My grandfather was in the Leinster Regiment, 16th Irish Division..........he survived a gas attack, dysentery, and a bullet to the chest near Messines.....I've no doubt he survived purely due to the treatment he received by the medical heroes of the day. My son and I toured the battlefield near Ypres last year.............such tours are a must if you have relatives involved in the conflict.
"The luck of the Irish". 🤞 In stark comparison, my Great Uncle -who served in the Green Howards- died from a sniper shot to the head on his first stint on the Front, aged 19, having been in France for just two weeks.
My grandfather was a stretcher bearer with the 2nd battalion leinster regiment in ww1and tended to many men in and around ypres and guillemont. He survived the war and told many stories about is time in the war.truley amazing man
@@TheTraktergirlyes but I'm sure even at a farm death would either have been an animal or someone dying from illnes or maybe some accident but not being blown blown up by artillery or see hundreds of people killed by machine gun right in front of you is kinda different
My grandfather was called up in 1917 to the Royal Artillery. At sometime in 1918, a German shell exploded behind him, causing shrapnel injuries to the right side of his back and shoulder. After severl operations, probing for splinters and cloth from the uniform, he eventually refused any more surgery. He was never able to lift his arm above shoulder height. He did not come back to a welcoming "Land fit for hero's " but one where he could not get a job because he was competing with those still able bodied at war's end.
Fascinating but dreadful (in the proper sense of the word) considering the scale of the harm. For all our admiration of the courage, leadership, tenacity, duty and skill, we always need to maintain a revulsion for war. Your videos strike a good balance.
My Grand Father served in the Australian IMF back in WW1 and was medicaly discharged then re-joined another Corp. He survied the war and passed away in 1943. Brave brave men. All of them. Lest We Forget.
My GG grandfather (a Kiwi) was with the Aussie 6th (?) Division at Fromelles. We've got a couple of letters from a nurse at a casualty clearing station. The first says he's been wounded but lost both his legs. The second is a day later, saying he passed away during the night. What a horrible night he must have had. He's buried at Bailleul and I visited his grave in 1998.
What was the population of New Zealand and of Australia at the time of WW1? Here in Serbia it used to be 4.2 million pre-war and out of that number - 1.258.000 people died during the war.
@@andrewstevenson118 Oh yeah, it did. Half of the victims were innocent civilians killed during Austro-Hungarian occupation of Serbia 1916-1918 partly as a retaliation for suffering several military defeats against Serbia. After this in late 1915 Austria-Hungary was forced to plead to Germany for direct military involvement which failed to produce results too, until finally Bulgaria joined and attacked Serbia from the east. Some of the victims died of typhoid epidemic, some during the Winter 1915/16 retreat of the Serbian Army & civilians through Albania to Greece. Anecdotally some died after drinking sea water, never being close to a sea in their life and not knowing it's fatal.
My Great-Grandfather, Arthur Linge, was wounded behind the lines in an artillery strike which killed 10 of his Company at a rest area just south of Ploegsteert wood, in November 1914. He suffered a broken leg, a wound to his arm, and a small wound to the back of his head. He was evacuated by field ambulance to Boulogne and admitted to hospital. On arrival, he was well enough on arrival to dictate a letter to his wife and children, but rapidly went downhill and was dead within a week, most likely of septicaemia. As a pre-war regular, it is unlikely that he would have survived the rest of the war, even if he had recovered. His brother, Ernie joined the regiment as a replacement in early January 1915, he was another regular soldier, but was dead by the end of the month, killed by a sniper. Both brothers had two daughters under five years old.
These videos are terrific - they really bring to life everything I've read in books over the years and they've inspired me to dive back into studying this fascinating war.
Just yesterday I listened to your podcast from a few months ago on this topic. This seems like a great idea for new videos that expand on your discussions and the visuals really add a lot. Great work!
_Regarding the losses:_ _In summer of 1916, the home regiment of the city in which I live had within 2.5 months more than 5,000 casualties---with a regimental target strength of 3,000 soldiers_ *. . .*
I used to think that all casualties from the Western Front were evacuated across the English Channel to ports like Dover (as mentioned in this video). However, my colleague, Charles, at the Whitehead Railway Museum in County Antrim has done some research on Ambulance Trains in Ireland. He has discovered that many ambulance trains were used here (in this part of the UK then) to move casualties who had been brought by hospital ships to ports like Dublin and Belfast. The trains then carried the wounded to hospitals and such like places of recovery across the island of Ireland. And these were not just soldiers from Irish regiments - they could have been attached to any British battalion.
This is by far my favourite channel to comsume the two world wars history and I wish videos came out more frequently, but i would not sacrifice the quality. The way you overlay maps, the way you overlay footage and use old time lines on modern map views and then use footage of the fields. I had to pause and study the field at Beaumont hamel from the sunken road to the tree line for a good few minutes as the pure historical significance of that field amd the trauma and destruction is so powerful amd harrowing. It's my number 1 priority on my bucketlist to visit northen france and belgium and to see these sights in my life. I hope my 1yo daughter will come along and understand the significance with me. Genuinely such a powerful way you prodice these documentaries. Along with the podcast, the battle guide production team produces the best content and i view alot of ww1 and ww2 content.
Uncle Walter a private was wounded in the legs during the Battle of the Somme, he was taken to an Aid Station and lay outside in the rain, a chaplain walked by and saw him shivering, he went and got an officers coat and covered him, later he heard doctors say we'd better get this one inside he's an officer, that probably saved his life.
The amount of work that you are putting into this it is it’s unbelievable and the stuff that I’m learning it makes me sad that what we were through first world war and the second we shouldn’t of gone through it they shouldn’t of been a first or second war
Excellent presentation. Thank you. My grandfather fought with the Wiltshire Yeomanry and Wiltshire Regt. He was wounded and gassed too. The medics kept him alive. to return to duty twice. As a side note, he tried to join his old regt again in 1939, but they knew his age and casualty record so turned him down. He then went to Hampshire and joined the artillery instead after lying about his age.. Spent 2 years on the anti-aircraft batteries at Ventnor on the Isle of Wight, being dive-bombed by Stukas in 1940, until his wounds and effects of the gassing from WW1 caught up with him and he was honourably discharged.
My grandfather was posted to the right flank at the foot of Vimy Ridge ca June 1917 with the Royal Canadian 42 Regt. Shot to chest in Sept - a minor wound - back at the front in 3 days. Serious shell wound to leg in early October. Ended up in 3 different RCMHs in SE England till shipped home in Jan 1919 to his wife and two sons. Sometime between 1920 & 1922, an ex-British Canadian Military Hospital Aide/Nurse, arrived at his small town RR Stn, asking about hiim. She had a babe in arms. Much drama ensued. Seriously disrupted the family . . . Grand-father 'forced to leave town by 1924. His many old war wounds haunted him till he died in 1953 without leaving the identification of my long lost relative.
My grandfather was in the Northamptonshire Regiment and wounded by a bullet in the wrist in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle in 1915. He was classed as ‘would survive without medical intervention’ so was set aside for later treatment. By the time he had been forwarded to a hospital the bones had begun to fuse and his wrist was bent at an angle and the Mauser bullet still in there. He served through the rest of the war like that and later in the Hime Guard on the east coast from 1940 to 1945. He carried the bullet to his grave in the 1960s.
Hi - the men captured in the famous piece of film carrying a casualty back to the trench were not from the Lancashire Fusiliers as stated, they were Royal Garrison Artillery.
My great uncle served with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment was killed at Passchendale on 28/09/1917. His body was never recovered. He was just 19 years old. Lest We Forget.
Similar story here, 2nd Great granduncle was serving with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment and was killed at Bailleul on April 12th, 1918, he has no known burial location. I have his Dogtag and medals which were family passdowns.
@@RobertsArchives Thank you for sharing your story Robert. I can’t help but wonder if your great grand uncle and my great uncle possibly may have possibly known each other(?), or at the very least, knew many of the same men that served with both of them. I suppose we will never know. I think its wonderful that you have artifacts from your great grand uncle to remember his bravery and sacrifice. Lest We Forget.
I worked as a medical consultant for a company that distributed medical products for treating wounds, mainly chronic ones. This company introduced, among other things, the forgotten and seemingly replaced by newer and better products sodium hypochlorite. Several other companies in this industry did the same and this antiseptic is now very popular. What I learned about it today is amazing to me.
An absolutely outstanding piece of work, so well narrated and so informative. Many thanks for posting. Have you done anything on le Guerle Casse, the broken faces?
Another superbly presented video. What unimaginable horror, not just for the poor men maimed and disfigured but for the medical staff trying to deal with incredible numbers and severity of injuries. How they coped is incredible and puts our current health service to shame. My paternal grandmother was a nurse in France. My great uncle sustained a gunshot wound to his face but was fortunate not to be seriously injured, he was killed in the second day of the Somme at the age of 22. Another died of wounds. Such a terrible waste for all involved.
My Great Grandfather Walter was treated at Etaples for two weeks in spring 1918. A French nurse wrote to his wife several times. Great Grandma Gertrude told me, back in the 1970s, she re-read these letters until they fell apart. Walter died and remains at Etaples. Gertrude lived as a War Widow for another 65 years. Walter’s death altered the path of my family history. He was 29.
My Grand Father was in the 5th Marines, he was wounded in the chest in August 1918. He somehow ended up in a British hospital near Portsmith. He said they told him that with his lung injury he would in all probability die from infection and pneumonia soon. He made it to November 18th, 1963. The bullet still in him.
Some how my great grandfather was wounded behind German lines on June 20, 1917. He was a cyclist (bicycle ) corps. Around 11 pm a bullet or shrapnel entered his lower back making holes in his intestines, but not exiting. Four soldiers who were with him carried back to an aid station behind British lines arriving around 7 am in next morning. Amazingly he survived the flu and the wounds, at one point having his legs tied up to his stomach to keep everything together. He met his wife my great grandmother because he was wounded. He lost his brother to German Artillery on Aug 17, 1917 in the afternoon with 3 other men. His brother was in the Canadian Artillery. My Great Grandfather was close to 90 when I was born and I met him several times. He passed away at age 99 telling his nurses that he would not make it to 100. An amazing man who I am not sure ever smiled. I am not sure how he survived his wound. I do not have the bullet or shrapnel , but I do have several of his medals.
My Grandpa took im Convinced artillery Shrapnel at Mouquet Farm Sept 5, 1916. He was with the 13th Canadian Black watch, thrown into the Meat grinder after Australians were pulled out. He almost Drowned in a shell Hole but a man Dragged him out to an Aid station. It Affected the Remainder of his life dying about 1973 in Bala, Ontario.
My 2nd Great Granduncle served with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment during the Great War, he arrived in France shortly after July 1st, 1916 and seen his first action at Gueudecourt and recieved a GSW to his right hand. He later fought at Moncy-le-Preux in 1917 where once again, he was wounded by a GSW to his right hand but also recieved shrapnel wounds to his back. He was out of action for the rest of the war but lived a very long life, passing in the 90's.
By late 1918, the AEF had the system working pretty well based on the French and especially British practice, so their wounded benefited from the four years of experience before they fought their first battle. My great uncle, a private in the 6th Infantry Regiment, 5th Infantry Division, AEF, was shot in the heel October 29, 1918, outside Cunel, France. (ALWAYS keep your heels down when taking cover, kids). He was pretty quickly evacuated from the front, spent Armistice Day in a field hospital, but spent nearly nine months in hospitals because the German bullet (probably from a machine gun laying suppressive fire) pretty well mangled his heel forever, I'm guessing he might have gotten an infection, or he had a bout of the Spanish Flu, which delayed his recovery. He was discharged from Walter Reed Army Hospital in July 1919.
That location and the caribou memorial is still spoken about in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada 😢 So many families were impacted by those decisions The stretcher bearers were heroic
My grandfather was perhaps a lucky one. He lost a leg in the trenches from a shrapnel wound and fortunately made it back. He retrained as a cabinet maker and lived till 86 years old.
Interesting to see The Royal Victoria Hospital at Netley. Used to visit the grounds and found it fascinating at just how big it was and where all the buildings once stood. Such a shame that they knocked the main building down in the sixties 😢 So many soldiers passed through there on their arrival back from France and the place has Such a poignant feel to it.
yeah this one of the videos of the 1st world war you got this so right you brought something to my mind what happend to the wounded men now i know thank you
A very interesting and well researched documentary. My great uncle,like many lied about his age and joined at 16 I the west Surrey regiment.was wounded in the shoulder and chest in 1917 in Ypres.hew was lucky made it back home and didn't return. Like many others after the war he became a communists all his life, never married and in his mid 30s joined the international brigade and fought francos fascist, and was once again wounded in the leg.in 1979.at nearly 80 he was arrested for punching conservative campaigning in the general election! Was a great character when I was growing up.
I met an old WW1 vet he was Canadian in a Scotish regament, he said he saw a lot of young men die because they had no penicillan to treat the wounds. Penicillan wasn't invented until 1928.
Did they have sulpha drugs in the first World War? Thanks for keeping the memory of this horrible four years and the men and women who were there for newer generations to learn how horrible it was. A special thank you for shining a light on true heroes of all wars-the stretcher bearers or medics. Those brave souls who go into no man’s land withOUT a weapon, to collect the wounded!
Very well done. It might be interesting about how enemy wounded would be cared for with the possibility of escape and then into the POW camp. Were they separated early on or did they go through the same process ?
Private William George Walker, 46th Battalion, 4th Division 1st AIF received a number of wounds at a several sites including his chest, earned during his service that resulted in him receiving the Military Medal for his bravery against the Hindenburg Line in 1918. His wounds earned him a trip back to London. He survived the War however died in June 1919 from botulism. He never fully recovered his health from the last major wound and he turns up sick on a regular basis. Botulism enters the body via wounds. The Australian Army decided that his disease and death were not related to his military service and denied his widowed mother his pension; William was her only child.
My relative was a Sniper he died aged just 32 he was involved in fighting on 23rd of April at monchy le preux they tried unsuccessfully to capture the chemical works there but there were many machine gun posts there and it was quite a German strong hold there. Well anyway according to war diaries of the time the 1/4th Gordon Highlanders were involved in that attack it's believed my relative was wounded on the 23rd and he managed to take out one of the machine gun posts being a sniper they think he may have taken out as many as 6 Germans on that day he was found on the 25th of April still alive that was 2 days later and taken to casualty clearing station number 30 but died of wounds on the 28th of April 1917(bloody April) as it was called at the time because of the many deaths that occurred that month..
I read somewhere that the prevalence of gas gangrene could be because much of the fighting was carried out in farmland that had been fertilized with manure (animal and human) for centuries, and every wound was almost certain to be contaminated with the local soil along with all the bacteria it contained. I believe the fighting around Monte Cassino in WWII saw an unusually high incidence of gas gangrene cases for similar reasons.
Like and comment while the commercials are running. The reason this is one of the best channels for history of the modern wars is how it brings me into the situation on the ground through the perspective of the people fighting. Time to watch today’s episode.
my grandfather in nova scotia rifles lost a 3 inch chunk of bone from left leg above the knee oct 1918 outside cambrai he laid in mud for 3 days before stretcher bearers found him he eventually lost leg in 1919 while at hospital in toronto canada he was the lucky one of my relations 4 others didn't come home
My paternal great uncle was killed on the Somme ,he was a couple of weeks off his 18th birthday ,no known grave . He shouldn't have been ,his parents were assured that he wouldn't be sent to the front because they complained he'd been sent to France . Up untill the Somme they didnt sent troops to France untill a soldier was 19 unless permission was given by parents in writing .
Aussiie/Kiwi co-production for WW1 anniversary ANZAC Girls - gives a good overview of how the Allied medical services and in particular, the nurses, braved the conditions and the social norms , to do their magnificent work - Follows five Anzac nurses from Gallipoli to the end of the War think it's on TH-cam!
Often in reading about survivors of WW1 the ephitet "RAMC- Rob All My Comrades" a term of endearment ;) for medics is seen. Stretcher bearers and field dressing station men seemed to especially be reviled as robbers of the dead, dying and wounded. I sometimes wonder if this is just an 'urban legend' amongst wounded survivors or was it very common and was there much retribution handed out to medics for this vile practice.
My maternal grandfather was in the US Army in WW1, stationed in France in the fall of 1918, when he came down with the Spanish Flu. All of his personal belongings were stolen (watch, wedding ring, wallet, etc.) by folks in the hospital he was kept in. So yeah, it happened. When I was little and was told about this, I asked why, and was told that if they didn’t think you were going to survive, the hospital folks felt like “ he’s not going to need that anymore”, and rationalized stealing your stuff. My grandfather got well, much to their surprise, but didn’t get his things back.
My Grandfather was wounded 5 times during WW1. He was at Passchendale and came home with PTSD. In a Village near me is the Grave of a Soldier in a Machine Gun Platoon. He came home wounded and died the day after the Armistice was sighned , 12th November 1918.... RIP.
WW1 casualty rates were horrific but were they that much worse than other wars? Allied losses after D-Day until the breakout were, allowing for the shorter time and fewer units engaged, broadly the same as for the Somme battle from July to November. In the ACW total losses in battles were about 25% to 30% (killed wounded and missisng) of an army'sstrength and probably worse at Coldharbor. I would also question whether machine gunners were taught to aim low. I trained on the Vickers and you don't aim it but lay it like an artillery piece. Also out to about 700 yds the bullets don't go above about shoulder height so if the enemy are passing through the 'hosepipe' of bullets (500 per minute) they're likely to be hit. With regard to stretcher bearers the following is a quote from a medical officer in one of the Field Ambulances in 38 (Welsh) Division, of Mametz Wood fame, which was formed from volunteers of the St John's Ambulance in Cardiff. I got permission from a descendent of Capt Ffoukes when he did a talk to the South Wales WFA Branch. “The men worked splendidly, particularly the stretcher bearers. It requires a good deal of nerve to carry wounded steadily and carefully over rough ground under shell fire, but the men never hesitated once and I know they will always behave in the same splendid manner.” Capt Meredydd Ffloukes 17 January 1916. Despite these comments this was a fascinating video, thank you very much for publishing it.
Personal opinion only, but I would rather be killed outright or go through it all unscathed. I don't want to lie on the ground suffering in pain from a wound.
You’re using “begs the question” wrong. Begging the question is an informal fallacy that occurs when an argument’s premises assume the truth of the conclusion, instead of supporting it. It is a type of circular reasoning: an argument that requires that the desired conclusion be true. It does not mean “the following question should be asked.” Example: ”People with more money are happier because they can buy things that make them happy.”
This was a horrible war especially when these scumbags generals were sending troops over the top to get sprayed down like F bowling pins 🎳 makes my blood 🩸 boil to stand there blow that dammmm train whistle and watch them just get hit one by one and then F still send more and more soldiers to continue the same path hurts me to the point that I literally started tearing up smh it’s inhumane:-(
Maybe there’s a growing catastrophe of your own generation you can do better with. There is no better start than gratitude for your own way of life, finding virtue wherever you see it and learning from the lessons of others. Don’t be too hard on the Generals. If one of them wasn’t going to accept a political challenge to win at any cost, then some other would. And how might things have gone, if women had the vote before the war?
I thought we used a great asset really tastefully to build the story as it happens. Considering the video is absolutely FREE to watch, I suggest you don't ever try normal TV. They have these things called commercials: would be a nightmare for you.
My grandfather was in the 5th Div. artillery and wounded in the head in September 1918.The other Luie. with him had most of his teeth knocked out but they still managed to walk 3 miles to an aid station run by the U.S. He received the Military Cross & Bar for previous engagements.
I think it's also possible that the relative lack of wounded with chest & abdomen was because soldiers wounded by projectiles (artillery or rifle fire) were killed outright, chest wounds being the most likely area considering the heart, lungs & aorta as well as blood vessels leading to the brain.
My great grandfather and my grandmother's cousin served on the western front. My grandfather was injured twice, thankfully only minor injuries and would have passed through these medical services. My grandmother's cousin unfortunately was listed as missing in action, his fate never officially discovered or confirmed, but it was reported by a fellow wounded soldier who served with him that he may have been seen in the same ambulance with a wound to his hip or leg.
1% of all injuries were inflicted by edged weapons. Given the overall number of wounded in action, that is a horrifying number of stabbings. I'd also hazard a guess that the majority of those stabbed were killed, adding to the numbers.
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My grandfather was in the Leinster Regiment, 16th Irish Division..........he survived a gas attack, dysentery, and a bullet to the chest near Messines.....I've no doubt he survived purely due to the treatment he received by the medical heroes of the day. My son and I toured the battlefield near Ypres last year.............such tours are a must if you have relatives involved in the conflict.
Thanks for sharing and yes walking the ground really brings these stories to life.
"The luck of the Irish". 🤞
In stark comparison, my Great Uncle -who served in the Green Howards- died from a sniper shot to the head on his first stint on the Front, aged 19, having been in France for just two weeks.
My grandfather was a stretcher bearer with the 2nd battalion leinster regiment in ww1and tended to many men in and around ypres and guillemont. He survived the war and told many stories about is time in the war.truley amazing man
@@gerryreid4231my great grandfather on my Mom’s side was an orderly on Hospital trains once the US entered the war.
@@gerryreid4231 he may have tended to my Grandfather.............
As a reserve military doctor, i loved your work! It's stunning the similarities with today's combat care system
_Thanks to Jean-Henri Dunant_ *. . .*
God Bless the medics, nurses and doctors who saved so many. ❤
Imagine how tough you have to be to go through all that and then go back to the front. Hard as nails
Yeah. a daunting prospect.
Most of the soldiers were farm boys and were naturally tough.
@@TheTraktergirlyes but I'm sure even at a farm death would either have been an animal or someone dying from illnes or maybe some accident but not being blown blown up by artillery or see hundreds of people killed by machine gun right in front of you is kinda different
@@trevdestroyer8209 I was commenting on the 'hard as nails'. I'm well aware of artillery and all the rest.
They had no choice. "Cowards" were shot!
My grandfather was called up in 1917 to the Royal Artillery. At sometime in 1918, a German shell exploded behind him, causing shrapnel injuries to the right side of his back and shoulder. After severl operations, probing for splinters and cloth from the uniform, he eventually refused any more surgery. He was never able to lift his arm above shoulder height.
He did not come back to a welcoming "Land fit for hero's " but one where he could not get a job because he was competing with those still able bodied at war's end.
Brave men R.I.P
Fascinating but dreadful (in the proper sense of the word) considering the scale of the harm. For all our admiration of the courage, leadership, tenacity, duty and skill, we always need to maintain a revulsion for war. Your videos strike a good balance.
Thanks James.
A very valid point often overlooked. Well put.
My Grand Father served in the Australian IMF back in WW1 and was medicaly discharged then re-joined another Corp. He survied the war and passed away in 1943. Brave brave men. All of them. Lest We Forget.
That was a ballsy move by your GF. Well played that man!
My GG grandfather (a Kiwi) was with the Aussie 6th (?) Division at Fromelles. We've got a couple of letters from a nurse at a casualty clearing station. The first says he's been wounded but lost both his legs. The second is a day later, saying he passed away during the night. What a horrible night he must have had. He's buried at Bailleul and I visited his grave in 1998.
What was the population of New Zealand and of Australia at the time of WW1? Here in Serbia it used to be 4.2 million pre-war and out of that number - 1.258.000 people died during the war.
@@matovicmmilan NZ was about one million, I think. Australia about five. Wow, I didn't realise Serbia lost so many.
@@andrewstevenson118
Oh yeah, it did. Half of the victims were innocent civilians killed during Austro-Hungarian occupation of Serbia 1916-1918 partly as a retaliation for suffering several military defeats against Serbia. After this in late 1915 Austria-Hungary was forced to plead to Germany for direct military involvement which failed to produce results too, until finally Bulgaria joined and attacked Serbia from the east.
Some of the victims died of typhoid epidemic, some during the Winter 1915/16 retreat of the Serbian Army & civilians through Albania to Greece. Anecdotally some died after drinking sea water, never being close to a sea in their life and not knowing it's fatal.
@@matovicmmilan Thanks for that. I never knew that. Terrible.
My Great-Grandfather, Arthur Linge, was wounded behind the lines in an artillery strike which killed 10 of his Company at a rest area just south of Ploegsteert wood, in November 1914. He suffered a broken leg, a wound to his arm, and a small wound to the back of his head. He was evacuated by field ambulance to Boulogne and admitted to hospital. On arrival, he was well enough on arrival to dictate a letter to his wife and children, but rapidly went downhill and was dead within a week, most likely of septicaemia. As a pre-war regular, it is unlikely that he would have survived the rest of the war, even if he had recovered. His brother, Ernie joined the regiment as a replacement in early January 1915, he was another regular soldier, but was dead by the end of the month, killed by a sniper. Both brothers had two daughters under five years old.
Massive thank you for this post, it is often forgotten those that are behind the front lines and deserve as much respect. RIP xx
These videos are terrific - they really bring to life everything I've read in books over the years and they've inspired me to dive back into studying this fascinating war.
This is one of my new favorite history channels, thank you for another stellar mini doc
Just yesterday I listened to your podcast from a few months ago on this topic. This seems like a great idea for new videos that expand on your discussions and the visuals really add a lot. Great work!
Do you have a link to the pod?
_Regarding the losses:_
_In summer of 1916, the home regiment of the city in which I live had within 2.5 months more than 5,000 casualties---with a regimental target strength of 3,000 soldiers_ *. . .*
It was said that no UK civilian would ever forget the casualty lists of the Battle of the Somme..
@@davidsigalow7349 _That's true!_
I used to think that all casualties from the Western Front were evacuated across the English Channel to ports like Dover (as mentioned in this video). However, my colleague, Charles, at the Whitehead Railway Museum in County Antrim has done some research on Ambulance Trains in Ireland. He has discovered that many ambulance trains were used here (in this part of the UK then) to move casualties who had been brought by hospital ships to ports like Dublin and Belfast. The trains then carried the wounded to hospitals and such like places of recovery across the island of Ireland. And these were not just soldiers from Irish regiments - they could have been attached to any British battalion.
Great video mate. Thank you so much. All the best.
This is by far my favourite channel to comsume the two world wars history and I wish videos came out more frequently, but i would not sacrifice the quality.
The way you overlay maps, the way you overlay footage and use old time lines on modern map views and then use footage of the fields. I had to pause and study the field at Beaumont hamel from the sunken road to the tree line for a good few minutes as the pure historical significance of that field amd the trauma and destruction is so powerful amd harrowing.
It's my number 1 priority on my bucketlist to visit northen france and belgium and to see these sights in my life. I hope my 1yo daughter will come along and understand the significance with me. Genuinely such a powerful way you prodice these documentaries. Along with the podcast, the battle guide production team produces the best content and i view alot of ww1 and ww2 content.
Uncle Walter a private was wounded in the legs during the Battle of the Somme, he was taken to an Aid Station and lay outside in the rain, a chaplain walked by and saw him shivering, he went and got an officers coat and covered him, later he heard doctors say we'd better get this one inside he's an officer, that probably saved his life.
Remarkable. Thank you for sharing. My Great Grandfather, also Walter, was cared for at Etaples for two weeks but tragically did not survive.
Great video Dan. I especially liked this episode on the podcast. Keep it up!
The amount of work that you are putting into this it is it’s unbelievable and the stuff that I’m learning it makes me sad that what we were through first world war and the second we shouldn’t of gone through it they shouldn’t of been a first or second war
Brilliant documentary
Excellent video, very well done, thank you for making it.
mind blowing stuff, great job on the vid
Excellent presentation. Thank you. My grandfather fought with the Wiltshire Yeomanry and Wiltshire Regt. He was wounded and gassed too. The medics kept him alive. to return to duty twice. As a side note, he tried to join his old regt again in 1939, but they knew his age and casualty record so turned him down. He then went to Hampshire and joined the artillery instead after lying about his age.. Spent 2 years on the anti-aircraft batteries at Ventnor on the Isle of Wight, being dive-bombed by Stukas in 1940, until his wounds and effects of the gassing from WW1 caught up with him and he was honourably discharged.
My grandfather was posted to the right flank at the foot of Vimy Ridge ca June 1917 with the Royal Canadian 42 Regt. Shot to chest in Sept - a minor wound - back at the front in 3 days. Serious shell wound to leg in early October. Ended up in 3 different RCMHs in SE England till shipped home in Jan 1919 to his wife and two sons.
Sometime between 1920 & 1922, an ex-British Canadian Military Hospital Aide/Nurse, arrived at his small town RR Stn, asking about hiim. She had a babe in arms. Much drama ensued. Seriously disrupted the family . . . Grand-father 'forced to leave town by 1924.
His many old war wounds haunted him till he died in 1953 without leaving the identification of my long lost relative.
My grandfather was in the Northamptonshire Regiment and wounded by a bullet in the wrist in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle in 1915. He was classed as ‘would survive without medical intervention’ so was set aside for later treatment. By the time he had been forwarded to a hospital the bones had begun to fuse and his wrist was bent at an angle and the Mauser bullet still in there. He served through the rest of the war like that and later in the Hime Guard on the east coast from 1940 to 1945. He carried the bullet to his grave in the 1960s.
Hi - the men captured in the famous piece of film carrying a casualty back to the trench were not from the Lancashire Fusiliers as stated, they were Royal Garrison Artillery.
My great uncle served with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment was killed at Passchendale on 28/09/1917. His body was never recovered. He was just 19 years old.
Lest We Forget.
Similar story here, 2nd Great granduncle was serving with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment and was killed at Bailleul on April 12th, 1918, he has no known burial location. I have his Dogtag and medals which were family passdowns.
@@RobertsArchives Thank you for sharing your story Robert. I can’t help but wonder if your great grand uncle and my great uncle possibly may have possibly known each other(?), or at the very least, knew many of the same men that served with both of them. I suppose we will never know. I think its wonderful that you have artifacts from your great grand uncle to remember his bravery and sacrifice.
Lest We Forget.
I worked as a medical consultant for a company that distributed medical products for treating wounds, mainly chronic ones. This company introduced, among other things, the forgotten and seemingly replaced by newer and better products sodium hypochlorite. Several other companies in this industry did the same and this antiseptic is now very popular. What I learned about it today is amazing to me.
An absolutely outstanding piece of work, so well narrated and so informative. Many thanks for posting. Have you done anything on le Guerle Casse, the broken faces?
Another superbly presented video. What unimaginable horror, not just for the poor men maimed and disfigured but for the medical staff trying to deal with incredible numbers and severity of injuries. How they coped is incredible and puts our current health service to shame. My paternal grandmother was a nurse in France.
My great uncle sustained a gunshot wound to his face but was fortunate not to be seriously injured, he was killed in the second day of the Somme at the age of 22. Another died of wounds. Such a terrible waste for all involved.
My Great Grandfather Walter was treated at Etaples for two weeks in spring 1918. A French nurse wrote to his wife several times. Great Grandma Gertrude told me, back in the 1970s, she re-read these letters until they fell apart. Walter died and remains at Etaples. Gertrude lived as a War Widow for another 65 years. Walter’s death altered the path of my family history. He was 29.
My Grand Father was in the 5th Marines, he was wounded in the chest in August 1918. He somehow ended up in a British hospital near Portsmith. He said they told him that with his lung injury he would in all probability die from infection and pneumonia soon. He made it to November 18th, 1963. The bullet still in him.
Thank you
Artillery is a killer!
That is the point of it.
Some how my great grandfather was wounded behind German lines on June 20, 1917. He was a cyclist (bicycle ) corps. Around 11 pm a bullet or shrapnel entered his lower back making holes in his intestines, but not exiting. Four soldiers who were with him carried back to an aid station behind British lines arriving around 7 am in next morning. Amazingly he survived the flu and the wounds, at one point having his legs tied up to his stomach to keep everything together. He met his wife my great grandmother because he was wounded. He lost his brother to German Artillery on Aug 17, 1917 in the afternoon with 3 other men. His brother was in the Canadian Artillery. My Great Grandfather was close to 90 when I was born and I met him several times. He passed away at age 99 telling his nurses that he would not make it to 100. An amazing man who I am not sure ever smiled. I am not sure how he survived his wound. I do not have the bullet or shrapnel , but I do have several of his medals.
Thank you for the video and the information.
My Grandpa took im Convinced artillery Shrapnel at Mouquet Farm Sept 5, 1916. He was with the 13th Canadian Black watch, thrown into the Meat grinder after Australians were pulled out. He almost Drowned in a shell Hole but a man Dragged him out to an Aid station. It Affected the Remainder of his life dying about 1973 in Bala, Ontario.
Very interesting. Fime narration.
My 2nd Great Granduncle served with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment during the Great War, he arrived in France shortly after July 1st, 1916 and seen his first action at Gueudecourt and recieved a GSW to his right hand. He later fought at Moncy-le-Preux in 1917 where once again, he was wounded by a GSW to his right hand but also recieved shrapnel wounds to his back. He was out of action for the rest of the war but lived a very long life, passing in the 90's.
By late 1918, the AEF had the system working pretty well based on the French and especially British practice, so their wounded benefited from the four years of experience before they fought their first battle. My great uncle, a private in the 6th Infantry Regiment, 5th Infantry Division, AEF, was shot in the heel October 29, 1918, outside Cunel, France. (ALWAYS keep your heels down when taking cover, kids). He was pretty quickly evacuated from the front, spent Armistice Day in a field hospital, but spent nearly nine months in hospitals because the German bullet (probably from a machine gun laying suppressive fire) pretty well mangled his heel forever, I'm guessing he might have gotten an infection, or he had a bout of the Spanish Flu, which delayed his recovery. He was discharged from Walter Reed Army Hospital in July 1919.
An excellent into a little thought of consequence of major offences
That location and the caribou memorial is still spoken about in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada 😢
So many families were impacted by those decisions
The stretcher bearers were heroic
12:00 I helped renovate a trench in Auchonvillers in 2003/04 in the back garden of Avrils B&B.
Fifty-nine thousand casualties. What a staggeringly sober figure. Each one of them a human.
My grandfather was perhaps a lucky one. He lost a leg in the trenches from a shrapnel wound and fortunately made it back. He retrained as a cabinet maker and lived till 86 years old.
Interesting to see The Royal Victoria Hospital at Netley. Used to visit the grounds and found it fascinating at just how big it was and where all the buildings once stood. Such a shame that they knocked the main building down in the sixties 😢
So many soldiers passed through there on their arrival back from France and the place has Such a poignant feel to it.
yeah this one of the videos of the 1st world war you got this so right you brought something to my mind what happend to the wounded men now i know thank you
I’ve been & seen some of those cemetery’s, it’s shocking & very real, as if time stands still
Your work is awesome!! Would you be able to provide GPS coordinates for the locations so we can view the battlefield from different angles?
carrel/dakin, eh? 🤔
thx, ill remember that 🤟
A very interesting and well researched documentary. My great uncle,like many lied about his age and joined at 16 I the west Surrey regiment.was wounded in the shoulder and chest in 1917 in Ypres.hew was lucky made it back home and didn't return. Like many others after the war he became a communists all his life, never married and in his mid 30s joined the international brigade and fought francos fascist, and was once again wounded in the leg.in 1979.at nearly 80 he was arrested for punching conservative campaigning in the general election! Was a great character when I was growing up.
I met an old WW1 vet he was Canadian in a Scotish regament, he said he saw a lot of young men die because they had no penicillan
to treat the wounds. Penicillan wasn't invented until 1928.
Did they have sulpha drugs in the first World War? Thanks for keeping the memory of this horrible four years and the men and women who were there for newer generations to learn how horrible it was. A special thank you for shining a light on true heroes of all wars-the stretcher bearers or medics. Those brave souls who go into no man’s land withOUT a weapon, to collect the wounded!
I have the shrapnel my great grandad took at passchendaele, he survived
Very well done. It might be interesting about how enemy wounded would be cared for with the possibility of escape and then into the POW camp. Were they separated early on or did they go through the same process ?
Private William George Walker, 46th Battalion, 4th Division 1st AIF received a number of wounds at a several sites including his chest, earned during his service that resulted in him receiving the Military Medal for his bravery against the Hindenburg Line in 1918. His wounds earned him a trip back to London. He survived the War however died in June 1919 from botulism. He never fully recovered his health from the last major wound and he turns up sick on a regular basis. Botulism enters the body via wounds. The Australian Army decided that his disease and death were not related to his military service and denied his widowed mother his pension; William was her only child.
My relative was a Sniper he died aged just 32 he was involved in fighting on 23rd of April at monchy le preux they tried unsuccessfully to capture the chemical works there but there were many machine gun posts there and it was quite a German strong hold there. Well anyway according to war diaries of the time the 1/4th Gordon Highlanders were involved in that attack it's believed my relative was wounded on the 23rd and he managed to take out one of the machine gun posts being a sniper they think he may have taken out as many as 6 Germans on that day he was found on the 25th of April still alive that was 2 days later and taken to casualty clearing station number 30 but died of wounds on the 28th of April 1917(bloody April) as it was called at the time because of the many deaths that occurred that month..
There are two cemeteries. Bindigham and Mendingham which were CCS originally.
I read somewhere that the prevalence of gas gangrene could be because much of the fighting was carried out in farmland that had been fertilized with manure (animal and human) for centuries, and every wound was almost certain to be contaminated with the local soil along with all the bacteria it contained. I believe the fighting around Monte Cassino in WWII saw an unusually high incidence of gas gangrene cases for similar reasons.
Like and comment while the commercials are running.
The reason this is one of the best channels for history of the modern wars is how it brings me into the situation on the ground through the perspective of the people fighting.
Time to watch today’s episode.
Thank you.
As the grand nephew of a Doctor who served on the Western Front, the answer to the title is no. - and certainly not for the lack of trying.
my grandfather in nova scotia rifles lost a 3 inch chunk of bone from left leg above the knee oct 1918 outside cambrai he laid in mud for 3 days before stretcher bearers found him he eventually lost leg in 1919 while at hospital in toronto canada he was the lucky one of my relations 4 others didn't come home
First July, 1863 was a deadly day in US Civil War. Dark date😢
I think Antietam was worse. I actually have a Minie Ball. Repro, but interesting to see what they were like.
My Maternal Grandfather was invalided out with wounds in 1917, he got the Silver Star like many others.
My paternal great uncle was killed on the Somme ,he was a couple of weeks off his 18th birthday ,no known grave . He shouldn't have been ,his parents were assured that he wouldn't be sent to the front because they complained he'd been sent to France . Up untill the Somme they didnt sent troops to France untill a soldier was 19 unless permission was given by parents in writing .
Aussiie/Kiwi co-production for WW1 anniversary ANZAC Girls - gives a good overview of how the Allied medical services and in particular, the nurses, braved the conditions and the social norms , to do their magnificent work - Follows five Anzac nurses from Gallipoli to the end of the War think it's on TH-cam!
Can you tell me about the photo at 6:50. Is it taken from the same vantage point as the footage in the previous scene and at a later date?
Often in reading about survivors of WW1 the ephitet "RAMC- Rob All My Comrades" a term of endearment ;) for medics is seen. Stretcher bearers and field dressing station men seemed to especially be reviled as robbers of the dead, dying and wounded. I sometimes wonder if this is just an 'urban legend' amongst wounded survivors or was it very common and was there much retribution handed out to medics for this vile practice.
My maternal grandfather was in the US Army in WW1, stationed in France in the fall of 1918, when he came down with the Spanish Flu. All of his personal belongings were stolen (watch, wedding ring, wallet, etc.) by folks in the hospital he was kept in. So yeah, it happened. When I was little and was told about this, I asked why, and was told that if they didn’t think you were going to survive, the hospital folks felt like “ he’s not going to need that anymore”, and rationalized stealing your stuff. My grandfather got well, much to their surprise, but didn’t get his things back.
I should add to my previous comment that I referred to Field Hospitals in WW1 = Casualty Clearing Station and General Hospital = Base Hospital...
We've done a dedicated video on gas warfare here on YT
My Grandfather was wounded 5 times during WW1.
He was at Passchendale and came home with PTSD.
In a Village near me is the Grave of a Soldier in a Machine Gun Platoon.
He came home wounded and died the day after the Armistice was sighned , 12th November 1918....
RIP.
WW1 casualty rates were horrific but were they that much worse than other wars? Allied losses after D-Day until the breakout were, allowing for the shorter time and fewer units engaged, broadly the same as for the Somme battle from July to November. In the ACW total losses in battles were about 25% to 30% (killed wounded and missisng) of an army'sstrength and probably worse at Coldharbor. I would also question whether machine gunners were taught to aim low. I trained on the Vickers and you don't aim it but lay it like an artillery piece. Also out to about 700 yds the bullets don't go above about shoulder height so if the enemy are passing through the 'hosepipe' of bullets (500 per minute) they're likely to be hit.
With regard to stretcher bearers the following is a quote from a medical officer in one of the Field Ambulances in 38 (Welsh) Division, of Mametz Wood fame, which was formed from volunteers of the St John's Ambulance in Cardiff. I got permission from a descendent of Capt Ffoukes when he did a talk to the South Wales WFA Branch.
“The men worked splendidly, particularly the stretcher bearers. It requires a good deal of nerve to carry wounded steadily and carefully over rough ground under shell fire, but the men never hesitated once and I know they will always behave in the same splendid manner.” Capt Meredydd Ffloukes 17 January 1916. Despite these comments this was a fascinating video, thank you very much for publishing it.
Personal opinion only, but I would rather be killed outright or go through it all unscathed. I don't want to lie on the ground suffering in pain from a wound.
You’re using “begs the question” wrong. Begging the question is an informal fallacy that occurs when an argument’s premises assume the truth of the conclusion, instead of supporting it. It is a type of circular reasoning: an argument that requires that the desired conclusion be true. It does not mean “the following question should be asked.” Example: ”People with more money are happier because they can buy things that make them happy.”
Thank's! by in large we try our best; But I always try and check things through before we publish it; just for piece of mind
Hard to believe that every last man and woman in those pictures are long gone…..
How many were wounded multiple times? Were they counted as wounded each time?
Great-Grandfather W.S. Harris 57041 4th Field Ambulance R.A.M.C. (Guards Division)
Always thought it was a bit suspect that the Germans always seem to be in the right place at the right time
Not ww1 but my dad was wounded in 1945 he also got a cup of tea and a cigarette on arriving at the dressing station.
This was a horrible war especially when these scumbags generals were sending troops over the top to get sprayed down like F bowling pins 🎳 makes my blood 🩸 boil to stand there blow that dammmm train whistle and watch them just get hit one by one and then F still send more and more soldiers to continue the same path hurts me to the point that I literally started tearing up smh it’s inhumane:-(
Maybe there’s a growing catastrophe of your own generation you can do better with. There is no better start than gratitude for your own way of life, finding virtue wherever you see it and learning from the lessons of others.
Don’t be too hard on the Generals. If one of them wasn’t going to accept a political challenge to win at any cost, then some other would.
And how might things have gone, if women had the vote before the war?
We’re there any reported cases of temporary ceasefires to recover or rescue the dead and wounded in no man’s land?
Yes there were a few, usually informal, even one that morning at Beaumont Hamel
heaps of times
Good one, passed the Bobbie test on FWW medical stuff 👍😁
What about the Spanish flu. Not a mention.❤
Well mentioned in the sense that we said we do not cover accidents or illness in this video.
What do you mean?
Man, that was heartbreaking to watch. Too bad I couldn't finish watching it since they startec shilling for cash.
How do you mean?
@@BattleGuideVT Pretty obvious is it not? In tghe middle of a fascinating story a sudden pause for, "Please sendus money." I thought that was evident.
I thought we used a great asset really tastefully to build the story as it happens. Considering the video is absolutely FREE to watch, I suggest you don't ever try normal TV. They have these things called commercials: would be a nightmare for you.
My grandfather was in the 5th Div. artillery and wounded in the head in September 1918.The other Luie. with him had most of his teeth knocked out but they still managed to walk 3 miles to an aid station run by the U.S. He received the Military Cross & Bar for previous engagements.
I think it's also possible that the relative lack of wounded with chest & abdomen was because soldiers wounded by projectiles (artillery or rifle fire) were killed outright, chest wounds being the most likely area considering the heart, lungs & aorta as well as blood vessels leading to the brain.
My great grandfather and my grandmother's cousin served on the western front. My grandfather was injured twice, thankfully only minor injuries and would have passed through these medical services.
My grandmother's cousin unfortunately was listed as missing in action, his fate never officially discovered or confirmed, but it was reported by a fellow wounded soldier who served with him that he may have been seen in the same ambulance with a wound to his hip or leg.
MEN.....the dregs of war....
I remember reading a book in the 60’s about the Great War
Royal Army Medical Corps was flipped to Rob All My Colleagues
True story
1% of all injuries were inflicted by edged weapons. Given the overall number of wounded in action, that is a horrifying number of stabbings. I'd also hazard a guess that the majority of those stabbed were killed, adding to the numbers.
First hehehe
At last! Something for your CV! 🤓
Really? Childish comments like this under war related videos? Be ashamed of yourself
Why were machine gunners taught to aim low?
Barrel rise.
@@TheOsfania ah, cheers.
WW1 - an excellent profit generator for salesmen