Hi guys, happy holidays from all of us. We're basically off till the first week of January, so we won't reply to any comment or so. But you will get your three episodes a week, don't worry. Cheers
Trench warfare itself was the thing of the past but trenches weren't. They still provided the troops an added chance of survival. For instance in the preparation of the defense in the Kursk salient in 1943, Voronezh front dug so many lines of trenches that their combined length is estimated to be the distance from Moscow to Madrid.
Yes, but there was a considerable difference in how they were implemented into the overall strategy. In general, trenches were not meant to stop the enemy on their own like in WW1, but to slow him down long enough for the mobile reserves to arrive. The simple fact was that as long as the attacker concentrated enough force for the attack, there was nothing the defender could really do to hold the trench for more than a few minutes. The Soviets tried to compensate for this at Kursk by making fortified strongpoints instead of trenches, but even then, when the German units managed to bring their firepower to bear, the strongpoints usually fell quite quickly.
The allies were likely looking for information to discredit Hitler at the time, whether it was just forged propoganda or actual information is difficult to tell.
Actually the use of trenches didn't disappear in WW2. Now, they weren't as major a figure of the Second World War as that war never degenerated into the long static war fighting that lead to the extensive use of trenches as seen in the First World War, but they didn't disappear... In fact if you look at specific instances where a force was defending an area where they were in a relatively small space, trenches were used. The best example would be the British and Australian troops at Tobruk after Rommel's first offensive in Africa in 1941. His troops advanced, but couldn't take the Libyan port city, and eventually he put the city under siege and tried to push on into Egypt. The British and Commonwealth forces there did dig trenches to defend the positions they held at Tobruk, and they held until relief arrived after Operation Crusader.
@@recondolaidy-slayer8468 - I never said I WAS there. But I CAN read and can follow various other sources. And they point to how entrenchment has always been a defensive tool, one that predates WWI and was used in certain circumstances AFTER World War I. Now, the way they were used in later years may not be as in depth as seen in WWI and they may not have been in the same exact manner as in WWI, but that doesn't mean entrenching and the use of trenches as a tool went away. And historical records and sources show that.
Daniel Abraham - The movie Regeneration delves into mental illness based on the poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen meeting in a recovery institution. Both Poets wrote about their experiences in the war. The movie is based on a trilogy of books written by Pat Barker.
Speaking of old trenches, here in CrossHill South Carolina we still have large trench networks in the woodland ontop of the tallest of hills. 150+ years ago there was no woods in the area until the lumber company bought it out. The trenches are 10 to 20 foot deep and in standard fort formations. Some just plane box and others with a Star Fort design. Their depth was most likely caused by wash out from hundred years of rain. Sadly no wooden structures remain from wear of the elements. But we still find room sized sink holes and musket balls in the larger Oaks that fall over.
During the war did any off the soldiers boobytrap the trenches when falling back? Or deliberately fall back so the enemy fell in to these boobytraps? Great work! Keep it up!
There is a movie (and book) by the name of Regeneration (and also known as Behind the Lines) about Siegfried Sassoon's time in a mental hospital during World War One, and it shows the different treatment of Officers and Enlisted Personnel with regard to mental illness. IIRC, one of the (fictional) characters had hysterical blindness. Several other real people also appear as characters within the movie, including Doctor Rivers and Wilfred Owen, another World War One Poet. Rupert Graves may have also made an appearance in the movie as well.
The americans stayed on in France, owing to fact that many of them only arrived in June of 1918. They stayed until 1919 and 1920 and filled the old trenches with dud shells, barbed wire and used demobbed tanks as earth movers to relevel the fields.
I know someone who lived in an area in france with trenches, who grew up there. They used to chill out there as teens and apparently the trenches were also used by homeless people. It was also a common thing for teens to beat up homeless people there - the person I know actually withnessed the murder of at least 1 homeless person that happened like that.
I heard in a show called “Letters from World War 1” that German soldiers and POWs were forced to work on farms, removing trenches and rebuilding cities for years after the war. Is it true?
last night I watched a documentary about the franklin expedition. something they said about canned food being sealed with lead and causing madness, got me thinking. how many of the old generals in the great war would have been exposed to lead and mercury early in their military careers?
Regarding shell shock, as late as WW II people didn't fully understand shell shock/PTSD and didn't think it was real. The most famous case of this was Patton slapping a soldier in the infirmary who was suffering from PTSD at the time. Patton didn't believe the soldier when he said he was suffering from nerves or shell shock and thought that he was just (at the least) a malinger or (at the worst) just a plain coward. I believe that it was this incident that cost him his command at the time and was why he had to sit out of Operation Overlord and the invasion of Normandy. Or, this might have been a later incident and resulted in him being fired as commander of the 3rd Army.
I live in Hyvinkää, Finland (50km north of Helsinki), and I've been wondering what are the foxholes and dugouts that are all over my neighborhood (it's a sandy ridge remnant of the ice age). It's well known that the German Baltic Division attacked the Reds along the Hanko-Hyvinkää railway line in 1918, and the dugouts are probably done either by the Germans or the defending Reds. I'd guess by the number of the foxholes that they are probably done by the Germans. So at least in Finland, the "trenches" are still there after 100 years. I actually tried to find details from the local library, but there are no mention of the foxholes or the detailed movement of the Baltic Division. I need to continue studying :)
Dear Indy and The Great War channel team. I love all the work you have been doing for the last few years and with the war in the final year I am going to miss you guys. Been following you since nearly the beginning and will keep following you long after the end. My question is this; With the war ending, do you plan on doing film reviews or even cross film reviews with other channels or by yourself? Much like you did with History Buffs on Lawrence of Arabia, great collaboration by the way! This could be something to do even after the war ends for fun and to show viewers some of the great films inspired by the great war like, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Lost Battalion, The Trench, and of course Lawrence of Arabia. Love all you do and keep up the great work!
Indy you have a picture of the German Tiger I Tank that is still at Bovington tank museum. Note a number of Austrian and Russian Generals were taken POW in the East General Kornilov in the Russian Army who you talk about was taken POW but escaped.
They had a very different view of officer pows in the great war and even more so in the Napoleonic wars,an officer just had to give his word that he wouldn't scarper and he could do as he pleased more or less as long as he stayed in the local town.There was a case of a British officer who did break his bond I believe and he went to Paris in the Napoleonic war and just mooched around Paris for a year ,if any locals or authorities asked who he was and what he was doing he just told them he was an American officer attached to the American embassy.
Hi indy and team. I was wondering why there were massive differences in amphibious assault tactics throughout the war. Such as the disastrous landing at Gallipoli, of which my great grandfather was involved, compared the great success of Operation Albion by the Germans just 2 years later. Can you explain the differences and why one succeeded and the other failed?
Regarding hysterical blindness and war, etc. (just a bit out of our timeline but), Lord Cornwallis claimed blindness at the surrender of Yorktown and he used this as an excuse for not attending the final ceremonies. Whether his claim was real or not, the stress of circumstances could indicate a case of hysterical blindness.
I feel more pity for those who survived the war with PTSD and other psychological traumas than for those who died or had physical injuries. The dead couldn't suffer and those physically injured were more likely to be treated as heroes and treated medically with some care. Psychological illness is fucked up on another level, worse still is to have lived through such horror and be shunned by society for the damage those experiences wrought. I'm no soldier and have no plans to be but I have fought mental illness (depression & anxiety) for over 12 years. It's hard enough dealing with that around caring, sympathetic friends. To suffer as such in a world that hates you for such a crippling illness is beyond anything any human should experience, even Hitler and Putin fall short of deserving such misery.
Indy. I can't figure out how to use that website you mentioned. So I will ask my question here. So the trenches mostly started as ditches, so what made the soldiers dig deeper and did trenches connect through out the entire front or were trenches mostly for a unit of troops. Don't know if this will make it to your show, but if it does, I'm playing the lottery.
Hi guys, I have a question. We hear about the Sturmtruppen, the Arditi and the Jagdkommados but did the British ever have a special forces element active during WW1? I read that some of the tactics used by the German Sturmtruppen were implemented by the regular British army during trench raids however as far as I am aware there was no specific group dedicated to using these tactics. Love the show. Three cheers for Indy!
Hi indy i have two question 1. It's common to hear the central power in ww1 was on food and supplies shortage but what about the allied power food and supplies especcialy in africa and asia because there were no in depth research were there any food shortage what about the situation on america forces 2. In ww1 the use of poison gas were common so its no surprise that the soil was contaminated so my question is in the post war,ww2 or the future were there any farmer who accidentaly discover the contaminated soil and plant crops there or there were soldier in ww2 accidently stumbling in contaminated trench and what was the common method to get treat the person who came in contact with the contaminated soil. Sorry if my question are long love the show
Raffy Aulia: It is my understanding that by the time the war ended, most, if not all, of the poison gases used earlier had either dissipated so extensively that it was no longer a danger, or had broken down into its component elements, and was not that poisonous. I'm not a chemist, but I believe that the half-life of the poison gases used during the war was only a matter of days or weeks, which means that within a month or two any gas used was no longer a factor. Remember, no one in their right mind would want to create, and use, a poison gas with any amount of linger time after use. Gas was sometimes used defensively but often it was used OFFENSIVELY. So for one side to create (and use) a poison gas with a long linger time and then use that gas on a section of the enemy front line such that it remained dangerous long after use meant that it would be unwise to send your OWN troops into that area. Also sometimes, especially in the early days, areas BEHIND your own lines would become contaminated with gas. IIRC, one of the first times the Germans tried to release poison gas the wind turned and it did not even reach the German Front Lines, but gassed huge areas BEHIND the German's own lines.
Raffy: I was talking specifically about poison gas, not high explosives. Even today (2018) there are people in France and Belgium being killed and wounded by high explosives from World War One. Duds were quite common during the war, and even gas shells occasionally were duds. Hence, if you stumbled across a World War One artillery shell filled with poison gas (the most common way to deliver poison gas) you could still be killed or seriously injured by said gas even today. HOWEVER, having said that, let me point out that you would have been killed or injured by gas which was JUST released upon the world, not something left over from the First World War. Yes, the gas HAD come from World War One, but it was contained and no danger, until the shell released said gas. It was the SHELL which was dangerous, not the contents held within. I know that this is confusing but remember I am talking about two VERY different things, the actual shell, and the gas held within.
In Battlefield 1 the're is a vehicle called the artillery truck. If you can, take a look at it, and tell, wat kind of artillery gun (or field gun) is in it.
Hi indy i am writing a book about soliders from every major nation in the war ok here is the question what happened to the black hand and Young Bosnia after the war love the show
William Sledge Young Bosnia stopped existing in 1914, after assasination of Franz Ferdinand, Black Hand stopped existing in 1917 in Thessaloniki, after a kangaroo court arranged by Serbian king Alexander who thought that Black Hand was too dangerous for his throne and faked assasination attempt on him so he can acusse Black Hand for that, and then the head of Black Hand, Dragutin Dimitrijevic Apis was executed, also two more members were executed, rest were put to jail up to 20 years, but all were released on parole in 1919.
Another exciting question for Out of the Trenches. I have read about a lot of tragic friendly fire incidents in WW2 (which I won't spoil because I am sure you will cover it in the next series) but I have not been able to find many references to friendly fire incidents in WW1, outside of soldiers being shelled by their own artillery, particularly during creeping barrages. Were there any unique or specific friendly fire incidents that didn't involve artillery?
For the first question about the trenches, I thought he was asking about not whether the trenches were used en masse like in WWI but if ever during the course of WWII there were ever battles fought in the same area as WWI trenches and if so did soldiers use them for cover while they were in combat.
I read a story about a soldier named john Robert fox. Hes a hero is there anything you can tell us about him and his service.? Did he accomplish any other great feats during the war?
Guessing it's different in other nations, but in the US, a General outranks a Major General From the bottom up, Brigadier General, Major General, Lieutenant General, General, and eventually, General of the Armies, though the last of these didn't appear till well after WW I.
Hi Indy and crew, first of all you have an amazing channel that awake in me a great interest in ww1. i have a question for OOTT: my great grandfather fought in the italian army during the war and i remember two stories, one that implies that he fought in the italian alps and other where he became a POW and was sent to a camp in a desert where the conditions of the prisioners were so harsh that they ended up eating their leather belts and/or boots because of the hunger. I assume he could been sent to north africa by i never heard of italians their in ww1, is it possible? greetings from Argentina
Heya there! I posted a question anonymously about how the war was financed but hasn't been published by the mods yet. Does it usually take awhile, or do the questions need a specific criteria? Also I hope that didn't read as passive aggressive, because I really didn't mean it that way. Keep up the great work!
I reckon that Tiger tank was the one captured in Tunisia- Tiger 131. I would guess that with that British truck to its left this was after it was brought to England to be tested and appraised. I think it is now one of the stars of The Tank Museum, Bovington. I seem to recall the man that captured it being reunited with it- he reckoned it still scared him more than a little! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_131
I personally think if they ran into any during 1940 that they would have been used as came upon and left as the battle moved. Somewhat like hasty foxholes they didn’t have to dig.
Wasn't Hitler a runner during the Great War? I had heard that he was either a company runner going from the from the front line trench to battalion HQ. If that were the case he would have been exposed to some pretty intense fire. It was one of those military occupations that would wear on your nerves. You just don't get use to being shot at sometimes from several direction. Yes a pretty dangerous occupation indeed.
1. Re trenches after the war. In the superb history book Tommy by the late Richard Holmes is the quote “ after the armistice Russian labourers came over in thousands, also Italians...”. to repair the land. (p. 23 ). 2. Officer POWs did not have to work, unlike the men who might be put to work, if lucky, on a farm, if unlucky , in a salt mine. The book Behind the Wire claimed that 10 % of enlisted British POWs died in captivity. One British officer POW wrote to the Kaiser requesting leave to see his dying mother in England. This was granted, the officer reached England, saw his mother and true to his word, subsequently returned to Germany. 3. I do not know by what disease process shell shock / PTSD would cause the marked neurological disturbance seen here and in the special episode on shell shock. I understand the disturbing footage from Craiglockheart Hospital shown in these episodes has been discredited to some degree but I have not found details on this.
Paul: While I am not going to disagree with the claim that 10% of Enlisted British PoW's died in captivity, I AM going to make the claim that they were not worked to death. After the British Defeat at the Battle of Kush (iirc) in the Persian Gulf, a large percentage of British PoW's DID die, but not from overwork but from simple mistreatment. They were in the desert and were given inadequate amounts of food and water, and so died in their thousands. Those captured in France were, in many cases, wounded either before, or shortly after (by Friendly Fire) being captured, and so may have died of their wounds.
Can you elaborate on any support that Austria-Hungary provided to the Ottoman Empire? In terms of material or some kind of expeditionary force. Thank you
Were ww1 tanks ever youse on sand and what were some pros and cons of tanks on sand vs mud and dirt and if not what would be the pro and cons with you knowledge of ww1 tanks
Psychology as a science was in its infancy 100 years ago so it is understandable that effective treatment was rare but cruelty is unfortunately a steady element in human history.
First, thnaks for your awesome videos. My question: Was is really unalterable that the Empire of Germany had to end so that a republic can be formed? as far as I know, the Kaiser had six sons, one of them must have become the knew emperor, just like it happens in ordinary monarchies like the United Kingdom or the scandinavian knigdoms. Germany was democratic like those countries. Since the reforms of october 1918, the german political system was more liberal and democratical. That Wilhelm II had to resign was the rigth choice, he was part of the problem, but one of is sons could have taken the crown and work together with the parliament to improve things after the war, maybe even prevent Hitler from gaining political power, because their would have been no german president with enormous power next to a Kaiser. As far as I know, the Entente did not force Germany to become a republic
Lol i posted this comment and i saw a video a couple of days later about this, it's gonna be a huge collab between a lot of channels or something, that's cool
I have a question that I should probably know the answer to but don't. I own an old ww1 bayonet and it seems to be pretty much a short sword were any used as such you hear about soldiers using make shift clubs and knives but that seems redundant if most soldiers had essentially a short sword with them.
Swords at the time were more ceremonial and for officers. The regular troops wouldn't have one as long ago regular soldiers having swords had been replaced by the bayonet on a rifle as a sort of 2 in one package. The swords some officers had were not for fighting, they were purely decorative and some even had engravings on them for the individual it was given to. Swords wouldn't have been much use in the trenches anyhow, as they would need large amounts of space to swing around, so woud get caught on the narrow trench walls while a club or spade can be swung upwards or downwards without need for room or skill or the expensive upkeep of a sword.
Blah b thank you. I never thought about blade thickness. I don't have a lot experience with historical melee weapons the bayonet I have is a 1918 American bayonet and it dose seem much thinner than most short swords of the same length I have seen.
Tanks didn't really last long enough to do much. Plus as the central powers didn't really have tanks, what would their scores be measured in? Plus, it takes a team of people to operate a tank, so no individual can be given full credit sadly
Boiled Potato Still being found today. Construction near old battle fields regularly digs up old shells, equipment, and bones. When I lived in Sicily, they were digging a trench to put in new water pipes. It was littered with bullets and shrapnel from WWII.
Indeed. Exactly the same in the British Army, but without the stars. In WW1 there were (ascending) Brigadier Generals, Major Generals, Lieutenant Generals, Generals and Field Marshals. Brigadier Generals were abolished after the war.
Pabmusic1; Actually the equivalent rank of Brigadier General continued after World War One, except that the rank title became simply Brigadier, without the additional General honorific.
Hi guys, happy holidays from all of us. We're basically off till the first week of January, so we won't reply to any comment or so. But you will get your three episodes a week, don't worry. Cheers
The Great War Merry Christmas to you.
The Great War indy, please, create a Channel on the napoleonic wars, please!
The Great War have a merry Christmas and happy new year
Merry Christmas everyone 🎅
Merry Christmas! I hope you will get your well deserved rest so we will be able to watch more of your great videos
“The war will be over by Christmas!”
“Which Christmas?”
“That is not in the contract Private, get back to your post!”
Toby Wood it’s 2 days until Christmas the war must be over by then, right?
Apparently Christmas 1918
I like the one from MASH,
General MacArthur said the war would be over by christmas.
He never said what year though.
“The war will be over by Christmas!”
“Which Christmas?”
"Yes!"
Trench warfare itself was the thing of the past but trenches weren't. They still provided the troops an added chance of survival. For instance in the preparation of the defense in the Kursk salient in 1943, Voronezh front dug so many lines of trenches that their combined length is estimated to be the distance from Moscow to Madrid.
Yes, but there was a considerable difference in how they were implemented into the overall strategy. In general, trenches were not meant to stop the enemy on their own like in WW1, but to slow him down long enough for the mobile reserves to arrive. The simple fact was that as long as the attacker concentrated enough force for the attack, there was nothing the defender could really do to hold the trench for more than a few minutes. The Soviets tried to compensate for this at Kursk by making fortified strongpoints instead of trenches, but even then, when the German units managed to bring their firepower to bear, the strongpoints usually fell quite quickly.
If indy dies i wanna blame austria and go to war... he would want this...
Divay Pratap why?
Divay Pratap Have you learned nothing from this channel?
indy is very very anti war and not afraif to let it be know.
Did.... did all of you replying miss the joke
Well arch duke Ferdinand was against war with Serbia but on his assassination Conrad pressured Austria to go into war with Serbia. So makes sense
How could two *american* psychologists in 43 know about Hitler's condition from 1918?
AndDiracisHisProphet Lucky Guess? I think. Que Team Merican Theme Song.
The allies were likely looking for information to discredit Hitler at the time, whether it was just forged propoganda or actual information is difficult to tell.
pardon?
*American
Actually the use of trenches didn't disappear in WW2. Now, they weren't as major a figure of the Second World War as that war never degenerated into the long static war fighting that lead to the extensive use of trenches as seen in the First World War, but they didn't disappear...
In fact if you look at specific instances where a force was defending an area where they were in a relatively small space, trenches were used. The best example would be the British and Australian troops at Tobruk after Rommel's first offensive in Africa in 1941. His troops advanced, but couldn't take the Libyan port city, and eventually he put the city under siege and tried to push on into Egypt. The British and Commonwealth forces there did dig trenches to defend the positions they held at Tobruk, and they held until relief arrived after Operation Crusader.
Oh so we should listen to you because you weren’t there, don’t even act like it.
@@recondolaidy-slayer8468 - I never said I WAS there. But I CAN read and can follow various other sources. And they point to how entrenchment has always been a defensive tool, one that predates WWI and was used in certain circumstances AFTER World War I.
Now, the way they were used in later years may not be as in depth as seen in WWI and they may not have been in the same exact manner as in WWI, but that doesn't mean entrenching and the use of trenches as a tool went away. And historical records and sources show that.
"These men were generally treated much better..."
I see what you did there. "Generally" treated much better? Hehe
I was disappointed he didn't say "major-generally".
Thanks for adding modern video clips from the trenches.
Daniel Abraham - The movie Regeneration delves into mental illness based on the poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen meeting in a recovery institution. Both Poets wrote about their experiences in the war. The movie is based on a trilogy of books written by Pat Barker.
"Generals were 'generally' treated better"
Nice, Indy
Speaking of old trenches, here in CrossHill South Carolina we still have large trench networks in the woodland ontop of the tallest of hills. 150+ years ago there was no woods in the area until the lumber company bought it out. The trenches are 10 to 20 foot deep and in standard fort formations. Some just plane box and others with a Star Fort design. Their depth was most likely caused by wash out from hundred years of rain. Sadly no wooden structures remain from wear of the elements. But we still find room sized sink holes and musket balls in the larger Oaks that fall over.
Merry Christmas indy and crew
I think the war will be over by Christmas this year
But we ain't gonna tell you which Xmas...
You guys are doing a GREAT job, we really appreciate it and your hard work! MERRY CHRISTMAS
During the war did any off the soldiers boobytrap the trenches when falling back? Or deliberately fall back so the enemy fell in to these boobytraps? Great work! Keep it up!
They certainly used boobytraps, especially during the retreat to the Hindenburg line
There is a movie (and book) by the name of Regeneration (and also known as Behind the Lines) about Siegfried Sassoon's time in a mental hospital during World War One, and it shows the different treatment of Officers and Enlisted Personnel with regard to mental illness. IIRC, one of the (fictional) characters had hysterical blindness. Several other real people also appear as characters within the movie, including Doctor Rivers and Wilfred Owen, another World War One Poet. Rupert Graves may have also made an appearance in the movie as well.
The americans stayed on in France, owing to fact that many of them only arrived in June of 1918. They stayed until 1919 and 1920 and filled the old trenches with dud shells, barbed wire and used demobbed tanks as earth movers to relevel the fields.
First, I claim this comment section in name of Habsburgs!
And because of General incompetence in Austro Hungarian Leadership it now belongs to the german high command
This actually now belongs to The Black Hand.
Unfortunately for you, this video, and all videos on this platform, are property of Ernie Gang
Mayor of Smashville nah its GUCCI GANG
I claim this comment section for the Empire of Thamriel
there is a great gallipoli exhibit at Te Papa museum in Wellington NewZealand, a lot of it has been done by Weta workshop
Weta? Aren't those giant crickets?
yes...but also the people who did the special effects for LotR
Oh. I see.
I wouldve loved playing in those abandoned trenches
Merry Christmas to all..
I know someone who lived in an area in france with trenches, who grew up there. They used to chill out there as teens and apparently the trenches were also used by homeless people. It was also a common thing for teens to beat up homeless people there - the person I know actually withnessed the murder of at least 1 homeless person that happened like that.
I heard in a show called “Letters from World War 1” that German soldiers and POWs were forced to work on farms, removing trenches and rebuilding cities for years after the war. Is it true?
A great n informative video. Great job.
Happy holidays Great War team
this guy has a strong vest game
Man the ancient Greeks had it way better when it came to Hysterical Blindness...
I Saw A Bear was looking for this comment
What do you mean?
"Tranches are no more" said Indy in 2017 - as we still have to fight people in irrigation tranches in Afghanistan in 2020...
Trenches*
And now in Ukraine. Ah, the more things change, the more they stay the same
I think he meant the use of WW1 style trench warfare, and specifically using those trenches
Love is blindness
Καπτεν Χαρλοκ Yep, a General Ambushed a Army when they tried to Ambush him while he had no eyes
last night I watched a documentary about the franklin expedition. something they said about canned food being sealed with lead and causing madness, got me thinking. how many of the old generals in the great war would have been exposed to lead and mercury early in their military careers?
I love your videos I really enjoy them and I am a ww1 fan as well
HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!
Regarding shell shock, as late as WW II people didn't fully understand shell shock/PTSD and didn't think it was real. The most famous case of this was Patton slapping a soldier in the infirmary who was suffering from PTSD at the time. Patton didn't believe the soldier when he said he was suffering from nerves or shell shock and thought that he was just (at the least) a malinger or (at the worst) just a plain coward. I believe that it was this incident that cost him his command at the time and was why he had to sit out of Operation Overlord and the invasion of Normandy. Or, this might have been a later incident and resulted in him being fired as commander of the 3rd Army.
I live in Hyvinkää, Finland (50km north of Helsinki), and I've been wondering what are the foxholes and dugouts that are all over my neighborhood (it's a sandy ridge remnant of the ice age). It's well known that the German Baltic Division attacked the Reds along the Hanko-Hyvinkää railway line in 1918, and the dugouts are probably done either by the Germans or the defending Reds. I'd guess by the number of the foxholes that they are probably done by the Germans. So at least in Finland, the "trenches" are still there after 100 years. I actually tried to find details from the local library, but there are no mention of the foxholes or the detailed movement of the Baltic Division. I need to continue studying :)
Dear Indy and The Great War channel team.
I love all the work you have been doing for the last few years and with the war in the final year I am going to miss you guys. Been following you since nearly the beginning and will keep following you long after the end.
My question is this; With the war ending, do you plan on doing film reviews or even cross film reviews with other channels or by yourself? Much like you did with History Buffs on Lawrence of Arabia, great collaboration by the way! This could be something to do even after the war ends for fun and to show viewers some of the great films inspired by the great war like, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Lost Battalion, The Trench, and of course Lawrence of Arabia.
Love all you do and keep up the great work!
Indy you have a picture of the German Tiger I Tank that is still at Bovington tank museum. Note a number of Austrian and Russian Generals were taken POW in the East General Kornilov in the Russian Army who you talk about was taken POW but escaped.
4:30 I knew it. But you don't find much on his blindess
Its often just said as Musdard gas
Things are going to get serious next year with the Spring Offensive and the Hundred Days Offensive!
They had a very different view of officer pows in the great war and even more so in the Napoleonic wars,an officer just had to give his word that he wouldn't scarper and he could do as he pleased more or less as long as he stayed in the local town.There was a case of a British officer who did break his bond I believe and he went to Paris in the Napoleonic war and just mooched around Paris for a year ,if any locals or authorities asked who he was and what he was doing he just told them he was an American officer attached to the American embassy.
Hi indy and team. I was wondering why there were massive differences in amphibious assault tactics throughout the war. Such as the disastrous landing at Gallipoli, of which my great grandfather was involved, compared the great success of Operation Albion by the Germans just 2 years later. Can you explain the differences and why one succeeded and the other failed?
Regarding hysterical blindness and war, etc. (just a bit out of our timeline but), Lord Cornwallis claimed blindness at the surrender of Yorktown and he used this as an excuse for not attending the final ceremonies. Whether his claim was real or not, the stress of circumstances could indicate a case of hysterical blindness.
Just finished writing 30 pages about the life in the trenches🔥🔥😉
Finally Christmas
I feel more pity for those who survived the war with PTSD and other psychological traumas than for those who died or had physical injuries. The dead couldn't suffer and those physically injured were more likely to be treated as heroes and treated medically with some care. Psychological illness is fucked up on another level, worse still is to have lived through such horror and be shunned by society for the damage those experiences wrought. I'm no soldier and have no plans to be but I have fought mental illness (depression & anxiety) for over 12 years. It's hard enough dealing with that around caring, sympathetic friends. To suffer as such in a world that hates you for such a crippling illness is beyond anything any human should experience, even Hitler and Putin fall short of deserving such misery.
Indy. I can't figure out how to use that website you mentioned. So I will ask my question here. So the trenches mostly started as ditches, so what made the soldiers dig deeper and did trenches connect through out the entire front or were trenches mostly for a unit of troops. Don't know if this will make it to your show, but if it does, I'm playing the lottery.
How far we fell 100 years later. Can you imagine taking a enemy officer prisoner and let him go out of POW camp on his word of honor?
Right on time! ;)
Hi guys, I have a question. We hear about the Sturmtruppen, the Arditi and the Jagdkommados but did the British ever have a special forces element active during WW1? I read that some of the tactics used by the German Sturmtruppen were implemented by the regular British army during trench raids however as far as I am aware there was no specific group dedicated to using these tactics. Love the show. Three cheers for Indy!
Hey Indy. Love your show, but will happen when the war is over?
Hi indy i have two question
1. It's common to hear the central power in ww1 was on food and supplies shortage but what about the allied power food and supplies especcialy in africa and asia because there were no in depth research were there any food shortage what about the situation on america forces
2. In ww1 the use of poison gas were common so its no surprise that the soil was contaminated so my question is in the post war,ww2 or the future were there any farmer who accidentaly discover the contaminated soil and plant crops there or there were soldier in ww2 accidently stumbling in contaminated trench and what was the common method to get treat the person who came in contact with the contaminated soil. Sorry if my question are long love the show
Raffy Aulia: It is my understanding that by the time the war ended, most, if not all, of the poison gases used earlier had either dissipated so extensively that it was no longer a danger, or had broken down into its component elements, and was not that poisonous. I'm not a chemist, but I believe that the half-life of the poison gases used during the war was only a matter of days or weeks, which means that within a month or two any gas used was no longer a factor. Remember, no one in their right mind would want to create, and use, a poison gas with any amount of linger time after use. Gas was sometimes used defensively but often it was used OFFENSIVELY. So for one side to create (and use) a poison gas with a long linger time and then use that gas on a section of the enemy front line such that it remained dangerous long after use meant that it would be unwise to send your OWN troops into that area. Also sometimes, especially in the early days, areas BEHIND your own lines would become contaminated with gas. IIRC, one of the first times the Germans tried to release poison gas the wind turned and it did not even reach the German Front Lines, but gassed huge areas BEHIND the German's own lines.
David Briggs oh. then what about the "dangerous" trench why it is dangerous is there any explosive left or someting
Raffy: I was talking specifically about poison gas, not high explosives. Even today (2018) there are people in France and Belgium being killed and wounded by high explosives from World War One. Duds were quite common during the war, and even gas shells occasionally were duds. Hence, if you stumbled across a World War One artillery shell filled with poison gas (the most common way to deliver poison gas) you could still be killed or seriously injured by said gas even today. HOWEVER, having said that, let me point out that you would have been killed or injured by gas which was JUST released upon the world, not something left over from the First World War. Yes, the gas HAD come from World War One, but it was contained and no danger, until the shell released said gas. It was the SHELL which was dangerous, not the contents held within. I know that this is confusing but remember I am talking about two VERY different things, the actual shell, and the gas held within.
David Briggs thank you for the information
In Battlefield 1 the're is a vehicle called the artillery truck. If you can, take a look at it, and tell, wat kind of artillery gun (or field gun) is in it.
Hi indy i am writing a book about soliders from every major nation in the war ok here is the question what happened to the black hand and Young Bosnia after the war love the show
Why is it, that everyone who says they're "writing a book", want someone else to do the research they themselves should be doing ??
Work on your spelling before you start thinking about a book.
William Sledge
Young Bosnia stopped existing in 1914, after assasination of Franz Ferdinand, Black Hand stopped existing in 1917 in Thessaloniki, after a kangaroo court arranged by Serbian king Alexander who thought that Black Hand was too dangerous for his throne and faked assasination attempt on him so he can acusse Black Hand for that, and then the head of Black Hand, Dragutin Dimitrijevic Apis was executed, also two more members were executed, rest were put to jail up to 20 years, but all were released on parole in 1919.
Hey Moe. .a wise guy. .
Another exciting question for Out of the Trenches. I have read about a lot of tragic friendly fire incidents in WW2 (which I won't spoil because I am sure you will cover it in the next series) but I have not been able to find many references to friendly fire incidents in WW1, outside of soldiers being shelled by their own artillery, particularly during creeping barrages. Were there any unique or specific friendly fire incidents that didn't involve artillery?
For the first question about the trenches, I thought he was asking about not whether the trenches were used en masse like in WWI but if ever during the course of WWII there were ever battles fought in the same area as WWI trenches and if so did soldiers use them for cover while they were in combat.
Take care
happy festivus
happy sol invictus
Nightspawn Son-of-luna Who did the feats of strength at your house this year?
I read a story about a soldier named john Robert fox. Hes a hero is there anything you can tell us about him and his service.? Did he accomplish any other great feats during the war?
Talking about officers POW in castles, isn't it time for a special on De Gaule ?
The psychologist that treated Hitler? Albert Einstein
@Troy Staunton Albert Einstein got the idea for nukeclear bombs dropping nukes on Hitler's mental health
Guessing it's different in other nations, but in the US, a General outranks a Major General From the bottom up, Brigadier General, Major General, Lieutenant General, General, and eventually, General of the Armies, though the last of these didn't appear till well after WW I.
Hi Indy and crew, first of all you have an amazing channel that awake in me a great interest in ww1. i have a question for OOTT: my great grandfather fought in the italian army during the war and i remember two stories, one that implies that he fought in the italian alps and other where he became a POW and was sent to a camp in a desert where the conditions of the prisioners were so harsh that they ended up eating their leather belts and/or boots because of the hunger. I assume he could been sent to north africa by i never heard of italians their in ww1, is it possible? greetings from Argentina
Was the british naval blockade illegal under international law?
Heya there! I posted a question anonymously about how the war was financed but hasn't been published by the mods yet. Does it usually take awhile, or do the questions need a specific criteria? Also I hope that didn't read as passive aggressive, because I really didn't mean it that way. Keep up the great work!
Why no longer subtitles in Spanish? I speak in Spanish, I love this channel and I would like to be able to understand the data that are mentioned
I reckon that Tiger tank was the one captured in Tunisia- Tiger 131. I would guess that with that British truck to its left this was after it was brought to England to be tested and appraised. I think it is now one of the stars of The Tank Museum, Bovington. I seem to recall the man that captured it being reunited with it- he reckoned it still scared him more than a little! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_131
I personally think if they ran into any during 1940 that they would have been used as came upon and left as the battle moved. Somewhat like hasty foxholes they didn’t have to dig.
Wasn't Hitler a runner during the Great War? I had heard that he was either a company runner going from the from the front line trench to battalion HQ. If that were the case he would have been exposed to some pretty intense fire. It was one of those military occupations that would wear on your nerves. You just don't get use to being shot at sometimes from several direction. Yes a pretty dangerous occupation indeed.
1. Re trenches after the war. In the superb history book Tommy by the late Richard Holmes is the quote “ after the armistice Russian labourers came over in thousands, also Italians...”. to repair the land. (p. 23 ).
2. Officer POWs did not have to work, unlike the men who might be put to work, if lucky, on a farm, if unlucky , in a salt mine. The book Behind the Wire claimed that 10 % of enlisted British POWs died in captivity.
One British officer POW wrote to the Kaiser requesting leave to see his dying mother in England. This was granted, the officer reached England, saw his mother and true to his word, subsequently returned to Germany.
3. I do not know by what disease process shell shock / PTSD would cause the marked neurological disturbance seen here and in the special episode on shell shock. I understand the disturbing footage from Craiglockheart Hospital shown in these episodes has been discredited to some degree but I have not found details on this.
Paul: While I am not going to disagree with the claim that 10% of Enlisted British PoW's died in captivity, I AM going to make the claim that they were not worked to death. After the British Defeat at the Battle of Kush (iirc) in the Persian Gulf, a large percentage of British PoW's DID die, but not from overwork but from simple mistreatment. They were in the desert and were given inadequate amounts of food and water, and so died in their thousands. Those captured in France were, in many cases, wounded either before, or shortly after (by Friendly Fire) being captured, and so may have died of their wounds.
These men were "Generally" treated much better. ;)
Is there enough information to do a special on the US Navy?
The rank of General is higher than the Rank of Lieutenant General, Major General or Brigadier General
I’m not sure if it already exists, but can you do a who did what in WW1 on general Patton?
Shock therapy is still in use today and is extremely effective.
Indy is sitting side saddle in the chair. Did it pop a spring or did you just get back from the proctologists.
Indiana Neidell You do need a break.
Can you elaborate on any support that Austria-Hungary provided to the Ottoman Empire? In terms of material or some kind of expeditionary force. Thank you
Both the Winter War and the Continuation War saw a lot of trench warfare, so it was completely out of style in WW2.
Both gulf wars had trenches.
I want the chair of wisdom. Looks so comfortable. 11 here
O hey, didn't see you there!
I wonder how many of those gray vests and white shirts he owns?
He gets dressed by one of the team members
most of the trenches were filled by the Chinese labour force that were in France in 1914 to 1919
Can you do the battle of Cer (first allied vicrory in ww1)?
i want to know kaiser willhelms reaction in 1940
Indy you think soldiers played dead during trench assaults in no mans land?
Were ww1 tanks ever youse on sand and what were some pros and cons of tanks on sand vs mud and dirt and if not what would be the pro and cons with you knowledge of ww1 tanks
I wonder if the trenches ended up becoming rivers in some places
Psychology as a science was in its infancy 100 years ago so it is understandable that effective treatment was rare but cruelty is unfortunately a steady element in human history.
First, thnaks for your awesome videos.
My question: Was is really unalterable that the Empire of Germany had to end so that a republic can be formed? as far as I know, the Kaiser had six sons, one of them must have become the knew emperor, just like it happens in ordinary monarchies like the United Kingdom or the scandinavian knigdoms. Germany was democratic like those countries. Since the reforms of october 1918, the german political system was more liberal and democratical. That Wilhelm II had to resign was the rigth choice, he was part of the problem, but one of is sons could have taken the crown and work together with the parliament to improve things after the war, maybe even prevent Hitler from gaining political power, because their would have been no german president with enormous power next to a Kaiser. As far as I know, the Entente did not force Germany to become a republic
Will this channel come back when WW2 turns 100 years old? of course if there's still youtube around
They're already spoken on that on their website.
Lol i posted this comment and i saw a video a couple of days later about this, it's gonna be a huge collab between a lot of channels or something, that's cool
They had some trench war-fair doing WWII.
I have a question that I should probably know the answer to but don't. I own an old ww1 bayonet and it seems to be pretty much a short sword were any used as such you hear about soldiers using make shift clubs and knives but that seems redundant if most soldiers had essentially a short sword with them.
Damien Whisenant I’m pretty sure sword were for officers
Swords at the time were more ceremonial and for officers. The regular troops wouldn't have one as long ago regular soldiers having swords had been replaced by the bayonet on a rifle as a sort of 2 in one package. The swords some officers had were not for fighting, they were purely decorative and some even had engravings on them for the individual it was given to. Swords wouldn't have been much use in the trenches anyhow, as they would need large amounts of space to swing around, so woud get caught on the narrow trench walls while a club or spade can be swung upwards or downwards without need for room or skill or the expensive upkeep of a sword.
Blah b thank you. I never thought about blade thickness. I don't have a lot experience with historical melee weapons the bayonet I have is a 1918 American bayonet and it dose seem much thinner than most short swords of the same length I have seen.
OH YEAH
Woah!
ooh! ooh!c what about tank aces? :D
Tanks didn't really last long enough to do much. Plus as the central powers didn't really have tanks, what would their scores be measured in? Plus, it takes a team of people to operate a tank, so no individual can be given full credit sadly
awwwwww :(
I can't wait for 2039 so you can do WW2 100 years later.
Were opposing sides aware of the way the enemy treated POWs at camps or not ?
considering that prisoner exchanges where a thing i'd say it's likely they did.
Daniel Abraham of James S.A. Corey and The Expanse fame?
What about all those dead bodies, vehicles on the field, etc. Did nature consume them or...
Boiled Potato Still being found today. Construction near old battle fields regularly digs up old shells, equipment, and bones.
When I lived in Sicily, they were digging a trench to put in new water pipes. It was littered with bullets and shrapnel from WWII.
Here in Germany we still regulary find WW2 bombs in the cities
Of course you didnt see us, because we didnt use webcam, thanks to NSA:)))))
You are aware that a 'normal' general (4 star) out-ranks a major general (2 star) aren't you?
I think he meant "major general" more as "an important general" and not necessarily referring to rank.
“General” can be used as a blanket statement for all general ranks. Same goes for lieutenant.
Which bit of "And do you know if any even HIGHER ranking POWs than justh [sic] normal generals (maybe even major generals)?" is so hard to understand?
Indeed. Exactly the same in the British Army, but without the stars. In WW1 there were (ascending) Brigadier Generals, Major Generals, Lieutenant Generals, Generals and Field Marshals. Brigadier Generals were abolished after the war.
Pabmusic1; Actually the equivalent rank of Brigadier General continued after World War One, except that the rank title became simply Brigadier, without the additional General honorific.
Christmas 1918
BANANA.