The Destroyed Villages Of France - Fleury I THE GREAT WAR Special

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  • Опубліковано 28 сер 2024
  • Fleury has a mayor and you can find it on a map. But the official population is: 0. The village has been completely destroyed during the Battle of Verdun and his now a memorial place. Indy walks the blasted landscape where you can still see the craters from constant bombardment.
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    Gilbert, Martin. The First World War. A Complete History, Holt Paperbacks, 2004.
    Hart, Peter. The Great War. A Combat History of the First World War, Oxford University Press, 2013.
    Hart, Peter. The Great War. 1914-1918, Profile Books, 2013.
    Stone, Norman. World War One. A Short History, Penguin, 2008.
    Keegan, John. The First World War, Vintage, 2000.
    Hastings, Max. Catastrophe 1914. Europe Goes To War, Knopf, 2013.
    Hirschfeld, Gerhard. Enzyklopädie Erster Weltkrieg, Schöningh Paderborn, 2004
    Michalka, Wolfgang. Der Erste Weltkrieg. Wirkung, Wahrnehmung, Analyse, Seehamer Verlag GmbH, 2000
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 835

  • @FirefoxisredExplorerisblueGoog
    @FirefoxisredExplorerisblueGoog 7 років тому +1142

    The mist really adds to the creepiness.

    • @shorgoth
      @shorgoth 7 років тому +42

      Yeah, perfect place to see an army of the deads rise in anger and pain.

    • @saddamhussein3849
      @saddamhussein3849 7 років тому +9

      It's probably the ghosts.

    • @rootkit2478
      @rootkit2478 7 років тому +11

      The forest in Europe look so beautiful compared to the U.s.

    • @dangaron9166
      @dangaron9166 7 років тому +4

      Sheldon Robertson. michigans up is good

    • @dangaron9166
      @dangaron9166 7 років тому

      Sheldon Robertson second largest water fall on the eastern coast

  • @MrBoringcabbage
    @MrBoringcabbage 7 років тому +527

    I can't be the only person who gets slightly tearful watching these videos? It's hard to imagine the suffering that went on during the war.

    • @kallecederstrom501
      @kallecederstrom501 7 років тому +47

      I blame dust.
      ...yeah... must be dust.

    • @andresmartinezramos7513
      @andresmartinezramos7513 7 років тому +16

      Kalle Cederström stupid dust

    • @MONTYNORDIN
      @MONTYNORDIN 7 років тому +4

      as sad as it may be its human nature so you might as well embrace it

    • @Shinzon23
      @Shinzon23 7 років тому +14

      I've visited the Verdun area and seen the areas torn by war, and I must tell you, I'm a agnostic, but even I felt like something was watching the area... something sad, yet prideful.
      when I visited, though, it was summer, and the sun was shining brightly, but even then everything felt... melancholy, and cold. And yes, I did shed a tear for all those who served their countries, died and fell and were buried alongside their foes in the ossuaries and cemeteries and war memorials...

    • @xmark9x598
      @xmark9x598 7 років тому

      mrboring cabage i still blame germans .

  • @El_Presidente_5337
    @El_Presidente_5337 7 років тому +253

    At Verdun in WW1
    Solider 1: Where is the Village?
    Solider 2: Youre right in the middle of it.

    • @ivangushkov3651
      @ivangushkov3651 7 років тому +15

      soooo 324 Tommies walk into a german maxim machine gun...they had Somme fun there lemme tell you that

  • @chipthedipyaknow
    @chipthedipyaknow 7 років тому +509

    Wow! Even the weather added to the tone of the video. Very well done.

    • @TheGreatWar
      @TheGreatWar  7 років тому +139

      +Steve Pappas yeah, we were lucky in that sense.

    • @lovablesnowman
      @lovablesnowman 7 років тому +36

      The Great War Implying you didn't just place 100s of smoke machines around the place

    • @nippelmichel5709
      @nippelmichel5709 7 років тому +3

      Steve Pappas I was there in the same time. It s a real "awesome" atmosphere in the winter an there is hardly any tourist 👍🏼
      But the museums are closed in january!

    • @MrRenegadeshinobi
      @MrRenegadeshinobi 7 років тому +2

      The Great War could you visit more places like this?

    • @MatthewSmith-sz1yq
      @MatthewSmith-sz1yq 6 років тому

      I definitely agree, a UA-cam channel would have a massive special effects budget that would buy hundreds of completely silent fog machines

  • @HoidingOn
    @HoidingOn 7 років тому +139

    While Indy is right that there is nothing "cool" about the horrors of World War I, I'm really glad that you guys could do this, it really helps bring the "realness" of the war off of the map and a reminder that a hundred years ago real lives were being torn apart by that conflict.
    Great job!

    • @renel8964
      @renel8964 4 роки тому +2

      Indy's run in the beginning really puts perspective as to the scene on those fateful days.

  • @derickgabrillo1579
    @derickgabrillo1579 7 років тому +226

    This video was shot beautifully.

    • @Ryan.Matlock
      @Ryan.Matlock 6 років тому +4

      I know! The desaturation is probably a result of the fog more than anything, but it works so well given the content.

  • @christopheschermesser5440
    @christopheschermesser5440 6 років тому +42

    People often wonder why the French demanded so much from the Germans in the treaty of Versailles. These people fail to understand the extent of the damage to the land that the war brought. Towns were wiped out. Landscape was forever cratered worse than the moon's surface, making any entreprise a lot more difficult, for the earth might reveal bodies, unexploded ordinance, various shrapnel, rusty barbed wire, gas pockets, etc., making any attempt at leveling or farming impossible. And that, is of course, on top of the cost in human lives (war, disease, anything really ...), injured soldiers, psycho trauma, etc.
    I have played often in these forests of Lorraine, played hide and seek in the bunkers and trenches with my siblings. While walking in the woods, one can find some bullets, occasionally too (I remember my mother finding an early one, distinctive, because it was round). School trips were to Douaumont or Verdun memorial ossuary.
    The scars of this war will remain forever.

    • @LeHappiste
      @LeHappiste 4 роки тому +14

      Not to mention in the last weeks of WW1, the retreating Germans conducted a scorched earth policy, destroying thousands of mines, factories and bridges.
      Even if the Germans had payed the full extend of the reparations they were asked to pay (they didn't), it wouldn't have covered one-third of how much it cost the French to rebuild.

    • @criscabrera9098
      @criscabrera9098 7 місяців тому +3

      I agree and that’s why I always supported the French because during ww1 the Germans heartland wasn’t touch yes people starved but the was the same everywhere meanwhile parts of France and Belgium were destroyed of course they’d want the worse revenge they wanted blood and tears and money

    • @jamesaiden6073
      @jamesaiden6073 Місяць тому

      Most of these German sympathizers in my experience are Americans with German ancestry.

  • @MilitaryAviationHistory
    @MilitaryAviationHistory 7 років тому +253

    I visited this area and the memorial a few times in early 2016. It really is a location you want to visit and see for yourself. Nothing can convey the impact this place has until you were there. Indy's words 'This is what's left' really will make sense once you walk through the woods and villages, makes you see a lot of things just a bit differently than before.

    • @condorboss3339
      @condorboss3339 7 років тому +4

      Agree. I made the trip 30 years ago and walked through those villages which were wiped out. It is incredibly depressing.

  • @raymondgill9796
    @raymondgill9796 7 років тому +140

    Tasteful, fascinating and sad in equal measure.

  • @mftepera
    @mftepera 4 роки тому +11

    I visited Verdun two days ago. To my fellow Americans, yes, it is worth the long journey. Of all the Verdun sites, Fleury made the biggest impression on me. The cold and gloom were identical to what Indy experienced.

  • @McLarenMercedes
    @McLarenMercedes 7 років тому +2

    A century later and the traces of the war is still clearly visible wherever one turns. Like a huge scar or wound in the land that never healed. An eerie place at daytime and I certainly wouldn't dare walking there during night. For those who lived in the area it must have been an unimaginable destruction of everything they knew. Those who survived this hell carried the memories like scars in their mind. This video alone conveys more than mere words ever could. Combined they leave a lasting impression.

  • @religionofpeaceturningyoui3810
    @religionofpeaceturningyoui3810 7 років тому +212

    Konrad von Hötzendorf even ruins battles, when he is attacking someone else, hundrets of miles away.

    • @wyatthill6252
      @wyatthill6252 7 років тому +20

      Religion of peace turning you into pieces He was the greatest general the Entente Powers had.

    • @Conn30Mtenor
      @Conn30Mtenor 3 роки тому

      @@wyatthill6252 that's not what his record shows. I know that that he has his fans but better than Hindenburg? Don't think so.

    • @ritvikupadhyay7120
      @ritvikupadhyay7120 3 роки тому +2

      @@Conn30Mtenor he was kidding.

    • @shivmalik9405
      @shivmalik9405 3 роки тому +3

      @@Conn30Mtenor Note that he says entente powers. Hotzendorf was so bad he may as well have been working for the enemy

    • @gertvanderhorst2890
      @gertvanderhorst2890 Рік тому

      @@wyatthill6252 Just as mr. A. Hitler was the Allied ace-general in the next geo-political adjustment event.

  • @Khaoki
    @Khaoki 7 років тому +31

    It is haunting to be told someone used to live in a spot that is just a crater now.

    • @mj6463
      @mj6463 3 роки тому +2

      Even more so that that crater has eroded to the point of no longer being visible, and a tree has grown in its place. The war that killed Europe, so recent, and yet so long ago.

    • @silasmerzenich
      @silasmerzenich 3 місяці тому +1

      And other people died in this crater...
      There were thousands of bodies all over fleury

  • @bluejay4214
    @bluejay4214 7 років тому +35

    Wow they filmed at the location I have to admit it's nice that they go to historically important locations and explain their importance along with a small quick tour they should do this more often.

    • @redsands1001
      @redsands1001 7 років тому

      Jason Barrera yup. this is what we pay for.

  • @qore1815
    @qore1815 3 роки тому +5

    For me the trees in the area are one of the most impactful parts of ww1. Beacuase after all the suffering the french people went through, they still had the strength to recreate the world they knew before the war

  • @andreweby8445
    @andreweby8445 7 років тому +66

    Idk how you put out content like this on a regular basis. Abosutely incredible as always

  • @troy9477
    @troy9477 7 років тому +1

    That is haunting. Hard to imagine a small town wiped out like that. A site like that should be preserved to remind people of the consequences of war, "lest we forget". And 19 unidentified bodies, added to the hundreds of thousands of missing and unidentified in the war. Great presentation, solemn and respectful. Very well done

  • @brokenbridge6316
    @brokenbridge6316 4 роки тому +3

    A lot of places were destroyed during the war. But this video makes that seem to come to life. This village was real at one time. With people living normal regular lives. Doing what normal regular people do. Until the Great War came along and disrupted it completely. Great job.

  • @iraqigamer2407
    @iraqigamer2407 7 років тому +43

    This is one of the channels on YT I live for...

    • @sakketin
      @sakketin 7 років тому +2

      IraqI GaMer Interesting that someone from Iraq is so into ww1 which is mostly european history.

    • @ollikoskinen1
      @ollikoskinen1 7 років тому +7

      Saku Satola Well, WW1 also affected Middle East. The Ottoman Empire collapsed in the aftermath, and France and Britain took control a lot of territory in the region, if my memory serves right.

    • @clementcharpentier9058
      @clementcharpentier9058 7 років тому +13

      IraqI GaMer i love This chanelle because i live close to one of the front line (vimy). but what make me sad is when i see reportage from irak. it lokes like WW1 all over again. And i hope you country will be ok. because even if it's 100 years old i know what it's like to be in a country at war. from the story of my great mother...
      courage!

    • @iraqigamer2407
      @iraqigamer2407 7 років тому +12

      Clément Charpentier
      We really need more people like you in this world. :•)

    • @abdullelahfaiz9041
      @abdullelahfaiz9041 7 років тому +4

      Saku Satola count me in , greetings from Saudi Arabia

  • @YourTypicalMental
    @YourTypicalMental 7 років тому +44

    If that's not a more fitting monument to the first world war, I don't know what is.

    • @neildahlgaard-sigsworth3819
      @neildahlgaard-sigsworth3819 7 років тому

      Abraham ಠ_ಠ unfortunately there were other wars that have been known as Great Wars, including the one that was one of the causes of the American War of Independence.

    • @maiamaya381
      @maiamaya381 4 роки тому

      Neil Dahlgaard-Sigsworth the seven years war?

    • @EnigmaEnginseer
      @EnigmaEnginseer 3 роки тому +2

      @@neildahlgaard-sigsworth3819 I don’t know a single person who calls the War for Independence the Great War. That title is reserved for WW1 as it stands

  • @bobdiluted6243
    @bobdiluted6243 7 років тому +5

    I first visited Fleury 30 years ago and have been back a few times since. I have a German 10 Pfennig coin I found in the site of the first bakery mentioned. It is dated 1885 and is the size of my thumbnail, yet even this tiny crumb is damaged by shell fire. I keep it as a reminder of the savagery of this battle.

  • @hebl47
    @hebl47 7 років тому +15

    Wow, you can really feel Indy's sadness in this episode.

  • @jamesgiliberto9329
    @jamesgiliberto9329 7 років тому +9

    This is BY FAR the best episode of the entire series!!! Intro was very moving...the Great War series keeps finding innovative ways to engage viewers with unexpected topics!!!! Keep up the great work!!!

  • @WildBillCox13
    @WildBillCox13 7 років тому +22

    Wow. A very effective segment, one of your best. Thanks for posting.

  • @tischlerandreas
    @tischlerandreas 7 років тому +10

    the imagery is taunting, the intro is great, the camera work is impressive and Indy's storytelling is on spot. thank you for this amazing piece of content.

  • @Ed-pn9id
    @Ed-pn9id 7 років тому +1

    So very sad. The part of war we don't think of , an entire town where people lived , worked and prayed destroyed , gone. Good segment Indy and crew.

  • @chrisbolland5634
    @chrisbolland5634 6 років тому +2

    4:33 Man that quote.

  • @mrsplashmanjr1285
    @mrsplashmanjr1285 7 років тому +68

    in that big black indy looks like a bond vilien

    • @Biker_Gremling
      @Biker_Gremling 7 років тому +21

      He IS a bond villien. This show is his masterplan for world domination.

    • @cripto1366
      @cripto1366 7 років тому

      Teco01ejg Are we going to see what modern war really is?

  • @candopoc
    @candopoc 7 років тому +9

    These specials are, I think, one of the best aspects of this channel. They add real understanding, above and beyond the overwhelming statistics of the weekly chronicle which can sometimes obscure the forest with the trees. Well done, really one of the most interesting channels on UA-cam. Thanks for all your efforts!

  • @manuelsosa7397
    @manuelsosa7397 7 років тому +40

    Excellent video! Captures the melancholy poetic of the place and time. This is high quality work guys, congratulations!

  • @Erik-ou3tl
    @Erik-ou3tl 7 років тому +18

    Indy and The Great War team, I would love for you to do something similar for the city of Ieper/Ypre when that battle rolls around. that entire city was almost as completely destroyed as Fleury, but they decided to rebuild it in the same exact architectural style after the war. I always found that a very powerful signal.

  • @rasmusdamgaardnielsen2190
    @rasmusdamgaardnielsen2190 7 років тому +33

    I dont ever think i have seen a video with 10k views, and 3 dislikes. And still, i feel angry at those 3 people

  • @sylvainfalquet6350
    @sylvainfalquet6350 7 років тому +16

    parts of land near Ypres and Verdun will not be inhabitable for the next 700 years. it sounds like something from a sci-fi book, but not only did WE do that, we did it 100 years ago...really puts the horrors of war into perspective

  • @meandtheboys3985
    @meandtheboys3985 7 років тому +668

    Indy looks like a british Butler

    • @chaimmarks2663
      @chaimmarks2663 7 років тому +9

      Field Marshal Erwin Rommel he knows the dark night

    • @AdrianMartinez-ek4kl
      @AdrianMartinez-ek4kl 7 років тому +7

      hey desert fox

    • @adamfrisk956
      @adamfrisk956 7 років тому +6

      MyCocaine

    • @ziggy8190
      @ziggy8190 7 років тому +14

      Field Marshal Erwin Rommel low key reminds me of a younger Michael Caine

    • @beckettfordahl5450
      @beckettfordahl5450 7 років тому +3

      He looks like Nardole with hair to me.

  • @darrenrosenbaum7958
    @darrenrosenbaum7958 Рік тому +1

    I walked Fleury for the first time in 1992 and have returned to the Verdun battlefield a number of times over the years. I don't know what, but something compels me to try and understand the sheer scale of the waste. It's incomprehensible. And why did the soldiers that survived one day wake up and fight the next? I still haven't figured it out and probably never will.
    This video is superb. The battlefield area is truly haunting. The undulating and torn terrain never fails to mesmerize me as do the villages, like Fleury, that also ceased to exist. It is easy for someone to say or write that 'man is inhuman to man'. Visit Verdun once and you experience the reality, thankfully second hand.

  • @gerardlabelle9626
    @gerardlabelle9626 3 роки тому +4

    I was moved by this video. Indy struck the perfect tone, simple, respectful, yet matter-of-fact. He let the spirit of the place speak.
    Videos like this fulfill the potential of the Internet. Where else could this 8-minute gem be offered to us?

  • @silentdragon1555
    @silentdragon1555 7 років тому +10

    I knew the battle of Verdun was bad.....but i never thought it was this bad....this just shows how horrifying Verdun was...But i would be curious to see someone manage to recreate the Lost villages of WW1 in a computer simulation to know how the Villages looked like before they disappeared.

    • @InchonDM
      @InchonDM 4 роки тому +4

      What struck me the most is just the _ground._ I live in Minnesota, and I've spent a fair bit of time in various parts of the backwoods there. No natural ground looks like that--those intense ripples and dips are the scars, a full century on, of the insane force of combat that reshaped the earth itself.

  • @BigJayAll
    @BigJayAll 7 років тому +6

    I just started crying. I can't even explain why... it just happened, and is still happening.
    Goddamit. War is hell.

  • @MrBigCookieCrumble
    @MrBigCookieCrumble 6 років тому +1

    Seeing the ups and downs in the ground and the actual living scars of the war is really powerful. It's like the grass and moss have simply preserved the craters rather than covering them up. I did not expect to see such clear and immediatly recognisable marks in the landscape (atleast not that many). I'm having a hard time even finding words to describe my feelings. Maybe that is it, "indescribable".

  • @leonardgordon312
    @leonardgordon312 7 років тому +1

    Thank you for this very touching episode that helps you understand at an emotional level the human cost of this battlefield. It is a haunting reminder of the sacrifice of the soldiers that fought there.

  • @dkendzierski2329
    @dkendzierski2329 7 років тому +3

    This is a powerful, touching, and thought provoking segment. Thanks to you all for taking the time to produce it for us.

  • @TaaviSimson
    @TaaviSimson 7 років тому +6

    Quite interesting episode. The sculpture was an interesting touch. And to think Europe is covered with places like these, not only the Western front, though it saw the most dense fighting.

  • @OldFellaDave
    @OldFellaDave 7 років тому +3

    Indy, Flo and Crew - this is the best damned video you guys have made - period.
    Everything about it was just damned spot on. Indy's narration, the tone, the content ... everything. And matched with what seems like the perfect setting with the silent forest and the mist - its hauntingly beautiful.
    Well done!!

  • @jeanpierrefarinaux609
    @jeanpierrefarinaux609 7 років тому +6

    One Of the Most impressive episodes so far. Thank you so much

  • @riploljustforfu9929
    @riploljustforfu9929 7 років тому +194

    Last time I was this early the Austro-Hungarian Empire wasn't falling apart.

    • @Bladezer3000
      @Bladezer3000 7 років тому +4

      Like your could've hit him with Hötzendorf in charge.

    • @abu-hureraali4531
      @abu-hureraali4531 7 років тому +5

      Bladezer 3000 I could have we took Serbia and nearly collapsed the Italians and held off the Russians simultaneously I think one kid won't be too much of a challenge

    • @riploljustforfu9929
      @riploljustforfu9929 7 років тому

      Kaiser Franz Joseph I Excuse me my dear Franz I am - by law - an adult and before you go run to your oh-so-good-friend Willi for help I would recommend you to just stop and go back to your grave where you belong because I'm not sure if he would want to deal with any of your shit anymore since your last desperate and ultimate futile attempt to keep your instabile "empire" together resulted in the collapse of not only yours but also his. So I ask you: Where's your mighty army now, where's your """glorious empire""". I can answer: Reduced to a mere footnote in global politics, an irrelevant alpine nation that constantly gets confused with a certain former British colony in the southern hemisphere.
      You fucked up Franz and compensating that by bragging about your nonexistent "huge army" won't work in the long term. (Just like going to war with Serbia.)
      (EDIT: pls don't kill me Austrians. Austria is a beautiful country)

    • @abu-hureraali4531
      @abu-hureraali4531 7 років тому

      Erika Lechner i will drink to that.

  • @tisFrancesfault
    @tisFrancesfault 7 років тому +37

    Just look at the ground... a century later and the earth is still so scared.
    Religious or not I hope the dead found peace and rest. :/

  • @Huf5a
    @Huf5a 7 років тому +2

    This is the best special "real life" special hands down

  • @dafrenchman
    @dafrenchman 7 років тому +1

    Fantastic video as always--I find that these "field trip" videos hit me far harder emotionally than the week-to-week updates do. I think seeing these places and memorials in such detail makes the horrific reality of the war so much more vivid and, well--real.
    Thank you.

  • @sylvainfalquet6350
    @sylvainfalquet6350 7 років тому +66

    are there still areas that people can't live near on the old battlefields? also love the camera work!!

    • @gabrielheraud41
      @gabrielheraud41 7 років тому +32

      sylvain falquet yes l, there is a zone named Red Zone in which the soil is forever contaminated by corpses and there are still shells buried (lots are found each year, so in this area the police have units specialized in mine-clearing)

    • @sylvainfalquet6350
      @sylvainfalquet6350 7 років тому +8

      TheIpsin damn....this made me really sad. but I cannot believe that the first fully industrialized war has caused land that won't be safe for the next 700 years. that sounds like something that would happen in a sci fi war in the future, but we did that, and we did it 100 years ago. I'm scared at what we could do now....

    • @Erik-ou3tl
      @Erik-ou3tl 7 років тому +45

      or, as my uncle from that area somewhat blunty says it, "every year some farmer gets a new pond on his farm, and the list of casualties grows". really put the effect of such a major conflict into perspective

    • @sylvainfalquet6350
      @sylvainfalquet6350 7 років тому +10

      Pipsy wow...just wow...loss of words here

    • @neurofiedyamato8763
      @neurofiedyamato8763 7 років тому +4

      that's really tragic stuff...

  • @Corristo89
    @Corristo89 6 років тому +3

    I visited a WW1 site with my history class once and telling them that they were potentially walking on thousands of dead caused some to almost freeze in place. On cemeteries you know where the dead are burried, but at that place it was completely unknown. And I'm still proud due to the fact that even the biggest goofballs and jokers and class realized what had happened there and became very thoughtful and serious.

  • @simonafflerbach3388
    @simonafflerbach3388 7 років тому +5

    Outstanding Camera work!

  • @DoraFauszt
    @DoraFauszt 7 років тому +7

    This episode is mind blowing!

  • @mistermagoo7494
    @mistermagoo7494 7 років тому +3

    awesome video. keep up the awesome stuff

  • @Rawny
    @Rawny 7 років тому +1

    Thank you! Thank you! Thank you Indy and Crew for inserting HUMANITY into your episodes. The walkabout at 5:00 was so well done, so powerful, dust flew into one of my eyes. Thank you.

  • @nairpic7360
    @nairpic7360 7 років тому +56

    Question for out of the trenches : what happened to the people living in villages close to the frontline, or in the middle of big battles(ex: Verdun, Somme) the like Fleury? Were they moved in other parts of the country? Did their governments help them? Or were they left to fend for themselves? Thank you for your hard work and keep the good stuff coming! You are currently the best channel on UA-cam!

    • @humanbear4
      @humanbear4 7 років тому +18

      I could be entirely wrong, but from what I remember reading in the book "generals lie in bed", it describes British and Canadian soldiers who lived on the front line occasionally visiting towns and villages when they got switched out by another division.
      This said, I highly doubt these towns and villages were ever evacuated, and instead civilians were often an indirect casualty of war. During artillery shelling, french civilians would take cover in wine cellars, or basements where ever they could.

    • @paillettecnc
      @paillettecnc 7 років тому +10

      They were evacuated when the village was woken up by artillry firing. Although it isn't mentionned whether or not shells hitted the village or if it was the sound of the german "preparation artillery shots" (fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleury-devant-Douaumont yes it's in french, i was lazy and didn't searched for an english translation).

    • @massaweed420
      @massaweed420 7 років тому

      You can also read more in the book "Poilu" By Louis Barthas. In his experience a decent amount of the towns still had civilians living there, at least during the first half of the war, and the soldiers would rotate in and out of those villages since they could use the shelled or abandoned buildings to sleep in.

    • @oldschool1993
      @oldschool1993 6 років тому +3

      These were the days before social safety nets- if your village was in a battle zone you either stayed and prayed or you left as a refugee and hoped that you had family or friends in another place who would take you in.

  • @mammuchan8923
    @mammuchan8923 4 роки тому +2

    That was incredibly haunting yet poignant

  • @Ekib-Niatnuom
    @Ekib-Niatnuom 7 років тому +4

    It's very sad. I imagine looking at that area in the spring or summer one could forget that thousands upon thousadns died there. The cost was so high for just a few meters of ground. Like all wars it's truly terrible. Rest in peace soldiers and citizens of Fleury, we might not know all your names but you are not forgotten.

  • @bigchumbawumba2355
    @bigchumbawumba2355 7 років тому +8

    War really is heartbreaking.

  • @nellennatea
    @nellennatea 7 років тому +2

    Such a sad story. Must be terrifying to have lived in that village as it was being bombed. & bodies still buried, unidentified and look after by the trees.

  • @Clamos321
    @Clamos321 7 років тому +2

    Great video guys, keep up the good work.

  • @das_edelweiss8736
    @das_edelweiss8736 7 років тому +332

    kinda creepy how y'all can film in a forest like that with thousands dead ⊙_⊙

    • @TheGreatWar
      @TheGreatWar  7 років тому +13

      +Red Fox ?

    • @das_edelweiss8736
      @das_edelweiss8736 7 років тому +3

      you know, ghosts especially when its foggy and you guys are basically walking on dead people

    • @iraqigamer2407
      @iraqigamer2407 7 років тому +24

      Red Fox
      Ghosts don't exist...

    • @ragzaugustus
      @ragzaugustus 7 років тому +93

      That's literally every single place in Europe, we have had so many wars, plagues, massacres and general misery, that if ghost were actually real, the entire continent would be haunted.

    • @TheBigBadBeowulf
      @TheBigBadBeowulf 7 років тому +5

      Maybe it is and that's why y'all keep having so many unrests

  • @MyILoveMinecraft
    @MyILoveMinecraft 7 років тому +4

    Indy has such a good fashion seens like dayum

  • @SPRPhilly
    @SPRPhilly 7 років тому +1

    One of the best episodes yet. You guys are by far the best channel on UA-cam.

  • @shawngilliland243
    @shawngilliland243 5 років тому +5

    The French have done so well to have such memorials to not only the fallen soldiers, but to vanished villages and civilians as well. Thanks for showing us these things on a "field trip", Indy.

  • @Rex1987
    @Rex1987 7 років тому

    this video really captures that feeling that you get when you visit the area around Verdun. I was there with my dad some years ago. If you notice all the holes in the ground, those are remains of shell holes which have been left more or less untouched. The ground still bleeds.
    i recommend it to all fans of history to go there. You can get quite emotional when you walk around that place.
    Anyway i am happy to be a patron and supporter of this show. Excellent work by indy and the gang :-)

  • @ericcarlson3746
    @ericcarlson3746 5 років тому +1

    This and your visit to the American Cemetery are the apex of the entire GREAT WAR series

  • @Klowner777
    @Klowner777 7 років тому +2

    Extra irony/sadness when you realise that Fleury also means flowery or to bloom in French (fleuri).
    Thank you for these videos. Lest we forget.

  • @VladTevez
    @VladTevez 7 років тому +35

    Watching this video in 42 Celsius

    • @user-ey4mx1ul3n
      @user-ey4mx1ul3n 7 років тому

      Που ζεις φιλε; Εγω Βαρη.

    • @olsihacker
      @olsihacker 7 років тому +2

      Steel Void no we live in the Balkans

    • @towelthief8293
      @towelthief8293 7 років тому +1

      αδερφέ σε νιώθω. Ευτυχώς εδώ στα βόρεια έχει χτυπήσει "μονο" 38.

    • @TubeSteakTaco
      @TubeSteakTaco 7 років тому

      sunny and clear 81F in California.

    • @starlinguk
      @starlinguk 7 років тому

      Turkey? I think it's getting less hot soon...

  • @jadeoliviabald
    @jadeoliviabald 6 років тому +1

    Made me cry-as did the clip about how they identified the dead .War is horrible! These poor people who just wanted to live their lives, got caught up in something they had nothing to do with.The poor soldiers who had to dig through bodies to identify their comrades, had trauma issues.The poor men who died-on both sides.Men are humans, whether they are British et al. or German et al....

  • @marcgiacovelli614
    @marcgiacovelli614 7 років тому +1

    I visited this very same village last year in June. The weather was similar foggy and raining. It is as of God still weeps over the extreme violence that took place no the Great War. Great job bringing history to life. Thank you

  • @ww1photos_info
    @ww1photos_info 7 років тому +1

    I've a picture of myself beside the wood sculpture, when I went there

  • @Acnaib81
    @Acnaib81 7 років тому +1

    Hey Indy. Thanks for showing this to us. In the few years I've been following you guys this has been the most touching episode I've seen. Thank you and the team for doing some amazing work

    • @TheGreatWar
      @TheGreatWar  7 років тому +1

      thanks, glad you liked it.

  • @bigbrowntau
    @bigbrowntau 7 років тому

    Seeing you walk around there made me think what must have gone through the minds of soldiers advancing over the same ground in the second world war. Indy, your treatment of the Great War is a credit to you and your crew. In the cut and thrust of week by week history, it's easy to get caught in the excitement. Moments like this bring us back to the reailty of it all. Thank you.

  • @JayRaxter
    @JayRaxter 7 років тому +3

    Indy, easily one of the best shorts you've done while making the series. Bravo Zulu man...

  • @foobloo101
    @foobloo101 7 років тому +2

    The choice of no music was a good one. It's strange to think, if there was no memorial, you could walk through those woods and never know... I guess all battlefields disappear over time 😔

  • @JRSimoes
    @JRSimoes 7 років тому

    stumbling on this brand new channel called The Great War several years ago I never thought how much I would look forward to seeing every new episode. The quality of your work is excellent and the content educational and impactful. Thank you The Great War team.

  • @prazcuray1388
    @prazcuray1388 Рік тому +1

    The fact you don’t hear birds or other wildlife just adds to the intensity of the landscape. It’s like nature knows there was to much death there.

  • @giovannibermudezjr
    @giovannibermudezjr 7 років тому

    I never would have traveled to Fleury, but thanks to Indy, now I have. Good Job, Great War Channel.

  • @scarmeraseptume9497
    @scarmeraseptume9497 7 років тому

    Well that's the most haunting thing I've ever seen on UA-cam. Brilliant work guys.

  • @chrisbolland5634
    @chrisbolland5634 6 років тому +3

    That quote at 4:33 about people running, 'Like living torches' really stuck me. It's seems so horrible to my ears to hear about men, humans, the pinnacle of creation, reduced to soulless animals screaming inhuman screams and running mindlessly away from fire. Of course, we as people fear becoming inhuman. That's why we made zombies in fiction, we see a thing that looks human, but isn't like us. An animal in human skin. Perhaps, when we see the horror in the world, we see the true horror in ourselves, huh?

  • @MarekDohojda
    @MarekDohojda 7 років тому +1

    Holy crap, but this was a powerful episode! You've done an amazing out of great episodes, but none more powerful than this one.

  • @spookerredmenace3950
    @spookerredmenace3950 7 років тому

    this is why and what I love about this channel.. you go to the actual locations and give a damn about what you talk about... and show how it effects you. thank you for showing us Fleury

  • @oldschool1993
    @oldschool1993 6 років тому +2

    Cold ain't it? I was there in Dec 1992 and remember the biting wind that would cut right through your clothes. Unbelievable how those troops lived in those conditions all the while being bombarded daily. There was also a group excavating a site with some bodies that had been discovered- it was roped off with a sign "des heroes" not distinguishing if they were French or German.

  • @theprinceofbadpuns3198
    @theprinceofbadpuns3198 7 років тому

    Well done. I could hear your frustration with the epic waste of all those lives. This really brought to life the impact of all the death and destruction.

  • @chroniclerwolfram2411
    @chroniclerwolfram2411 7 років тому

    This, more then anything else, is why your show is so important.
    To show with a clarity and a certainty the true price of modern war.
    To educate several generations of people for which destruction and carnage on this scale remains and hopefully forever will remain unimaginable.
    To help people realise that war and the attitudes and ideas that lead to and fuel it are not ways to glory or a solution to a problem, but simple petty, pathetic excuses for countless villages filled with countless lives to be reduced to THAT.
    Nothing but ghosts in the fog, and the memories of those of us fortunate enough to live in calmer times.

    • @TheGreatWar
      @TheGreatWar  7 років тому

      yes, the place made them very clear.

  • @tomsleeckx409
    @tomsleeckx409 7 років тому

    The entire atmosphere is just astonishing! It's so silent yet you can imagine the sounds of the war and the horror. That intro brought a tear to my eye!

  • @betaich
    @betaich 7 років тому +17

    As soon as Indy said the name von Hötzendorf I knew there would be the word fail not far behind.

  • @robinmasur8515
    @robinmasur8515 7 років тому

    Just impressive. Probably one of the best video of TGW. Simultaneously eerie and moving Wow....

  • @jnicksy
    @jnicksy 6 років тому

    Keep doing what you folks are doing... it's so important, and you do it so well. Thank you.

  • @grumpygrumpgrump136
    @grumpygrumpgrump136 7 років тому +1

    Like the leggings Indy. Sad situation, but you guys did a great video. So many died thinking that this was the war to end all wars. So, so mistaken.

  • @grayflaneur4854
    @grayflaneur4854 6 років тому

    Very moving. When Indy speaks of other soldiers buried around you and under the surrounding trees I left with ghostly images of soldiers standing in the entire area. It's like you are immersed in Fleury and it will be this way forever.

  • @themaninthesuit5729
    @themaninthesuit5729 7 років тому

    Possibly you're best episode gentleman. Very well done indeed!!!

  • @VWeooo
    @VWeooo 7 років тому

    This episode made me shiver. Great work The Great War Team

  • @om3g4z3r0
    @om3g4z3r0 6 років тому

    You guys should do a playlist of all the field trips, i enjoy them even more then the normal episodes because history in theory is cool but once you see whats left glued to the context presented, it all feels more believable.

  • @CrimsonDragon15
    @CrimsonDragon15 7 років тому

    It gives such an incredibly eerie feeling.

  • @living2ndchildhood347
    @living2ndchildhood347 6 років тому +1

    Visiting Fleury truly brings the horrors of war home to the visitor.

  • @LJSpit
    @LJSpit 7 років тому

    Very moving episode Indy. brings home the reality of the conflict.

  • @TheAsianpancakes
    @TheAsianpancakes 6 років тому +1

    I'm really loving the camera work

  • @KuyVonBraun
    @KuyVonBraun 7 років тому

    Fascinating video and Fleury just made my bucket list of places to visit. It seems like quite a haunting place and even on a sunny day I think it would be quite an experience.

  • @stevenjlovelace
    @stevenjlovelace 7 років тому +1

    I've been watching this channel for a while, and this is the most amazing and poignant video you've done so far.