First World War - Beaumont Hamel
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- Опубліковано 21 сер 2016
- Beaumont Hamel and the Newfoundland Park. On the 1st July 1916 the Newfoundlanders attacked here and were almost wiped out. We can also see the Hawthorne ridge crater. This was part of the first day of the Somme battle.
Thank you so much. As a Newfoundlander, this is legend in our history.
Thank you for watching.
This is by far the best video I have seen on this tragedy. Very educational. From a Newfoundlander, thank you Mr. Upton.
Thank you for watching.
Awesome video Steve. I had the honour of taking my high school students from Winnipeg to Beaumont-Hamel. Being there and listening to our guide tell the story of the tragedy that occurred on July 1st is something that we will always remember.
Thank you for watching.
R.I.P all of them...
Thanks a lot for this Video!
Greetings from Germany!
Thank you for watching.
you did a better job then the BBC
Kevin cleary thank you for watching and your comments.
Excellent video that gives a wholly different perspective of the battlefield to that gained when walking it. Good to see steady camera shots that allow you to understand the topography, and the narration is informative and not intrusive. Cracking job Steven.
Thank you for watching and your comments. More to come soon.
Amazing, I never been able to get true feel of the battle until watching your videos from the air
Thank you for watching.
Your videos/flights put these areas and battles into perspective, myself and a friend visited in 2019 but these have helped so much👍
The Newfoundlanders call it the "Danger Tree." As well, it's "NEWFANLAN! Understan?" LOL! Very well done! I enjoyed the video tremendously!
Thank you for watching.
Amazing being Canadian even though Newfoundland was not in confederation at the time of the war. It’s beautiful to see this place preserved. One note of interest 1july is Canada day. It’s a good way to remember that freedom was paid for with heavy cost. Brave men from Newfoundland.
Thank you for watching.
July 1st is Memorial Day in Newfoundland
Steve these films are amazing the deserve more views MC(maker of The Somme then and now in fullHD)
Thank you for your comments. Filmed at Verdun last week and when I get home will make a new film.
Perfect steve, your videos are so informative. Please keep them coming
Thank you for watching.
Thank you for your wonderful videos and commentary. My granddaddy was wounded not far away at Mouquet Farm on Sept 20, 1916. He is my hero! He fought with the 43rd Canadian Infantry Battalion, the Cameron Highlanders. I am watching your series with great interest! Thanks again.
Thank you for watching. I have visited the Mouquet farm area several times. Not got round to filming it yet.
@@StevenUpton14-18 My Nephew went there last year for the centenary. He played the pipes at Mouquet Farm, Beaumont Hamel, Thipeval, etc. It is my intention to visit there before I see my Granddaddy again!
Thank you for watching. My GF was very near Mouquet Farm in September 1916 as well, 5th Batt. Royal Warks.
Thank you once more for posting your excellent video(s)!
Thank you for watching.
Thankyou for your efforts.
A fascinating insight into the battle of the Somme and great footage.
Thank you for watching.
Great video Steven. Informative and well put together. Thank you.
Thank you for watching.
Love your videos Steve, especially the ones covering Canadian sacrifices
Thank you for watching.
Thank you Steven. These videos are fabulous and give an excellent perspective.
Thank you for watching, and feedback.
I’ve been here...this is a wonderful tribute by yourself.
Thank you for watching.
As a Newfoundlander, Thank you.
Thank you for watching.
An excellent video Steven. You get a much better perspective of the front line from the air. Super, thank you very much
Thank you for watching.
Great video Stephen, did the tour and followed my ancestors in 2012. Thank you
Thank you for watching.
Amazing story, thank God I'm Gen X. Missed out on the wars
Thank you for watching.
Truly remarkable. This piece of the Somme battlefield is so well preserved that you almost get a sense of how this part of the battle unfolded thanks to your amazing camera shot. I wasn't entirely familiar with the regiment you described here or how their battalions were decimated before even reaching their own frontline trenches, so thank you for the history lesson as well. I definitely learned something from watching!
Thank you for watching.
Superb Steven - thank-you. Kept on going back to relook at sections.
Thank you for watching. I will be in France next week getting some raw footage. Hope to post several new films in February.
Superb stuff Steven. A great perspective on the war. Incredible detail too.
Thank you for watching.
Hi Steve. Your video series a brilliant concept and brilliant execution! Many thanks! Merci beacoup!
Thank you for watching.
Excellent aerial view at an excellent pace. Your commentary is clear and easily understandable . All in all this was very easy to digest and understand. I will review more of your videos
Thank you for watching.
Fantastic Steven, well done mate great coverage and I will definitely visit to pay my respects.
Thank you for watching.
Excellent production and viewing. So interesting to see that site from a totally different perspective with a drone. We visited the Somme fields a few years ago and the Battlefield tour took in this exact site..Thank you.
Thank you for watching.
This just popped up again and I have to say what a brilliant video and commentary Steven, thanks for all of your Great War posts.
Thank you for watching. I will be making more over the next couple of months.
@@StevenUpton14-18 Looking forward to them Steven.
Steven, really excellent. I wish you had spent some time over the Sunken Lane, the sight of Malin's film. Perhaps you have in another video. Excellent work.
Thanks for watching. Not sure when I will get time to revisit this area, but will do so when I can. Just filmed the Lorette Spur near Vimy and hope to post it soon.
Yes, the Sunken Lane, and the cemetery in front of it (no one made it across the 150yds of no-man’s land - now the 4 small fields?), plus the small memorial and the point from which Mallin filmed, are all in mid-frame at 1:53
Very important piece of our history. Thanks for the share. Beaumont-hamel is a tragic story. Take care, keep up the great work!
Thank you for watching and your comments. More films to come shortly.
Brilliant job very interesting to watch thanks for putting it up
Thank you for watching. Should be more to come in a few months time.
Brilliant Steven. As an avid WW1 enthusiast with a passion, it is great to see yiur videos and brilliant camera/drone work. Fantastic work.
Thank you for watching.
RIP, LEST WE FORGET, terrible loss of lives heartbreaking to think of what was going through the minds of these brave men and women , thanks again Steven for your video and commentary 👏👏👏👏
Thank you for watching. We will remember them.
Brave men. There were no women in the trenches.
You do great informative historical videos .My Great Great Grandfather was at the Somme amongst other areas.He was in the Hussars.
Thank you for watching.
I was there July 1, 2016, the 100th Anniversary. Very emotional place. Your video gave me a better understanding of the layout. Thanks.
Thank you for watching. Hope to more on WW1 sites in the near future.
I'd like to echo all the other compliments about the quality of your video and its explanation. It has been particularly apposite to watch this as my great-uncle was killed on this ground in the November 2016 action, and is buried in the cemetery at Beaumont-Hamel.
Thank you for watching. Sorry for your family's loss. We will remember them.
Very well done video. You have inspired my to make my own trip down there and learn more about this awefull conflict.
Thank you for watching.
Great and sad video. Keep up the good work and keep recording history.
Thank you for watching. More to come in the next few days.
Thank you Stephen Real eye opener.
Thank you for watching.
Amazing work thank you
Thank you for watching.
God bless all those brave Newfoundlanders! I only learned about the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel in 2016. I sometimes wish we could move Canada Day 🇨🇦 from July 1, considering the tragedy of this battle occurred the same day. I make sure to say a prayer for all those soldiers on July 1.
Thank you for watching.
thank you that, my Grandfather arrived there in Nov 1916 as part of highland division, he was a private in the 4th Black watch, a territorial regiment that left Arbroath and surrounding area in Nov 1914., they suffered heavy casualties and their is monument in their memory
Thank you for watching.
Thank you for this excellent and informative video.
Thank you for watching.
The Newfoundlanders were not Canadians btw, Newfoundland was a separate British colony until 1949.
Thank you for watching and the historical correction.
They were a dominion equivalent in status to Canada from 1907 to 1934
Great video! Although I think what you're calling the British front line (wellington trench) was not the front line when the Newfoundland regiment undertook their attack on 1st July 1916. Wellington trench was dug later in November that year and was used by the 51st Highlanders to successfully take Y-ravine. I would also note that the Newfoundland regiment did take casualties by exiting the communication trenches and moving to the front line on open ground, but it certainly didn't cause a majority of their causalities. They did go ahead with their attack near full strength but tragically only made it as far as "danger tree" just behind where wellington trench would later be dug.
Thank you for watching and the historical correction.
@@StevenUpton14-18 November action was significant for taking the y - ravine and Beaumont
Fantastic perspective.. I first went there to get an idea of what I'd been reading about in 1974..it was a lot different then, not so fenced in as it is now. There had been very heavy rain for a few days before hand, and it had washed away the side of one of the trenches.
I picked out almost at eye level. A button with an embossed grenade on it., which I took to be French.
A clip of 5 303 rifle bullets, in such good condition, that looked like they had only been in the ground for around 10 years, and a brass Sheffield Battalion shoulder badge.
I have since been back to the Somme area many times. The last time was around four years ago, when I visited the museum underneath the Basilica in Albert, which I was impressed with, although some of the exhibits could have done wit a bit more explanation, but they may have improved on that since...thoroughly enjoying these Vids..
Thank you for watching. I have also visited the Albert museum and felt the same as yourself. It was somewhat dated compared to modern visitor centres. They also had a late WW2 British 25 pounder field gun outside with no explanation as to its age.
It would be good to use screen markers or something to highlight where trench lines were and mark areas of interest as you describe them.
I got confused as to where front lines were as the video progressed.
Great video non the less.
Thank you for watching. I have since learnt how to add arrows into these films.
Maybe you could make your own video contribution.
This is great work
Thank you for watching.
Wellington Trench was actually only built at the end of July 1916. It was not there on July 1st when the NFLD attacked. It was from Wellington Trench that the successful attack in November was launched.
Thank you for watching.
Very Nice Video Steven!!
Thank you for watching.
Thanks - such a relatively featureless area topographically, but for those there... Amazing how little shows in aereial photography today
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Having visited this place a few weeks back great job. Regarding the wellington trench our guide told us that this was dug after 1st of July, and the second line of trenches shown here is where the attack on 1st of July took place.
Adam Craggs Thank you for watching.
Yes this is true. Wellington trench was secretly dug as a closer jump off point for a later attack (14th July?). The Danger tree was ahead of the original first line of trenches which is depicted here as second line. Nice video but does somewhat give the impression that it was all Newfoundlanders on the first of July but they were actually just one of a number of regiments that attacked (and suffered heavily) across this piece of land and were part of the second wave. The real tragedy was the whole having to get out of the trenches before reaching the jumping off trench due to the returning injured British soldiers from the first wave and they came from such a small independent Nation (weren't part of Canada at the time). They were the only non British regiment on the whole battlefront on July 1st 1916 and are rightly remembered here. The young Canadians that give tours here are delightful.
I've been to the Newfoundland Park, and found the names of so many men of Irish descent who served in the Newfoundland Division including Sgt. Thomas Ricketts VC. (Some of my nearest neighbours and closest relatives here in Ireland are descended from the Ricketts family).
Thank you for watching.
Hard to imagine the absolute hell that it must've been there where it now looks so green and peaceful. All the lives that existed down below those little zig zagging scars, the last place a bunch of men saw on this Earth.
Thank you for watching.
look forward to that ...like i say ..all your time and resources these deserve more hits
Thank you for watching.
Hi Steven. Will you be making more videos in the future? I appreciate the collection and would love to see more. Thank you for all the beautiful work.
Thank you for watching. As I am not travelling across Europe as much as before Covid I am not sure if I will be able to do more filming. I am visiting the dams (the ones bombed by 617 Sqn. in WW2 with the bouncing bomb and hope to film them in August.
Has been said during the lack of rains, old scars show themselves throughout the land.
Thank you for watching. That is correct. I call them 'Ghost Trenches.'
If you are not a History teacher or narrator or documentarian for BBC then I think you missed your calling. If BBC or PBS had any sense of what it takes to create content that generates great viewer ratings in addition to being educational and informative they would be knocking at your door. Great work! Its amazing that there is that level of detail after 100 years has gone by.
Part of my work involves teaching adults. But not on this subject. I was in the RAF and since then had a fascination with military history, particularly the First World War. I have read a lot and walked most of the Western Front. Filming my visits to the battlefields was a natural progression, as was posting them on UA-cam.
You are fortunate, I think you have a natural gift for this sort of thing with the camera and the subject matter. Keep up the wonderful work, Thank you.
Another fantastic video. Endless stories from this area but the Lancaster’s deserve a mention here I think you’ll agree. Filmed the same morning more or less from the same position the mine explosion was filmed from just before attacking from the sunken lane, heavy casualties. The lane is centre of screen surrounded by trees at 1:55 leading back from the cross in front of them.
Thank you for watching. Sorry not to mention the Lancaster's.
Steven Upton too many stories to tell from this area
Great work! You do a really good job at describing specific things , but it would be nice if you had a pointer or a marker illustration on screen to enhance your descriptions.
Thank you for watching. I have since learnt how to add arrows.
Your welcome!
Excellent.
Thank you for watching.
Idea: should see if you can team up with someone who can put graphical overlays of the trench maps as you fly over them in a superimposed manner or maybe show the direction of advancements of troops it would be neat to see it overlaid as an alternate version
Thank you for watching. Good idea, unfortunately I do not have the skill to do it myself and do not know anyone who does.
A drone is perfect for this. Great footage. You can get a real idea of the battlefield at Nfld Park. You can note how much fainter and more pockmarked Wellington Trench was. The Germans zeroed in on the British trenches and took a heavy toll.
Without the trench preservation, it is difficult to appreciate the terrain and where the lines were from the air. And also get an idea of the vastness of the place and how limited it was in strategic value. A relative of mine died near where the Quadrilateral was. It's just open fields. Such a shame the men died just for the bigger picture and to keep the Germans engaged. They already knew where the attack was going to happen.
Thank you for watching. My own GF was nearby on the 1st July but was lucky to be in reserve.
Hi Steven. Ive been to the Somme and visited Beaumont Hamel. It makes much more sense from the air than on the ground. You can see the whole of where the battle took place. Will you be doing the Messine ridge at some point?
Thank you for watching. Sorry for delay in replying. Just found your comment in spam. I have now posted three films on the Messines mine craters.
I have been to Beaumont-Hamel in Jan of 2018. My wife and I stayed at Avril Williams' guest house. It was very moving to stand beside the Danger Tree and know that thousands of young men had been killed there. My their names liveth forever more.
Thank you for watching. I also stayed there a few years ago. We will remember them.
Surprising how close everything is I had an impression of greater distances between lines wow this happened in very close quarters...the shelling must have been pure hell on everyone.
Thank you for watching. In some places they were a lot closer than here, as little as 20 yards apart. That is in hand grenade throwing distance.
Very nice, thank you! Can you recommend German sources for their perspective on the July 1st attack at Beaumont-Hamel? Cheers.
Thank you for watching. There is a very good series of books written by Jack Sheldon about the German army in WW1.
Hi Steven have you or can you do a video of Mash valley??
Thank you for watching. You can see Mash valley in ua-cam.com/video/lJu8b8oUbkc/v-deo.html at minute 7:50. It's just the other side of the village. You can see Ovillers cemetery, top-right.
Not sure when I will get back to the Somme, but flying the drone up Mash valley about 6 foot in the air in the direction of the advancing infantry on 1st July 1916 might work.
Excellent video as always. Is the sunken lane close to this spot?
Thank you for watching. Yes, the sunken lane is just north of Hawthorn ridge crater.
Came to Newfoundland Park/Beaumont Hamel in 1997 on a school trip
Thank you for watching.
Steve the trench which you call Wellington Road was not there on the 1st of July 1916 it was a later trench added to allow the british a shorter distances to the German line. The tree that you mention was in no mans land on the 1st of July
Thank you for watching and this correction. I became aware on my error sometime after making this film.
nice vid,,interesting
Thank you for watching.
@@StevenUpton14-18 your welcome
And we were at Gallipoli as well
Thank you for watching.
My Great Grandad was with 2nd Battalion South Wales Borderers. They were the 1st wave in this sector with the 1st Borders 2nd Wave & the 1st Newfoundlanders 3rd Wave. Also 4th Worcester in Reserve. Reading the SWB war diary of the attack. A Coy got within 20 yds of the German wire. C Coy got within 60 yds of the wire. D Coy had 600 yds to get to their objective but only made 300 yds. B Coy move out of the support trench but most never got pass the British wire. Handful of men from B Coy were last seen pushing fwd 50 yds from the German wire. 1st Borders never got pass the British wire. The Newfoundlanders were order from communication trench's to get to the support trench before moving fwd to the front line. Do to the fact that erroneous information had reached Division HQ that a lodgement had been made in the German Lines and they needed them to push on with the attack. There is a passage in the book which say's that a few survivors of the Newfoundlanders worked their way fwd by the sunken road and joined C Coy SWB. Which seems to me a bit further than that lone tree. But it be nice to know where sunken road is on Battlefield and if the accounts are true we never know.
Thank you for watching. There are many references to 'sunken roads' all along the Western Front. However, there is the one made famous in the film made here on the morning of 1st July 1916 of soldiers waiting to go 'over the top'. It is not far from Newfoundland Park. Follow the road from Auchonvillers to Beaumont Hamel, the D163, due north of the Hawthorne Ridge crater, on the north side of the road is the Scottish Divisions Memorial at sunken lane. This could be the 'sunken lane' you are referring to.
@@StevenUpton14-18 Thank you for replying to my question. I was lucky to go Beaumont Hamel on 100 year Anniversary in 2016. Amazing day ashame about the weather.
@@markharris7260 - I am fairly certain that you would have passed the end of the Sunken Lane just before entering Beaumont Hamel.
The danger tree is where many of them fell as it was one of the only big openings (death corridors) in their own barbed wire as they crossed over open ground to reach their own front line from two trenches back. However, some of them did get as far as the German Barbed wire out in no man's land. Two waves had been annihilated before them so the forward trenches were filled with dead and wounded. When they went over the top at 9:15 they were the only regiment along the western front advancing, the Germans had no other targets.
Thank you for watching.
“The only visible sign that the men knew they were under this terrific fire was that they all instinctively tucked their chins into an advanced shoulder as they had so often done when fighting their way home against a blizzard in some little outport in far off Newfoundland.”
- Major A. Raley RNFLDR
Thank you for watching.
Great stuff Steve, however, I think you got something wrong. The trench by the danger tree was not the front line trench on the 1st July, it was a later trench dug in September I think. When the newfoundlanders climbed out of the communication trenches because they couldn’t move in them, it was in the area behind and around where the Caribou statue is. What you call the second line trench, was in fact the front line trench on 1st July. How do I know this? I went on a guided tour when I was there and this was explained to me. The danger tree was used by the German machine gunners to set the distance of where the guns from either side crossed their fire. Nobody made it past that tree on 1st July for obvious reasons.
Thank you for watching. I am aware of this error. I revisited the site in May this year with trench maps that I did not have when I made the film and realised my mistake.
@@StevenUpton14-18 I’ve watched all your videos now and would love to contribute music free of charge for you to use on them. If you’re interested, let me know. I would love to make some really beautiful professional sounding music for you to use, especially composed for you to make the videos you make look even better.
@@chrisolley2762 Thank you for your very kind offer. As things are I am not sure that I will be making any more films.
@@StevenUpton14-18😞 I hope you are doing ok Steven. Have enjoyed your work.
Visited in 2016.
Thank you for watching.
Can you walk to the memorial sites in the fields ?
Thank you for watching. I am fairly certain all memorials can be approached on foot. I have walked up to many, but not all. Certainly all cemeteries can be entered.
Didn't mention the "Danger Tree"
You are correct. You can see it from the air; however, I do not script the commentary and forgot it.
It is called in our history the Danger Tree!
Thank you for watching.
i would like to see a confirmed tracing of the trenches from point zero at the swiss border to the english channel has this ever been done
Thank you for watching. I have walked along most of the former front line. But in most places there is nothing to see today. By using trench maps, GPS and plotting what is still there you can locate most of it.
Its interesting to note that the trenches were dug by imported Chinese laborers, known as the Chinese Labor Corps, and labor from other parts of the world were also recruited. Between 10,000 and 20,000 died and at least one ship load of laborers sank in the Mediterranean Sea. The largest Chinese cemetery is located near the Somme. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Labour_Corps
Thank you for watching. Also, for the additional information about the largely forgotten casualties of the war.
Most trenches were dug by the troops on site at the time
Wow
Thank you for watching.
@@StevenUpton14-18 no worries mate, thanks for your years of experience in this time n space, and dedicating it to record. please ensure you have a solid archive, either online or a hardcopy (both is good, too)
Was Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Lovell Hadow ever challenged for that decision? Again, the officers in the 1st world, or the generals, made decisions which was not only fatal but pretty much stupidity. Again this is not written out of disrespect, but matters surprises me. Thanks for your great work.
Thank you for watching. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. It's easy for us to judge these people 100 years after the event. I'm just glad I was only a corporal and not a general.
@@StevenUpton14-18 Yes, you are very correct. I combine your videos with other good overview of battles and history. Fest for the history nerds. :-)
One last thing... I really like the monuments that mark some of these battlefields. I personally believe, however, that it's time to erect a few German memorials as well as the Allied memorials. Remember, these memorials are here to honor the soldiers who fought and died, not the government's or ideals that sent them there! Those German soldiers were every bit as brave as the Brits, Commonwealth troops, French, Americans etc. and I truly believe they deserve to be honored along side those they were fighting at the time. Just my opinion. I totally understand if others disagree.
I am sure you are right. There are quite a number of German cemeteries and they do contain memorials. But not on the scale of the Allies memorials.
Totally agree Brutus....from an Englishman
They should've court martialed whoever gave them the order to get out of the communication trenches in broad daylight to advance to the front line trench.
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Leave the Trench in Daylight was a Death sentence, Stupidity of the Ruling Classes.
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Canadian Newfoundland 1915 gallipoli war 🇨🇦
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The Germans were so close winning this battle in 1916. But, there's something extremely interesting about why the battle was fought at this location and so many men murdered. Was it also sacrificial...are there any ley lines here i wonder?
Thank you for watching. It was fought here because it was the point at which the British and French areas met. And to relive the pressure on Verdun by drawing German reserves away.
such a pity that the captions are so "bad"... "abear" instead of Albert, why trench instead of Y-trench, some other exotic "amore" words instead of memorial etc...
Thank you for watching.
Excellent video, of an horrendous time, hard to believe. And now, of course, happening again, in Ukraine. Will we humans never learn?
Thank you for watching.
Sir, “You pronounce Newfoundland like “understand."
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I took my grand children there and my Granddaughter was convinced Santa Clause was there with the Caribou Monument Its funny what children see at time We see horror and slaughter they see happiness god forbid they ever see horror in there lives
Thank you for watching.
The losses were the reason why we are now called the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. Thank you so much. We lost a generation of goo men.
Thank you for watching. We will remember them.
Think I´ve gone through all your vids now and left a Like. Shared them too. Hope it helps, your channel is great and my interest in WW1 has grown.. It is just so horrible though..
Thank you for all the time you have sent watching. Also for your comments.
@@StevenUpton14-18 :)
@@StevenUpton14-18 Thank YOU! For excellent videos and my interest in WW1, all about it, politics, before and after but the absolute Hell on Earth that was the front lines.. Sucha pivotal thing for us now..
A bit unsure how I want to look at our (Sweden) during the time - as well as during WW2.. A bit of guilt.. But at the same time, I can´t blame the politicians for doing what they could to stay out (small population, trash army.. - in both cases)
But there is guilt when you see what others had to endure....
Thank you Steve for your efforts in making these videos , they are very informative and interesting
Thank you for watching.