Longest surviving "top" ace? Probably *Donald McLaren* of Canada who lived until 1988 and died aged 95. He had 54 victories and was the 10th most successful pilot in the war - the third most successful Canadian ace after William Bishop (72) and Raymond Collishaw (60) . The last "regular ace" of WWI was *Cecil Lewis* , the British ace with 8 victories (5 needed for ace status). He died 27 January 1997 aged 99. The longest surviving WWI pilot who saw service and action was Henry Botterrell. Born November 7, 1896 he lived until January 3, 2003 and died aged 106. Yes, he was born in the 19th century and died in the 21st century meaning he lived during three different centuries.
I believe the last surviving Pour le Merite (Blue Max) winner on the German side was Josef Jacobs, who passed away on 29 July 1978 at age 84. Josef Jacobs on most ace lists, is listed as having 41 kills, but it had been long believed, and recent research has shown that Jacobs had 48 confirmed victories, the same as Werner Voss. There had always been the letter Jacobs received from the German high command congratulating him for his 48 victories. Jacobs received the letter in early November at a gathering of top German aces (plenty of photos exist). But his squadrons records in the last weeks were missing. Research has confirmed his last 7 kills, for 48 overall. Josef Jacobs was also the highest scoring triplane ace, with 31 kills coming while flying the triplane. He continued flying the triplane 'til the end of the war, even after the rest of his Jasta 7 switched over to the Fokker D.VII
The top fighter pilot by number of victories to survive the war was the Entente ace of aces, the French ace Rene Fonck with 75 victories, second only to the German Richthofen overall. He went on to become the inspector general of the French Air Force before WW2.
Potentially second, possibly first. Richtofen has very few unconfirmed kills as he fought mostly in squadron, while Fonck, who often went hunting alone behind enemy lines, has around 50...
@@canicheenrage Note that the French had the same strict kill counting that the German as they required at least 2 witness on the ground of the crah to be counted, so a kill would not be counted if the plane crashed behind enemy lines. Thought as most Aerial fighting happened behind or over German lines, it is mostly admit that the German had less problem of unconfirmed kill than the French did. Comonwealth pilots on the other hand were talken on their word alone to count their kill.
Aristeidis Moraitinis, the only Greek ace (9 victories, also the aviator who carried out the first naval-air operation in history) survived the war to crush on Mount Olympus (December 22, 1918), due to bad weather.
You forgot René Fonck and Charles Nungesser in your surviving aces list : French aces, 75 victories out of 142 claims for Fonck (titled "all-time Allied Ace of Aces") and 43 victories for Nungesser. Fonck : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Fonck Nungesser : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Nungesser They both have an interesting Story and are worth to be mentionned someday.
Yes indeed, how could they miss the highest surviving ace and highest ranking ace of the entente - also Madon, Collishaw and Bishop should not be left out, but how could they forget Fonck?
The collaboration part with Petain was a myth, as far as I know. Rumours were spread about him recruiting pilots for the Luftwaffe and he escaped Vichy only to be arrested by the Gestapo and placed in an internment camp. An inquiry after the war exonerated him and he was awarded some medal for Resistance (I think).
I'm surprised Indy neglected to mention French ace Rene Fonck. With 75 kills, he was not only the highest scoring french ace, but he was the highest scoring pilot to survive the war from any nation.
Navies where also known for their "Rum Ration" during this time period. The US Navy no longer servers alcohol on board ship but It is a common saying that "the ship can not get underway with out coffee". Wondering if this saying used to be applied to Rum?
Lothar von Richthofen, Manfreds younger brother would be an candidate for the list, too. 40 victories from march 1917 till the end of the war. Managed to survive and to die in a plane crash in 1922.
Roger Casement played a role in exposing the gross exploitation of the Congo, owned by Leopold king of the Belgians. King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild is an excellent account of this story.
Interesting factoid about Rickenbacker: he was adrift at sea for 24 days in WWII before being rescued. He'd been on board a B-17 that ran out of fuel after it got lost due to faulty navigation equipment.
Its really a shame how fast the American school system blows over WW1, it's such an interesting topic that really affects us greatly even though it happened over a hundred years ago..
For the second question, I would like to add the U.S Air Force has a base named after Eddie Rickenbacker just south of Columbus Ohio. It's named The Rickenbacker International Airport, and it's used for civilian and military use now, but was used first used by the U.S Air Force and was named with atonement for Rickenbacker.
Shalom Indy and crew. Here in the Israeli Defence Forces we usually learn alot about the Jewish statistics in the 2nd World War. Can you please explain the role of Jewish Officers on both sides of the conflict and if there were any Jewish senior/high ranking officers? Keep up the Great Wark
AFAIK the German Imperial Army did not had Jewish officers in their higher ranks. There where some officers up to the rank as major(?) but I heard there ranks where restricted to 'officer of reserve' preventing them from making a career after the war. Some interesting figures Jewish Germans in the WW I where: Walther Rathenau organizing the economy during the war time. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walther_Rathenau Wilhelm Frankl fighter ace: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Frankl Fritz Beckhardt fighter ace flying under Göring with a swastika as personal talisman: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Frankl (srry.: German only) Or a man like Leutnant Hugo Gutmann who approved Adolf Hitler for the Iron Cross.
I served with a number of alcoholics in the navy. It's scary to be working around dangerous machinery in enclosed spaces with those people. Dangerous when drunk and useless self pitying wrecks when sober; always self destructive. After a few days at sea they'd try things like boiling shoe polish in order to make something remotely alcoholic. I've had to stand watches over people puking blood because they'd dissolved the lining of their stomachs by drinking medicinal alcohol. Mostly I remember the stink. Alcoholics constantly sweat a rancid stench; even after days of not drinking. Drug addicts are bad too, snorting obviously poisonous substances in the hopes of a high, but they generally don't have that stink.
Finding that sweet spot where the rum would take the edge of the fear off but still enabling a soldier to function as well as possible was probably a science. The Germans rationed out schnapps quite liberally in WW2 as well.
I am trying to imagine a German army without snapps and a Russian army without vodka. They might survive, but won't have proper morale. There is no point in having an army that feels short changed and consequently have bad morale and resentment.
About alcohol, a french survivor mentionned how him and his comrades used to not drink the assault ration before going over the top, as dishinibated soldiers would have their reflexes eroded, and often be too slow when advancing from cover to cover, or even make stupid decisions, like standing and taking aim at an entrenched machine-gun instead of dropping to prone and crawling to grenade range.
canicheenrage that happened without alcohol too. French infantry tactics were poor and most replacements on both sides were making poor decisions simply because they knew no better.
Poor tactics? Early on sure, but not at the end of the war, though. What I've read on infantry tactics of the french army (and nearly every late-war participant) is that it was very effective at the squad level, with a combination of "short hops", covering fire from Chauchat LMGs and rifle grenades to assault a position. After years of bloody trial and error, there must have been improvements. But your point about new recruits making (often deadly) beginners' mistakes in their first engagement still stands of course.
Oft overlooked Canadian ace Raymond Collishaw (60 victories) survived the war as well. There are some historians (Canadian of course) who believe that he may have been the actual ace of aces of the war. He often took rookies up to bag their first enemy and gave them credit for one of his own scores. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Collishaw
The Senate of Canada looked into Billy Bishop's record and confirmed his score. Political? You betcha. Frederick Libby, the first American ace, called Bishop a liar. His favorite fighter pilot was Albert Ball whom he knew and flew with. Collishaw stayed with the RAF and rose to the rank of Air Vice Marshal during WW2. He commanded the RAF in Egypt when things were dicey.
as a child in Miami ,Eddie rickenbaker was president of eastern airline. My dad took me to north perry airport (grass field ) and I got to fly in a two winged airplane. Now for the rest of the story , the pilot was Eddie Rickenbaker.
Hi! In a recent episode of WW1 I I watched, you said that England had purchased some number of tons ( 500000? ) of wheat. However by that point ( 1916) Bulgaria already invaded Serbia, so Romania was surrounded by central powers on all sides, except Russia, and the Bosporus channel was controlled by the Ottoman Empire and was mined. So my question is, how did all that grain get to England? I also have a second part to this theme. How did various countries get their food and material shortages replenished in logistics terms, if the opposing factions made deals? Thank you for sharing your excellent breadth of knowledge with us! Your channel is the best thing that happened to history classes :)
A common British war measure, starting off, was reducing the alcohol strength of liquor by 50% or so and also boosting taxes on it. Needless to say, once the war was at an end, "the emergency war pricing" was never rescinded by many governments in many countries.
Regarding Breweries in France, as all the copper was used to make bullets and shells, most of little breweries and many of big ones was dismounted and molded. @thegreatwar may you consult history of Kronenbourg brewery or Champigneulle one
The recruits to the Irish Brigade had a very colourful end to the war. Following the dissolution of the Brigade many recruits were redistributed to German units, notably Bavarian units (mainly Catholics). For instance a certain Michael Keogh fought for the British in 1914, was captured then joined the Irish Brigade, he ended up fighting in the 1918 Spring Offensives and the Freikorps post war. By the end he had been decorated by the armies of Great Britain, Imperial Germany and in the 1920's the Irish Free State.
The most lasting effect the war had on alcohol production in Britain was that due to increasing grain prices the breweries started to brew thinner ales, before the war the average bitter or mild ales had up to 7 percent alcohol, this was reduced in the war to about 3-4 percent. After it, the average alcohol content rose a bit again but never to pre war levels.
Poison gas was originally a byproduct of the chemical dye production process and Germany had the leading industry in this field, prior to the war. This made the development of the weapon easy for the Germans.
Intrestingly enough, the German "Reiheitsgebot", originaly was introduced in 1516 to, among other things, ensure that brewing Beer would'nt have so much an effect on the Food Situation (which was quite bad in the Medival times). It orignaly only allowed Hop, Barley and Water for the Brewing of Beer. Later the law was changed an it was for example alowed to put Laurel (since 1551) and Juniper (since 1616) into it. But the law never was expanded to allow any more grains, apart from Yeast. This means that German breweries could not use important nutritional grains like Wheat, Rye or Spelt- which also could be used to make Bread.
A couple of years ago some amendments were made to the alcohol laws in NZ which could have made it illegal for RSAs (Returned Servicemen Associations) to serve alcohol following ANZAC Day services. Needless to say this caused some degree of angst due to a shot of rum being traditionally drunk following a service. An exception was carved out in the law for RSAs.
How often did soldiers use drugs in the front back then? I know that in times of the first world war drugs like cocaine and heroin were used to help ease pain or for other tips of illness but what about addiction?
Hi Indy and Great War Team! I am just curious, at 1:24 you used a picture of British Propoganda. Is it from the series of books that were titled “The Standard History of the All European Conflict?” I ask because my grandfather passed some years ago and when going through what my dad had taken back 3 years ago, I found a set of them and have been fascinated since. Just curious given I’ve been struggling to find information on them!
denell fowler If your criteria is the number of enemy tanks destroyed, probably not, as the Germans had only 20 tanks in total. Not enough targets to make a score.
That's only the number of tanks Germany produced. Most of Germany's tanks were Allied tanks that they had captured. It's like saying the US didn't use tanks in World War One because they didn't develop their own tanks until after the war.
I'm guessing moral at the front would have ben even worse without alcohol. It would be interesting to know more about the issue of moonshine both at the front and back home.
Hello indy and crew, I was doing research and I stumbled across a little section talking about an electric fence that was set up on the belgium Netherlands border. I would like to know what this did to further anti german sentiment in other countries and what it did to the citizens. Thank you, love the show.
After the construction of the fence the anti german sentiment in the Netherlands grew. But the fence was build to stop soldiers fleeing the battlefield to the Netherlands. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_of_Death
pretty sure there's be a special for this but i'll give it shot for OotT: how did car manufacturers benefit from the war? did the war help designs for future cars? i would say "great show" but you already know about that ;)
Grog (in some form) has been a staple in armies for centuries. Drink was the only way a lot of them could deal with the horrors of war. Which have been ongoing since humans invented it. Seeing someone blown up by a shell or cut in half by a Kopis in the hands of Alexandar's cavalry are both horrible, only one is somewhat more impersonal and random.
Hey Indy and the Knowledge Regiment,can you guys cover on the next OOTT episode on the recorded Filipino soldier who fought in World War 1? I read about it recently,a young boy,died aged 18 on the Western Front fighting for the U.S.A. Even had a airfield named after him back in his country.
The pubs in Carlisle where nationalised in WW1, they where only denationalised in the early 1970s. There is a fascinating exhibit in the Carlisle museum.( The area made high explosives) David Lloyd George represented a Welsh speaking non conformist constituency that strongly disaproved of alcohol. In fact the first Act of Parliament to deal solely with Wales was the 1881 Sunday pub closing Act (Wales). Methinks Lloyd George was speaking to the converted, and cementing his base.
My Great Grandfather flew in WW1. He was an American that flew for the French. He died the same way Brumowski did, while teaching a student to fly the student flew into a tree killing them both. I of course was never able to meet him.
Great War Saturday in front of the Christmas Tree with fluffy snow outside, toast with Irish Butter and hot Italian Roast coffee made with filtered water in a French Press. It doesn't get better than this!
I sure like these videos, I hope that you keep on doing them. I just subscribed you and I do some history on my shows. I have a talk show on TH-cam and Facebook every Sunday and every other weekend my dad an I do paranormal live on Facebook and we have a history guy.
I've got a couple of questions for out of the trenches, Do you know of any person from South Carolina USA that was highly decorated? Also do you know how PTSD was treated during the Great War?
DANIEL AUGUSTUS JOSEPH SULLIVAN (Us Naval Reserve) from South Carolina was awarded the Medal of Honor for saving his shipmates when depth charges got loose and he threw his body on them before they could explode. As was FREDDIE STOWERS who led a charge of his company into withering machine gun fire after the Germans who were going to surrender jumped back in their trenches and began firing. Stowers continued to lead past the first trench line before being hit and then urged his men on after he could no longer do so. Stowers died on the field.
I'd love to see a picture of Churchill's face when he was asked to take the sobriety pledge 😂😂😂
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Considering you profile pic😂
Longest surviving "top" ace? Probably *Donald McLaren* of Canada who lived until 1988 and died aged 95. He had 54 victories and was the 10th most successful pilot in the war - the third most successful Canadian ace after William Bishop (72) and Raymond Collishaw (60) .
The last "regular ace" of WWI was *Cecil Lewis* , the British ace with 8 victories (5 needed for ace status). He died 27 January 1997 aged 99.
The longest surviving WWI pilot who saw service and action was Henry Botterrell. Born November 7, 1896 he lived until January 3, 2003 and died aged 106.
Yes, he was born in the 19th century and died in the 21st century meaning he lived during three different centuries.
That's amazing that he lived through the entire 20th century! The way he saw things change and advance must have been a trip.
I believe the last surviving Pour le Merite (Blue Max) winner on the German side was Josef Jacobs, who passed away on 29 July 1978 at age 84.
Josef Jacobs on most ace lists, is listed as having 41 kills, but it had been long believed, and recent research has shown that Jacobs had 48 confirmed victories, the same as Werner Voss. There had always been the letter Jacobs received from the German high command congratulating him for his 48 victories. Jacobs received the letter in early November at a gathering of top German aces (plenty of photos exist). But his squadrons records in the last weeks were missing.
Research has confirmed his last 7 kills, for 48 overall.
Josef Jacobs was also the highest scoring triplane ace, with 31 kills coming while flying the triplane. He continued flying the triplane 'til the end of the war, even after the rest of his Jasta 7 switched over to the Fokker D.VII
The chair of wisdom
I love that chair
Is the best channel on TH-cam ever?
- Yes it is.
I never get tired of Indy's thorough well researched explanations. Always interesting, and educational.
Rip Roger Casement. Congo wont forget you.
The loss of Oktoberfest was perhaps the greatest casualty of the First World War.
The top fighter pilot by number of victories to survive the war was the Entente ace of aces, the French ace Rene Fonck with 75 victories, second only to the German Richthofen overall. He went on to become the inspector general of the French Air Force before WW2.
Potentially second, possibly first. Richtofen has very few unconfirmed kills as he fought mostly in squadron, while Fonck, who often went hunting alone behind enemy lines, has around 50...
@@canicheenrage Note that the French had the same strict kill counting that the German as they required at least 2 witness on the ground of the crah to be counted, so a kill would not be counted if the plane crashed behind enemy lines.
Thought as most Aerial fighting happened behind or over German lines, it is mostly admit that the German had less problem of unconfirmed kill than the French did.
Comonwealth pilots on the other hand were talken on their word alone to count their kill.
Aristeidis Moraitinis, the only Greek ace (9 victories, also the aviator who carried out the first naval-air operation in history) survived the war to crush on Mount Olympus (December 22, 1918), due to bad weather.
V. Athanasiou yee
I thought mount Olympus was on mars hahaha
ander azkuna yea i think its the biggest volcano in the world
I think it's called Olympus Mons, mt Olympus is in Greece, it's where the ancient Greeks believed the gods lived...
a fitting end for a greek
That lethal comma
Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Why'd you have to go and get that ostrich killed?
because he got Hungry.
Grammar is a dangerous arcane science. Especially with people looking for loopholes.
When students are in doubt as to the importance of grammar, tell this story.
Gottfried von Banfield, the flying ace of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, did not only survive WWI but also WWII. He died in 1986 at the age of 96!
About the fighter pilot question. Indy didn't fully answer it. Wasn't the highest scoring surviving ace of WW1 René Fonck?
Yes, he was.
It's important to watch your videos. For I would never know any of these facts if I did not watch them. Thank you for making and sharing.
You forgot René Fonck and Charles Nungesser in your surviving aces list :
French aces, 75 victories out of 142 claims for Fonck (titled "all-time Allied Ace of Aces") and 43 victories for Nungesser.
Fonck : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Fonck Nungesser : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Nungesser
They both have an interesting Story and are worth to be mentionned someday.
oOkenzoOo kind of odd there was no mention of them ...
Yes indeed, how could they miss the highest surviving ace and highest ranking ace of the entente - also Madon, Collishaw and Bishop should not be left out, but how could they forget Fonck?
I recently found out that you do gigs with bands. Can you play a rock version of “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” to finish this series?
jawohl, Herr Kapitänleutnant! (Das Boot reference here)
*Schneller!*
Alaaaaaarm!!! (you can make a fine drinking game of that movie with just that word alone, haha).
nein bitte,i hate ze Tipperary song !
The Great Brew
Teutonic Bohemian the brew to end all brews
Is it still worth it to open a website now? I mean, the war will be over by christmas, right?
I thought that you were going to speak about René Fonck who survived the war and became a collaborator with Pétain during WW2.
The collaboration part with Petain was a myth, as far as I know. Rumours were spread about him recruiting pilots for the Luftwaffe and he escaped Vichy only to be arrested by the Gestapo and placed in an internment camp. An inquiry after the war exonerated him and he was awarded some medal for Resistance (I think).
I'm surprised Indy neglected to mention French ace Rene Fonck. With 75 kills, he was not only the highest scoring french ace, but he was the highest scoring pilot to survive the war from any nation.
Navies where also known for their "Rum Ration" during this time period. The US Navy no longer servers alcohol on board ship but It is a common saying that "the ship can not get underway with out coffee". Wondering if this saying used to be applied to Rum?
Ernst Udet had an interesting and adventurous life. It'd be interesting to see a special on him.
Lothar von Richthofen, Manfreds younger brother would be an candidate for the list, too. 40 victories from march 1917 till the end of the war. Managed to survive and to die in a plane crash in 1922.
Roger Casement played a role in exposing the gross exploitation of the Congo, owned by Leopold king of the Belgians. King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild is an excellent account of this story.
*War. War never changes.*
*War. War HAS Changed*
2 constracting ideologies
You're alive??
*Or. Does it?*
patrick Katalenas, People always died, but now a lot of citizens die too.
Interesting factoid about Rickenbacker: he was adrift at sea for 24 days in WWII before being rescued. He'd been on board a B-17 that ran out of fuel after it got lost due to faulty navigation equipment.
Its really a shame how fast the American school system blows over WW1, it's such an interesting topic that really affects us greatly even though it happened over a hundred years ago..
Excellent job on the brewing question. Thank you.
For the second question, I would like to add the U.S Air Force has a base named after Eddie Rickenbacker just south of Columbus Ohio. It's named The Rickenbacker International Airport, and it's used for civilian and military use now, but was used first used by the U.S Air Force and was named with atonement for Rickenbacker.
Shalom Indy and crew. Here in the Israeli Defence Forces we usually learn alot about the Jewish statistics in the 2nd World War. Can you please explain the role of Jewish Officers on both sides of the conflict and if there were any Jewish senior/high ranking officers? Keep up the Great Wark
They generally avoid talking about things after ww1 if you cannot relate them to WW1 somehow.
You must have heard of General Sir John Monash? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Monash
AFAIK the German Imperial Army did not had Jewish officers in their higher ranks. There where some officers up to the rank as major(?) but I heard there ranks where restricted to 'officer of reserve' preventing them from making a career after the war.
Some interesting figures Jewish Germans in the WW I where:
Walther Rathenau organizing the economy during the war time.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walther_Rathenau
Wilhelm Frankl fighter ace: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Frankl
Fritz Beckhardt fighter ace flying under Göring with a swastika as personal talisman: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Frankl (srry.: German only)
Or a man like Leutnant Hugo Gutmann who approved Adolf Hitler for the Iron Cross.
Have a wonderful Christmass Indi - we have learned so much from you this year -
I love you guys.
I served with a number of alcoholics in the navy. It's scary to be working around dangerous machinery in enclosed spaces with those people. Dangerous when drunk and useless self pitying wrecks when sober; always self destructive. After a few days at sea they'd try things like boiling shoe polish in order to make something remotely alcoholic. I've had to stand watches over people puking blood because they'd dissolved the lining of their stomachs by drinking medicinal alcohol. Mostly I remember the stink. Alcoholics constantly sweat a rancid stench; even after days of not drinking. Drug addicts are bad too, snorting obviously poisonous substances in the hopes of a high, but they generally don't have that stink.
Worked with an ex-RN engineer named “Kish” after the sound of him opening his first from the fridge next to his bed.
"hey Mom can you get me a Fokker model for my birthday?"
Dafaq u say? *Slap slap slap slap slap slap slap*
I had a Fokker model once for Christmas.
I enjoyed how informative it was to learn what the status of booze was during the war. Great job.
Finding that sweet spot where the rum would take the edge of the fear off but still enabling a soldier to function as well as possible was probably a science.
The Germans rationed out schnapps quite liberally in WW2 as well.
I am trying to imagine a German army without snapps and a Russian army without vodka.
They might survive, but won't have proper morale.
There is no point in having an army that feels short changed and consequently have bad morale and resentment.
Thank you for all the work you do producing The Great War. I would like to buy you all a round but, regulations.
About alcohol, a french survivor mentionned how him and his comrades used to not drink the assault ration before going over the top, as dishinibated soldiers would have their reflexes eroded, and often be too slow when advancing from cover to cover, or even make stupid decisions, like standing and taking aim at an entrenched machine-gun instead of dropping to prone and crawling to grenade range.
canicheenrage that happened without alcohol too. French infantry tactics were poor and most replacements on both sides were making poor decisions simply because they knew no better.
Poor tactics? Early on sure, but not at the end of the war, though. What I've read on infantry tactics of the french army (and nearly every late-war participant) is that it was very effective at the squad level, with a combination of "short hops", covering fire from Chauchat LMGs and rifle grenades to assault a position. After years of bloody trial and error, there must have been improvements. But your point about new recruits making (often deadly) beginners' mistakes in their first engagement still stands of course.
Bar behind the lines thats awesome
Oft overlooked Canadian ace Raymond Collishaw (60 victories) survived the war as well. There are some historians (Canadian of course) who believe that he may have been the actual ace of aces of the war. He often took rookies up to bag their first enemy and gave them credit for one of his own scores. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Collishaw
The Senate of Canada looked into Billy Bishop's record and confirmed his score. Political? You betcha. Frederick Libby, the first American ace, called Bishop a liar. His favorite fighter pilot was Albert Ball whom he knew and flew with.
Collishaw stayed with the RAF and rose to the rank of Air Vice Marshal during WW2. He commanded the RAF in Egypt when things were dicey.
as a child in Miami ,Eddie rickenbaker was president of eastern airline. My dad took me to north perry airport (grass field ) and I got to fly in a two winged airplane. Now for the rest of the story , the pilot was Eddie Rickenbaker.
I like that you specified that the Germans weren't the first ones who used poison gas. They're always portrayed as the villains, sheesh.
No they were the first to use poison gas, just not the first to use any kind of gas.
We have a causeway named after Rickenbacker connecting miami to key biscayne. It's one of the largest causeways in south Florida (excluding the keys)
In Banger, Wales?
All songs from there must be great
Hi! In a recent episode of WW1 I I watched, you said that England had purchased some number of tons ( 500000? ) of wheat. However by that point ( 1916) Bulgaria already invaded Serbia, so Romania was surrounded by central powers on all sides, except Russia, and the Bosporus channel was controlled by the Ottoman Empire and was mined. So my question is, how did all that grain get to England? I also have a second part to this theme. How did various countries get their food and material shortages replenished in logistics terms, if the opposing factions made deals?
Thank you for sharing your excellent breadth of knowledge with us! Your channel is the best thing that happened to history classes :)
I'll drink to this video!
A common British war measure, starting off, was reducing the alcohol strength of liquor by 50% or so and also boosting taxes on it. Needless to say, once the war was at an end, "the emergency war pricing" was never rescinded by many governments in many countries.
Sound, class lad.
Regarding Breweries in France, as all the copper was used to make bullets and shells, most of little breweries and many of big ones was dismounted and molded. @thegreatwar may you consult history of Kronenbourg brewery or Champigneulle one
Hey indie, how did the war affect the currencies of the belligerent nations? And which suffered the worst inflation during the war?
Ok i need to know more on the illegal pub from the tunnel behind enemy lines ....who where when how ?? Anyone got any info in this?
Commenting on the off chance you get an answer so that way I get it too.
The recruits to the Irish Brigade had a very colourful end to the war. Following the dissolution of the Brigade many recruits were redistributed to German units, notably Bavarian units (mainly Catholics). For instance a certain Michael Keogh fought for the British in 1914, was captured then joined the Irish Brigade, he ended up fighting in the 1918 Spring Offensives and the Freikorps post war. By the end he had been decorated by the armies of Great Britain, Imperial Germany and in the 1920's the Irish Free State.
The national museum in Collins barracks has a uniform of the Irish brigade in the soldiers and chiefs exhibition.
The most lasting effect the war had on alcohol production in Britain was that due to increasing grain prices the breweries started to brew thinner ales, before the war the average bitter or mild ales had up to 7 percent alcohol, this was reduced in the war to about 3-4 percent. After it, the average alcohol content rose a bit again but never to pre war levels.
#TheGreatWar. Will you ever do a Special on Werner Voss? He is my favorite ace of the First World War
Second to that suggestion.
Poison gas was originally a byproduct of the chemical dye production process and Germany had the leading industry in this field, prior to the war. This made the development of the weapon easy for the Germans.
Intrestingly enough, the German "Reiheitsgebot", originaly was introduced in 1516 to, among other things, ensure that brewing Beer would'nt have so much an effect on the Food Situation (which was quite bad in the Medival times). It orignaly only allowed Hop, Barley and Water for the Brewing of Beer. Later the law was changed an it was for example alowed to put Laurel (since 1551) and Juniper (since 1616) into it. But the law never was expanded to allow any more grains, apart from Yeast. This means that German breweries could not use important nutritional grains like Wheat, Rye or Spelt- which also could be used to make Bread.
A couple of years ago some amendments were made to the alcohol laws in NZ which could have made it illegal for RSAs (Returned Servicemen Associations) to serve alcohol following ANZAC Day services. Needless to say this caused some degree of angst due to a shot of rum being traditionally drunk following a service. An exception was carved out in the law for RSAs.
"I am that man, that very fat man, that waters the workers' beer".
alcohol is humanity's friend. Can I abandon a friend?
Steve Kaczynski The cause and solution to all life's problems.
wait WTF, A Entente bar under enemy trenches?! Indy, you got to tell us that tale in more detail!
6:14 That's some high stakes punctuation.
Hi Indy, we all know that "War were declared" in 1918. When was the last time a declaration of war was officially made by a country?
Did the Germans get the Mosin Nagant rifles to supply the paddies with through the capture of deserted caches left behind by the Russian army?
How often did soldiers use drugs in the front back then? I know that in times of the first world war drugs like cocaine and heroin were used to help ease pain or for other tips of illness but what about addiction?
Im pretty sure the man that founded the boeng company served as a pilot for america during ww1, he was from michigan such as me
Hi Indy and Great War Team! I am just curious, at 1:24 you used a picture of British Propoganda. Is it from the series of books that were titled “The Standard History of the All European Conflict?” I ask because my grandfather passed some years ago and when going through what my dad had taken back 3 years ago, I found a set of them and have been fascinated since. Just curious given I’ve been struggling to find information on them!
Great episode! I always wondered about booze in WW1
Was there any tanks aces
denell fowler If your criteria is the number of enemy tanks destroyed, probably not, as the Germans had only 20 tanks in total. Not enough targets to make a score.
That's only the number of tanks Germany produced. Most of Germany's tanks were Allied tanks that they had captured. It's like saying the US didn't use tanks in World War One because they didn't develop their own tanks until after the war.
Ernst Udet actually invented the Stuka
WAIT, WHAT!!
there was a brewery under enemy trenches?!?! yo you gotta do a special about that
Ive read accounts of italian units getting extra rations of alcohol just before an attack.
Question for out of the trenches. We're units from Silesia split along ethnic lines, also where they mostly station on the Eastern front?
Not sure if it's still free, but Company of Heroes 2 was free on Humble Bundle yesterday and I think it still is.
I'm guessing moral at the front would have ben even worse without alcohol.
It would be interesting to know more about the issue of moonshine both at the front and back home.
Hello indy and crew, I was doing research and I stumbled across a little section talking about an electric fence that was set up on the belgium Netherlands border. I would like to know what this did to further anti german sentiment in other countries and what it did to the citizens. Thank you, love the show.
After the construction of the fence the anti german sentiment in the Netherlands grew. But the fence was build to stop soldiers fleeing the battlefield to the Netherlands.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_of_Death
pretty sure there's be a special for this but i'll give it shot for OotT:
how did car manufacturers benefit from the war? did the war help designs for future cars?
i would say "great show" but you already know about that ;)
Grog (in some form) has been a staple in armies for centuries. Drink was the only way a lot of them could deal with the horrors of war. Which have been ongoing since humans invented it. Seeing someone blown up by a shell or cut in half by a Kopis in the hands of Alexandar's cavalry are both horrible, only one is somewhat more impersonal and random.
Navies, especially British, had grog for the sailors. It was strong enough to not let microbes grow and weak enough to not be very intoxicating.
Hey Indy and the Knowledge Regiment,can you guys cover on the next OOTT episode on the recorded Filipino soldier who fought in World War 1?
I read about it recently,a young boy,died aged 18 on the Western Front fighting for the U.S.A. Even had a airfield named after him back in his country.
Tear gas vs. Any other is no contest. One causes tears to run down your face. The other types could cause your face to run down your face.
The pubs in Carlisle where nationalised in WW1, they where only denationalised in the early 1970s. There is a fascinating exhibit in the Carlisle museum.( The area made high explosives) David Lloyd George represented a Welsh speaking non conformist constituency that strongly disaproved of alcohol. In fact the first Act of Parliament to deal solely with Wales was the 1881 Sunday pub closing Act (Wales). Methinks Lloyd George was speaking to the converted, and cementing his base.
Indy is our WW1 holy guru 😂
Very important question! If this is the chair of wisdom, how does that wisdom get into you?
Wait wait wait. What was that about orchestrated drug dependencies?
My Great Grandfather flew in WW1. He was an American that flew for the French. He died the same way Brumowski did, while teaching a student to fly the student flew into a tree killing them both. I of course was never able to meet him.
3:07 *fighter ace
That Arnold Schweig guy is cool.
Great War Saturday in front of the Christmas Tree with fluffy snow outside, toast with Irish Butter and hot Italian Roast coffee made with filtered water in a French Press. It doesn't get better than this!
I believe Rene Fonck was the highest scoring allied ace of the was with 75 confirmed?
I sure like these videos, I hope that you keep on doing them. I just subscribed you and I do some history on my shows. I have a talk show on TH-cam and Facebook every Sunday and every other weekend my dad an I do paranormal live on Facebook and we have a history guy.
I think we need a special abauth the music in ww1.
I genuinely feel for Udet
He didn't want any of the stuff that followed and ruined the Luftwaffe
He met a tragic end😓
Dear Indy, do you plan to make any replica stuff for the online store.
when the race for the sea happend how close are the trenches to the beach or even sea.
Why would anyone operate a brewery behind enemy lines? Supplying it sounds impossible and if the enemy discovered all would be lost.
How do I know your spitting real Facts?
2:18 Steamboat Willie from saving private ryan. 😂
I've got a couple of questions for out of the trenches, Do you know of any person from South Carolina USA that was highly decorated? Also do you know how PTSD was treated during the Great War?
DANIEL AUGUSTUS JOSEPH SULLIVAN (Us Naval Reserve) from South Carolina was awarded the Medal of Honor for saving his shipmates when depth charges got loose and he threw his body on them before they could explode. As was FREDDIE STOWERS who led a charge of his company into withering machine gun fire after the Germans who were going to surrender jumped back in their trenches and began firing. Stowers continued to lead past the first trench line before being hit and then urged his men on after he could no longer do so. Stowers died on the field.
You did not mention Rene Fonck, the top-scoring French Ace of the war, with 75 credited kills.