While you were in the United States, did you have time to visit Castle Island in Boston? If not is that something you would consider in the future as it's a fairly well preserved star fort?
And a story, for all who care to read it. It was the end of the war. After living all his then-short life starving under the thumb of the Germans, my grandfather recieved his red cross parcel containing nice things like oranges, chocolate and the like. The chocolate bar, he ate sliver by sliver until it went mouldy months later. The orange, meanwhile, he didn't quite know how to deal with. So he took a bite, without peeling or slicing, like you would with an apple.
Thanks for the cows...I grew up on a small dairy farm and the Jersey's were my favorite breed. Sweet tempered, high yields and easy to work with. Fresh made butter from a Jersey has to be tried to be believed, nothing you can buy in a store comes close.
Does anyone else play 'Where's Drach?' when watching the aerial shots? I feel I have a better than average score in this game... Great video, Drach, as always!
Time Team has two excellent episodes on Jersey, one exploring the WW2 era German fortifications and the other investigating Mont Orgueil castle, Season 18 Episodes 4 and 8.
Thought of the latter right away when I saw the title off this video. Really worth a watch (like most time team episodes). Did you know that they are crowd funding new episodes at the moment?
@@BirdieRumia The first two new episodes are out, you can find them in the Time Team Official TH-cam channel. I just realized that and haven't watched them myself yet. Since this new series is as I understand 100% crowdfunded (via patreon) it's only 3 episodes, but they might carry on for the next one as long as the funding keeps coming.
I sent a 1800’s document to Jersey, a letter of attorney of the commander of the fort of Jersey dated in the 1870’s. A bit of history I thought was best in their hands. That made this video interesting for me.
Great video, even as a Jersey local I learned a lot from watching this! I’m part of a group of volunteers helping out with the restoration of the M19 automatic mortar bunker at Corbiere, and the other fortifications in that part of the island. It means a lot to see the work of our team being recognised, alongside this excellent and informative presentation of the history we strive to keep alive here.
Elizabeth Castle has been my planned zombie bug out location for years, though getting there does mean getting close to the heavily populated area of St. Helier.
@@GiveMeBackMyUsernameTH-cam yeah most of these sort of sites do have drawbacks like that, but it's not like it's in the heart of London or New York. lol
This was really interesting, and I can't wait to watch future videos on Jersey's defences! I'd love to see something similar on Guernsey's maritime defence history, as well as perhaps the other islands in the bailiwick. Alas, you probably won't be able to get many drone shots of them thanks to the placement of the airport, but it'd be great to hear you go into as much detail about the structures I grew up with as the ones a short (and often cancelled) boat ride away!
A fascinating video, and ,having no realistic opportunity to travel from southern California to the channel islands to view the fortifications, I would like very much to see the planned sequels.
@@EVERSMAN42 Thank you for the suggestion, but I have caregiving responsibilities. Plus, I hate flying. 11 1/2 hrs SAN LHR: I'd rather be getting a root canal. :-(
Being Jersey cattle dairy farmers in the US, we found this episode particularly interesting. One day, we want to visit the island where the world’s best dairy cows come from….but now we have even more reasons to visit!! Very envious of you Drac! Keep up The good work!
I've been fortunate enough to twice tour the island, taking in its history with a Jersey native. She was born in St. Ouen, just after the last hostilities, the 17th of 22 children. Her parents living through the occupation and near starvation during the '44-'45 winter May 9th is the still celebrated as Liberation Day, when the fuehrers forces surrendered to officers from the HMS Beagle. Narragansett Bay
@@paulqueripel3493 Paul, My friend Elizabeth is part of the Goodchild family. Her late father was the caretaker at the former Northdale Estate in St. Ouen. From what we understand the Estate was converted to living spaces in the early '60's. Liz has been across the pond since '68. Thank you.
I think I'll pop over to town hall and see if I can get them to issue me a license to crenellate my house. I mean yeah, I live in the US, I don't have any convenient disused fortifications to mine for materials, and the neighbors would probably object, but it would be interesting to see if they'd grant me the right to do so if I wanted. "A man's home is his castle" should really be taken more literally IMO. I'm quite certain the local township doesn't have any anti-crenellation ordinances in place. Very sloppy, that.
As black powder artillery is completely legal in the US, if you get a few field pieces emplaced and then start constructing a star fort, by the time anyone objects, they'll need air support to do anything about it... :)
The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail-its roof may shake-the wind may blow through it-the storm may enter-the rain may enter-but the King of England cannot enter! - William Pitt the Elder
My great-granddad was stationed in a Napoleon-era Martello tower in the north-east of Jersey during the fall of France in 1940. My great-grandfather was not in the military, nor previously, nor had any military experience at all. He was a potato farmer who had only shot a gun at pests. He was there with two other farmers and was given a rifle and a single 5-round clip. That is all they had against a potential naval landing by the Germans. Thankfully the Germans conducted a landing on the airport, rather than by sea, so my great-grandfather didn’t have to face off against the Kriegsmarine with 5 bullets. Thank you for making videos about Jersey! People think the island is all sun and money, but we have an incredibly rich history.
As an archaeologist and aspiring historian this video was super interesting. A nice mix of archaeo-history and naval history making for a really interesting video. Thank you Drach.
He should approach the owners of Stansted Mountfichette Castle which was rebuilt to 11th Century standards in the 1980’s to find out how they got theirs.
All this talk of German maritime defences brings to mind the suggestion that you cover the island of Heligoland. Thank you for the very interesting video! I wish I could visit the island!
12:40 By the look of it, they also wanted to make sure they could play a rousing game of polo atop their fortifications if need be, although hauling the ponies up via block and tackle seems like it would be a chore. Halfway surprised they didn't put in a small golf course while they were at it, but I suppose it's not Scotland after all.
That's incredible. Sure, many places in Europe can claim to have artifacts of over two thousand years of humanity, but few of them have such a high concentration in a single area. I also imagine it couldn't be overcrowded with tourists at the *best* of times, as Jersey is somewhat remote compared to any number of ancient major cities.
Any plans for follow ups on the defences of other British ports? The Solent forts and the Maunsell forts in the Thames estuary must each be worth an episode alone. Might be an idea to give Faslane a miss though...
The German 319th Infantery Division that occupied the Channel Islands, remained an early war OOB full strength division till the end of the war. Most others were reorganised and thinned out to create more and new divisions in the style that became infamous for Germany of WW2.
Hi Drach, this video brings back memories of spending a week poking around Jersey and Guernsey viewing the same fortifications about a decade or so back. Incredibly interesting. Thankyou for a very interesting vid.
I must admit, hearing about just how much effort the Germans put into the wrong parts of the Atlantic Wall in WW2 is always grimly amusing. Germans: "The English are definitely going to try to liberate the channel islands." British: "Nah, they'll be fine until the end of the war." G:"Norway, for sure!" B: "Wha?? I mean, yes...definitely hitting Norway...." G:"Figured it out! Calais!" B:"Oh, shoot, you even saw my oddly obvious army and everything! You're right, it's Calais" *D-Day happens* G:"Normandy!? But you said it was gonna be Calais!" British Double Agents: "Normandy's just a diversion, the real attack is in Calais. If you think you have problems now, just wait until you pull that army out of Calais to reinforce folks in Normandy" G: "Oh good, we were right, it's Calais." *Proceeds to leave the bulk of the Atlantic Wall forces in Calais waiting for inflatable tanks to float across the Channel for over a month while the Normandy liberators push towards Paris.* G: "Huh, I guess they cancelled the invasion because their diversion went too well. Glad we didn't fall for it. Someone give that definitely loyal German spy an Iron Cross!" (The idea of invading Norway in 1944 always confused me. Given how things were going against the Soviets and in Italy by then, hitting Norway would have been about as logical as hitting Greece at that point. Which might have been a viable alternative to Sicily and Italy when they were deciding where to hit after liberating Tunisia, but even then, these are places so far from the centre of power that it seems completely unreasonable.)
Great video Drach, I lived in Jersey for three years and loved it. At first I made the same mistake as you, I.e. trying to pronounce place names as if in France. The locals don’t do that, E.g. St Aubin is pronounced Saint Ohbins.
When I started taking French a lifetime ago, our teacher explained we would be learning Parisian French - which was different from Quebec French. Due to separation dialects evolve down different paths.
These videos are great, interesting topics and well presented. Sometimes I think the comments are equally valuable, takes a bit more effort but there are some real gems from the viewership.
@@EVERSMAN42 It seems to be a win win situation, we get to enjoy a beautiful island and the island (and you) gets a nice economic boost, it makes everyone happy
@@scrumpydrinker oh absolutely I can't wait to see all the wonderful naval enthusiasts over here. We have such a wealth of stuff that deserves to be seen
My mother (from London) had several relatives who lived on Jersey and Guernsy. Long ago, though - during and between both World Wars. I remember her saying a few times that an uncle of hers owned a house that wound up being at one end of an airfield bult by th Luftwaffe. I have never visited the islands, but maybe one day ... when we can freely travel again.
Great video, I live here looking forward to the other content. I think the first place Câtel de Rozel is unknown even to most islanders! FYI Elizabeth Castle is a castle rather than a fort because it had an official residence for the governor.
US Navy YMS? Yard Mine Sweepers, 160ft wood hulled. One of these later became the film actor John Wayne's Goose? The Sisken perhaps? My father served on one that survived the typhoon in Bruckner bay. YMS 425. The Sisken perhaps? Always spoke of the gun practice tearing the wood hull to pieces, not able to keep up with the convoy, not enough officers on board for a game of bridge. etc.
Although inhabitants of the Channel Islands owe fealty to Elizabeth Windsor, it is in her capacity as the Duke (that's right, she's a duke, not a duchess) of Normandy. The islands are the last remnant of that medieval fiefdom.
We have world war era maritime defences in West Australia where I live that look very similar to the german defences you showed in the video. I’ve always found it interesting how they planned the network of watchposts, batteries and command centers along the 100ish kilometer stretch of coast they bothered defending here. Most of the batteries have been turned into museums but the watchposts were just blocked up and left for people to throw beer bottles at and graffiti.
I spent a little over a month on Jersey this past winter - Nice place to visit, not much to do if you live there (other than drink your money away or stand in the 30 minute McDonald's queue), reminded me of an Island version of London - Expensive, cultural, and to be viewed with suspicion by Northerners. I'm still somewhat mystified by the Libertybus not doing return tickets.
Drach: “Named after Queen Elizabeth I by the then Governor Sir Walter Raleigh…” Me, living in a state named after Queen Elizabeth I: “Well, that wasn’t the last time he named something after Queen Elizabeth…”
A very long time ago I was on Jersey for a holiday, and I remember scrambling around the the German defences there. At least now I know why some of them were so wrecked! But they're worth a look - and they're not hard to find.
Are you going to include any of the forts from the other islands? Alderney has some massive forts still in place and guernsey has tours around some of the 12" artillery batteries
Very good and informative video overall with some great visual, though I do have to question the pronunciation of some of the place names. Maybe you deliberately chose to say them closer to the original pronunciations rather than how we say them today.
Circa 1802 - UK "I shall rule the waves and the world!" vs France "No, I shall rule the waves and the world!" Circa 2022 - UK "My fishy" vs France "No, my fishy"
Some of the Nazi bunkers became a pissoir and within the concrete are the bones of many Eastern Europeans brought over to build the fortifications. The really great thing about Jersey history is how well fortifications have been preserved (partly because demolishing them is not an easy task) and the amount of history that is archived. Whether you are on a duck boat going out to Elizabeth castle or wading out at low tide to a Norman castle to walking through a 4000 yr-old yr neolithic tomb at La Hougue Bie....there are many great historical moments to experience on this island.
Pinned post for Q&A :)
Thanks good man, I get to see my birthplace which I have not seen since 1980, time to hit play.
What was the plan for the Palmerston Forts and how effective do you think they could have been had they seen action?
Puckle gun expedition to the west indies. th-cam.com/video/GPC7KiYDshw/w-d-xo.html
So when can we expect a show devoted to the defence of the realm by cormorants on seaside observation duty? ;-)
While you were in the United States, did you have time to visit Castle Island in Boston? If not is that something you would consider in the future as it's a fairly well preserved star fort?
"Oldest see fortification is probably not where you expect..." - Drach.
"Is it between Britain and France?" - me.
the fact that you can see fortifications from the iron age to ww2 on just 1 relatively small island is incredible.
Actually, it's all of the islands. Am from Guernsey ,we have all the same stuff
Defense in layers has been around a long time.
not only that but, as I understand, a rather lovely place to visit for a number of other reasons
Finally, someone acknowledged the existence of my home online
And a story, for all who care to read it. It was the end of the war. After living all his then-short life starving under the thumb of the Germans, my grandfather recieved his red cross parcel containing nice things like oranges, chocolate and the like. The chocolate bar, he ate sliver by sliver until it went mouldy months later. The orange, meanwhile, he didn't quite know how to deal with. So he took a bite, without peeling or slicing, like you would with an apple.
Thanks for the cows...I grew up on a small dairy farm and the Jersey's were my favorite breed. Sweet tempered, high yields and easy to work with. Fresh made butter from a Jersey has to be tried to be believed, nothing you can buy in a store comes close.
We really do owe the germans a thank you for building our sea defences for us. They've held up quite nicely over the years.
Yes the slave labour did a wonderful job under horrific conditions.
@@scottrussell3862 Exactly, what a saving on labour costs.
Did you miss the part where your people built it with a gun trained on them?
@@dougfoust117 I get the feeling you're missing what I thought was the obvious sarcasm in my original comment.
@@GiveMeBackMyUsernameTH-cam it was blindingly obvious… I guess some people just don’t do sarcasm.
Does anyone else play 'Where's Drach?' when watching the aerial shots? I feel I have a better than average score in this game... Great video, Drach, as always!
I've spotted a Dr. Alexander, me thinks
@@Tuning3434 good eyes
It would be much easier if he wore a red & white striped jersey and beanie.
Time Team has two excellent episodes on Jersey, one exploring the WW2 era German fortifications and the other investigating Mont Orgueil castle, Season 18 Episodes 4 and 8.
Thought of the latter right away when I saw the title off this video. Really worth a watch (like most time team episodes). Did you know that they are crowd funding new episodes at the moment?
@@jkausti6737 Thank you so much for posting this, I didn't know there was a new season coming out! You've really made my day!
@@BirdieRumia The first two new episodes are out, you can find them in the Time Team Official TH-cam channel. I just realized that and haven't watched them myself yet. Since this new series is as I understand 100% crowdfunded (via patreon) it's only 3 episodes, but they might carry on for the next one as long as the funding keeps coming.
Just if anyone is interested the Time Team Classic TH-cam channels latest upload is the S18E8 "‘Cannons and Castles’ (Orgueil, Jersey)" episode.
I sent a 1800’s document to Jersey, a letter of attorney of the commander of the fort of Jersey dated in the 1870’s. A bit of history I thought was best in their hands. That made this video interesting for me.
When was toilet paper invented?
Great video, even as a Jersey local I learned a lot from watching this! I’m part of a group of volunteers helping out with the restoration of the M19 automatic mortar bunker at Corbiere, and the other fortifications in that part of the island. It means a lot to see the work of our team being recognised, alongside this excellent and informative presentation of the history we strive to keep alive here.
Drach drones on about Jersey...
love it, though!
Drach does Time Team.😁 Jersey is a place we've always wanted to visit, we can fly direct from Birmingham Airport.
Some solar panels, wind turbines, gardening gear and rain water tanks - nice little zombie apocalypse havens.
Elizabeth Castle has been my planned zombie bug out location for years, though getting there does mean getting close to the heavily populated area of St. Helier.
@@GiveMeBackMyUsernameTH-cam yeah most of these sort of sites do have drawbacks like that, but it's not like it's in the heart of London or New York. lol
I was born in Jersey and lived there most of my life.
Rogal Dorn would love this magnificent island
@UNSCForwardontodawn exactly curtain walls and multiple doors threw me back to vraks pretty fast
This was really interesting, and I can't wait to watch future videos on Jersey's defences!
I'd love to see something similar on Guernsey's maritime defence history, as well as perhaps the other islands in the bailiwick. Alas, you probably won't be able to get many drone shots of them thanks to the placement of the airport, but it'd be great to hear you go into as much detail about the structures I grew up with as the ones a short (and often cancelled) boat ride away!
USN New Jersey needs to visit this Jersey at some point. Match made in naval defense heaven.
A fascinating video, and ,having no realistic opportunity to travel from southern California to the channel islands to view the fortifications, I would like very much to see the planned sequels.
You never know, we are a 45 min flight from London. A weekend here on the end of a uk trip is pretty easy
@@EVERSMAN42 Thank you for the suggestion, but I have caregiving responsibilities. Plus, I hate flying. 11 1/2 hrs SAN LHR: I'd rather be getting a root canal. :-(
Being Jersey cattle dairy farmers in the US, we found this episode particularly interesting. One day, we want to visit the island where the world’s best dairy cows come from….but now we have even more reasons to visit!! Very envious of you Drac! Keep up
The good work!
Guernsey cattle is better!
@@hammyarse8142 haha we disagree!
Come see us, we love American visitors
@@EVERSMAN42 we hope to one day! It’s hard to leave the Jerseys for long❤️
@@nicefarmscreamery6945 well that is as good a reason as any to stay.
I've been fortunate enough to twice tour the island, taking in its history with a Jersey native. She was born in St. Ouen, just after the last hostilities, the 17th of 22 children. Her parents living through the occupation and near starvation during the '44-'45 winter May 9th is the still celebrated as Liberation Day, when the fuehrers forces surrendered to officers from the HMS Beagle. Narragansett Bay
My family was there during the war, still a couple alive.
@@paulqueripel3493 Paul, My friend Elizabeth is part of the Goodchild family. Her late father was the caretaker at the former Northdale Estate in St. Ouen. From what we understand the Estate was converted to living spaces in the early '60's. Liz has been across the pond since '68. Thank you.
22 children! Lordy!
No prizes for guessing what her parents did to while away the hours until Liberation Day.
Thanks for coming to the island Drach, pleasure showing you around.
Putting Jersey on my holiday travellist, got it!
Please do we would love to have you
Such detailed information in under 30 minutes is remarkable. Bravo
Drach sure can cover a ton of information in a relatively short timeframe. No wonder I've watched the majority of his videos many times!
I think I'll pop over to town hall and see if I can get them to issue me a license to crenellate my house. I mean yeah, I live in the US, I don't have any convenient disused fortifications to mine for materials, and the neighbors would probably object, but it would be interesting to see if they'd grant me the right to do so if I wanted. "A man's home is his castle" should really be taken more literally IMO.
I'm quite certain the local township doesn't have any anti-crenellation ordinances in place. Very sloppy, that.
The US Constitution does authorize Congress to issue letters of marque to privateers, but I haven't had any luck getting one yet. You never know.
@@RCAvhstape Never can tell when it might come in handy to have one.
Fortified houses (blockhouses) did exist in North America, so I guess it might just be legal to have one Stateside.
As black powder artillery is completely legal in the US, if you get a few field pieces emplaced and then start constructing a star fort, by the time anyone objects, they'll need air support to do anything about it... :)
The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail-its roof may shake-the wind may blow through it-the storm may enter-the rain may enter-but the King of England cannot enter! - William Pitt the Elder
I usually find an excuse to be busy elsewhere when somone offers to show me their holiday videos, but for you Drach, I make an exception.
My great-granddad was stationed in a Napoleon-era Martello tower in the north-east of Jersey during the fall of France in 1940. My great-grandfather was not in the military, nor previously, nor had any military experience at all. He was a potato farmer who had only shot a gun at pests. He was there with two other farmers and was given a rifle and a single 5-round clip. That is all they had against a potential naval landing by the Germans. Thankfully the Germans conducted a landing on the airport, rather than by sea, so my great-grandfather didn’t have to face off against the Kriegsmarine with 5 bullets.
Thank you for making videos about Jersey! People think the island is all sun and money, but we have an incredibly rich history.
Wow, any earlier and Jellico would still have been a midshipman on HMS Victoria!
Beatty would still have not informed him either.
As an archaeologist and aspiring historian this video was super interesting. A nice mix of archaeo-history and naval history making for a really interesting video. Thank you Drach.
Good luck on getting your License To Crenulate.
He should approach the owners of Stansted Mountfichette Castle which was rebuilt to 11th Century standards in the 1980’s to find out how they got theirs.
All this talk of German maritime defences brings to mind the suggestion that you cover the island of Heligoland.
Thank you for the very interesting video! I wish I could visit the island!
12:40 By the look of it, they also wanted to make sure they could play a rousing game of polo atop their fortifications if need be, although hauling the ponies up via block and tackle seems like it would be a chore. Halfway surprised they didn't put in a small golf course while they were at it, but I suppose it's not Scotland after all.
Nice place for the fort commander to get some 9-iron practice in. And the balls may just wash up on the beach below.
Croquet
Visited Jersey twice as a kid (first flights :) ) and went to Gorey & Elizabeth castles. Sadly can't remember much of them now.
Drach- another great place is Dalt Villa on Ibiza. Wonderful fortifications over a harbor
Time Team did an episode on one of the channel island....I can't remember which one. but it was fascinating.
Spent a month's holiday in Jersey and checked out a lot of the fortifications along the coast, Elizabeth castle was very cool.
Channel Islands a major area of interest for me. Thank you for another great program.
Really enjoyed the Unicorn tour!
The Jersey tourist board are gonna love this video!
Excellent Drach, I have always been fascinated by the Channel Islands. Welcome back.
That's incredible. Sure, many places in Europe can claim to have artifacts of over two thousand years of humanity, but few of them have such a high concentration in a single area. I also imagine it couldn't be overcrowded with tourists at the *best* of times, as Jersey is somewhat remote compared to any number of ancient major cities.
Woke up looking forward to this and I have the flu. I can relax today in my misery.
Yes!!! I love Channel Islands content! Thanks for making this
Any plans for follow ups on the defences of other British ports?
The Solent forts and the Maunsell forts in the Thames estuary must each be worth an episode alone.
Might be an idea to give Faslane a miss though...
Outstanding drone videography Drach! Very interesting video, thank you.
“Plenty of fish” definitely got a chuckle from me.
As a Jersey local, thank you for this Drac. A very enjoyable watch.
The German 319th Infantery Division that occupied the Channel Islands, remained an early war OOB full strength division till the end of the war. Most others were reorganised and thinned out to create more and new divisions in the style that became infamous for Germany of WW2.
Not a bad place to sit out the war.
@@WALTERBROADDUS nope. Though "The Butter Front" (Denmark) was probably even nicer.
@@PalleRasmussen you probably would get mail a lot better in Denmark. 🤔✉️📫
@@WALTERBROADDUS and more food 😉
@@PalleRasmussen till transferred to the eastern front
A fascinating history. Love to visit.
Hi Drach, this video brings back memories of spending a week poking around Jersey and Guernsey viewing the same fortifications about a decade or so back. Incredibly interesting. Thankyou for a very interesting vid.
I must admit, hearing about just how much effort the Germans put into the wrong parts of the Atlantic Wall in WW2 is always grimly amusing.
Germans: "The English are definitely going to try to liberate the channel islands."
British: "Nah, they'll be fine until the end of the war."
G:"Norway, for sure!"
B: "Wha?? I mean, yes...definitely hitting Norway...."
G:"Figured it out! Calais!"
B:"Oh, shoot, you even saw my oddly obvious army and everything! You're right, it's Calais"
*D-Day happens*
G:"Normandy!? But you said it was gonna be Calais!"
British Double Agents: "Normandy's just a diversion, the real attack is in Calais. If you think you have problems now, just wait until you pull that army out of Calais to reinforce folks in Normandy"
G: "Oh good, we were right, it's Calais."
*Proceeds to leave the bulk of the Atlantic Wall forces in Calais waiting for inflatable tanks to float across the Channel for over a month while the Normandy liberators push towards Paris.*
G: "Huh, I guess they cancelled the invasion because their diversion went too well. Glad we didn't fall for it. Someone give that definitely loyal German spy an Iron Cross!"
(The idea of invading Norway in 1944 always confused me. Given how things were going against the Soviets and in Italy by then, hitting Norway would have been about as logical as hitting Greece at that point. Which might have been a viable alternative to Sicily and Italy when they were deciding where to hit after liberating Tunisia, but even then, these are places so far from the centre of power that it seems completely unreasonable.)
Great video Drach, I lived in Jersey for three years and loved it. At first I made the same mistake as you, I.e. trying to pronounce place names as if in France. The locals don’t do that, E.g. St Aubin is pronounced Saint Ohbins.
When I started taking French a lifetime ago, our teacher explained we would be learning Parisian French - which was different from Quebec French. Due to separation dialects evolve down different paths.
These videos are great, interesting topics and well presented. Sometimes I think the comments are equally valuable, takes a bit more effort but there are some real gems from the viewership.
Good morning and thanks for the fresh watch 'n listen!
looks like the Ideal place for a rock music festival!
Great drone footage Drach
Nice expansion of your usual comprehensive vids. I really enjoyed it.
Excellent change of pace, thanks Drach.
Wonderful video. Thank you.
Wow Brilliant.
Thank You
Cueing up Bon Jovi in anticipation of BB-62 content...wait...Drach said "Jersey" literally, not "Jersey" as in "New Jersey".
and now due to Drach the Island is facing a new invasion, this time one from naval enthusiasts
My evil plan has come to fruition
@@EVERSMAN42 It seems to be a win win situation, we get to enjoy a beautiful island and the island (and you) gets a nice economic boost, it makes everyone happy
@@scrumpydrinker oh absolutely I can't wait to see all the wonderful naval enthusiasts over here. We have such a wealth of stuff that deserves to be seen
The Iron Age Embankment reminded me of The "Danes Dyke" at Flamborough Head.
Can't wait for your in-depth look at the Channel Islands.
My mother (from London) had several relatives who lived on Jersey and Guernsy. Long ago, though - during and between both World Wars. I remember her saying a few times that an uncle of hers owned a house that wound up being at one end of an airfield bult by th Luftwaffe. I have never visited the islands, but maybe one day ... when we can freely travel again.
I love the history of Jersey Awsome vid
Are there recorded attacks on the islands by Barbary Pirates & other slavers & if so, were the fortifications effective?
And of course Drach, May the Fourth be with you.
I always travel once a year from Britain to spend a week on one of the Channel Islands to have a nice mini holiday.
Really liked this video.
Great video, I live here looking forward to the other content. I think the first place Câtel de Rozel is unknown even to most islanders! FYI Elizabeth Castle is a castle rather than a fort because it had an official residence for the governor.
The original Plan of keeping the Ocean Far away is the best plan for preventing a Seaborne Invasion.
"Climate change" seems to be reversing that...
Enjoyed this episode immensely
18:12 Is that Dr. Clarke?
Maybe...
US Navy YMS? Yard Mine Sweepers, 160ft wood hulled. One of these later became the film actor John Wayne's Goose? The Sisken perhaps? My father served on one that survived the typhoon in Bruckner bay. YMS 425. The Sisken perhaps?
Always spoke of the gun practice tearing the wood hull to pieces, not able to keep up with the convoy, not enough officers on board for a game of bridge. etc.
Although inhabitants of the Channel Islands owe fealty to Elizabeth Windsor, it is in her capacity as the Duke (that's right, she's a duke, not a duchess) of Normandy. The islands are the last remnant of that medieval fiefdom.
That picture of German troops marching through the town is of Guernsey, and that is still Lloyds bank today.
We have world war era maritime defences in West Australia where I live that look very similar to the german defences you showed in the video. I’ve always found it interesting how they planned the network of watchposts, batteries and command centers along the 100ish kilometer stretch of coast they bothered defending here. Most of the batteries have been turned into museums but the watchposts were just blocked up and left for people to throw beer bottles at and graffiti.
Cool video, Drach! Keep 'em coming. 😁
I spent a little over a month on Jersey this past winter - Nice place to visit, not much to do if you live there (other than drink your money away or stand in the 30 minute McDonald's queue), reminded me of an Island version of London - Expensive, cultural, and to be viewed with suspicion by Northerners. I'm still somewhat mystified by the Libertybus not doing return tickets.
This is nice. Just nice.
Drach: “Named after Queen Elizabeth I by the then Governor Sir Walter Raleigh…”
Me, living in a state named after Queen Elizabeth I: “Well, that wasn’t the last time he named something after Queen Elizabeth…”
There was a pretty good episode of Time Team about the defenses on Jersey. With a focus towards the WW2 era stuff.
A very long time ago I was on Jersey for a holiday, and I remember scrambling around the the German defences there. At least now I know why some of them were so wrecked! But they're worth a look - and they're not hard to find.
Drach, super video as always sir, I trust you were sponsored by the States of Jersey tourist board.
Nah just me
I read somewhere that Jersey was very important during the hundred years war against the cows? A regular royal slaughterhouse.
Jersey was probably the best place a German could be posted in WW2, there were certainly worse options...
I'll second that one. When you think of all the pretty crappy places for a German to get stuck in.
Except the period of serious starvation that occurred in 1944-1945 when Jersey became blockaded by the Allies after D-day.
The only thing missing is maps, never too many drawings or maps.
The Dutch Caribbean island of St. Eustatuis also has a lot of forts, although only a few are worth a visit.
It would be cool if you did a vid on the puertorican capitol costadefenses like "El morro"
Are you going to include any of the forts from the other islands? Alderney has some massive forts still in place and guernsey has tours around some of the 12" artillery batteries
I told him he needed to look at the nunnery. Fascinating roman fortress
I say, you seem to be rather enjoying your new camera drone!
Jersey! Thanks for doing a video on us!
Quite illuminating and similar to Bermuda and Gibraltar but much more accessible to Britain and France.
Very good and informative video overall with some great visual, though I do have to question the pronunciation of some of the place names. Maybe you deliberately chose to say them closer to the original pronunciations rather than how we say them today.
My name is James, 7th Earl of Bond and I have a license to crenellate.
Excellent drone work Drach
Eccellente! Grazie Mille. [Australia]
Circa 1802 - UK "I shall rule the waves and the world!" vs France "No, I shall rule the waves and the world!"
Circa 2022 - UK "My fishy" vs France "No, my fishy"
My Dad's from Guernsey and I can already hear the jealousy! 😁
That was the main reason I invited him was to make Guernsey jealous 🤣
How about a video on Fort Drum? The concrete battleship in Manila harbor.
Some of the Nazi bunkers became a pissoir and within the concrete are the bones of many Eastern Europeans brought over to build the fortifications. The really great thing about Jersey history is how well fortifications have been preserved (partly because demolishing them is not an easy task) and the amount of history that is archived. Whether you are on a duck boat going out to Elizabeth castle or wading out at low tide to a Norman castle to walking through a 4000 yr-old yr neolithic tomb at La Hougue Bie....there are many great historical moments to experience on this island.
I loved spending summers on the channel islands, so much to explore. Shame it's got a relatively high price tag to go there these days.