fought and died, but they were not the majority.
There are some great youtube channels for WW1 history. One specifically that I would recommend is called the "Great War" youtube channel.
I’ll have to check those out! Thanks for the recommendation!
Imagine being a boxer in the 11th round and your opponent steps out of the ring and a new box of steps in to take his place. That’s the analogy I always think of when I think about what the Germans had to deal with when the Americans arrived. The American tactics were terrible but their fighting spirit was insanely strong. The Americans just took casualties and kept fighting like it was 1914
pensée pour mon grand pere qui était au "bois de la caillette" à coté du fort de Douaumont début mars 1916
The Germans used 1300 fully loaded trains of ammunition. 65,000 train cars of ammunition
Great video a pop filter on the mic would make this video very pro
You might want to check your sources about the Russians being at the battle of Verdun. Check Dan Carlin's blog on Hardcore History of WWI. BTW, my great uncle was gassed on 11-11-1918 and died the next day. Thanks for the video from the site!
There weren’t even a few days of fighting over duamont. The garrison had left and the Germans just walked in
There is still TONS OF LIVE AMMUNITION on the property.
A good reminder to stay on the designated paths and not wander off on your own!
@@ourwildroots5989 exactly! Or you could find yourself spread out on many paths! 🤣
@@jaybird2791 I grew up nearby and sadly you'll find unexploded ammunitions (chemical or not) outside of the restricted areas, in fields, gardens, ...
I collected some gun and rifle bullets just by gardening at my grand-parents place. Almost every year farmers here dig up shells just by working their fields, some being injured by explosions but most likely "Gaz moutarde" leaking, 110 years later
May god bless there souls
agreed
Fields of execution turned to wasteland from the grass.
Thou shalt go no further it was said, "They shall not pass!"
The spirit of resistance and the madness of the war
So go ahead, face the lead, join the dead
Though you die where you lie, never asking why
the main reason why the can not build anything on the former battle field is that for every M3 there were a 100 artillery rounds fired
somewhere between 15 to 25% were duds so a lot are still there
and artillery rounds contain a lot of mercury and arsenic so the ground is poisonous
ps
the french lost about 375000 soldiers and the germans about 325000 around verdun
@3:53 - This is what your rulers think of you as.
Watched 7 24 22
Symbolism does not do you any favors in war strategy. All Verdun did for the French was create a salient on the front line that left them exposed on 3 sides in their forts where most of the big guns had been removed months earlier. But it had such a historical significance and so much money had been spent on those fortifications that they for pride sake dare not give it up. Once the bombardment started they should have withdrawn everyone back and let the Germans occupy an area rendered meaningless by all the shellfire. Kind of like saying, "Congratulations, now YOU are in the salient, have fun." Joffre just had to tell the French people he wasn't going to sacrifice a quarter-million men keeping it. Verdun is often referred to as the Stalingrad of WW-1. But at least Stalingrad was a crucial transport area. Had Germany taken and held it they could have cut off oil shipments from the Caucases coming up the Volga river. Verdun had no strategic value at all. All Germany wanted to do was inflict French casualties. France never should have taken that bait.
Should be nothing but politicians buried in all those places !!! May god bless all who faught and died in that horrible war
13:50 was colonial troops seen as the strongest troops ? i doubt that. they surely had trained better french leigions of theyr own people
Will man ever learn from the past
the nickname " devil dogs " was given to the USMC by the German solder's during the battle of Verdun
???? The Battle of Verdun took place from February to July 1916 ... The USA entered WW1 in 1917. The Battle of Verdun is a fight between the German Army and the French Army ...
Americans didn't fight in Verdun.
@@JRos-qc6kw February to November 1916
@@AttackTheGasStation1 It was already won by the French by then...
To the French, Verdun was their Somme.
Yes but we the French had 206,000 casualties at the bataille de la Somme, less than the British but significant too.
??? The French Army also fought during the Battle of the Somme ... But the English army was not in Verdun ..
I mean La Somme is seen as a significant battle for the french too.
@@arno222444 The French mobolized 15 million people on the western front.
6.5 million injured, 1.7 million deaths.
So yhea, they fought on the whole front.
Thanks but Verdun is not in Germany but in France.
Are you referring to my intro? Yes, Verdun is in France. The intro is just showing how we moved form Washington to Germany. :)
@@ourwildroots5989 Ok ;)
Earths natural processes will clean up eventually. The whole countries were the battlefield. Just like part 3
They shall not pass and guess what they not pass
Tormented souls live's here
The reason that 130,000 is used is because 130,000+ skulls have been found so far. The actual carnage is far greater. If you cut your finger here in this battlefield, it is suggested that you get a tetanus shot. Even though the forest has grown back, the ground you walk on resembles a moonscape and you are most likely walking on the remains of a young French or German Soldier. Step lightly and respectfully, there are young hands beneath your feet.
Less we for get
Amazing, the country which is built on the cooperation of people’s from Europe, defeats the aggressor and settles the power struggle between the nations which could not cooperate.