WW1,,,,,,, behind the scenes!

[cigar_man]

France has certain "je ne sais quoi" (I don't know what) when presenting videos from the Great War.

I'm reluctant to post these videos here, but most of the Milsurp community I think will enjoy.

These videos are silent, but they give you a great in depth look of behind the scenes of war and give a great back ground reference to what the soldiers used and carried.


I will start out with these two and add more.

"THE DOG IN THE GREAT WAR"

"CYCLING ON THE FRONT"

 

[sail32]

For behind the scenes and the lines you may wish to read;

" Tracks to the Trenches ", Book,

Canadian Railway Troops in the Great War (1914-1919) by Guay, David R. P.

 

[Robert Nicholson]

I want to see more!

Surprised how much French I can read.

 

[MIRAMICHIER]

Sure was a different time.

 

[cigar_man]

Sure was a different time.

,,,,,,but there are things we can relate too today.



Here is another;

MAKE WAR IN THE MUD

 

[Sharps '74]

I want to see more!

Surprised how much French I can read.

I hope that some of those poor mutts survived the war! It's a shame how we drag innocent animals into our wars. They pay a terrible price while providing great service.

 

[cigar_man]

I hope that some of those poor mutts survived the war! It's a shame how we drag innocent animals into our wars. They pay a terrible price while providing great service.

From everything that I have researched, not many of anything survived.

When I'm in France I stay in Albert, just up the road is POZIERES, here you will find;

We stopped in on November 11, 2018 on our way to Mons, I left a few poppies.

Everyone that walks away from this memorial has very watery eyes.

Australian Memorial, Pozières Windmill. WW1 Animal War Memorial

https://baharystudios.com/art/ww1-animal-memorial-france/

 

[purple]

If you want to shed a tear for the Australians on the western front visit Fromelles where they were thrown away in a futile supporting attack. They advanced over a large expanse of open ground as flat as pi$$ on a plate and were decimated, kind of like the Newfoundland Regiment at Beaumont-Hamel.

The Germans buried their dead in mass graves which were only excavated in recent years. The newest war cemetary on the western front is Pheasant Wood where the remains are re-interred. There is an ongoing DNA project to identify the remains. There is a memorial statue called "Cobbers" which features a soldier carrying a wounded comrade from the field.

 

[cigar_man]

I was at Fromelles and the Australian National Memorial on the outskirts of Fouilloy, France in November of 2018.

A very moving life experience.

Langemark German War Cemetery in Belgium has around 25,000 in a mass grave within its walls.

Another very moving experience.

When I was at Langemark in November, I spoke with a gentleman from the German Delegation.

Upon leaving, he said, open your hand, he placed a little bag of acorns (oak) in my hand.

These are from the trees within the cemetery, they are all witness trees.

A proud moment to say the least!

 

[sail32]

Belgium's use of dogs, WW1.

https://www.google.com/search?q=bel...6t7gAhWp34MKHT9IDO4Q_AUIDigB&biw=1920&bih=944

Garde Civique disbanded because of ;

" Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859-1941) was quite outraged; in his eyes the Belgian government was most definitely organizing a Volkskrieg. For the Germans, the reference to the 1907 Hague Convention precisely proved that civilians with improvised weapons were going to participate in battle. This immediately conjured up memories of the feared francs-tireurs, French civilians who had fired upon German soldiers during the 1870-71 war. However, the Belgian government never intended to include the Garde Civique in territorial defence, as was explicitly confirmed by the minister of war on 14 August. Corps were disbanded everywhere long before the arrival of the first German troops."

https://www.reddit.com/r/wwi/comments/26gj1u/marching_belgian_soldiers_leading_their_dogdrawn/

 

[Sharps '74]

Two cemeteries that moved me were the Airborne Cemetery at Arnhem and a German cemetery in the Arnsberger Wald.

The first because of the ages of the interred and the number of Jews who served under Christian names. The latter because it was comprised of the aged and the young, the Volkssturm.

The inscription said that they died in the final weeks of a war that was already lost. They died elsewhere, but were reinterred after the war, a testimony to Hitler's rage against his own people.