50,000,000 shells over 300 days works out as a shell fired just under 2 seconds, non-stop. Obviously they weren't actually fired non-stop, but it brings in to perspective how many shells were actually fired during this battle. Anyone who finds themselves in the vicinity of Verdun is recommended to visit this area. The memorial, museum and pockmarked landscape are all very thought provoking.
During 2015, I followed the trenches & battlefields from Anatolian Turkey to the English Channel in Belgium. I saw many battlefields, but the feelings that I got in the woods around Verdun was just a feeling of horror. Before I began my journey, I was sceptical about ghosts & the paranormal, but I am now a firm believer. Those woods sent a chill through me that I can still feel three & a half years later....
Considering how many thousands of men, young boys on both sides lost their lives, as yet there has been no filmed documented ghost of any soldier, caught on film....same for the Somme, not one ghost filmed at anytime night or day.... no one comes back, if they did then every murderer would be haunted to death by the ghost of their victim, that’s why they get locked up otherwise nothing would happen to them
I'm French and you are doing great videos about the first world war, thank you for taking time to come in France, do researches and show others what happened in France a hundred years ago. Thank you very much sir and I hope see you someday maybe in a battle place :)
As a Brit who has visited Great War sites many times over the past thirty years or so, I’m glad you show your appreciation of Steven’s work, and hope you don’t mind us trampling over your beautiful country too much.
I agree merci beaucoup ! Je suis las d'entendre répéter que les français sont des lâches et qu'ils se sont rendus ! Nous les français sont humiliés sur internet ses derniers temps. Honteux soyez ceux qui salissent la mémoire de nos héros ! Vive la France. I am tired of hearing it repeated that the French are cowards and that they have surrendered! We French are humiliated on the internet lately. Shame on those who sully the memory of our heroes! Long live France.
As a 13 year old I loved to wander off a little in those woods around this fortress, following a shallow trench which was there, for as long as I could. And boy, do those woods get dark fast. There was something very eerie about the whole experience. But what will stay with me about this battlefield, was that wherever I was, whether here or around the Trench of Bayonets, were the shellholes overlapping shellholes. And everywhere. Not a single square meter of soil was untouched by the war. Sometimes the craters were huge - still huge, even in the early nineties. And the entire battlefield is like that - it's as if the French merely cleaned up the remnants of war lying on the surface and then put trees there, after 1918 - and that's it. That's what makes Verdun pretty unique. The only places that are similar to the Verdun experience, with a similar semi-intact battlefields, are in the Vosges. I would say more intact. The Hartmannsweilerkopf comes to mind. A hill which was heavily fought over in 1915. If you've never been there, Steve, you should go. You still got miles and miles of perfectly functional trenches (because the trench walls are made of rock) leading in all directions - and dugouts and everything that comes with a trench - and I never was able to walk up to where any of these trenches ended. They seemed to go on forever, all the way down to the valley. I'm surprised there's so little public attention for what I consider a completely preserved WW1 battlefield. It's like the Western Front's most dirty secret. And the French don't market it. Wow.
Thank you for watching. I have visited to the Hartmannsweilerkopf several times. I have a film of it on my channel. You need to be very fit to get to the top. Always makes me wonder how on earth the French actually climbed it with all their equipment AND under fire. They must have been incredibly fit and determined.
Politics are trying to make it disapear, it has caused lots of pollution, particulary in the water, if you know where to go you can find massive stocks of artillery shells ready to explode hidden everywhere near the front... Annnnd their are also some artillery ammunition (gaz and conventionnal left to rust in the woods just pilled up thousand and thousand) in a lot of places in france even far far away from the battlefields. That is not something the government tends to advertise : 100 years have past and the mess is still there menacing the healt of french people. We even had another WW on top of that...
Have been in that area several times and visited Vaux, Douaumont, Froidterre, Dead Man, Fleury, The Douaumont Ossuary, The Verdun Memorial, some trenches around and some lesser known artillery posts of the Germans a few kilometers away, where one can still see beautyful paintings and drawings German soldiers put to the walls in lack of wallpapers. In almost any place there one still can find bone fragments or shrapnel. The woods are quite dangerous, we often found piles of shells, grenades and other potentially deadly stuff and in some areas until today nothing grows - I think, it is because of buried shells that contained poison gas. Every year farmers recover tons of metal, grenades and shells in their fields and most likely this will continue some decades, because there are so many duds and pieces of scrap metal in that area. It is an amazing area to explore.
@J H Spain. enjoy your trip :) It sounds more dangerous than it is. Take at least one week to explore the area, because there is very much to discover besides the tourist attractions and the lesser known stuff is even more exciting, because you will see things only a few people have ever seen. But: please do not walk beside visible paths in the woods! The danger of tripping on some nasty stuff is really high there! God bless you all!
Every year farmers recover tons of metal, grenades and shells in their fields and most likely this will continue some decades, because there are so many duds and pieces of scrap metal in that area. Its the same at Ypres and on the Somme. It is called 'The Iron Harvest'.
Well done video sir. I had the privilege of visiting the Verdun area, specifically Forts Douaumont and Vaux as well as the Ossuary, and words cannot describe the feeling of standing on that ground. You are correct when they say it is a "Red zone" as there are countless unexploded munitions signs everywhere. I believe the journey to this area should be a pilgrimage that everyone should make to ensure that senseless wars like this never happen again.
Looking into the basement window of the Ossuary really had an effect on me. Seeing the bones on top of bones on top of bones is chilling! One window had a skull positioned looking out at everyone that came looking in. All the lives lost, for what? So sad and must not be forgotten in memorial.
Unfortunately people do have this way of forgett rather rapidly. The war that should end all wars resulted in the second world war 20 years later. Looking at the world of today the globalist elite want us all dead one way or another.
Thank you for watching. I think it was more like 1,000 shells per sq. m. and about a third were duds. So only about 300 unexploded shells for every sq. metre of battlefield. Not so bad after all - anyone want to buy a house?
Steven Upton a war that happenned 100 years ago is still preventing us, humans to farm the land. There is a lot more talk about WW2 but WW1 in my oppinion is the worst humanity has ever saw.
@@SamuelHallEngland Not stacked side by side, but you have to remember how soft and deep the mud was on the Verdun battlefield. So the shells will now be at different depths in the settled earth.
Thank you Steven. I visited Verdun many years ago and it left a lasting impression on me. The Douaumont Ossuary is particularly difficult to see for a Brit who is not used to seeing the mortal remains of one, let alone 130,000 poor souls. Another heart rending site was the Sleeping Lion Memorial to the Germans near Fort Vaux, which to this day remains one of saddest memorials I have seen. The drone footage makes all the difference in understanding the layout of the battlefield. Thank you again for your informative and sensitive video on the Battle of Verdun.
We visited there just over a week ago. This perspective from the air really assists in understanding the battle. The topography can't be seen adequately from the ground. Well done, would really look forward to such a flight over Fort Vaux. Thank you for your entire series.
Somehow, I've found your videos four years after you've made them. I'm glad I have. WWI has always been interesting to me. Dan Carlin's seven part series on the first world war is an intense listen. He talks about Verdun and thanks to you I get to see a bit of the landscape of what it is now, and what it was back then. You're videos give a visual to his descriptions. Thank you.
I love these drone view videos of WWI battlefields Steven, thank you for uploading these! Really gives a perspective that old maps and ground level videos just cannot deliver.
I’ve recently taken an interest in learning more about the 1st world war and it’s truly incredible to see how unstable and pockmarked the ground is from the shelling in each battlefield, even after over 100 years since the battles ended.
yea, same here, ww2 didnt even have the same destruction on the landscape it seems. Ive always been a ww2 guy, and decided to branch into studying the big war....very eye opening.
You should have been there in the 1970s. Relics littered the ground. The first thing I found was a live 16 inch shell with rifling marks. There were so many canteens, mess kits, belts and shoes that I stopped looking at them.
@@flipjenl9616 I believe that as much as 30% of the shells fired were either duds or simply failed to explode. Then add to that the tons of explosives that were placed underground and then left behind. Some are directly under modern-day roads and buildings.
Steven Upton There is lots of criticism by historians about the harsh reparations Germany was forced to pay in the Versailles treaty, but after I’ve seen the permanent destruction the war caused on French territory, I could understand it better. While Germany was untouched after the war, France faced and Belgium faced enormous problems cleaning and rebuilding. I visited and studied parts of a the Zone Rouge to perform an ecological impact assessment as part of my studies. You really don’t want to live near it. Just look it up: zone rouge guerre.
Thank you for sharing this. Our family discovered a few years ago that my grandfather was at Verdun at the end of the war as part of the four divisions of the Austro-Hungarian army that was stationed there. This adds a great perspective to that bit of family history.
This is very interesting to me since two of my fathers relatives were killed in WWI - Leo and George Beaumont. George is listed as killed in the Fort Douamont area, possibly during a recapture event. George G. Beaumont USA
@@arthurvg2217 Actually , I am Basque French , English, & Scotch-Irish, about 50 -50 Father - Mother. by DNA. There are many Beaumont's in England from Norman times, but don't think that is my lineage.
@@georgeb6152 Alright, actually scandinavians share a lot with french and actually the whole celtic world, when christian have started to burn and chop people heads off many west european left to scandinavia to prepare a counter strike later know as "viking invasion". Your DNA is Europe's soul, it is all coming from celtics peoples...the first guys on theses lands, and it was a proper united civilisation.
Really nice video. I found it very interesting. My late wife, my son, and I visited Verdun, including Ft. Douamont, in 1999. My son, Tom, who was almost 8 at the time thought the Ossuary was cool with all the bones. I pointed out to him that all those bones were young men who never got to go home to their own little boys. He thought for a moment and said, " I thought it was cool, Dad, but now it's just sad." I always thought that was pretty perceptive for a 7 year old.
I will get there one day . Thank you so much mr upton for your videos on the first war. Your overlapping of maps and footage is one of the best available. My great great uncle was wounded and MIA for 4 days before being found. He was a sniper. Upon his return from hospital he was gassed, survived that then posted to a mavjine gun vompany. He fied in 1969 due to his war injuries. I owe it to him to see the land and places where he fought. Again yhank you for your inspiring vidros.
Thank you for watching. I hope you get to visit. Before you do it’s a good idea to find out what unit your relative was in and do some research first. You can usually find out exactly where they were. I have done so with my grandfather.
Hello Steven, first of all, hope you're well! Also hope you'll soon be able to film more locations. You always have done them justice with the way you approach the locations, both in video and in audio. Started rewatching your videos and began with this one.
Thank you so much for uploading this. I've been to Verdun three times now, in addition to my regular Somme visits. Verdun is a must-visit for anyone wanting to understand the Western Front. Fieldwalking is illegal here, unlike on The Somme, but you can turn up incredible finds in almost any acre even by accident in field margins. If you haven't been, Camp Marguerre, is also really worth a look. It's just north of Verdun. Absolutely fascinating place.
I'm listening on pretty good small speakers and it sounded fine. Not muffled at all. If anything it's a little "boxy", as if you're in a small square room, which gives it a short reverb and seems to boost the mid-frequencies a little. However, that's not a criticism. It sounds perfectly reasonable.
For anyone who seriously doubts the courage and valour of the average individual French soldier that person should just come see this battlefield....i read somewhere that the French effort to recapture that fort costed over 100,000 men thier lives.....as an American I deeply proud that both French and German great grandchildren of this men are the allies of the USA today
This is the first video of yours I have seen and I am very impressed and pleased to have come across it. Definitely subscribed and will be watching many more. Thank you for sharing, take care.
I always point out ww1 as a counter point to the French reputation of being “surrender monkeys” (sorry about the term) the French army were absolute legends during the Great War
Thank you so much... after watching this, I was holding back the tears. It just shows the devastation of war carries on to the present. V/R Anthony, USN (ret)
I was about to make the same comment. A lot of professional historians get this wrong as well. Paulus was the son of a civil servant and was also Roman Catholic. Wonderful video. Took me back to reading "The Price of Glory" in university French History class.
New sub here, great footage, great commentary very informative. Have heard many stories of the great french forts in WW1 but seeing them from the air gives a new perspective.
Suscribed!Thanks for sharing this video.... Both my Great Grand Uncles actually served on the front lines... Uncle Camille served with the 90th Infantry Regiment in the north of France and was killed during the Second battle of Artois, on September 17th, 1915.... Uncle Adrian fought at Verdun and actually survived the battle.... Thank you for all you efforts and work helping us understand and remember the Great War.... Pax Vobiscum
superb steven. you have a fantastic knowledge of the great war. ive visited this area a few years ago, but your videos make sense of what i was looking at. thankyou 😊
Thank you for watching and your comments. I read about a particular action and then like to visit it and walk the ground. This developed into filming it and finally a drone.
You just gained a sub, i haven't witnessed such a well documented and well narrated piece of history since my last year of university in Leuven 21 years ago. You should teach brother!!
Places that I will probably never get to see with my own eyes. What incredible footage and information. Keep up the wonderful work you do. Lest we forget...
Steve Upton the drone footage on your channel is incredible and really lends perspective as to how small many of these battlefields were. Would be fascinating to see Fort Vaux if you ever do it too!
Very cool video. I like the unique perspective from the drone and the thorough commentary of the video. I will certainly add you channel to my subscriptions.
Very nice shots, but your explanations make them so precious. Thx a lot for your pile of Information- as a normal visitor you can imagine how it looks like- but with your drone footage its really an other league of information.
My knowledge on the first World War is a little limited compared to, my knowledge of the second World War.. I have found your video and your style very informative and a really pleasure to watch. I believe you are doing a great service in keeping the memories of all those fallen solders, efforts and struggle alive. Thank you for sharing.
What an excellent piece of work Steven, thoroughly enlightening and well explained..im very impressed. God bless all those poor young men who endured that horror show, one can hardly imagine the carnage and hopelessness they must have experienced
These are brilliant videos. The utter insanity of this battle is hard to encompass in one's mind. The fact that humans willingly engaged in such activity is difficult to comprehend.
Steven, I did. Fort Schoenenberg was remarkable. I walked 6 miles altogether underground. I was able to visit all 4 of the Maastricht forts as well. I know I left all sorts of wonderful sites behind, but, at 72, this was plenty. I have been a member of the U.S. Coast Defense Study Group and have participated in many of their tours. On my trip to the Manila Bay forts, we found that, aside from the ordnance on Fort Mills and Fort Hughes, there is little left, after 80 years of scrapping and earthquake and typhoon damage over the years. It was great to touch and feel. One of the things I was glad to see were the armored searchlights in the entry blocks. I had never seen a photo and was delighted to see one in operation at Fort Tancrement.
Steven. I was wandering around RUclips when I found your video. I know more about the British sector but congratulations, I loved what you have done. Of course, that means I will now have to know more. Really well done.
Very Good! I haven't been but would love to visit. My grandfather built the wooden fence around Quintin Roosevelt's grave and I have a piece of that plane. I would sit for hours and listen to his stories. Thank you for this video.
That aftermath shot is absolutely mental... I read somewhere an account from a Great War veteran that if you cover your ears with your palms and tap your fingers on the back of your head, you could mildly imitate the sound of drumfire. I couldn't even begin to imagine what it was like to endure that for more than 5 minutes, much less 300 days straight. Never again...
Visited the old battle fields around Verdun in SEP 2010, SEP 2016 and SEP 2019, as well as Vauquois and Saint-Mihiel. It is unbelievable what happened there 100 years ago, that the traces of it can still be seen today. Interesting is the bird perspective through your shots. Great video Steven, as well your videos about Hartmannswillerkopf, Somme, Vimy, Formelles and Ypres area. SEP 2019 I traveled along the entire West front, starting at Kilometer Zero up to Newport. But I have to say, two weeks are a still not enough to see all of it.
Wonderful Video! Your seem Very knowledgeable and provide interesting information about this area. It's also, interesting to see these Battlefields from this view.
I loved this! Amazing to see the whole after math of land of one of the longest battles in history! I would love more views like this for the other battles like the sommne
I'm holding a cannon shell,( French 75) that my fathers uncle brought home from WWI. It is a piece of "trench art" made by a German POW. Made like a vase, fluted folds in the mid area where you would grasp it. Then above is hammered in with a punch the word VERDUN. The open end has been cut into points with what looks like holly leaves incised. The brass casing is 13.5 inches tall. This and my K98k Mauser (1913) are my only WWI pieces. This video is the best information I've ever seen about Verdun. So glad to have found it!
I visited Fort Douaumont more than 50 years ago. Since then much has been done to make the place presentable but back then the sense of desolation was immense. One thing particularly of interest, in a very interesting video, is the rifle range. I still have the mental picture of looking down along that spit of land from the heights at Douaumont and I recollect seeing what I took to be the hulks of tanks. I wonder now whether the range was ever used for small artillery? Well done Steve!
Very sobering. The video made an impact I never expected. So sad. 300,000 people killed and nothing was gained but death and destruction. No one can live in the area now, 100 years later. Thank you for this upload.
this is a special piece of history to share - and you have indeed done a wonderful job with this video - I am excited to see what else you have made (and will make) - My Sincere Thanks -
Thanks for posting, video gives a good impression of scale and topography not seen on a map. Helpful commentary as well, just the right level of detail. 👍
@@StevenUpton14-18 Terrible isn't it. Especially considering that probably the majority of WW1 soldiers had no idea what they were getting into, unlike with later wars, and they were thrown into some of the most horrific ground battles in history. I recently watched The Outpost which I recommend. Yes, It's very American and has lots of swearing and American machismo but from reviews of legit ex-servicemen it is very accurate and realistic. It is the true story of the 50 soldiers defending Camp Keating from hundreds of Taliban soldiers and the catch is that the outpost is pretty much undefendable. It has actual soldiers from the battle in the movie to add authenticity, if not great acting skills but if you bear with it it pays off. So if you can handle Americans shouting and swearing but want to see an apparently authentic and well produced contemporary war movie then I recommend it. :)
Thank you, very informative! I plan to visit Ypres in 2023, and am trying to learn as much as I can about WW1 before I go-your videos are a great help!
Sabaton, a Swedish metal band, has made an album to pay tribute to heroes of the Great War, military action or unusual anecdotes. Each song is documented.
50,000,000 shells over 300 days works out as a shell fired just under 2 seconds, non-stop. Obviously they weren't actually fired non-stop, but it brings in to perspective how many shells were actually fired during this battle. Anyone who finds themselves in the vicinity of Verdun is recommended to visit this area. The memorial, museum and pockmarked landscape are all very thought provoking.
Thank you for watching.
Visitei Verdun em 1998. Impressionante!
In addition, there is an unbelievable amount of unexploded ordnance at these sites still in the ground to this day.
During 2015, I followed the trenches & battlefields from Anatolian Turkey to the English Channel in Belgium.
I saw many battlefields, but the feelings that I got in the woods around Verdun was just a feeling of horror.
Before I began my journey, I was sceptical about ghosts & the paranormal, but I am now a firm believer. Those woods sent a chill through me that I can still feel three & a half years later....
Thank you for watching and sharing your story.
My memory of Verdun is the same! I walked thru there on foot in the 70’s. Alone. But I was not alone.
Like a pilgrimage? That must of taken a while to do that..
That doesn't prove paranormal lol
Considering how many thousands of men, young boys on both sides lost their lives, as yet there has been no filmed documented ghost of any soldier, caught on film....same for the Somme, not one ghost filmed at anytime night or day.... no one comes back, if they did then every murderer would be haunted to death by the ghost of their victim, that’s why they get locked up otherwise nothing would happen to them
I'm French and you are doing great videos about the first world war, thank you for taking time to come in France, do researches and show others what happened in France a hundred years ago. Thank you very much sir and I hope see you someday maybe in a battle place :)
Thank you for watching. More films to come as soon as I can make them.
As a Brit who has visited Great War sites many times over the past thirty years or so, I’m glad you show your appreciation of Steven’s work, and hope you don’t mind us trampling over your beautiful country too much.
Read it as "hope to see you someday in battle" o.O
I agree merci beaucoup ! Je suis las d'entendre répéter que les français sont des lâches et qu'ils se sont rendus ! Nous les français sont humiliés sur internet ses derniers temps. Honteux soyez ceux qui salissent la mémoire de nos héros ! Vive la France. I am tired of hearing it repeated that the French are cowards and that they have surrendered! We French are humiliated on the internet lately. Shame on those who sully the memory of our heroes! Long live France.
@@usmh maybe meant for a walk 🚶♂️ and tour not a war :)
As a 13 year old I loved to wander off a little in those woods around this fortress, following a shallow trench which was there, for as long as I could. And boy, do those woods get dark fast. There was something very eerie about the whole experience. But what will stay with me about this battlefield, was that wherever I was, whether here or around the Trench of Bayonets, were the shellholes overlapping shellholes. And everywhere. Not a single square meter of soil was untouched by the war. Sometimes the craters were huge - still huge, even in the early nineties. And the entire battlefield is like that - it's as if the French merely cleaned up the remnants of war lying on the surface and then put trees there, after 1918 - and that's it. That's what makes Verdun pretty unique. The only places that are similar to the Verdun experience, with a similar semi-intact battlefields, are in the Vosges. I would say more intact. The Hartmannsweilerkopf comes to mind. A hill which was heavily fought over in 1915. If you've never been there, Steve, you should go. You still got miles and miles of perfectly functional trenches (because the trench walls are made of rock) leading in all directions - and dugouts and everything that comes with a trench - and I never was able to walk up to where any of these trenches ended. They seemed to go on forever, all the way down to the valley. I'm surprised there's so little public attention for what I consider a completely preserved WW1 battlefield. It's like the Western Front's most dirty secret. And the French don't market it. Wow.
Thank you for watching. I have visited to the Hartmannsweilerkopf several times. I have a film of it on my channel. You need to be very fit to get to the top. Always makes me wonder how on earth the French actually climbed it with all their equipment AND under fire. They must have been incredibly fit and determined.
Politics are trying to make it disapear, it has caused lots of pollution, particulary in the water, if you know where to go you can find massive stocks of artillery shells ready to explode hidden everywhere near the front... Annnnd their are also some artillery ammunition (gaz and conventionnal left to rust in the woods just pilled up thousand and thousand) in a lot of places in france even far far away from the battlefields. That is not something the government tends to advertise : 100 years have past and the mess is still there menacing the healt of french people. We even had another WW on top of that...
Have been in that area several times and visited Vaux, Douaumont, Froidterre, Dead Man, Fleury, The Douaumont Ossuary, The Verdun Memorial, some trenches around and some lesser known artillery posts of the Germans a few kilometers away, where one can still see beautyful paintings and drawings German soldiers put to the walls in lack of wallpapers.
In almost any place there one still can find bone fragments or shrapnel. The woods are quite dangerous, we often found piles of shells, grenades and other potentially deadly stuff and in some areas until today nothing grows - I think, it is because of buried shells that contained poison gas.
Every year farmers recover tons of metal, grenades and shells in their fields and most likely this will continue some decades, because there are so many duds and pieces of scrap metal in that area.
It is an amazing area to explore.
Thank you for watching.
@J H Spain. enjoy your trip :) It sounds more dangerous than it is. Take at least one week to explore the area, because there is very much to discover besides the tourist attractions and the lesser known stuff is even more exciting, because you will see things only a few people have ever seen. But: please do not walk beside visible paths in the woods! The danger of tripping on some nasty stuff is really high there!
God bless you all!
Every year farmers recover tons of metal, grenades and shells in their fields and most likely this will continue some decades, because there are so many duds and pieces of scrap metal in that area.
Its the same at Ypres and on the Somme. It is called 'The Iron Harvest'.
You dont seem so professional on what your saying because you have a Pepe frog with clown hair.
Bonsoir, est - ce que le Fort de Vaux mérite une visite ? Merci.
I liked your sober tone: it fits the location well.
Thank you for watching.
and listening 👏🏽
Sombre?
@@the_hate_inside1085
Both.
Well done video sir. I had the privilege of visiting the Verdun area, specifically Forts Douaumont and Vaux as well as the Ossuary, and words cannot describe the feeling of standing on that ground. You are correct when they say it is a "Red zone" as there are countless unexploded munitions signs everywhere. I believe the journey to this area should be a pilgrimage that everyone should make to ensure that senseless wars like this never happen again.
Thank you for watching. I think all government ministers should go there to see the cost of war.
Looking into the basement window of the Ossuary really had an effect on me. Seeing the bones on top of bones on top of bones is chilling! One window had a skull positioned looking out at everyone that came looking in. All the lives lost, for what? So sad and must not be forgotten in memorial.
Unfortunately people do have this way of forgett rather rapidly.
The war that should end all wars resulted in the second world war 20 years later.
Looking at the world of today the globalist elite want us all dead one way or another.
50000000 million shells
20000 shells per square meter
20% duds
200 unexploded shells per square meter... holy shit no wonder its a red zone
Thank you for watching. I think it was more like 1,000 shells per sq. m. and about a third were duds. So only about 300 unexploded shells for every sq. metre of battlefield. Not so bad after all - anyone want to buy a house?
Steven Upton a war that happenned 100 years ago is still preventing us, humans to farm the land. There is a lot more talk about WW2 but WW1 in my oppinion is the worst humanity has ever saw.
A few years ago whilst touring over there a farmer was killed when his plough struck an old shell.
Surely 200 shells could not fit in a square meter!
@@SamuelHallEngland
Not stacked side by side, but you have to remember how soft and deep the mud was on the Verdun battlefield. So the shells will now be at different depths in the settled earth.
Thank you Steven. I visited Verdun many years ago and it left a lasting impression on me. The Douaumont Ossuary is particularly difficult to see for a Brit who is not used to seeing the mortal remains of one, let alone 130,000 poor souls. Another heart rending site was the Sleeping Lion Memorial to the Germans near Fort Vaux, which to this day remains one of saddest memorials I have seen. The drone footage makes all the difference in understanding the layout of the battlefield. Thank you again for your informative and sensitive video on the Battle of Verdun.
Thank you for watching.
We visited there just over a week ago. This perspective from the air really assists in understanding the battle. The topography can't be seen adequately from the ground. Well done, would really look forward to such a flight over Fort Vaux. Thank you for your entire series.
Thank you for watching and your comments. Vaux is on my hit list. I am just uploading Vimy Ridge.
Somehow, I've found your videos four years after you've made them. I'm glad I have. WWI has always been interesting to me. Dan Carlin's seven part series on the first world war is an intense listen. He talks about Verdun and thanks to you I get to see a bit of the landscape of what it is now, and what it was back then. You're videos give a visual to his descriptions. Thank you.
Thank you for watching.
I love these drone view videos of WWI battlefields Steven, thank you for uploading these! Really gives a perspective that old maps and ground level videos just cannot deliver.
Thank you for watching.
I’ve recently taken an interest in learning more about the 1st world war and it’s truly incredible to see how unstable and pockmarked the ground is from the shelling in each battlefield, even after over 100 years since the battles ended.
Thank you for watching. Some areas are still too dangerous to develop due to the amount of unexploded munitions in the ground.
yea, same here, ww2 didnt even have the same destruction on the landscape it seems. Ive always been a ww2 guy, and decided to branch into studying the big war....very eye opening.
You should have been there in the 1970s. Relics littered the ground. The first thing I found was a live 16 inch shell with rifling marks. There were so many canteens, mess kits, belts and shoes that I stopped looking at them.
Incredible footage along with an education. The scope of this war is mind boggling. Liked and subscribed. Thank you.
Thank you for watching.
Still MILLIONS of tons of unexploded WW1 munitions are still buried in France. Now THAT's mindbogling.
@@flipjenl9616 I believe that as much as 30% of the shells fired were either duds or simply failed to explode. Then add to that the tons of explosives that were placed underground and then left behind. Some are directly under modern-day roads and buildings.
Steven Upton There is lots of criticism by historians about the harsh reparations Germany was forced to pay in the Versailles treaty, but after I’ve seen the permanent destruction the war caused on French territory, I could understand it better. While Germany was untouched after the war, France faced and Belgium faced enormous problems cleaning and rebuilding. I visited and studied parts of a the Zone Rouge to perform an ecological impact assessment as part of my studies. You really don’t want to live near it. Just look it up: zone rouge guerre.
Thank you for sharing this. Our family discovered a few years ago that my grandfather was at Verdun at the end of the war as part of the four divisions of the Austro-Hungarian army that was stationed there. This adds a great perspective to that bit of family history.
Thank you for watching.
Fascinating.
Horrible.
Dreadful.
Impressive.
My brother-in-law's father fought at Verdun. I have to share this with him.
Thank you.
Thank you for watching.
This is very interesting to me since two of my fathers relatives were killed in WWI - Leo and George Beaumont. George is listed as killed in the Fort Douamont area, possibly during a recapture event. George G. Beaumont USA
Thank you for watching and sharing your family history.
Your family name sound pretty french too mate, i don't know your family's origin but i won't be surprised if you had french ancestors.
@@arthurvg2217 Actually , I am Basque French , English, & Scotch-Irish, about 50 -50 Father - Mother. by DNA. There are many Beaumont's in England from Norman times, but don't think that is my lineage.
@@georgeb6152 Alright, actually scandinavians share a lot with french and actually the whole celtic world, when christian have started to burn and chop people heads off many west european left to scandinavia to prepare a counter strike later know as "viking invasion". Your DNA is Europe's soul, it is all coming from celtics peoples...the first guys on theses lands, and it was a proper united civilisation.
All my life I've wanted to tour the Western Front, this is the next best thing and exceptionally educational. Thank you for doing this!
Thank you for watching. I hope you get to go there one day.
Once again Steve, many, many thanks for your time and effort and for producing another excellent post.
Thank you for watching. More to come very soon.
Your aerial views are great to make the battle of Verdun come to life, so to speak. Your narration is also very good. Thank you, Mr. Upton!
Thank you for watching and your encouraging feedback.
Steve yet again another super film,,with great knowledge thank you for doing this
And thank you for watching. More to come over the next few weeks, hopefully.
This drone presentation of history is amazing!! Loved it very much definitely gives a perspective I’ve not seen before!
Thank you for watching.
The dronepictures really give a great idea about the extent of the shelling. Amazing video, thank you!
Thank you for watching.
What i like about your videos is you actually interact with your viewers. Something not seen nor done by very many youtubers at all
Thank you for watching, and your comment. Very much appreciated.
another great film Steve. Getting all round perspective is fantastic top job.
Thank you for watching and your comments.
Really nice video. I found it very interesting. My late wife, my son, and I visited Verdun, including Ft. Douamont, in 1999. My son, Tom, who was almost 8 at the time thought the Ossuary was cool with all the bones. I pointed out to him that all those bones were young men who never got to go home to their own little boys. He thought for a moment and said, " I thought it was cool, Dad, but now it's just sad." I always thought that was pretty perceptive for a 7 year old.
Thank you for watching and sharing your story.
I will get there one day . Thank you so much mr upton for your videos on the first war. Your overlapping of maps and footage is one of the best available. My great great uncle was wounded and MIA for 4 days before being found. He was a sniper. Upon his return from hospital he was gassed, survived that then posted to a mavjine gun vompany. He fied in 1969 due to his war injuries. I owe it to him to see the land and places where he fought.
Again yhank you for your inspiring vidros.
Thank you for watching. I hope you get to visit. Before you do it’s a good idea to find out what unit your relative was in and do some research first. You can usually find out exactly where they were. I have done so with my grandfather.
So interesting and well presented again Steven. The casualty numbers are incomprehensible. Thank you
Thank you for watching.
Hello Steven, first of all, hope you're well!
Also hope you'll soon be able to film more locations. You always have done them justice with the way you approach the locations, both in video and in audio.
Started rewatching your videos and began with this one.
Thank you for watching. I am looking forward to the post-Covid world and making more films.
Again. Its a brilliant video. Thank you.
Thank you for watching. Hoping to post some more in the next few days.
Thank you for making these, this is the first one I watched but I'll be making my way through the WW1 playlist.
Thank you for watching. I hope you enjoy the rest of my films.
Fascinating. Thank you for filming, narrating and posting this.
Thank you for watching.
Love these videos brother from across the pond🇺🇸
Thank you for watching.
Thank you so much for uploading this. I've been to Verdun three times now, in addition to my regular Somme visits. Verdun is a must-visit for anyone wanting to understand the Western Front. Fieldwalking is illegal here, unlike on The Somme, but you can turn up incredible finds in almost any acre even by accident in field margins. If you haven't been, Camp Marguerre, is also really worth a look. It's just north of Verdun. Absolutely fascinating place.
Thank you for viewing and your comments. How did you find the sound quality of my commentary? It seems somewhat muffled to me.
I'm listening on pretty good small speakers and it sounded fine. Not muffled at all. If anything it's a little "boxy", as if you're in a small square room, which gives it a short reverb and seems to boost the mid-frequencies a little. However, that's not a criticism. It sounds perfectly reasonable.
Thank you. I have just watched it on another computer and its fine. No need to re-record it.
For anyone who seriously doubts the courage and valour of the average individual French soldier that person should just come see this battlefield....i read somewhere that the French effort to recapture that fort costed over 100,000 men thier lives.....as an American I deeply proud that both French and German great grandchildren of this men are the allies of the USA today
Thank you for watching.
This was an astounding Video! I never get to see the landscapes of these places & the drone use was particularly awesome! Great Work!
Thank you for watching and your encouraging comments.
7:15 "The French were surprised by the entry of Germans into the fort, as now being demonstrated by this bus"
Thank you for watching.
My Great-Grandfather had his leg shattered and lost an eye due to WW1.
Thank you for watching.
Steven Upton thanks for sharing video!
How did he feel about WW2
I just subscribed. Thank you for taking the time to put these great videos up for everyone to watch.
Thank you for watching.
these films are awesome.
heaps of thanks for posting!!
Thank you for watching.
It's a mind blower to see it now when I know 100 years ago it was about as desolate as the surface ad Mars
Thank you for watching.
keep up your good works.
Thank you for watching.
This is the first video of yours I have seen and I am very impressed and pleased to have come across it. Definitely subscribed and will be watching many more. Thank you for sharing, take care.
Thank you for watching. Weather permitting, there will be more next month.
My great grandfather was an American Army engineer during WWI, stationed in France. We have his letters he wrote home and loads of postcards.
Thank you for watching.
I always point out ww1 as a counter point to the French reputation of being “surrender monkeys” (sorry about the term) the French army were absolute legends during the Great War
Up till about April 1917...but yes, I am just messing. The French were great fighters in WWI.
Claude-Louis-Hector de Villars, Maréchal de France sadly yes and it has stuck, if I hear it in conversation I know immediately I’m talking to an idiot
Thank you for watching.
Battlefield 1 brought me here
Thank you for watching. More videos to come soon.
Thank you so much... after watching this, I was holding back the tears. It just shows the devastation of war carries on to the present. V/R Anthony, USN (ret)
Thank you for watching.
Than you once more Stephen. Again a really well produced film and super photography.
Thank you for watching and your comments.
"fort de DouAUMont"
Thank you for watching. Thank you for your correction.
There was never a “Von Paulus”, he was called Friedrich Paulus, he was never a noble...
Thank you for watching, and also for the correction. So much that we read in books we later find out to be wrong.
Thank you! Excellent video.
I was about to make the same comment. A lot of professional historians get this wrong as well. Paulus was the son of a civil servant and was also Roman Catholic.
Wonderful video. Took me back to reading "The Price of Glory" in university French History class.
David Olie The Price of Glory is a masterpiece, a classic.
There was a Von Paulus in the second war. He was the General at Stalingrad
21 June 2019 Keith Stevenson My son and I, have visited these places, recently. Super to see this view from air. Thanks
Thank you for watching.
Outstanding work. Thank you!
Thank you for watching.
New sub here, great footage, great commentary very informative. Have heard many stories of the great french forts in WW1 but seeing them from the air gives a new perspective.
Thank you for watching.
Suscribed!Thanks for sharing this video....
Both my Great Grand Uncles actually served on the front lines...
Uncle Camille served with the 90th Infantry Regiment in the north of France and was killed during the Second battle of Artois, on September 17th, 1915....
Uncle Adrian fought at Verdun and actually survived the battle....
Thank you for all you efforts and work helping us understand and remember the Great War....
Pax Vobiscum
Thank you for watching.
superb steven. you have a fantastic knowledge of the great war. ive visited this area a few years ago, but your videos make sense of what i was looking at. thankyou 😊
Thank you for watching and your comments. I read about a particular action and then like to visit it and walk the ground. This developed into filming it and finally a drone.
Enjoying your videos in 2021. Those that do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Thank you for watching.
Loved the aerial footage. Thank you for a great video!
Thank you for watching.
Thank you Steven. A very respectful and humane look at this historic battlefield. Rest in peace, all the young men and civilians who lost their lives.
Thank you for watching.
great documentary, the aerial view is a huge bonus for putting things into perspective. Thanks Steve.
Thank you for watching.
Thank you very much 4 that Video! I had to come here once again. Greets from Aut -Vie
Thank you for watching. I think there is more to see on the French sectors than the usual places the British visit, such as the Somme and Ypres.
You just gained a sub, i haven't witnessed such a well documented and well narrated piece of history since my last year of university in Leuven 21 years ago. You should teach brother!!
Thank you for watching and your comments. I do teach, but not this subject.
Really great video. I’ve always wanted to visit these places and it’s nice to have a guided tour and a bit of history about the location.
Thank you for watching. More films are on their way soon.
Places that I will probably never get to see with my own eyes. What incredible footage and information. Keep up the wonderful work you do. Lest we forget...
Thank you for watching.
Great historical video. Loved the older pictures and the modern drone video. gives you a much better view you can't get from the ground.
Thank you for watching.
Thank-you for posting this. It puts the great war into perspective!!!
Thank you for watching.
Steve Upton the drone footage on your channel is incredible and really lends perspective as to how small many of these battlefields were. Would be fascinating to see Fort Vaux if you ever do it too!
Thank you for watching. Its in my mind to do Vaux.
Very cool video. I like the unique perspective from the drone and the thorough commentary of the video. I will certainly add you channel to my subscriptions.
Thank you for watching and subscribing. I should be posting more next week.
Very nice shots, but your explanations make them so precious.
Thx a lot for your pile of Information-
as a normal visitor you can imagine how it looks like- but with your drone footage its really an other league of information.
Thank you for watching.
My knowledge on the first World War is a little limited compared to, my knowledge of the second World War.. I have found your video and your style very informative and a really pleasure to watch. I believe you are doing a great service in keeping the memories of all those fallen solders, efforts and struggle alive. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for watching and your comments. Very encouraging.
Thank you so much for the video and the commentary. I'm very new to WWI history, but you were very interesting and easy to follow along.
Thank you fro watching and your feedback.
Very insightful videos. Thanks for demonstrating and showing what the real terrain looks like!
Thank you for watching.
Very nice video, gives a great perspective. The battle of Verdun is completely mind boggling, hard to imagine how insane it must have been.
Thank you for watching.
What an excellent piece of work Steven, thoroughly enlightening and well explained..im very impressed. God bless all those poor young men who endured that horror show, one can hardly imagine the carnage and hopelessness they must have experienced
Thank you for watching.
Excellent video. Thanks for the aerial view and for the history of the battlefield.
Thank you for watching.
Verdun and the surrounding areas are a great place to visit. One of my favourite trips.
Thank you for watching.
My grandfather fought in WW1 , I thank you for taking me to the places he walked a hundred years ago ,
Thank you for watching.
I was there in 2018 and this drone video gives perspective to understand it better, thank you!
Thank you for watching.
These are brilliant videos. The utter insanity of this battle is hard to encompass in one's mind. The fact that humans willingly engaged in such activity is difficult to comprehend.
Thank you for watching.
Thx for those amazing videos , I've visit that area a few years ago. I was Mind-blow, what the soldiers endure in that time. A must do in a life time.
Thank you for watching.
Formidable video ! The great granfather of my French wife was injured 3 times in Verdun, he finished with the Legion of Honnor.
Thank you for watching.
This is chilling.
Thanks for this great vdeo.
Thank you for watching.
Steven, I did. Fort Schoenenberg was remarkable. I walked 6 miles altogether underground. I was able to visit all 4 of the Maastricht forts as well. I know I left all sorts of wonderful sites behind, but, at 72, this was plenty. I have been a member of the U.S. Coast Defense Study Group and have participated in many of their tours. On my trip to the Manila Bay forts, we found that, aside from the ordnance on Fort Mills and Fort Hughes, there is little left, after 80 years of scrapping and earthquake and typhoon damage over the years. It was great to touch and feel. One of the things I was glad to see were the armored searchlights in the entry blocks. I had never seen a photo and was delighted to see one in operation at Fort Tancrement.
Thank you for sharing your experiences.
Steven. I was wandering around RUclips when I found your video. I know more about the British sector but congratulations, I loved what you have done. Of course, that means I will now have to know more. Really well done.
Thank you for watching.
Very informative. You're hard work shows in your videos. Thank you for sharing.
So sad to see the shell holes where the houses once stood.
Thank you for watching.
such a great video so glad I came around this channel
Thank you for watching.
Excellent documentary job, over a 100 years ago still possible see craters from shelling, it is amazing! Thank you for sharing, cheers!
Thank you for watching.
@@StevenUpton14-18 You bet
Very Good! I haven't been but would love to visit. My grandfather built the wooden fence around Quintin Roosevelt's grave and I have a piece of that plane. I would sit for hours and listen to his stories. Thank you for this video.
Thank you for watching. I hope you get to go there some day.
That aftermath shot is absolutely mental... I read somewhere an account from a Great War veteran that if you cover your ears with your palms and tap your fingers on the back of your head, you could mildly imitate the sound of drumfire. I couldn't even begin to imagine what it was like to endure that for more than 5 minutes, much less 300 days straight.
Never again...
Thank you for watching.
Visited the old battle fields around Verdun in SEP 2010, SEP 2016 and SEP 2019, as well as Vauquois and Saint-Mihiel.
It is unbelievable what happened there 100 years ago, that the traces of it can still be seen today.
Interesting is the bird perspective through your shots.
Great video Steven, as well your videos about Hartmannswillerkopf, Somme, Vimy, Formelles and Ypres area.
SEP 2019 I traveled along the entire West front, starting at Kilometer Zero up to Newport.
But I have to say, two weeks are a still not enough to see all of it.
Thank you for watching. I am too old now, but I would have liked to walk it.
@@StevenUpton14-18, you're welcome. Keep up that great work.
Wonderful Video! Your seem Very knowledgeable and provide interesting information about this area. It's also, interesting to see these Battlefields from this view.
Thank you for watching and your feedback. More to come later this year.
Thank you for taking the time to make and post this. Thanks again. 🇦🇺🇦🇺
Thank you for watching.
I loved this! Amazing to see the whole after math of land of one of the longest battles in history! I would love more views like this for the other battles like the sommne
Thank you for watching. I have several films about the Somme. Subscribe to my channel to get notice of new films.
I'm holding a cannon shell,( French 75) that my fathers uncle brought home from WWI. It is a piece of "trench art" made by a German POW. Made like a vase, fluted folds in the mid area where you would grasp it. Then above is hammered in with a punch the word VERDUN. The open end has been cut into points with what looks like holly leaves incised. The brass casing is 13.5 inches tall. This and my K98k Mauser (1913) are my only WWI pieces. This video is the best information I've ever seen about Verdun. So glad to have found it!
Thank you for watching.
I visited Fort Douaumont more than 50 years ago. Since then much has been done to make the place presentable but back then the sense of desolation was immense. One thing particularly of interest, in a very interesting video, is the rifle range. I still have the mental picture of looking down along that spit of land from the heights at Douaumont and I recollect seeing what I took to be the hulks of tanks. I wonder now whether the range was ever used for small artillery? Well done Steve!
Thank you for watching. Have a look at that rifle range with Google Earth. You can clearly see the outline of trenches.
Very sobering. The video made an impact I never expected. So sad. 300,000 people killed and nothing was gained but death and destruction. No one can live in the area now, 100 years later. Thank you for this upload.
Thank you for watching.
this is a special piece of history to share - and you have indeed done a wonderful job with this video - I am excited to see what else you have made (and will make) - My Sincere Thanks
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Thank you for watching
Thanks for posting, video gives a good impression of scale and topography not seen on a map. Helpful commentary as well, just the right level of detail. 👍
Thank you for watching.
Imagine how many soldiers were shell shocked and mentally scarred from such a long ordeal. Young men never to be the same again.
Thank you for watching. A recent survey of Afghanistan and Iraq British veterans who experienced combat found that 1 in 6 experienced PTSD.
@@StevenUpton14-18 Terrible isn't it. Especially considering that probably the majority of WW1 soldiers had no idea what they were getting into, unlike with later wars, and they were thrown into some of the most horrific ground battles in history.
I recently watched The Outpost which I recommend. Yes, It's very American and has lots of swearing and American machismo but from reviews of legit ex-servicemen it is very accurate and realistic. It is the true story of the 50 soldiers defending Camp Keating from hundreds of Taliban soldiers and the catch is that the outpost is pretty much undefendable.
It has actual soldiers from the battle in the movie to add authenticity, if not great acting skills but if you bear with it it pays off. So if you can handle Americans shouting and swearing but want to see an apparently authentic and well produced contemporary war movie then I recommend it. :)
Thank you for your recommendation. I will look for it.
Thanks for the very interesting film.
It's always good to see a battlefield from the air, such a different perspective.
Thank you for watching.
Thank you, very informative! I plan to visit Ypres in 2023, and am trying to learn as much as I can about WW1 before I go-your videos are a great help!
Thank you for watching. I would recommend looking at the hotel that has the Hooge crater in its grounds. I have stayed there several times.
Sabaton, a Swedish metal band, has made an album to pay tribute to heroes of the Great War, military action or unusual anecdotes. Each song is documented.