Amazing video. People should respectfully visit these type sites just to remember how destructive World War 1 was. The lives lost is incomprehensible. Very informative. Thank you Steven.
Wow this was amazingly haunting to see where so many men lived, fought and sadly died. How many more unknown number of men are still buried where they fell out there? Thank you for showing this and thank you to the people uncovering history so the war that was supposed to end all wars is never forgotten.
Utterly absorbing and atmospheric presentation. Your commentary is appropriately respectful and informative. Watching it, I'm practically there with you.
Mr. Upton, your WWI videos are of excellent quality. WWI history is not properly taught in Brazilian schools and your work teaches much more than any book I could read. Please don't get tired of teaching us. Thanks so much for taking us with you.
I've been binging these episodes lately. I can't afford to fly over to Europe to see these places but I'm glad someone has gone through and documented so many so thoroughly.
How many of these soldiers that survived this hell suffered for the rest of their lives with physical and mental scars. Many looked like monsters because they had lost their leg, arms or half their face, some had been burned, even their face burned etc etc. Most have been rejected by society because they didnt look " normal" and people where scared of their looks. Nobody today remembers that and we should be ashamed. Thank you for your video Sir.
I know this is a rather old video, but it still gives me goosebumps seeing these trenches of where people spent most of their time in the first world war inside of and i believe that you did a wonderful job going through them and showing people around the world where these brave men lived, and died in its almost ghostly seeing a dried up trench on a sunny day where more than 100 years ago so many men on both sides gave up their lives in service of their country in artillery blackened skies and mud filled holes it must've been a hellish site to see for sure... thank you for sharing this with us i hope that one day i may be able to see this with my own eyes
Glad this was recommended for me to watch. Thanks so much for taking us along . I would love to take a trip like this with my son Starting in England taking the Chunnel and weaving our way across Europe just doing what you've done here . Thank you for your time 🍻Mate
If you do manage to come over here let me know. I often drive from England to Switzerland and pass along the whole of the former Western Front. I have a day or two off and do some filming, or explore and area I have not previously visited. I would be happy to give you a lift and act as a guide.
Well I live in the unconstitutional state of Connecticut USA I ask because up to the late 80's the Merchant Marines weren't recognized as veterans But they were by England My stepfather was a Merchant Marine and there is a statue somewhere in England recognizing them Could possibly do a video of it or even a picture Subscribed
PETER PIPER There are several memorials to the Merchant Navy at www.thenma.org.uk - I do have a number of photos and film of the site as I go there for a service every July. There is a tree for every ship sunk in the two world wars. I will be in New Jersey on Friday for two weeks.
thank you for this rare exploration video. way too much horrendous camera noises drove me nuts but the importance of this site and the sad and terrifying history here for the poor men made me watch the whole piece. thanks for this. sad times indeed. may we never see war again ever
Thanks..............your respect for the men who fought and died comes through clearly, as does your understanding of what life was like in the trenches, day after day and shell bursts without end. A forgotten or overlooked war here in the States, where it was fought and by those that fought it, aptly called the Great War. Like a few Yanks before me, I'm coming over. Your videos serve a useful purpose, some may not be able to make the trip. Well done.
Excellent work by the authorities to bring it back to life. History is made more real when one gets to walk those trench works. Thanks for the video tour. Well worth visiting..
Thank you for watching. I have visited most of the Western Front over the last 10 years. This is the place that will give you the greatest understanding of life in the trenches.
I was there about 40 years ago and walking around I had this terrible sense that I was treading on a huge mass grave surrounded by the ghosts of those who were never recovered and who aimlessly walked around because they didn't know where to go. it really upset me. There were so so many of them. I pray they have since found peace in their Valhalla.
My goodness, the absolute and constant noise and terror that was always present in those trenches is easy to visualize from your video. thank you so much sir , you've done this oldster from Az., USA a great service. And these young men, an entire generation, were sent into this horrible thing by pompous old royalty who simply couldn't, or wouldn't say, "Wait before we start something , lets have a meeting and talk this over".
I imagine many people watching your videos have a connection to these sites via an ancestor. My Great Uncle was a British Bombardier in the Heavy Artillery. In October 1915 he was killed by a German shell. Like so many others he was fragmentated resulting in his remains never being found in a recognisable way. So as you say these sites need to be revered as mass graves and respected. Ive watched all your videos and you're doing fantastic work. Thanks mate.
Thank you for watching. And for sharing your families story. Your great uncle should be commemorated on a memorial to the missing somewhere in the area where he fell.
Incredible video! Thank you so much for sharing this. This really gives us the best vision of what life in the trenches and on the front must have been like. I'm so, so pleased that there are areas such as this that the French have restored for the world to see and visit. I'd love to visit this place.
Love watching these videos of World War 1 and learning the history of what so many people went through and im 20 years old trying to put it in perspective of how people my age would've reacted to those Frontlines and only makes me more grateful of what I'm doing now than what I could've been doing if I was born 100 so years ago-Thankyou for taking your time recording this so that I can see it in the U.S.A
Thank you for preserving the memory of these brave men. And thank you for your channel, which is educating me about the detail of this terrible conflict. This is history that should be remembered.
This is a wonderfully done video. Thank you for sharing it, and explaining as much as you did. Here I am on the 103rd anniversary of Armistice Day, and I hope we never forget.
That line "their last resting place" hit pretty hard. I will visit these trenches as Im passing through north of France soon. Thanks for these interesting videos.
Thanks for your tour. 18 years ago I went to France but I didn't get to see the WW1 places of battle. I actually went to WW2 sites. I really have to go back. Thanks again!
Amazing place. Thx for sharing it with us! Been visiting some WWI sites myself lately, on my motorcycle, mostly in Flanders or Northern-France, it is alwa9ys great to see new places that I can add to my to-do list.
These videos are amongst some of the very best videos out there on RU-vid of WW1 very interesting and very informative thankyou Steven for making these
Amazing and thought provoking.. I visited the Menin Gate and Sanctuary wood last year, along with Tyne Cot cemetery. A must visit even for those who have no knowledge of what took place.
Thank you for the comprehensive tour and the respect. I've been to the Butte de Warlencourt, Lochnagar Crater and Beaumont-Hamel, but Massiges and others near the Marne and Verdun are on my list! Best regards from the Netherlands, Daniël
It's amazing these still exists and are preserved for the modern world to see. Very chilling to watch you walk through these trenches only to imagine what it felt like. Thanks for this
My grannys brother fought there in September 1915, he fell from friendly fire because of unclear frontsituation. This summer I was visiting the place and cementarys around Massiges. Very impresionant. Today still workers die for profit of weaponindustrie.
I visited this location forty years ago on a trip with my father. The resounding memory I have of visiting various battlefields was the silence. Thank you for your videos Steven.
Thanks again for this visit. You make a very informed and interesting guide. This visit was worthwhile, I appreciated the added value you brought with the context of your narrative. Eager to see and hear more of your guided visits!
@@StevenUpton14-18 yes, thanks, I’ve subscribed and began to watch it already. Will be happy to follow along with you many more of your visits! Really glad I stumbled upon your channel, it’s quite interesting and touching.
Thanksnfor showing, its a history that would be a shame to forget, even if its something we might not can imagine. And these videos like this aslo stand to honor the otherwise forgotten who lay there.
Another superb video and commentary Steve, I've not yet visited Massiges but I certainly will soon. Also I concur with the comments about the artifacts. Respect to those who are responsible for the excavations and all the visitors who do not steal the artifacts.
Thank you for documenting this and uploading raw and unedited footage. As an American I will probably never get to visit sites like this to pay respects, so footage like yours is greatly appreciated.
Fantastic that these trenches have been as restored as they have. I’m used to archaeologists discovering things in Williamsburg, VA, or such similar restorations. This is more closely related to restoring Civil War battlefields except for the most part they were fought above the ground until later in the war. I can’t imagine what it must be like to work on digging these trenches out.
@@StevenUpton14-18 more historical detail would be appreciated. Like, just take a 30 ft length and explain in more detail what we are seeing. This is a small comment because this is as close as I have ever come to this battlefield and possibly ever will. One question: what do the archeologists start with? Just rolling ground? Are there portions of the trenches visible?
Another incredible video Steve. Absolutely ... just maybe worth a mention as steve said do not remove anything but also worth making sure your Tetanus injections are up to date if going to touch rusty metal.
Great video sir. Thank you for sharing. My wife and I are planning a vacation to France once this pandemic is finally at an end. Maybe we can get over here and see for ourselves. Her and I just watched "All Quiet on the Western Front" a couple weeks ago. My wife is from Japan, and they don't talk much about WWI or WWII. So that was really, her first bit of knowledge about the Great War. she didn't know Japan was one of our allies in WWI. She knew WWII happened. She knew they attacked Pearl Harbor and we dropped two atomic bombs on them but that was about the extent of her knowledge. Anyway, I think they did an excellent job with the remake. Just, watch it in German. If you can't speak German, then just read the subtitles. It's so much better that way. The voice over in English was really bad. Thank you again.
as a French soldier you wandered into the German trench. as a German soldier you wandered into the French trench. thank you for showing how confusing and easy it was to fall into enemy hands.
found your channel by accident last night and subscribed! thank you so much for sharing these. I had a great Grandfather who fought in the Somme, he got shrapnel in hi head then returned to the front line! he passed away when I was very young I don't remember him. apparently I called him Grumpa! lol. I really want to go and explore the western front one day as a motorbike tour!
