A question for OOTT. My great great uncle served with the U.S infantry during World War 1 as a frontline interpreter/translator, as his family was German American and spoke German at home. I was curious if you guys knew more about frontline interpreters as I am sure there would have been a docent amount. Keep up the great work, and love your show.
A note for U.S. enlistment, $15 a month (later raised to $30) was a strong motivator for poor rural Americans. Three hot meals a day, clothing provided for; it's an appealing deal.
Most of my research is focused on the U.S 167th infantry (4th Alabama), Rainbow Division. AL national guard paid $15/month during the Call Up on the border, then at some point after federalization the Army raised it to $30. Don't have my books in front of me so I can't tell you exactly when
Steve Kaczynski Absolutely. Here in Germany for example, our army really struggles to get people list in so the ones who actually do can expect massive of benefits. Free housing, great salary right from day one on, payed drivers licenses, a preferred status at universities and so on and so on. I'm currently thinking of listing in as well since I was born into rather poor circumstances.
Hi Indy and crew, this is a question for Out Of The Trenches. Can you explain the situation of Gibraltar during WW1? Did some important event happen? Thanks and keep going!
Being sent back to the Old Country to fight and then make the trip back to Ellis Island IF you survive? Almost as bad as leaving my work badge at home and having to go back for it.
Question for OUT OF THE TRENCHES: In your latest episode of OUT OF THE ETHER; "The Only German Submarine Attack On US Shore in WW1", did a discussion about, how underated Cruiser Submarines was doing the first world war. So my question is, what made cruiser submarines deferent from the other submarines, what kind of impact did they have, and how was life like on one of these war machines ??? Greetings from Denmark. PS: love the show and give Flo a raise :D
yes & no. keep in mind the extremely limited range/fuel capacity of these early planes. the "mothership" idea allowed for fighter support at ranges where no escort interceptor could be expected to follow. Also Indie mentioned it was adapted by the navy. in the days before RADAR, this would greatly aid in maritime recon & sector patrol
the carrier part was excelent, maybe even better then doing it on ships since you where not limited to the sea, the problem was how dangerous and easy to destroy an airship was in relation to a ship.
The US worked on the concept of a flying aircraft carrier in the late 20s and early 30s. They even built the two Zeppelins, Akron and Macon, both able to launch and recover their planes in flight and with a hangar capacity of 5 planes. However both were lost, the Akron in a storm and the Macon due to a structural failure. Because of increased range of planes and aircraft carriers beginning to show their usefulness the concept of a Zeppeling carrying planes became obsolete. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akron-class_airship
My great-great uncle Patrick O'Shea, my great-grandmother's brother, immigrated to the US in the 1900s, served in the US army in the Great War, came back, got a pension, worked and saved for a few more years and then moved back to Ireland in the 1920s with enough money to buy a farm, get married and have kids. One of my grandfather's early memories was when Uncle Pat moved back to Ireland. I've met his daughter, her husband and son and her brothers. She's my dad's age though my grandfather's first cousin.
Parasite fighters were an idea that was tried up though 1949 with the jet powered XF-85 Goblin mini-fighter (under a B-36 bomber). It never really worked well and was made necessary by the advances in aerial refueling BUT a few F9C Sparrowhawk parasite fighters were deployed somewhat successfully on U.S. Airships in the early 1930s including some that were lost when USS Macon went down. They also served as ballast for the airships and could be flown without landing gears to extend their range. One F9C survivor is on display at Udvar-Hazy annex of the Smithsonian in dulles airport, VA. Wicked cool eh?!
Not only that, but over 2 million enlisted on their own. The other 2.7million were drafted. As I've said before, I've never seen a breakdown of the ones who went overseas, but I'd guess of those 2+ million the rate would be similar (40-45% volunteers-55-60% draftees). That's still a pretty high percentage given the carnage.
The US had the USS Macon and USS Akron, two airships of the 20s-30s that were basically designed as flying aircraft carriers. They were around 240m long, carrier up to 5 Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawk that could be launched and recovered thanks to a trapeze system mounted below the airship, and had a range of 11000 km. They were supposed to be part of the scouting force of a fleet, sending their planes ahead instead of going themselves, as an airship is quite a big target. Both of them were lost shortly after their commissioning due to accidents in routine flights.
One additional thing they pointed out the last time we toured the Battleship Texas in Houston was the fact that for many of the young sailors on the ship during the First World War and even into the 20'a and 30's afterwards, it was their first experience with having electricity and in many cases, even having running water, let alone hot water... At that time only a few in major cities would have had electricity, and many poor rural dwellers didn't even have running water unless they had a windmill and cistern setup... Many still carried water to the house in buckets from a well, or from a hand pump on the well if they were lucky.... So basically coming from a poor rural background, which was where most people in the country were from at that time (FAR more rural folks than city dwellers at that time than now) and being assigned to a battleship, would be about like kids today being assigned to the starship Enterprise, an Imperial Star Destroyer, or the Battlestar Galactica.... It was that futuristic back then... Most sailors ate better aboard ship than they had ever eaten in their lives... 3 hots a day from the ship's mess, better clothing than many had at home, issued to them by the service, better health care and dentistry, all paid for and provided by Uncle Sam... For many it was like heaven and a powerful motivator to sign up... Later! OL J R
Indy, you missed what was probably the greatest motivator for American men to fight in WWI--the draft. My father was on the way to the train station in rural Minnesota to be inducted into the Army when the Armistice was declared and he was sent back home.
It’s like the scene from Gangs of New York, where the arriving Irish immigrants are taken off one ship, sign some papers and trade their personal belongings for an Army uniform and rifle, and put onto another ship to go fight for the Union in the Civil War.
Indiana Jones do you mean the flanders fields museum? I went there 4 years ago (I was 13) to bad that I wasn't interested in ww1 at the time. So I didn't understand much of what I was looking at but I do vaguely remember that there was a recreated trench.
What role did music play in the soldier's life? Singing has always been part of the military and also during my time in the German army we sang songs that were originally from the First World War like "Wildgänse rauschen durch die Nacht". Was music just something to overcome boredom and monotony or was it also used to boost morale before an attack? Was music even used in attacks like it is told in the Langemarck myth? How did military music differ in the various countries e.g. have there been bagpipes in the Scottish trenches? Thanks to Flo and his team for the great work!
1. Music was one of the principal forms of entertainment available to the soldier whether it was singing hymns on sunday or baudy ballads about the improbable skills of the Madamoiselles from Armentieres (a song with German Army roots btw). There's multiple records of two sides trading off singing to each other, most memorably (and probably a little exaggeratedly) in the 1914 Christmas Truce. 2. Music was used as a tool for morale as well as for propaganda. Whether it's celebrating the brave deeds, encouraging you to think of home/country/family/women you're fighting for, or enjoying your enemy's failure. One of the surprise hits of late 1914 was a little ditty called "Belgium put the Kibosh on the Kaiser." Its popularity waned somewhat as the war stretched on into years. Soldiers would march to cadence songs, sailors would still do manual labor to sea shanties; it passed the time and set the pace. 3. I don't know enough about the Langemarck myth to tell you about that one but I can tell you that scottish units routinely had bagpipers piping them on into combat. One of the VC winners was a scot who was famed for playing his bagpipes into the enemy trenches. Officially the practice was banned because, well, it supposedly takes seven years to properly train a bagpiper and the wastage rate amongst men standing upright and loudly playing a grating musical instrument tended to be somewhat high. 4. Which types of music were most popular did vary from country to country and even from year to year. Propaganda songs becoming more prevalent later in the war and any songs that were from the enemy side or thought to be bad for morale were discouraged according to the whims of country and commander. The Gallant Hussar was prominently featured in the 1954 WWI movie, "Paths of Glory" and is one example of a popular song on the German side during the war. One thing that does occur to me is that certain very conservative strains of Islam ban music (like the Taliban did) and I wonder if any of the Ottoman empire troops, or, possibly some of the balkan minorities for the Russians, had bans on singing & music. For my money, the best WWI song not written during the war is the cover of "1917" done by Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt; its disquieting use of minor keys and the perspective of a french hooker towards newly arrived American soldiers and a bafflement at the world war are a great example of this channel's slogan... "THIS...is modern war." Hope that helped. I lectured on music (and a few other things) in the war for our local American history museum last winter. The WWI time period occupies a lot of my phd research but the musical aspects are just a minor hobby.
American, Arthur Guy Empey wrote a very popular book in 1917 about his experiences as a volunteer in the British Army during 1915 and 1916. Although in many ways a piece of propaganda, it also presented a relatively gritty view of life in the trenches.
Question for OOTT: My great-grandfather, Solomon Ott (you have my permission to use his name), who was Native American, Choctaw tribe, served in the First World War as a code talker. Could you tell us a bit more about this particular type of service?
Terrell Thomas the most notable units to be integrated before the US started acting as their own force has the be the Harlem Hellfighters , although this was because of racism within the US army at the time , something which the French would later come to appreciate as it gifted them the hardest working men in the force! Only regiment never to lose ground on the battlefield throughout their combat time , first ones into the fight and the last to leave (when they were willing to leave that is!) respect from an appreciative and proud Brit! 😁
I could not tell you which units but some were also attached to the Australian Army Corp at the request of Sir John Monash. His agenda was to build bonds with the US (by fighting side by side with the US) as he was in support for an Australian Republic and saw the US as a potential ally of that new republic.
Pershing wanted a pure American force he did not want Americans to fill the ranks of others. He was so adamant about it that it took General Monash too force his hand even though it wasn't as many troops as Monash originally intended, none the less there were a few thousand that fought in Battle of Hamel, which was the first time a foreign country commanded American troops in battle. Further more Battle of St Quentin Canal where Major General George Windle Read gave command of his troops too General Monash. Monash actually made a "Australian Mission" in which General Read gratefully accepted it was consisting of officers and specialist Soldiers to become advisors in every chain in their Army in doing so sped up Operational management as well as showing their soldiers what to do from battlefield experience, in which most of the American had little of.
The reversed bullets were in fact capable of penetrating typical tank armour, at least at closer ranges, as wartime British tests showed. As for them causing much worse wounds, not really. In fact they would cause lesser wounds compared to the typical pointed bullet that was marginally stable in air but sought a base-first attitude in tissue. This is not to say that soldiers didn't believe that they had a worse wounding effect and may well have reversed bullets to this end.
The "flying aircraft carrier" idea would eventually spring up again in the 1930s, with the US Navy airships Akron and Macon carrying F9C Sparrowhawk fighter planes to extend their scouting range. They used a different system involving a hook on the parasite attaching to a sort of "trapeze" bar on the mothership, allowing the Sparrowhawks to both take off and return again (unlike the parasite fighters used in WWI which could take off but not return).
Airships that can carry aircraft. I love that concept. Too bad it wasn't further expanded upon. Maybe if the Airship had become more viable this concept would be a lot more viable. Great job.
Spensor bullets (cone point bullets) was a big innovation when it came out, with big wide spread reforms from what I hear to weapons in stock. Nations had to spend money to refit their aim sights with features that adjusted to the new range the spensor bullets gave.
Hello Indie, I have a (hopefully interesting) question: Do you know if any army considered paratroopers jumping from airships behind enemies lines? Pretty much all sides had more or less functioning early versions of parachutes at this time (Käthe Paulus developed one in the 19th century in Germany, Gleb Kotelnikov developed a backpack parachute in 1912 in Russia, and Andre-Jaques Garnerin jumped as early as 1797 in France). It seems to me that attacks like that could have brought significant advantages.
Excellent stuff great show . I remember my Art teacher telling us that the some English units used to use cross cut and reversed dumb dumb. 303 bullets against the Turks when they had been found to have shot out of hand captured allied soldiers.
Jamie who gave you the right to confront me with reality???!?!?!?!? No seriously i know but you know what lao-tse said about yt channels?" where one channel dies another is born.A channel is just the outer shape but the subscribers and creators soul contained within it will wander on to incarnate itself in other forms"
Hi The Great War, I visited the Australian Battlefields Of World War One In France and Flanders during World War One and I wanted to ask whether you thought the impact of the Australian Soldiers and especially the commander Monash were significant for the final offensive 100 days offensive.
Question for OOTT: How big a role did ciphers and the cracking of enemy ciphers play in the battlefield? Obviously things like cracking the Zimmermann telegram were important, but that was more of a diplomatic thing.
Question for out of the trenches. If a pilot was shot down behind enemy lines, how did he return? With such extensive trench systems, there doesn’t seem to be an easy way through. Did they try and go through enemy trenches unnoticed or was there a much simpler way to return?
One of my great-grandfathers was awarded American citizenship for serving in WWI. He was Acadian from Nova Scotia and came to Maine to work in the Millinocket mill. When America entered the war he was drafted as a resident alien but was offered citizenship while at Fort Devens, Mass.
A question for another exciting episode for out of the trenches. Since trenches weren't mobile, a perfectly precise artillery gun could theoretically hit it's trench every single time once the range was found. Yet literally millions of shells (and thus millions of tons of materials that were put into making those shells) were wasted as they hit the grounds around the trenches, with only a few managing to hit. Did any of the warring nations try to improve the precision/accuracy of their field guns, if nothing else to decrease the number of wasted shots?
There were steps to improve accuracy and effeciveness of artillery but I don't think reducing the impact area was considered important as accuracy to within a few 10s of meters was generally very high. A trench was not a linear feature, there would be saps, OPs, wire etc in front and many features behind it which were all considered targets. A specific point such as an MG could be plastered quite effectively if fall of shot could be observed. Improvment efforts were made in observation, communication, target identification, counter battery fire and flash spotting/range finding. Shells and guns were improved, the French developed instant action fuzes in 1915 using centrifugal force to arm a sensistive primer. The idea of which was copied by the British with the No106 fuze while the Germans developed a range of their own. The French also pioneered the design of streamlined 'boat tailed' shells for improved range through drag reduction.
Hello Indy and the crew, I was playing battlefield 1, a game you guys did something with, and I have a question. The American announcer say that they are fighting because of the Zimmerman telegram in 1918 in the Argonne forest (giving you guys a timeframe). Did the Americans refer to the Zimmerman telegraph as such or by another name? Did they use any other names other than the Zimmerman telegraph. Just trying to be persistent.
Hey Indy and crew, quick question. Were there any examples of soldiers defecting to the other side in WW1 other than Slavic units in the Austro-Hungarian Army. Did any Germans defect to the Entente or vice versa? Love the show, it's been useful for helping me in school.
Question for OOTT. How bad did the Spanish flu impact the war? Was there some dastardly attempt to weaponize the flu? Was it so bad in some sectors that infected soldiers had to stay and fight? And how did this effect the war effort in the warring countries?
Hi Indy and team from the great corn state Indiana I have a very curious question for out of the trenches what was the artillery used by the Austrians I tried to look them up by I only seen German artillery and few other artillery pieces used by other nations but did they have there own distinct artillery piece or did they mostly bought them from the Germans and other such nations Ps. Love the show and keep it
A question for out of the trenches, I always see pictures of tank crews wearing special masks. What were these called and what was their purpose? Love the show.
I do not know what they were called but they were to protect you from spall. Spall is flakes of a material that are broken off a larger solid body and can be produced by a variety of mechanisms, including as a result of projectile impact. Early form of safety glasses.
could you give details on how zeppelins navigated through cloud cover? I saw a WW1 documentary that described a sort of chained single man pod that hung below the zeppelin. Is this true?
Hey Indy maybe you can give your top 5 or 10 favorite or most important ww1 books some time? Would love to know what you consider the best ones and which ones you recommend reading
2:00 Unless a projectile passes completely through its target, it must deliver all its energy to the target. I don't think there were many bullets passing entirely through tanks. I think the reason blunt projectiles may have done more damage to a tank's crew is that they wouldn't penetrate the armor at all, but would cause spalling on the inner surface of the armor, spraying fragments in a wide pattern. Various militaries used en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-explosive_squash_head rounds during the Cold War to produce the same effect.
Hey Indy. I have 2 questions for OOTT: 1. If Germany had only invaded Luxembourg, would Great Britain have entered the war? 2. What affect did America’s involvement in the war have on German immigrants living in the US? Thanks!
Spaulding effect is the term used when using HE to cause shrapnel to splinter metal inside armored vehicles injuring or if it's a high enough size kill the crew.. This should not be confused with a shape charged high explosive that went this round strikes it's target it directs the explosive to focused point literally burning a hole in the armor. I don't think they had shape charges just yet they were still trying to master breech loaded cannons.. I learned all that courtesy of the U.S. Army thank you Uncle Sam!
Question for OOTT: are there any accounts where school/university programs changed drastically in the war to adapt students to the change or to teach students about what was happening beyond what propaganda was telling nations?
For the American question, it's important to keep in mind the war started i 1914, many of the immigrants from Europe still had family fighting there, imagine what the first-generation Belgians must have felt when the so called "Rape of Belgium" was public, this was one of the many common reasons.
Why did Americans go to Europe to fight and die in the trenches? There's one kind of a big deal reason you neglected: Some were drafted. They didn't have a whole lot of choice in the matter.
Also many of the first troops deployed to France was already serving in National Guard units. My Great Grandfather was a private in the 119th infantry North Carolina National Guard well before the war, and I imagine that like today that a simple farmboy may have joined his local guard unit for some extra pocket money without considering that they may have to go to war.
julius pavilovskis between the world wars there were a small number of airships with fighters in the US military. There were problems with avoiding storms that resulted in the loss of at least one of the airships (this is from memory so be careful). The Prydwin has a metal skin so it also needs assistance from lifting engines since it does not have enough gas to offset it’s full weight. Hence the need for the coolant quest after the Brotherhood of Steel ending.
Hi ! If you want to understand how and why did United Statians went to die in france lokk up Edward Bernays and his "achievements". ARTE on youtube did a nice documentary on it for french and german speakers, and thx for the nice content as ever
Have to admit though, if they actually had went all the way on the mothership idea rather than the navy, im pretty sure that we would've had an actual heli carrier by now
My question is : Is there any idea how many soldiers died who were under the age of 18? My grandfather signed up on his 17th birthday... after basic training and further training as a horse handler(?) in the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery and ended up in France just shy of his 18th birthday
True, but still over 2 million enlisted. The other 2.7 million were drafted. I've never seen a breakdown of of the 2M who went overseas(draft vs volunteer), but my guess the ratios would be similar.
I would imagine some "newer" Americans would feel a patriotic call to help their mother lands. At that time, Many immigrant Americans still had strong ties to relatives in their birth countries.... So returning to fight would be almost a calling of patriotism....
Question for the Out of The Trenches. I always wondered about youth serving back then. How was the conscription then and how about women being actually soldiers not nurses or anything but them being at the front
What happens when a plane is simply dropped from a Zeppelin? Well, considering all aircraft in WWI were started by manually swinging the propeller and electric starters and Coffman cartridges (explosive starters) weren't introduced until the 1930's I wonder that myself. Did they hope the rotary engines (which FYI were called that long before the public started referring the Wankel engine as a such) would start simply from having the rush of the air hitting the propeller spin it fast enough as it glided through the air for the pilot to hit the ignition switch and start the engine? Was there some sort of "engine starter cord" attached to the engine turning it when the airplane was detached from the zeppelin by pulling a lever or something? I reckon these zeppelins would fly faster than the stalling speed of the aircraft attached to them. Just hoping the propeller would spin fast enough on its own from the rush of the air hitting it seems risky. Does anybody have an explanation?
I asked several years ago about the book "The Myth of the Great War: A New Military History of World War I" and was told that the crew had not read it, has anyone gotten a chance to? If so what are your opinions on it?
Wait a second, could anyone elaborate on what Indy was talking about at 3:22 about the British experimenting with unmanned aircraft? That sounds like a HUGE topic that we've never heard about before.
For a WW1 Fighter pilot, the odds of them dying in a training accident, were exactly the same as the odds of dying in battle. I doubt if propaganda was enough of an inspiration to overcome those odds. Had to be something more for those men.
maybe more during the second world world, but it would be weird if not also during the the first, soldiers still considered themselves italian, french etc. so they would go fight for their historic homecountry.
I don't understand why they would drop an unmanned plane from a zeppelin... What was that supposed to achieve? It's just going to crash, what's the point?
A question for OOTT. My great great uncle served with the U.S infantry during World War 1 as a frontline interpreter/translator, as his family was German American and spoke German at home. I was curious if you guys knew more about frontline interpreters as I am sure there would have been a docent amount. Keep up the great work, and love your show.
A note for U.S. enlistment, $15 a month (later raised to $30) was a strong motivator for poor rural Americans. Three hot meals a day, clothing provided for; it's an appealing deal.
Most of my research is focused on the U.S 167th infantry (4th Alabama), Rainbow Division. AL national guard paid $15/month during the Call Up on the border, then at some point after federalization the Army raised it to $30. Don't have my books in front of me so I can't tell you exactly when
My dad signed up in the Army Air Corps in 1938 because where he lived there weren't many job opportunities at the time.
What’s that equivalent to after inflation?
According to inflation calculator about $300.00 ($600).
Steve Kaczynski Absolutely. Here in Germany for example, our army really struggles to get people list in so the ones who actually do can expect massive of benefits. Free housing, great salary right from day one on, payed drivers licenses, a preferred status at universities and so on and so on. I'm currently thinking of listing in as well since I was born into rather poor circumstances.
One of the most interesting out of the trenches
Hi Indy and crew, this is a question for Out Of The Trenches. Can you explain the situation of Gibraltar during WW1? Did some important event happen? Thanks and keep going!
Being sent back to the Old Country to fight and then make the trip back to Ellis Island IF you survive? Almost as bad as leaving my work badge at home and having to go back for it.
Question for OUT OF THE TRENCHES:
In your latest episode of OUT OF THE ETHER; "The Only German Submarine Attack On US Shore in WW1", did a discussion about, how underated Cruiser Submarines was doing the first world war. So my question is, what made cruiser submarines deferent from the other submarines, what kind of impact did they have, and how was life like on one of these war machines ???
Greetings from Denmark.
PS: love the show and give Flo a raise :D
Indy and the CoW, love it!
Flying aircraft carriers seem sort of steampunky but also a bit redundant. Still a cool idea
yes & no. keep in mind the extremely limited range/fuel capacity of these early planes. the "mothership" idea allowed for fighter support at ranges where no escort interceptor could be expected to follow. Also Indie mentioned it was adapted by the navy. in the days before RADAR, this would greatly aid in maritime recon & sector patrol
the carrier part was excelent, maybe even better then doing it on ships since you where not limited to the sea, the problem was how dangerous and easy to destroy an airship was in relation to a ship.
The US worked on the concept of a flying aircraft carrier in the late 20s and early 30s.
They even built the two Zeppelins, Akron and Macon, both able to launch and recover their planes in flight and with a hangar capacity of 5 planes.
However both were lost, the Akron in a storm and the Macon due to a structural failure.
Because of increased range of planes and aircraft carriers beginning to show their usefulness the concept of a Zeppeling carrying planes became obsolete.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akron-class_airship
Real life versions of the Brotherhood of Steel's Prydwen
I know the US later experimented strapping a parasite fighter to the B-36 heavy bomber.
Has the Smithsonian contacted you about acquiring The Chair of Wisdom yet?
I hope not. When this ends, he should take The Chair with him to the new WW2 studio when they get that set up.
My great-great uncle Patrick O'Shea, my great-grandmother's brother, immigrated to the US in the 1900s, served in the US army in the Great War, came back, got a pension, worked and saved for a few more years and then moved back to Ireland in the 1920s with enough money to buy a farm, get married and have kids. One of my grandfather's early memories was when Uncle Pat moved back to Ireland. I've met his daughter, her husband and son and her brothers. She's my dad's age though my grandfather's first cousin.
I've watched your show during my lunch break for the past 3 years now. I still look forward to lunch if there is a new episode!
Parasite fighters were an idea that was tried up though 1949 with the jet powered XF-85 Goblin mini-fighter (under a B-36 bomber). It never really worked well and was made necessary by the advances in aerial refueling BUT a few F9C Sparrowhawk parasite fighters were deployed somewhat successfully on U.S. Airships in the early 1930s including some that were lost when USS Macon went down. They also served as ballast for the airships and could be flown without landing gears to extend their range. One F9C survivor is on display at Udvar-Hazy annex of the Smithsonian in dulles airport, VA. Wicked cool eh?!
You must remember that a lot went less than willingly. The DRAFT!
Not only that, but over 2 million enlisted on their own. The other 2.7million were drafted. As I've said before, I've never seen a breakdown of the ones who went overseas, but I'd guess of those 2+ million the rate would be similar (40-45% volunteers-55-60% draftees). That's still a pretty high percentage given the carnage.
I cannot wait for y'all to cover Alvin C. York in October! That man's story is legendary
The US had the USS Macon and USS Akron, two airships of the 20s-30s that were basically designed as flying aircraft carriers. They were around 240m long, carrier up to 5 Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawk that could be launched and recovered thanks to a trapeze system mounted below the airship, and had a range of 11000 km. They were supposed to be part of the scouting force of a fleet, sending their planes ahead instead of going themselves, as an airship is quite a big target. Both of them were lost shortly after their commissioning due to accidents in routine flights.
One additional thing they pointed out the last time we toured the Battleship Texas in Houston was the fact that for many of the young sailors on the ship during the First World War and even into the 20'a and 30's afterwards, it was their first experience with having electricity and in many cases, even having running water, let alone hot water... At that time only a few in major cities would have had electricity, and many poor rural dwellers didn't even have running water unless they had a windmill and cistern setup... Many still carried water to the house in buckets from a well, or from a hand pump on the well if they were lucky.... So basically coming from a poor rural background, which was where most people in the country were from at that time (FAR more rural folks than city dwellers at that time than now) and being assigned to a battleship, would be about like kids today being assigned to the starship Enterprise, an Imperial Star Destroyer, or the Battlestar Galactica.... It was that futuristic back then...
Most sailors ate better aboard ship than they had ever eaten in their lives... 3 hots a day from the ship's mess, better clothing than many had at home, issued to them by the service, better health care and dentistry, all paid for and provided by Uncle Sam... For many it was like heaven and a powerful motivator to sign up...
Later! OL J R
I really liked this OOTT. It was my favorite.
Indy, you missed what was probably the greatest motivator for American men to fight in WWI--the draft. My father was on the way to the train station in rural Minnesota to be inducted into the Army when the Armistice was declared and he was sent back home.
WHAT'S UP INDIE! I have to say this has been one of the best series of videos on TH-cam.
It’s like the scene from Gangs of New York, where the arriving Irish immigrants are taken off one ship, sign some papers and trade their personal belongings for an Army uniform and rifle, and put onto another ship to go fight for the Union in the Civil War.
Recommend the Belgian War Museum, it has a lot of ww1 stuff
Kansas City has a great one as well.
Indiana Jones do you mean the flanders fields museum? I went there 4 years ago (I was 13) to bad that I wasn't interested in ww1 at the time. So I didn't understand much of what I was looking at but I do vaguely remember that there was a recreated trench.
No, he means the Belgian War Museum in Brussels. It covers everything since the Napoleonic Wars, with particular attention on World War 1.
See: www.klm-mra.be/D7t/nl
ThePunisher_be yep you’re right
What role did music play in the soldier's life? Singing has always been part of the military and also during my time in the German army we sang songs that were originally from the First World War like "Wildgänse rauschen durch die Nacht". Was music just something to overcome boredom and monotony or was it also used to boost morale before an attack? Was music even used in attacks like it is told in the Langemarck myth? How did military music differ in the various countries e.g. have there been bagpipes in the Scottish trenches? Thanks to Flo and his team for the great work!
1. Music was one of the principal forms of entertainment available to the soldier whether it was singing hymns on sunday or baudy ballads about the improbable skills of the Madamoiselles from Armentieres (a song with German Army roots btw). There's multiple records of two sides trading off singing to each other, most memorably (and probably a little exaggeratedly) in the 1914 Christmas Truce.
2. Music was used as a tool for morale as well as for propaganda. Whether it's celebrating the brave deeds, encouraging you to think of home/country/family/women you're fighting for, or enjoying your enemy's failure. One of the surprise hits of late 1914 was a little ditty called "Belgium put the Kibosh on the Kaiser." Its popularity waned somewhat as the war stretched on into years. Soldiers would march to cadence songs, sailors would still do manual labor to sea shanties; it passed the time and set the pace.
3. I don't know enough about the Langemarck myth to tell you about that one but I can tell you that scottish units routinely had bagpipers piping them on into combat. One of the VC winners was a scot who was famed for playing his bagpipes into the enemy trenches. Officially the practice was banned because, well, it supposedly takes seven years to properly train a bagpiper and the wastage rate amongst men standing upright and loudly playing a grating musical instrument tended to be somewhat high.
4. Which types of music were most popular did vary from country to country and even from year to year. Propaganda songs becoming more prevalent later in the war and any songs that were from the enemy side or thought to be bad for morale were discouraged according to the whims of country and commander. The Gallant Hussar was prominently featured in the 1954 WWI movie, "Paths of Glory" and is one example of a popular song on the German side during the war.
One thing that does occur to me is that certain very conservative strains of Islam ban music (like the Taliban did) and I wonder if any of the Ottoman empire troops, or, possibly some of the balkan minorities for the Russians, had bans on singing & music.
For my money, the best WWI song not written during the war is the cover of "1917" done by Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt; its disquieting use of minor keys and the perspective of a french hooker towards newly arrived American soldiers and a bafflement at the world war are a great example of this channel's slogan... "THIS...is modern war." Hope that helped. I lectured on music (and a few other things) in the war for our local American history museum last winter. The WWI time period occupies a lot of my phd research but the musical aspects are just a minor hobby.
Keep up the great work indi i'm a great fan
American, Arthur Guy Empey wrote a very popular book in 1917 about his experiences as a volunteer in the British Army during 1915 and 1916. Although in many ways a piece of propaganda, it also presented a relatively gritty view of life in the trenches.
Airships are cool.
Question for OOTT: My great-grandfather, Solomon Ott (you have my permission to use his name), who was Native American, Choctaw tribe, served in the First World War as a code talker. Could you tell us a bit more about this particular type of service?
I thought Native Code Talkers were only used in WW2
Navajos served at code talkers in WWII, but the Choctaw pioneered the concept in WWI. Not sure why they switched tribes & languages between wars.
The type of weapons and tactics in this conflict will always amaze me.
What American Military units were integrated into British and French forces by General John Pershing
Terrell Thomas the most notable units to be integrated before the US started acting as their own force has the be the Harlem Hellfighters , although this was because of racism within the US army at the time , something which the French would later come to appreciate as it gifted them the hardest working men in the force! Only regiment never to lose ground on the battlefield throughout their combat time , first ones into the fight and the last to leave (when they were willing to leave that is!) respect from an appreciative and proud Brit! 😁
I could not tell you which units but some were also attached to the Australian Army Corp at the request of Sir John Monash. His agenda was to build bonds with the US (by fighting side by side with the US) as he was in support for an Australian Republic and saw the US as a potential ally of that new republic.
Pershing wanted a pure American force he did not want Americans to fill the ranks of others. He was so adamant about it that it took General Monash too force his hand even though it wasn't as many troops as Monash originally intended, none the less there were a few thousand that fought in Battle of Hamel, which was the first time a foreign country commanded American troops in battle.
Further more Battle of St Quentin Canal where Major General George Windle Read gave command of his troops too General Monash. Monash actually made a "Australian Mission" in which General Read gratefully accepted it was consisting of officers and specialist Soldiers to become advisors in every chain in their Army in doing so sped up Operational management as well as showing their soldiers what to do from battlefield experience, in which most of the American had little of.
The reversed bullets were in fact capable of penetrating typical tank armour, at least at closer ranges, as wartime British tests showed. As for them causing much worse wounds, not really. In fact they would cause lesser wounds compared to the typical pointed bullet that was marginally stable in air but sought a base-first attitude in tissue. This is not to say that soldiers didn't believe that they had a worse wounding effect and may well have reversed bullets to this end.
The "flying aircraft carrier" idea would eventually spring up again in the 1930s, with the US Navy airships Akron and Macon carrying F9C Sparrowhawk fighter planes to extend their scouting range. They used a different system involving a hook on the parasite attaching to a sort of "trapeze" bar on the mothership, allowing the Sparrowhawks to both take off and return again (unlike the parasite fighters used in WWI which could take off but not return).
A video on the myths and legends of the battlefields would be very interesting
Airships that can carry aircraft. I love that concept. Too bad it wasn't further expanded upon. Maybe if the Airship had become more viable this concept would be a lot more viable. Great job.
Imagine a zippline with planes on it that is BADASS
Artillery adds dignity, to what would otherwise be an ugly brawl
Just like bringing a tank to a knife fight.
Poison gas adds dignity, to what would otherwise be an ugly brawl. Wait, no it doesn't, I think this artillery thing is a load of bollocks!
Loading bollocks into artillery will certainly not add to dignity.
Wasn't this from the Napoleonic era? I don't know if HE shrapnel loaded artillery would still be considered as having any dignity.
It´s a quote from Frederick the great
Spensor bullets (cone point bullets) was a big innovation when it came out, with big wide spread reforms from what I hear to weapons in stock. Nations had to spend money to refit their aim sights with features that adjusted to the new range the spensor bullets gave.
Hello Indie, I have a (hopefully interesting) question: Do you know if any army considered paratroopers jumping from airships behind enemies lines? Pretty much all sides had more or less functioning early versions of parachutes at this time (Käthe Paulus developed one in the 19th century in Germany, Gleb Kotelnikov developed a backpack parachute in 1912 in Russia, and Andre-Jaques Garnerin jumped as early as 1797 in France). It seems to me that attacks like that could have brought significant advantages.
Excellent stuff great show . I remember my Art teacher telling us that the some English units used to use cross cut and reversed dumb dumb. 303 bullets against the Turks when they had been found to have shot out of hand captured allied soldiers.
Just rename the channel to the 20th century.i dont want you to stop at 1918.
Ismir Eghal nope this channel will die in 1918 if you like it or not
He has a new show, Between two wars, which covers the interwar period. There will also be a WW2 show, I hope...
Jamie who gave you the right to confront me with reality???!?!?!?!?
No seriously i know but you know what lao-tse said about yt channels?" where one channel dies another is born.A channel is just the outer shape but the subscribers and creators soul contained within it will wander on to incarnate itself in other forms"
Luke Skywalker Wheb would that be though? I'm going to be in my 50s once that show airs around 2030s.
Go to timeghosts
2:01 Camera operator : «Too close, too close, too close! I said too close!!!»
Hi The Great War, I visited the Australian Battlefields Of World War One In France and Flanders during World War One and I wanted to ask whether you thought the impact of the Australian Soldiers and especially the commander Monash were significant for the final offensive 100 days offensive.
Interesting that anti-tank reverse bullets have somewhat the same result as the modern HESH rounds.
Guessing the head on HESH rounds are designed to improve range and accuracy.
*H E S H*
Question for OOTT: How big a role did ciphers and the cracking of enemy ciphers play in the battlefield? Obviously things like cracking the Zimmermann telegram were important, but that was more of a diplomatic thing.
early trench squad reporting to duty
Question for out of the trenches. If a pilot was shot down behind enemy lines, how did he return? With such extensive trench systems, there doesn’t seem to be an easy way through. Did they try and go through enemy trenches unnoticed or was there a much simpler way to return?
One of my great-grandfathers was awarded American citizenship for serving in WWI. He was Acadian from Nova Scotia and came to Maine to work in the Millinocket mill. When America entered the war he was drafted as a resident alien but was offered citizenship while at Fort Devens, Mass.
A question for another exciting episode for out of the trenches. Since trenches weren't mobile, a perfectly precise artillery gun could theoretically hit it's trench every single time once the range was found. Yet literally millions of shells (and thus millions of tons of materials that were put into making those shells) were wasted as they hit the grounds around the trenches, with only a few managing to hit. Did any of the warring nations try to improve the precision/accuracy of their field guns, if nothing else to decrease the number of wasted shots?
There were steps to improve accuracy and effeciveness of artillery but I don't think reducing the impact area was considered important as accuracy to within a few 10s of meters was generally very high. A trench was not a linear feature, there would be saps, OPs, wire etc in front and many features behind it which were all considered targets. A specific point such as an MG could be plastered quite effectively if fall of shot could be observed. Improvment efforts were made in observation, communication, target identification, counter battery fire and flash spotting/range finding. Shells and guns were improved, the French developed instant action fuzes in 1915 using centrifugal force to arm a sensistive primer. The idea of which was copied by the British with the No106 fuze while the Germans developed a range of their own. The French also pioneered the design of streamlined 'boat tailed' shells for improved range through drag reduction.
Hello Indy and the crew, I was playing battlefield 1, a game you guys did something with, and I have a question. The American announcer say that they are fighting because of the Zimmerman telegram in 1918 in the Argonne forest (giving you guys a timeframe). Did the Americans refer to the Zimmerman telegraph as such or by another name? Did they use any other names other than the Zimmerman telegraph. Just trying to be persistent.
Hey Indy and crew, quick question. Were there any examples of soldiers defecting to the other side in WW1 other than Slavic units in the Austro-Hungarian Army. Did any Germans defect to the Entente or vice versa? Love the show, it's been useful for helping me in school.
1:55 Are these scenes from the 1927 movie "The Somme"?
You mentioned Germany experimenting with airships carrying planes, but I can’t find anything on that. Only the UK and USA had them.
Indy what do thinks was more effective for anti tank rounds the K bullets or the reversed bullets?
Wait if you increase the surface area, wouldn't the impact be lessened?
i miss watching his videos its been months
"How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen Paree?"
Question for OOTT. How bad did the Spanish flu impact the war? Was there some dastardly attempt to weaponize the flu? Was it so bad in some sectors that infected soldiers had to stay and fight? And how did this effect the war effort in the warring countries?
Hi Indy and team from the great corn state Indiana I have a very curious question for out of the trenches what was the artillery used by the Austrians I tried to look them up by I only seen German artillery and few other artillery pieces used by other nations but did they have there own distinct artillery piece or did they mostly bought them from the Germans and other such nations
Ps. Love the show and keep it
It's really amazing that around > a million Americans fought during June-November 1918....
A question for out of the trenches, I always see pictures of tank crews wearing special masks. What were these called and what was their purpose? Love the show.
I do not know what they were called but they were to protect you from spall. Spall is flakes of a material that are broken off a larger solid body and can be produced by a variety of mechanisms, including as a result of projectile impact. Early form of safety glasses.
Mothership is a type of big vehicles which launches smaller vehicles
could you give details on how zeppelins navigated through cloud cover? I saw a WW1 documentary that described a sort of chained single man pod that hung below the zeppelin. Is this true?
Hey Indy maybe you can give your top 5 or 10 favorite or most important ww1 books some time? Would love to know what you consider the best ones and which ones you recommend reading
Tell more about the Richtofens!!
2:00 Unless a projectile passes completely through its target, it must deliver all its energy to the target. I don't think there were many bullets passing entirely through tanks. I think the reason blunt projectiles may have done more damage to a tank's crew is that they wouldn't penetrate the armor at all, but would cause spalling on the inner surface of the armor, spraying fragments in a wide pattern. Various militaries used en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-explosive_squash_head rounds during the Cold War to produce the same effect.
Hey Indy. I have 2 questions for OOTT:
1. If Germany had only invaded Luxembourg, would Great Britain have entered the war?
2. What affect did America’s involvement in the war have on German immigrants living in the US?
Thanks!
Spaulding effect is the term used when using HE to cause shrapnel to splinter metal inside armored vehicles injuring or if it's a high enough size kill the crew.. This should not be confused with a shape charged high explosive that went this round strikes it's target it directs the explosive to focused point literally burning a hole in the armor. I don't think they had shape charges just yet they were still trying to master breech loaded cannons.. I learned all that courtesy of the U.S. Army thank you Uncle Sam!
Akron and Dacron were American inter war airships with parasite fighter planes. Search for them for an interesting side note to history.
Can you please do a video on anti tank weapons and tactics?
Didn’t british soldiers reverse bullets to cause metal fragments to shoot off of german sniper shields and hit them?
Question for OOTT: are there any accounts where school/university programs changed drastically in the war to adapt students to the change or to teach students about what was happening beyond what propaganda was telling nations?
For the American question, it's important to keep in mind the war started i 1914, many of the immigrants from Europe still had family fighting there, imagine what the first-generation Belgians must have felt when the so called "Rape of Belgium" was public, this was one of the many common reasons.
Why did Americans go to Europe to fight and die in the trenches? There's one kind of a big deal reason you neglected: Some were drafted. They didn't have a whole lot of choice in the matter.
heard about the harlem hellfighters they fought with the french the hellfighters also suffered devastating losses
Also many of the first troops deployed to France was already serving in National Guard units. My Great Grandfather was a private in the 119th infantry North Carolina National Guard well before the war, and I imagine that like today that a simple farmboy may have joined his local guard unit for some extra pocket money without considering that they may have to go to war.
Nope, what you mean is ALMOST ALL WERE DRAFTED into this supposedly "POPULAR" war...
+trauko1388 many young men died for nothing
3:14 ohhh so thats where prydwins desingn from fallout 4 comes from😂😂
julius pavilovskis between the world wars there were a small number of airships with fighters in the US military. There were problems with avoiding storms that resulted in the loss of at least one of the airships (this is from memory so be careful). The Prydwin has a metal skin so it also needs assistance from lifting engines since it does not have enough gas to offset it’s full weight. Hence the need for the coolant quest after the Brotherhood of Steel ending.
What motivated American men the most to enlist, was the DRAFT
Hi ! If you want to understand how and why did United Statians went to die in france lokk up Edward Bernays and his "achievements". ARTE on youtube did a nice documentary on it for french and german speakers, and thx for the nice content as ever
Have to admit though, if they actually had went all the way on the mothership idea rather than the navy, im pretty sure that we would've had an actual heli carrier by now
My question is : Is there any idea how many soldiers died who were under the age of 18? My grandfather signed up on his 17th birthday... after basic training and further training as a horse handler(?) in the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery and ended up in France just shy of his 18th birthday
have you already mentioned the Paris Gun in a previous video? if not, would you talk of it?
yes they have, in one of the regular episodes I believe. I don't know which one though.
thank ya, i hope someone out there will know for sure which and then i can go and enjoy it
th-cam.com/video/4k9Ybsgksus/w-d-xo.html
Here you have (OOTT from 16th Jan 16) around 2:21 ;)
Nice show!!.
SovietRoque_Maro It started shellimg Paris on 23.03.1918 so it should be mentioned in one of the later March episodes
I’d say the draft was the largest motivator of American soldiers and sailors.
True, but still over 2 million enlisted. The other 2.7 million were drafted. I've never seen a breakdown of of the 2M who went overseas(draft vs volunteer), but my guess the ratios would be similar.
DCan you telll us about the Women's royal air force and Florence Greene the last veteran from WW1? Love the show keep it up.
This is a question for out of the trenches
I would imagine some "newer" Americans would feel a patriotic call to help their mother lands. At that time, Many immigrant Americans still had strong ties to relatives in their birth countries....
So returning to fight would be almost a calling of patriotism....
Question for the Out of The Trenches. I always wondered about youth serving back then. How was the conscription then and how about women being actually soldiers not nurses or anything but them being at the front
Sorry, forgot to say thanks and keep it going. Also im from Malaysia. It is in southeast Asia.
the russian bomber reffitted into a mothership?
Most recruits of the American Expeditionary Force were volunteers.
Thanks to The Great War channel you helped me not butcher European names anymore.
Hi can you explain me why the "Gewehr 98" was also used by the germans in WW2 ?
Wasn't there any upgrade of the weapon or something like that?
Robert Suhren
Gewehr 98 was largely superceded by the K98 in WW2
Robert Suhren
Indy would probably watch this video to answer your question.
th-cam.com/video/WrpcpdwEfPk/w-d-xo.html
Ok thanks
What happens when a plane is simply dropped from a Zeppelin? Well, considering all aircraft in WWI were started by manually swinging the propeller and electric starters and Coffman cartridges (explosive starters) weren't introduced until the 1930's I wonder that myself. Did they hope the rotary engines (which FYI were called that long before the public started referring the Wankel engine as a such) would start simply from having the rush of the air hitting the propeller spin it fast enough as it glided through the air for the pilot to hit the ignition switch and start the engine? Was there some sort of "engine starter cord" attached to the engine turning it when the airplane was detached from the zeppelin by pulling a lever or something? I reckon these zeppelins would fly faster than the stalling speed of the aircraft attached to them.
Just hoping the propeller would spin fast enough on its own from the rush of the air hitting it seems risky. Does anybody have an explanation?
I asked several years ago about the book "The Myth of the Great War: A New Military History of World War I" and was told that the crew had not read it, has anyone gotten a chance to? If so what are your opinions on it?
Hello
300!!! and i only had to be awake at 2am
We all know the USMC is the best. We are the men's department of the navy
Well, I remember Indi (Indiana Jones) detach a plane from his mothership in the 3 movie.
Speak of Francesco Baracca please
we already did
Where
Wait a second, could anyone elaborate on what Indy was talking about at 3:22 about the British experimenting with unmanned aircraft? That sounds like a HUGE topic that we've never heard about before.
He just meant they dropped planes off the zeppelins with their engines running to see if they can fly.
IC. Thanks. I was hoping that maybe they had little steam punk robots manning them.
Can you do war war 2 video
Why didn't the allies use airships
For a WW1 Fighter pilot, the odds of them dying in a training accident, were exactly the same as the odds of dying in battle. I doubt if propaganda was enough of an inspiration to overcome those odds. Had to be something more for those men.
maybe more during the second world world, but it would be weird if not also during the the first, soldiers still considered themselves italian, french etc. so they would go fight for their historic homecountry.
@Teutonic Bohemian not against Mexico so far
How was the pilot supposed to get in the plane from the air ship?
They’d climb down a ladder.
Thank you
I don't understand why they would drop an unmanned plane from a zeppelin... What was that supposed to achieve? It's just going to crash, what's the point?