The Massive Howitzers that Shattered an Entire Army
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2024
- It was 1917, the soldiers could feel the rising tension in the air. It was pitch dark, and everything was quiet and still. Gunner JR Armitage and his mates were fascinated by the spectacle surrounding them.
Over 1,500 artillery pieces, 600 tanks, and four infantry divisions had converged in Amiens near the frontline. The Germans had not spotted them.
Armitage could hear the soldiers talking to their horses and the monotonous steps of men marching as they prepared for the attack. The artillery was also ready to strike 530 German guns when zero hour came.
Lastly, at 4:20am, the attack began, and Armitage and his buddies went over the top to push the Germans back. As he later recalled: (QUOTE) “we could feel that hundreds of groups of men were doing the same thing - preparing for the heaviest barrage ever launched.”
This was the beginning of the pivotal battle of Amiens, a hard blow to German morale and a critical step towards the end of World War 1.
- As images and footage of actual events are not always available, Dark Docs sometimes utilizes similar historical images and footage for dramatic effect. I do my best to keep it as visually accurate as possible. All content on Dark Docs is researched, produced, and presented in historical context for educational purposes. We are history enthusiasts and are not always experts in some areas, so please don't hesitate to reach out to us with corrections, additional information, or new ideas. -
Good history story. What about the Howitzer that shattered an entire army?????
Good question
No doubt….I like dark docs, dark skies, dark darker darker ear but clickbait lately wtf….
Click bait
Thanks for saving my time.
Thanks for saving my time.
Disturbing to watch war footage of men taking their last steps before death catches up to them. Men with parents, siblings, girlfriends, wives and dreams. All taken away in an instant. For what? Senseless war fought for bankers. No more brother wars.
People don't fight for Bankers... They fight because something bad is voming abd it won't be stopped by sitting at home, complaining.
My Grandfather fought through both World Wars.
@@peterwebb8732 Well, yes, they are not told they are actually fighting for the banking and corporate interests, but it is they who START most of the wars (including both World Wars). The soldiers are told they are fighting for their nations, against an evil pending invasion, and are sold on fighting it by the media (which the bankers control). All sides believe they are fighting for the right side, and that war is necessary. Both World Wars were senseless 'brother wars', forced on the people against their wishes. Real history is not some Lord of the Rings story, where one side is clearly an evil, bloodthirsty horde of Orcs, hell-bent on killing everyone in their path.
@@peterwebb8732in both wars!!! Thats to hell twice. May he RIP
@@LK-bz9sk Thankyou, and yes, I believe that he does in the knowledge that he did his duty as best he could. He was that kind of man.
I have his First War Diary. It is very dry and matter-of-fact. I suspect that that is how he and others like him, kept it in context.
Sadly, war may come to you unbidden.
Great video
I have never seen tanks like these at 3:37
The original tank, British Tank Mark I
somehow, I missed the part about, "The Massive Howitzers that Shattered an Entire Army". This was more about an overall battle.....😔
You really need someone to fact check your videos before you post them. You always tell a great story and have some real and important facts. But you almost always also have many small errors that detract from their value.
Foch is pronounced 'Fosh', not 'Fock'. It has no 'k' sound.
At 4:20 am huh 😅 I see what you did there
Put the bong down and step away from the weed sir.
It’s so funny how people think the numbers 420 are funny. Insanely stupid and I support weed and thc in the fullest.
The reference later on to 7:30 is telling you to set an alarm and get up and go to work spicoli
My Grandfather was there, he was a runner for the Australian and British armies, he lived to tell the tale hence I am here. God bless you Granddad.
Yes, God bless your Grandad, and all his comrades. Without them the world would be a very different place.
My Grandfather was there too looking after horses he was a farrier. Luckily one of his nags kicked him causing a serious wound that never healed completely, but he was sent home, survived and the rest is history. Many were not so lucky and we owe all of them a great deal.
At 104 years old, he could have been born when the war ended. Great grandfather?
I am 67, my Mother was the youngest of 7 kids and had me late in life for them days when she was 32 - so Ted was definitely my Grandfather who died long before I was born. My Grandmother died when I was 3 months old at 75, she was born in 1890, my Grandfather was older born around 1880 - he was old to go to war probably in his mid 30's, but as he was not in a front line position he went as a volunteer. The Army needed experienced farriers at the time because horses were pivotal in transport. The wound he sustained never healed I was told you could fit a fist in the hole in his hip and he spent much of the Second World War in the shelter at the bottom of our garden because he was so immobile! He got nothing for the injury and no help from the Government not being able to work again. My Grandmother held down 3 jobs and they lived in poverty. Different world in them days!
@@michaelfarewell4549 I'm 73. My paternal grandparents were both born in 1875, and maternal grandparents were both born in 1895. They'd had kids already and perhaps the Dads were too old to serve in the first war.
No mention of those "massive howitzers that shattered an entire army"....?
The pivotal battle of Amiens was as you said later on, in August 1918. I think you must mean 1918 in those early references and the intro beneath, because the figures you quote refer to the August 1918 battle of Amiens. The first major use of tanks used correctly was Cambrai in November 1917, where the tactics were largely formed. There had been tanks used in penny packets in 1916 and 1917 - Somme, Ypres and Villers-Bretonneux - but the results were not overwhelming. There certainly weren't 600 available in 1916!
Also, the Australians were commanded by the brilliant Sir John Monash, and the Canadians by the also brilliant Sir Arthur Currie. They surely deserve a mention!
It is unthinkable what they experienced! Every soldier from any nation is gone thru the hell at this time! May the now rest in peace 🙏🏽
The Australians took some convincing on the utility of tanks after the failed attack on Bullecourt in April 1917. I visited Bullecourt in 2018.
From the Australian War memorial:
"An attack set for 10 April was suddenly abandoned when the tanks did not arrive. It went ahead the next morning with disastrous results. Exposed to murderous machine-gun and artillery fire the Australians were forced back to their own lines while tanks stood burning on the battlefield. The Australians had 3,000 men killed or wounded; many survivors remained bitter about such a futile waste...
In the battle of 11 April the large and slow-moving tanks were soon hit or broke down leaving the Australian attackers exposed and vulnerable. Many later blamed the tanks for their heavy losses. The Australians maintained a strong mistrust of tanks that was not finally overcome until their success in the Battle of Hamel more than a year later."
I also visited Hamel.
My great grandfather was captured a little further to the east of Bullecourt on the night of April 10-11. His battalion had advanced toward the Hindenburg line in the dark and dug a chain of outposts strung out. Harry's was too far forward and was surrounded when the Germans attacked in the early morning darkness, getting into a sunken road behind them. Two of the five were killed before the ammunition ran out and Harry and two others surrendered.
From a description and maps in the official history, I was able to locate the position by google earth, including 'driving' down the sunken road with street view before I left on the trip and stood within I think about 30m of where Harry's outpost was. As the ground had not been churned up by artillery, it must have looked pretty much as it does today, except for the wind turbines now in no man's land.
Perhaps Harry was lucky to have been in a camp and so missed Ypres and the battles of 1918 and so returned to Australia in one piece.
Mind you he did escape, walked to the Baltic coast, saw nothing but German ships, so walked back to the camp.
He had written an account of his capture and escape which was included in his service records which I obtained online from the AWM. It stated that he had been awarded the Military Medal at some stage but I was unable to find his citation with details of where, when and why, and was told that sometimes later in the war those records were incomplete or missing.
On my mother's side, a great uncle of mine, a Gallipoli veteran, became an officer in a Machine gun company on the western front. Less sure about details of where he served. He was gassed later in the war. I remember him from when I was a kid, but his lungs never fully recovered and he died in his 60s.
Trust Dark to get at least one fact wrong in every video. I Make a game out of it and try to find the error/errors in each video.
@@everydayhero5076 Trouble is, the facts he gets wrong are taken as correct by people who know no better, so the world gets distorted. He has a responsibility to get it right.
@@pshehan1 that's quite a story. Respect to him and all his pals. Good on Ya. Quality stuff 👊💛👍
🏆🤗🙏🇺🇲
Thank you for sharing
Good, but the vid seems mis-titled.
One of the things not mentioned was air power. The fact those assets were put in place secretly without the Germans knowing must have meant that there air recon was weak. Add in that the allies knew a lot about German positions makes me think they had achieved air superiority. In some ways nothing has changed, combined arms and logistics wins.
The Allies definitely had air superiority by late 1917.
Those aircraft to Entente is like drones to Ukraine and Russia in the current war involving both countries
They flew the big handley Page 0/400 bombers along the front to hide the sound of the tank engines!
@@DrivermanO I remember living in Marham back in 88', took a while before this Irishman with the strong brogue got an invite to the base......but I did. Then again apart from my Grandfather and his Brother serving in both Wars, my Mother's eldest Sister, Maggie was WAF and a senior controller and, the Man She Married, My Uncle James Cherry Was an Aussie and A Mossies Navigator out of Marham. West Norfolk. Good People.
@@DrivermanO Our Local In Marham, The "Old Bell" Got Hit By A Zeppelin Back In WW1, Hit The Pub, Missed Marham RAF. I Was Working At Thetford Holiday Village Back In 88, And Of Course Everybody Was Leery About "Unknowns" Around The Area. Fair Enough, I'm In The "Old Bell" When I Say......My Aunt, My Ma's Eldest Sister Had Her Honeymoon Here In 44!. They ALL.....Tornado Pilots, Ground Crew, Even The CO Of Marham RAF......Turn, And Look. And I Say...... Flight L Cherry, James, Married WAF Senior Controller L Margaret O'Leary Here on Christmas Day, 1944......Then they ALL started looking at me, no, I'm not a Cherry they're my cousin's!
The video seemed to say men and tanks made the difference in the battle, not "massive howitzers". I never saw the interesting one in the thumbnail, but it did get me to click and watch the video...
6:51 did u not watch this far ?
@@Whatisthisstupidfinghandle those are not the same gun
Thats a mean looking gun
That's just neat!
Truly an íncredible video on WW1. The planning to pull this off successfully. That definitely had to be done to not appraise the Germans of the upcoming battle. 💪🏻🙏🏻✨
"Shoot-move-communicate". When I was with arty, we never sat in place very long. Even if we didn't do fire missions, we moved around. This is the best way to avoid counterfire, and definitely the way to avoid being rained on, first. The Germans were complacent.
The Germans, by 1918, were short hundreds of thousands of draft horses.
What about the "Massive Howitzer"?!? I never expected click bait from you guys. Very disappointed. 😠
All those dead horses...😢😪💥🐴🐴😢😢
Solid video as always and one of the few I've seen that actually talks about the achievements of Canadian military, along with Australian and France and not just going on about the US doing everything with a little bit of help from the British.
Good video, thanks for sharing, God bless !
All war is hell. However, The Great War was perhaps the saddest of all modern wars. The horrific conditions that both sides lived under, the poor food, the extreme loss of life, and the attacks of gas made it all the more depraved. The more you know about this war the heavier your heart will be. The French, English, and German generals didn't give a damn about human life. In The Battle of the Somme, on the FIRST day there were more than 19,000 British dead. That's JUST the British! So, no! They didn't give a damn about their men! THIS IS THE SADDEST WAR IN MODERN TIMES.
War is war and hell is hell.
There are no innocent bystanders in hell. In war, everyone except the highest-ranking officers is an innocent bystander.
To say the Generals did not care about their men is innacurate. Read about the British Commanders sitting on their horses openly weeping at the state of the men as the BEF crawled past on the retreat from Mons. It was General Smith - Dorrien (survivor of Isandhlwana, Zulu War) that disobeyed Haig and ordered the BEF to stop and fight at Le Cateau because the BEF was too exhausted to retreat any further.
I love our Canadian fighting spirit, we love all, till you don't love us.
The Germans learned an important lesson from the Battle of Amiens (A-mee-uhnz), and extensively analysed it after the war. The result was Blitzkrieg, which defeated the French in WW2 in just 6 weeks (the French learned the wrong lessons from WW1, and built the Maginot Line instead 🙄).
It was an informative historical coverage video about Amian operations launched by unton countries against Central countries...Britain was more progressive and capabilities in mechanized warfare systems than Germans. Germans had superiors in gun fire power and manpower ..while, the Germans population suffered from sea embargoes and sanctions from previous years of WW1 started
Pure hell on earth! Old style tactics with modern weapons.
A friend of mine who fought with the Germans in WWII, drafted on the street. He said that his father had told him around this time The American troops looked healthier dead than they did alive. RIP Zig
Cool. My Great Uncle told me how the SS were nothing but a bunch of idiotic drug addicts that were easy to fool and easy to kill
That is kinda strange aa a child most of the vets iv met on both sides said that same thing only about the Germans due to the fact we were able to even supply ice cream to our soldiers the Germans couldn't even get ammo to there men much less food !
Prussian? Prussia was part of the German Empire during WWI.
The French generals' name is pronounced " Fosh", not Fogh
Can you do some history on the use of horses by troops in WW1 and WW2? I heard recently the Germans used more horses than trucks in WW2 but I hadn't heard that until now.
Not much information on that subject available. YES WW2 Germans used Horses and carts to supply their front lines even invading Poland that way.Russians had 600,000 horses enlisted. No history of horses and carts used by Germans in North Africa. No figures available for How many trucks did the Germans have. Always short of fuel Germans produced synthetic fuel. In Russia they ran trucks one day and tanks the next because of the fuel shortage. And Russian railway lines were different gauge to German trains. You havent heard about the horses because admirers of the German war effort don't want to talk about this fatal flaw. Which seems so fundamanetal.
There was no Horses in North Africa only full motorised units, since i read history Books from the 1970 onwarts first German and later English ones nobody holds back about this topic.@@kimbo99
After watching these WW1 and WW2 videos I always wonder what kind of story's we will hear after the next one if any...😢
I imagine a lot more grunting and banging of sticks on rusty metal. 🤷♂️🤦♂️
...so the women attacked from the west, but later we realized they had Adams apples! And sclongs! We opened up on them, they ran away screaming like bitches, our colonel fired up the stereo and cranked up YMCA by the village people. Those NATO troops surrendered by the thousands...
@@scottyb68 At least NATO has guns that work ya commie fu#%!
Were not very far away from finding out with this IDIOT in the white house👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯
@@scottyb68 🤣😂😂 harsh but most likely true.
The first blitzkrieg
what does this have to do with a howitzer?
Those Howitzers were so effective they're hardly worth a mention. Seriously though, a small title error doesn't lessen the quality of the video itself. Good work, as usual for this splendid channel.
Ww1 where the science of artillery reality shifted beyond any other time in history
A very different kind of warfare was born
Steven Upton has a UA-cam channel that has drone footage of WW 1 battlefields. For those interested
Every time the Germans found out that Canadians were in the line they knew there was an assault coming from there.
2:28 Please TELL ME THAT'S HITLER!!!
Down Center or,Third from Left (Down)! It would be his EARLIEST RECORDER VIDEO IMAGE EVER!!!
00:01:15 [...] declared war against the Prussian Empire. [...]
Not GERMAN?!
Tanks were as devastating as they were unreliable in their early days.
WILL WE EVER REALLY KNOW HOW MANY DIED ON THE BATTLE FIELDS AND PRISON CAMPS , . ; : and let ' s just say up to a year after ~ would ' s ;
Why are you calling the German Empire the Prussian Empire? I am interested, I’ve never heard the German State in WW1 called that, but it does make sense, the Prussians had United Germany in 1870.
My favorite channel❤🎉
I wish you would get your national descriptions ironed out - if your going concentrate on history correctly identify the players. - There was no and never was a "Prussian" empire - Prussia was one of the states of the German Empire - Prussia was an independent Kingdom within the context of the 1871 German constitution . Ergo Wilhelm II King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany .
A war that the UK should have stayed out of . Imagine how much better off we would have been and we would have not been diluted by DIVERSITY
And for those who think that W W 1 is in the past only, Do not know of a Century later.
The politics and warfare haven't changed much. Just the weapons to lives lost or crippled. And yet only a few leaders in Mayhem have been brought to a subpar justice. But don't we love our War historical stories.
Ferdinand Foch is pronounced FO-SHH The sound on the track is rather unfortunate - Good work nevertheless - very enjoyable thank uou
I just read the Wikipedia description of this battle. Much of the commentary to this video appears to be taken from Wiki verbatim.
The Kingdom of Prussia was only one realm in the greater German Empire, a federal state which also had the King of Prussia as emperor.
Where does the thumbnail and title come in? Was that clickbait🤔 cuz we no hear about howitzer that stopped an entire army... or is the rail gun a type of howitzer!
Description of humans turned into brainless zombies in respectable words. Non Sense!
i will never understand how you can never use any maps and timelines, just useless titles and random war footage
Sound like if the canadians took no prisonners in that battle. Interesting way to do things.
Prussia? The armies were German, not Prussian. Prussia was a part of the German Empire.
Vehicles made no sound???????? How could that be possible.
0:55 What are those strange tall tanks that appear to have French turrets on them? Were they an FT17 variant?
Excellent story telling of WWI history.
Which army did they shatter? 6 guns, only 6 guns?
Not a word about the supposed subject of the piece - the howitzers.
Medals will never bring back men or body partes.
Is WW2 TV legit? its sounds like a chat bpt thing to me
Gen. Foch,, the name is pronounced FOSH
You never mentioned anything about the howitzers.
Hmm... a title in search of a video, I see...
What about the greatest general in war 1 "Monash" now that is a story
When can we get a video about Dwight Eisenhower's farewell speech?
He had one. Very prophetic.
To many adds sorry goodbye
Gal Foch : "fosh", not "fock"
Click bait title and image. Shame.
Click bait title is NOT GOOD = 👎
this is how you developed guns for ships in that next world war with hitler
Prussian Empire?
Prussian Empire? You mean German Empire. The Prussian Kingdom ceased to exist in 1871.
Boom, Shellshock, Boom
Most misleading title ever
I have my Grandfathers Doughboy Helmet in my hands as I watch this, and His Company's Campaign Banner (He was in Five) He was an Artillery Man. He said He liked the Germans more than the French, other than that He never spoke about it, He worked as a Currier and Walked all over Downtown Boston, He would Walk Home halfway across Boston from Work every day instead of taking the Subway & Bus, we realized it was therapy for His War experience, after he Died we found a stash of Photos, it was Hideous, there wasn't a blade of Grass as far as you could see.
He said the Germans couldn't believe how well supplied the Americans were , their Clothing, Food, Medical Care but by the end of the War my Grandfather looked like Death and lost a third of His Body weight.
Why do you keep referring to Prussia/Prussian instead of Germany?
Because Prussia still existed during WW1. And the Prussian Empire covered lands that are a part of modern day Germany & Poland
@@kristiskinner8542 Yes, Kristi, but they weren't only Prussian guns/men.
@@20july1944true, but was just giving them a general answer because of the way they asked the question. They didnt say "it wasnt just Prussia" or "what about Germany"
The doctrine of their military of course
@@kristiskinner8542incorrect! Prussia was a kingdom, Germany was the empire. Kaiser Wilhelm II was the German emperor and the King of Prussia.
1:44 why call it the Prussian offensive when it was the German Empire? I get Prussia being in the empire but why call it Prussia?
The leafblower heavy support choice. Earthshaker detachments for you 40k IG players.
"Foosh"
The Thailand soldiers , Portuguese soldiers and Russian soldiers don't get credit for their contribution in the Western front in WW1 🇹🇭🇵🇹🇷🇺
WW1 what a mess
Tanks were as devastating as they were unreliable in their early days.. Excellent story telling of WWI history..
Great 👍
The title had absolutely nothing to do with the video. There was only one mention of a massive gun, a railroad gun called the Amiens gun that had a brief mention and was no factor in the battle.
And a pandemic!
Howitzers?
💪🇨🇦🙏
CLICKBAIT!
More bs!
👍👍👍
💚🙌🏻
Interesting video but it doesn't have anything to do with the title.
In that harsh hour their leader said "4:20, blaze it"
"At the stroke of 4:20 am 900 allied guns opened up" Well, it's always 420 somewhere in my world! I'm gonna have a buff in honor of the allied victory!!
I remember, how in the 1970's Memorial Holiday would be full of WWI veterans not too many but now there are exactly none.
Time is the most effective killer of all
At least you mentioned the Australians and Canadians. They were the storm troopers as usual that won this pivotal battle that caused the collapse of the German army. To often Amiens is called a British effort, in reality they participated but never used as storm troops.
Australians were commanded by Sir John Monash; Canadians by Sir Arthur Currie.
Webjet is good advertising 👏
Good channels with good sponsors.
Well done mate. You're one in a few
1st like 1st comment good work