Thanks. My Grandfather (RIP) - East Lancashire Regiment was wounded and taken out of the war not all that far away in Passchedaele during German spring offensive in 1918. Immigrated to Canada early 1920s - loved and admired him greatly.
I lived in the area and knew a few farmers whom each year -for decades- found ordnance on their fields, including mustard gas shells. The many times I visited Tynecot are countless. It had a strange charm mid of autumn when wind and rain battered the landscape. Loved living there
Mine too, M H... his medals and death plaque are displayed in the museum there... and it was his death which spurred my grandfather to try joining up, under age. A year later he did join the King's Rifles, before transferring to the MG Corps, just in time for the third battle of Ypres. Best regards to you,
Yes mine too. 18/07/1917 RIP Alfred Gray. Along with other soldiers of Loyal North Lancs, they went on a skirmish into German trenches around the area of the Hooge Crater cemetery and surrounding fields. Quite a few never came back. All remembered on Menin Gate.
I’ve always wanted to go to France to visit some of these places (I live in the US).Your videos are the next best thing. They are very well done, and your knowledge and ability to explain the events that took place in these areas is outstanding. Thank you!
Thank you Mr. Upton for bring our this History. Your work is so enjoyable I love the work you do. I hope you continue doing this fine work. Thanks so much!
Steven, thank you so much for these videos. My Grandfather served with the United States Army in the 32nd Red Arrow Division. He saw action as a machine gunner. Your videos and description do much to fill in the gaps of my knowledge of the war and the devastation it had on the soldiers, the communities and the land. Grandpa never shared much about what he experienced other than a general description of the weather. The censorship was very strict with locations, as you know. He lost a brother in France due to injuries. Thank you again and I hope you continue to upload as you can.
This has given me a new insight into the area. Been there four times and for the first time I can grasp the layout from Railway Wood and the tunnels, Hooge and Hill 62. Much appreciated. Awesome drone footage.
Thank you for watching. I will be staying right next to Hooge crater for the next four days, 7 Jan 20. I want to get more footage of the Bellewaarde ridge.
Steven, your collection is becoming quite a gold mine. Your voice is perfect for this, your word content is very well thought out and informative, and your video shots whether taken on foot or with drone are breathtaking. When all is combined, the end result leaves me wanting more and more. It is difficult to believe there are only 1250 views at the time of this message. Out of all of the documentaries I have seen concerning ww1, with your talent in action it takes very little effort to get a good feeling for what happened at these locations a century ago. I hope you can network out and get the right people with influence to help make you the star you deserve to be. I would love to watch as you guide us around all of the fronts across the globe, as you bring the great war to life so effectively. Please keep up the excellent work, and thank you for sharing your insight and talent.
Steven, you are very welcome. If you want some original music for your videos, let me know. You can hear examples of my more recent work here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MXzHi_Vv9og.html and ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-795KtF0y8SI.html Let me know if you would like me to write something for you. I have nothing better to do and would be proud to be a part of your project if I can write something that meets your expectations. All it would cost you is to give me credit in your video description. Please reply here. I am always signed on with this different username to maintain anonymity for commenting on videos, so if you reply to my videos direct, I will not be notified.
What an amazing vid, Steven. Very well done! Years ago I visited virtually all of the CWGC cemeteries in the old Salient but your videos provide and added and unusual bonus to understand the lie of the land. Thank you for your hard work. JMD from Brussels
When I heard you say Bellewaerde Ridge it made me stop and listen again to make sure. That's where my regiment, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, took its most serious losses of the war, in what's called the Death of the Originals. Much of the original regiment was killed there and replaced by university student recruits. In one of our regimental marches, "Has Anyone Seen the Colonel", there's an optional verse: "Has anyone seen the old battalion? "I know where it is, "I know where it is, "I know where it is. "Has anyone seen the old battalion? "I know where it is. "It's lying on Bellewaerde Ridge. "How do you know? "I saw it, I saw it, "Lying on Bellewaerde Ridge. "I saw it lying on Bellewaerde Ridge."
Thank you for watching. I will be at Hooge in another four weeks. I am staying in a hotel a few yards from Hooge crater. I want to film Bellewaerde ridge and the Railway Wood area.
Job well done. I've been to Sanctuary Wood because my great grandfather got injured there on July 7th 1916. He was with the 60th CEF battalion. I found as I went to different sites exploring I got disorientated . With your film it makes more sense of where the battlefield was.S. McQueenCalgaryCanada
The view across the Belewarde ridge to Railway Wood made me shiver, my Great Grandfather was there with the Liverpool Scottish, I really need to go there.
Thank you for showing us all those very interesting films! It makes up a bit for me not visiting most of them while I was only living a few hours drive away from them. Would love to visit all these historic places in Belgium and France but don't see it happening now I live more than 1000 miles away from them.
Steven, I'm Flemish - I'm a regular visitor to Western Front - not many people know this, but the hamlet of "'t Hooge" was the worst part of the salient, it had an evil, sinister reputation amongst commonwealth forces and no-one looked forward to be stationed there. The Germans could easily shoot and shell Hooge from three directions, straight into the allied trenches. And very few visitors to Bellewaerde, the amusement park located on this stretch of frontline, are aware that where they stand the first flamethrower assault of the war took place.
I was at Hooge back in May - the large missing crater to the west was filled in postwar, possibly as a mass grave, and this was created by British forces in 1915. The remaining 3 or 4 craters (as when on the ground, you can clearly see the 3 craters that created the pond, plus a dried out 4th crater to the immediate east - they were actually landscaped into a feature, but at the same time blockhouses and trenches are clearly visible on the ground) were blown by the Germans when the Canadian lines were on top of them. So while the original Hooge crater is now a memory, other Hooge craters are available!
Excellent footage Steven. Thanks for sharing. As a 70th birthday present, my two sons arranged a trip to the battlefields only a couple of weeks ago . The trip has left such a lasting impression on the three of us. One of the battlefields we visited was where out of many hundreds of Canadian soldiers who fought only 60 remained . I will always remember the sweet scent of roses wafting up from the immaculate cemetery at the foot of the battlefield. I thought it was Hawthorne Ridge but now not so sure, maybe you can help. Many thanks again
Brilliant video's and commentary from you. Only discover you a couple of days ago not stopped watching your videos. 2 ..years ago spent a week in Belgium including the Ypres area and went to the Rampart's Cemetery. Wanted to get to more of the area but went to the coast for a couple of days and the Atlantic wall locations. Different war but still a brilliant place to see. Thanks again Steven
Absolutely brilliant. Love the drone footage. My great uncle was killed at Passchendale (19th Battalion AIF), literally the day before the Australians were retired and the Canadians took over. Would love it if you did something similar from Zonnebeke to Passchendale. Truly sacred ground.
Many thanks for yet another wonderful video, Steven. Those poor men must be spinning in their graves when they look at what our modern day politicians have done to our country. They can only be asking themselves what they gave their lives for, I'm sure.
Thank you Steve, I visited these areas on a guided tour, although the tour was very good we were subjected to a barrage of information which left me somewhat shellshocked trying to absorb it your short video has helped me to get a grasp of it. no puns intended.
Absolutely fantastic video's Steven! Very informative and very nice memorials to all the men that never came home and those that were forever scarred either physically or mentally by their experience on both sides of the conflict. People often avoid the German perspective but they were also 18 year old boys that didn't chose to be there which shouldn't be overlooked. I've visited many of the locations you have used and your video's give a great area perspective that you cannot gauge from the ground. Keep the updates coming please!
Thank you for the series of videos. Watching these videos I am reminded of a scene from A Bridge too Far where Kate ter Horst asks the doctor treating wounded in her house if can get any worse. His reply was “ oh yes, much worse”. I think places like this are what he had in mind.
Thank you for watching. In 1976 (I think) I stumbled onto he set of A Bridge Too Far. It was at the northern end of the Nigmegan bridge when the US Airborne had just crossed the river in boats. They were rehearsing the scene.
My grandfather did 2 years in France with the 37th Battalion First AIF. My dad told me he used to describe the second world war as a "side show". Relative to the battles of the 1 we the 2ww was a side show at least in western Europe. The scale fighting and suffering in Russia was even worse than that seen in the 1ww.
I also stayed at the bed and breakfast next to the crater during a WWI battlefield tour in 2015. My room had a balcony that looked out on it, and I was able to walk through the trenches. Thanks for the video!
I love that the Belgians have restored so much of that devestated zone to a state where it is difficult to discern, for the most part, that some of the most hideous battles of WW1 took place right there. I think it is admirable that, whatever may lie beneath the soil, this landscape has been returned to its more natural state of agriculture and normality. While knowledge and understanding of that conflict is important, the normality of the landscape, despite the ravages that it endured, is a powerful message for peace.
Many thanks for these superb drone footage videos of some of the most important and most poignant locations on thw Western Front. Being able to see them from the air provides a whole new dimension to our understanding of the events that took place there. Looking forward to many more.
The Belgian demining service DOVO - SEDEE was created after WWI to get rid of all the unexploded ordnance on the battlefields. 100 years later they are still digging up ordnance.
I live on a remote island that didn't have human beings on it until 50 years ago. It was wilderness before. I could never live in this place, the restless spirits there would give me no rest.
I visited the Sanctuary Wood museum and trenches some years ago. Very interesting and a worthwhile visit. Like yourself I've been amazed at how the landscape has recovered from the wasteland left at the end of the war, the work it must have taken is incredible.
Another spot on vid Steve. Was at Kemmel last summer camping on motorcycle. Went to hill 62 and Hooge. For me the last post at the Mennin gate was mind blowing. Going back this year with some maps try and get a better understanding. 👍
Thank you for watching. I intend going on my bike to Ypres in June using trench maps and GPS to explore from Hooge to the Bluff. Just hope all the travel bans are over by then.
I got a drone recently, in preparation for a trip to France to film battlefields as well. You're not kidding, that exposure is very difficult. It's like we're overexposed when filming the horizon, and underexposed if we pan down to darker trees. I need lots of practice making sure I can capture footage with the correct settings before heading over there.
Like many so many other people , I also lost my great uncle, Pte A. Larsson on the Ypres front. Buried where he died in an unmarked grave. I still have the original Telegram from the British Enquiry Department for Wounded and Missing.
My great uncle is buried in the Hooge crater cemetery, he was killed there during 1915. If I should die, think only this of me: That there’s some corner of a foreign field That is for ever England. There shall be In that rich earth a richer dust concealed; A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam; A body of England’s, breathing English air, Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home. And think, this heart, all evil shed away, A pulse in the eternal mind, no less Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given; Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day; And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness, In hearts at peace, under an English heaven. The Soldier. BY RUPERT BROOKE. Rest in peace, great uncle Lionel.
I went into the Hooge Crater cemetery and from ground level you can't see it at first and then when you get in it slopes down. I found it breathtaking to see so many graves spreading out downhill. I walked down to the bottom and it was so quiet just bees and butterflies getting at the flowers. My grandfather is buried at Vlamertinghe on the other side of Ypres. You can trace the sorry moral state of the UK right back to the two wars of the twentieth century. Us and the Germans lost so many good men thanks to the rotten scum that ran things from comfort at the back.
@@StevenUpton14-18 The loss was always far reaching my dad was born in 1914 and his father a volunteer was killed in 1917. My dad never knew his father and was brought up by his mother on a pittance war pension and school cleaning. My dad did firewatching in Clerkenwell in WW2 and helped make torpedoes among other things then he lost his mother when a V2 rocket landed in 1945. My mother didn't go with my grandmother that evening so she escaped although the house was damaged. Another man came home from work and found the house totally destroyed and his wife and three daughters gone. I reckon few people that live in the area now know or even care about what went on before. It's nice to see videos like yours keeping the history alive the people living in London now should think themselves very lucky.
In the last war cemetry shown at the end of this video, there are 20 graves in each row. There are 11 rows in each block and there are 23 blocks. That = 5,060 war graves from just one battle. The majority of them would have been under 25 years old. Why would anyone down arrow this video.
My wife's great uncle died in these woods and is buried at Sanctuary wood cemetary.... When we went to visit to pay our respects to where he and others had fallen, we were horrified to find that we had to pay to go into the woods,.... F*cking disgraceful and don't give me all that bollocks that the money is for the upkeep, that should be a honour for the sacrifice that they gave ... P.s your film is fantastic and you are very respectful
My grandfather fought at Ypres. Alexander Gordon McConnach. We have never been able to confirm where he fought and which unit he was with as all his records were lost in WW2 Bombings. He would never speak about the war other than small snippets. I just wish I'd had the sense to question him before he left us.
the soldiers called it Sanctuary Wood because they thought they could get some respite from the war there - initially the tree coverage provided a brief respite until artillery shelling turned it into a stumped forest - it was a misnomer - how fierce was the fighting ? - one tactic the Germans used was to either light a fire in the forest and burn them out or use flamethrowers - there is a famous heroic Last Stand account about the 5th Canadian Artillery Battery in Sanctuary Woods that kept firing point blank into attacking German infantry till the last shell and last man standing even though surrounded on all sides by Germans in the Battle of Mount Sorrell June 2-13 1916 - Sanctuary Woods was a blood bath offering no sanctuary at all
There's a great museum at Sanctuary Wood. Absolutley loads of equipment behing glass and an an amazing room full of slide viewers, with, I must add some photos of terrible injuries received by troops.
Can you show chateau woods and the modern location of the famous photo showing British solders walking on the duck boards? I think that was in this area?
Thank you for watching. Not sure when I will get back to this area, but Chateau wood is on the film, just. My next one will be Railway wood. Its already filmed, just need to edit it.
Great video. Been trying to understand better all the battles around Ypres, but difficult since I don't live on that continent and Bing and Google maps have their limitations. Your drone work and narration does wonders. Thank you!
Thankyou for your respectful video. The arial shots are very informative. I hope that you continue to produce such well researched material. Cheers from Australia.
Fantastic videos Steven! Anything on the 2nd battle of Marne? I lost a great uncle to artillery attack on Aug 6th 1918, he’s buried in Harponville cemetery and I’m planning on visiting soon. He was only 19.
Visited this area last November along with various other sites from WW1 around the Ypres area, well worth it. This video was a nice reminder of the time we spent, thank you.
Watching this made me curious about how much combat the Yepres area saw in WW2. The British fought a short successful delaying action here during the retreat to the channel in 1940 and it looks like they were pretty much bypassed in 1944. I can just imagine a Belgian farmer with his new house in both 40 and 44 hearing the guns get closer and saying, “anywhere but here, anywhere but here”.
This is all very interesting piece of my country’s Flemish history, beautifully filmed,and commented, but may I remind the British that this region is called Ieper,and not Yores. For an unknown reason picked,up in history, many Flemish (thus not French) places are misspelled, and gives the impression that in West Flanders, my fellow countrymen there speak French, which is not the case ! Just something I find, we have to respect the placenames as they are. Thank you for your understanding & greetings from.Antwerpen !
Very kind reaction Paul ! Also my respects to the fallen soldiers in that era. Every year we watch the remembrance service on BBC and the related programmes. My grandfather Karel De Bie (1893-1964) was also one of these tough soldiers who survived that nightmare ! Glad that you enjoy the region and it’s famous beers, i’m also a fan of the little unknown breweries, scattered among our little country. If you ever pass through Antwerpen, just blow the you tube-whistle. Is my English a bit o.k. ? Fine greetings 👍
I've noticed in some of your other videos that the land is still pockmarked from the shelling it took during the war (Vimy Ridge, for example). Is there a reason those areas remain scarred while others appear smoothed over?
Thank you for watching. Places of great importance to nations like Canada such as Vimy Ridge and Beaumont Hamel have created national memorial parks and preserved the area. Whilst the majority of the frontline has been recovered for agriculture. Areas designated and unrecoverable usually had trees planted on them and if you go into these Forests you will find the remains of trenches and bunkers.
@@trek520rider2 That is correct. After the war the French colour coded everywhere, red zone was too difficult to recover, so they planted forest, can’t remember the other colours but you get the idea.
So glad my ancestors emigrated from Britain to Australia in the 1880’s. The Europeans need to settle down and live peaceful lives but no they can’t, it’s on again
I wonder what it like for the locals to live on ground that saw so much suffering and chaos, you're constant surrounded by a scarred landscape and scattered human remains
Thank you for watching. Farmers call it 'The iron harvest.' They plough up tons of unexploded shells all the time. Bomb disposal vans have a full time job collecting them.
Thank you for watching. I would go to Verdun and Massiges. there is not a lot to see regarding WW2 other than Normandy. Because WW1 was mostly static there is a vast amount of places to visit.
I'm not sure any species capable of this will last very long. Nor do they deserve to. Like an addict past all redemption, humankind is bereft of reason or remorse. Complacent and wretched.
I would like to ask, all of my family are Scottish including myself and I recently found a relative, my great-grandfather's cousin. He was Lt John Mackay from Carloway and he served in the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry and I would like to ask whether that regiment was around these trenches. I've been to France and Flanders twice before and I am fascinated by the history of this war. If anyone could reply that would be great.
Thank you watching. To find out exactly when a particular person was at a location you can do a search on the Internet. You will need to know more than just that he was in the PPCLI. You will need to know which battalion. When someone was posted to a particular battalion they generally stayed with it for the duration.
@@StevenUpton14-18 Thank you very much. I do much research on different regiments that fought during the war, Royal Irish Rifles, Seaforth Highlanders, Royal Scots which all had new army battalions and multiple regular and territorial battalions. However and rather lucky for me I understand that the PPCLI was a regiment which contained one battalion as it was very unique in its formation as it only recruited men of high experience such as south Africa etc. Thanks I'll have a look through the war diaries for the regiment.
PPCLI was in the 7th brigade 3rd division CEF and pretty sure one of the first major battles they were involved in and as it didnt really go their way as the Canadians were still learning casualties were high.
Hello Steven, I would like to thank you for all the WW1 videos! I have thoroughly enjoyed them. I was in France and Belgium last year almost to the day! Great job ! My one question to you is where do you get your trench maps? Looking for Fromelles which I also enjoyed your video of that as it gave me a better understanding of that horrific battle. Looking forward to more of your videos/ Cheers Rob
Thank you for watching. I have some DVD's from Croonaert Research Series and Lines Man. I can download a trench map to mu iPad and then use Bluetooth GPS to see exactly where I am on a trance map.
@@StevenUpton14-18 oh really? I always thought they were made after the war for the museum. So there are probably bodies of soldiers under the ground where the visitors walk every day?
@@StevenUpton14-18 Who knows what else is still under the ground of these fields. For a lot of soldiers this will probably be their final resting place, because it's inpossible to find all the bodies of all the fallen.
@@pcgamez4ever14 About 50% of all those killed have no known graves. Look at the memorials to the missing. The List of British missing just for the Somme battle is 70,000 on one memorial.
