Exploring the WW1 Trenches at Main de Massiges 

My great uncle(born 1897 Normandy,France🇫🇷)died in 1915 WWI aged 18 as a soldier..gassed to death by the ennemy in a muddy trench with other soldiers according to military officials. His body was NEVER found. His brief life was a hard one. His mother(my great grandmother)died aged 31 in 1906 from a flu leaving him aged 9 and his 6yrs.old sister(my grandmother) motherless. They were poor peasants. 😢💔🙏🏻⚘️ Thank you for sharing this historic video with us...helps me understand whatmy great uncle went through.

Its a remarkable place we took our Motorhome up there stayed the night and to walk around at night is something else in the Dark it takes on another level we did not use battery torches but we took tilly lamps to really feel what its like and its not for the faint hearted Give it a try I guarantee you will not be disappointed maybe do a video

Thanks for showing this amazing place, went there 2 times and find it the best place where you can see how it was in ww1.

Thank you for taking me on this journey, I sure hope to go someday myself.

Great video. Moving.

Great job again thx Paul

superbe video , encore une région que je n'ai pas encore visité , merci pour se doc

I visited it last year and like you I thought it really impressive. It gave me a real insight into a WW1 trench system that you rarely see on the old front line. Definitely worth a visit.

Another great video Paul, really enjoying the video content alongside your podcasts. I hope to be able to visit here in the future.

Brings me bk to ypres school trip...can sense the atmosphere...nice vid...all the best paul

I went here a few years ago with Leger. Amazing place. An excellent bit of film, such nice clear, sharp filming

I stumbled into your channel just this very afternoon. Amazing to see the restored trench system in this episode. With a keen interest in W.W.I and W.W.II history, instantly subbed! Greetings from the Netherlands 🇳🇱

A place that's high on my list to get to soon!

What a must see place. Thanks Paul!

Such an amazing place. I recall you telling me about it, Paul, when I moved to Germany. Glad I paid a visit and you are right, it’s definitely a top 5 Western Front site.

they did a good job reconstructing the trenches

Great video thanks hopefully i can see it in person one day

The saddest part is that this could very well be images of Ukraine today

Good video 👍🏼 So sad that this is still happening in Ukraine all though not entirely the same but similar . Still humans caught up in geopolitics when most just want a peaceful life.

Thanks for this interesting video. Interesting also to compare it with what is currently happening in Ukraine where trench warfare is coming back - and how organised these old trenches look compared to what you see from them. And the one on the video is even from the first part of the war. Wonder if the Ukraines have something to learn from this archaeological site that can help them to understand more about how to stop their enemies and save more lives?

The ghosts that walk there. Hallowed gruond.

If this is one of the top 5 Western Front sites, what are the other 4?

Where you just being "Diverse" selecting a picture of French Colonial troops at 3:27 or were they actually there at the time?

Are these real trenches of ww1? Or they are just models?

Great video. I went to the 90th Anniversary of Vimy ridge, another great intact trench system, and the Sapeurs Pompiers had to evacuate someone who had fainted under the intense heat; so watched the surreal image of 8 fireman carrying a stretcher across the trenches; along-down-across-up...passing it between them, just like in the black and white photos of that time gone by.

Im hoping to visit following on from your video - how do you access it? on google maps there is a tiny village just south do you drive there and then up the tracks? any signs? many thanks.

Thanks for this taster of what a mate and I will see next month when we visit here and the Verdun battlefields. Hoping for less wetness! If have to choose between Main de Messiges and Butte de Vauquois, which would you recommend?

Amazing place! Would love to go there this summer! Thank you for the upload!

My grandfather William was born in 1887. Italian front, Alpini Fiamme Verdi. He runned through many battlefields in first wave bayonet assaults. The hell on earth. He was a survivor. Rip.

Absolutely amazing to see. I had never known that somewhere as evocative as this existed as Im used to all the various reconstructed trenches in Flanders. This is spooky and as though the French have simply walked out and abandoned it when the war ended....

Absolutely incredible!

Brilliant video Paul always a great presentation, i had the great pleasure of meeting you in person several years ago when i went on a battlefield tour to the Somme. Since that week i have always held you in the highest regard. Well done sir.