First World War - Messines Craters Part 2

[@joshmarks3954]

My great great grandfather was in the 3rd Australia tunneling company. His name was John James Robinson. Thank you Steven, your work is really unique and informative. Amazing footage and excellent narration. I visited these areas in April 2018 and this aerial perspective is really helpful to put it all in perspective. Thanks again. Lest we forget.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching and your encouraging feedback.

[@rob4b]

Superb footage thank you Steve, the memories of all the men who fought here are not forgotten thanks to you.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching, and your comments.

[@deadrepublic5238]

Mr. Upton, I really want to thank you for this series of videos. I've learned more here than I ever did in school. Thank you.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@jafxdwg]

More heartfelt appreciation for all your hard work and amazing explanations. You really are the maestro of trench maps ! Cheers and thanks again from Canada.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. I will be going to Canada on Tuesday.

[@Gitarzan66]

That is just amazing that they rebuilt right in the middle of those craters. I would never be able to get it out of my mind that the ground all around me was full of war dead. I guess the history buff in me would love it though. I dont think I would get much farm work done. I would always be off exploring. Another awesome view Mr. Upton. Thank you.

[@Gitarzan66]

P.S. As a piano player I have to tell you that outro music was just beautiful.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@Dilip122S]

Thank you again, Steven, for another very informative video. It's hard to take in the scale of loss of life that those craters represent: ten thousand men launched into eternity in seconds, when those plungers were pushed. Thank you for helping to preserve the memory of all the very brave personnel involved in this conflict.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@TheDemon190]

Thanks for all you do Peter

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. Makes all the effort worthwhile.

[@joperhop]

Thank you Steven, I used to sit on google maps and trace these craters and the trenches. You videos are currently being binged with a coffee.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@bobski36]

Thanks for all your hard work. I live in the US and I am planning a bicycle tour trip along the Messine Ridge. You drone footage has been invaluable for parts of my planning.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. Include in your trip the crypt of Messines church. It was a German field dressing station. Adolph Hitler was treated there when he was wounded.

[@hazeljohnston8861]

Wow... this particular film is sooo interesting to me. My Grandfather was serving with 36th Ulster Division 16th Pioneers and was involved in some way with the tunnelers prior to June 1917 attacks. It is believed by some that it was his involvment in a serious tunelling accident that he may have warrented him his MM. Your drone footage really helps undertand how the explosions along the front line would have helped the Allies in their progress. Thank you. We will always remember them.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching and sharing your GF's story.

[@pianoboy3225]

Hey Steven! Thank you so much for all of your content! Your content made me become fascinated with WWI and I use them a lot in my classroom! Superb work!

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@cyberdonblue4413]

Many thanks for another great video, Steven. I fell in love (if that's the right choice of words) with the history of all of these places some 40 years ago when I first read "They called it Paschendaele" and "The Roses of No Man's Land" by Lyn Macdonald. I, and a couple of friends, then visited Ypres and Paschendaele shortly after reading those books (privately, not on a tour) and the whole area was incredible. That would have been in about 1982. Much has changed since then, I'm sure. Back then, in the silence, you could "feel" the history surrounding you. It whispered over your shoulder at every cemetary and every preserved trench. The biting wind whistled across the flat land and, with a nausea chewing away at your insides, you could fully imagine the horrors of war that had faced the youth of both sides back in their day. And I defy any man or woman alive - even to this day - not to shed a tear or two at The Menin Gate at 6 p.m. every night when the local Fire Brigade turn out in their finest attire and play The Last Post. It reaches into your very soul. Thank you once again, Steven. You brought back so many vivid memories to me.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching and the graphic account of your visit.

[@GumbootZone]

Lyn Macdonald has some excellent books and I think I've read them all. The stories in them are not told from the perspective and biases of a historian, but are made up mostly from the accounts and memories of the actual soldiers who were there. Some very powerful writings.

[@bobconnor1210]

Well done. Your presentations are excellent and informative. I read once that the Germans very nearly moved back from this line but decided that this high ground was too good to abandon and that the shockwave woke up David Lloyd George in London.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. I am sure that you are correct. I have read that it was heard in London. The Germans always liked to hold the high ground.

[@bulldog1066jpd]

Just the facts jack just the facts.... really enjoyed your videos as simplistic as they are. ❤

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Glad you like them!

[@Isclachau]

Can only add what’s others have said, great work, love the shots from the air showing plug street wood etc

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@kennymilne6125]

Very interesting , thank you for your videos Steve

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@AlphamenschRC]

Thank you for the great videos you make! What a unbelievable useless war...I'm German and still have tears in my eyes for the good people on all sides that are lost forever. And i can imagine that the world might be a better place now if we not lost them. All of them where brave man who thought doing the right thing and all of them where killed for nothing. Nobody will be forgotten, and i hope that everyone found peace at the end... I really hope that something like WW1 or WW2 never happens again

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. I agree with your sentiments, war solves nothing.

[@-ewen]

Another great video Steven. The drone footage gives such a different viewpoint of the battlefields. Many thanks for all your hard work in making them.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@jackthebassman1]

Superb video work Stephen, once again thank you for your excellent postings, they get better and better.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@jackthebassman1]

Once again Steven, so many thanks for the professional standard of work you put in and for sharing your excellent knowledge.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching and your encouraging comments. Part 3 is being posted in the next few minutes.

[@lisahubbard9246]

Great work Steven. I really appreciate your work and dedication.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@coertwerndlij6079]

Thank you Steven for your films, I have subsibed to them a short while ago. I am a regular visitor to the Ypres Salient for some 20 years now. The shell you mentioned, which was taken by the Belgian Bomb disposal unit however, is not an 18pounder, but a German 77mm shell, a longer than standard version, with a LKZ 17 fuse. This means Lange kanone zunder 1917. They were usually used on the longer 77mm gas shells.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching and for the correction.

[@coertwerndlij6079]

@@StevenUpton14-18 No problem Steve, when visiting these battlefields, you can alway's find piles of these, unexploded ordnance, especially when farmers did they're plowing on the fields. Or when walking those fields, which I usually do, see them lying around. I would strongly recommend for people seeing them, to leave them well alone. These things are getting more insecure in their age, and nobody can say with certainty what kind they are. In those day's, they were marked with paint colours, to identify what kind they were, Shrapnel, gas or normal explosive, but that paint has rusted off in the years gone by. When field walking, it is quite normal to find buttons, pieces of field gear, but also bits of humans..I have seen human jaws, pieces of skulls.. They are still where I found them. They belong there, and show the horror of that war. By the way, my great-grandfather was there too, a German soldier, who served in Reserve Infantry Regiment 213. He survived the war, and I still have pictures of him. His son was the father of my mother, I cherish the picture of my Great Grandfather, taken in 1943, holding a small baby in his arms. That baby was my mother, and his son (my great grandfathers son)was a soldier in WW2. I spoke with him too, he didn't want to go, but you just didn't say no to Adolf..He also survived that war, deserted in 1944. Sorry for the long message Steven. We will remember them.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

@@coertwerndlij6079 - I am ex-military so very aware of the dangers of old munitions. My father served in WW2 from Normandy to Hanover, then was sent to India.

[@coertwerndlij6079]

@@StevenUpton14-18 I am ex military too, a sergeant in the Dutch army medical corps. Now a technician in a factory,, fixing and repairing machines. But also first aid. Have a nice sunday, and thank you for the video's here. I hope to visit the old battlefields again soon, I haven't visited them since 2014. Because of the centennial I didn't like to be flooded with all kinds of tourists. I used to be quite alone earlier, when visiting. When this Covid is over, I will be visiting the Ypres salient, the Somme and Verdun again. Have a nice evening!

[@StevenUpton14-18]

@@coertwerndlij6079 I hope to be visiting the Somme in May on a bike trip with other veterans from the British Legion. I was RAF.

[@BLUEZz73]

My great Grandfather and great Uncles were in ww1 and 2 great uncles died there my Grand father and his brothers were in ww2 he returned they were Scots my Grandfather Peter Gillespi moved to Australia in 51 apparently they were all close as young blokes but when Grandad migrated moved he never went back he had a brother and sister who migrated to Canada they had a reunion in the mid 80s i was young hardly remember it their all gone now sadly he didnt talk about the war he was wounded bung leg big scars ether side and shrapnel burns scars legs arms chest back he lived till 71 he had a hard life after the war they should have been treated better he was good man to me its saddens me they should have looked after all those blokes. Thanks for the very interesting videos mate. LEST WE FORGET

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. We will remember them.

[@koningbolo4700]

Some of the farmers in the area are left with very nice (fish)ponds curtiouscy of the British Army... Try to find a contractor to get that kind of job done that efficiently and skillfully... Very nice video (as usual) Monsieur Upton...

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@timareskog2418]

Thank you once again Steven for compiling yet another very informative and easy to follow video showing what was once a scene of absolute desperation and hell for so many. I wonder if photos still exist somewhere of these same areas taken before and after these mines were detonated. No doubt they were once in the possession of the Allied Military and then archived. If they could only be found they would be amazing to compare with the area as it is today. As always I am looking forward to your next video. 🇦🇺

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. There are some interesting photographs on the Internet taken days after the explosions.

[@ronintje7647]

So weird to see those farms build next to craters and the last one even between several craters. I'm curious about the depth of those ponds now. I grew up on a farm in the Netherlands and once was picking up rocks and stuff from a field we were preparing to sow new grass when i noticed the thing i just threw onto the cart didn't really feel like a rock. When i checked it out it turned out to be a shell and i thought i was lucky to be alive. The bomb squad came and it turned out a smoke grenade the English shot towards the Germans who were a bit further down the road and a bunch of them landed in our fields back then in 1944. No danger at all in hindsight, but it is scary to pick up something like that. But finding a live grenade like the one shown there after 100 years, and there probably are a lot more of them stuck deep in the soil there.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. My father was with the British army in the Netherlands in 1944. 94th Field Regiment Royal Artillery, 43rd Division, 30 Corps. He was at Elste trying to support the paratroopers on the other side of the Rhine.

[@christopheghesquier1847]

Hello, although I now live not far from the Chemin des Dames, I am from Armentieres, which should be beyondthe south border of this map. Just behind the british lines, the city was so much shelled that a 17 years old Sophie Ghesquier (who would be my grand-grand-aunt) was killed by a shell splinter. Plugstreet, 3 mile to the north of Armentieres is just on the tip of this map. As I am fond of WWI history, I have been visiting almost all these places. You can not imagine how tiny this battlefield was. When you stand at one point you see some of the other places.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@fluffycat087]

Thankyou. Great to see them from the air. Its a good perspective and really gives me a feel for the terrain that you cant get with maps or a ground view. It is very much like the south east of England, as in very flat, wonder how it would have looked in the day before the war.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. I suspect that pre-1914 it would have been similar to today, mainly agriculture but with smaller fields. By 1918 this area was completely colourless, just a brown crater field. Not a single building survived.

[@JamesWilliams-gu9pd]

Thank you

[@StevenUpton14-18]

@@JamesWilliams-gu9pd - Thank you for watching.

[@iksexplorationsfollower2588]

Good to see another great video, have been missing seeing your video's, was wondering if you were ok. A question, how deep are these craters, do they go all the way down to the shafts / tunnels? Thanks again Steve, -- from Dave in Australia.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. Should be posting the final part in this series later today. The depth of the mine shafts ranged from 17 to 42 metres. However, that is not the depth of the craters. As most of the blast went upwards I would suspect, and I am no expert on this, that they would not have been a great deal deeper than the that. We now have 100 years of erosion to consider. If you look at contemporary photographs when these craters were fresh and dry they look absolutely huge.

[@louisgunn]

if you walk the outside rim of pool of peace crater in approx. N/W quadrant there is a small german concrete bunker, lying at a angle it is just possible to get in it,you'll get muddy tho!

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@frankbr5991]

What is strange to me is, if you see all the fields, you are not able to see shadows which were caused by trenches or explosives.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@billyslittlebigadventurech9050]

What a terrible tragedy. Re. Lone tree soldiers steven . 😓. Did you manage to get over to whitesheet before the dig finished ?

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. Unfortunately not. Just seems a shame to me that houses will cover the site now. Its a pity that land is so valuable that they could not preserve it as a battlefield memorial. Or even create a new cemetery for the 120+ soldiers they found.

[@billyslittlebigadventurech9050]

@@StevenUpton14-18 the best people to ask, is in the new CWGC that has opened up on the menin road in yipers, steven.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you.

[@glennshobbies884]

I was at hill 60, 10th November 2018 very moving

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@barryscott6222]

How deep would these crater lakes be these days ?

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. Sorry, I have no idea what the answer to your question is.

[@geordie1032]

Great work again, Steven. I have a particular interest in this area, especially the British trenches opposite Hollandscheschur farm where the forebears of the unit I served in, worked on the trenches in 1916. The trenches opposite Hollandscherchur farm were breastworks due to the low lying boggy ground. Really good to see the drone images. Thank you.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. It was my first time at this particular place. On using GPS and trench maps I realised that I had parked directly over the British front line. I can certain see why they would have used breastworks.

[@Paleoman]

Another stellar compilation Mr Upton. Your footage brings a reality to these places and events that one doesn't get from printed copy. I read 7000 german prisoners were taken after the British detonated the Messines mine charges. Of the troops still alive, most of them were said to be in a daze from the shock wave and were wandering aimlessly about. Thank you for sharing these sir.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@dirkverlinden2516]

Amazing, thé village n'aimes are flemisb! Great work👌🏻✋🏻🍻

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@ropeyarn]

I had no idea of the extent of the number of these mine planted bombs. I had only heard about one of them.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. Mining along the Western Front was on a massive scale. There were thousands of them (literally, this is no exageration). In one place, Butte de Vauquois (see my film on this) the French and Germans detonated over 500 on one hill top!

[@3vimages471]

Did you go to St. Georges chapel .... the British church in Wipers?

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. I have not visited St Georges chapel yet.

[@3vimages471]

@@StevenUpton14-18 You should one day .... it is full of British army tributes and remembrances A very moving place..

[@saulikoivula6567]

great videos! thanks!

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@jasoreed]

I lived there for a year, i know the pronunciations, the flemish ones anyway, because its a vlaams (flemish) speaking area, Ypres-Iper (Eeeperr) Messines -Mesen - Mayzen Passhendale - Puss-en-dala, Menen-Maynen Ploegsteert - Pluh-stuurt Kruistraat - Kru-straat Wijschate - Ij is same as ay in English - Way-schaate Any town with a G - sounds more like a H like the most used swear word in flemish is - god damit -Goedverdoome - Hot-fer-dooma etc ...

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for this clarification. I have tried to use the British soldiers place names.

[@andersonsroad5161]

@@StevenUpton14-18 Good work Steven . If it was ok for our forefathers who defended these places with their lives against German aggression to use that pronunciation then that will be good enough for us.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

@@andersonsroad5161 - Agreed.

[@toshikokatano8344]

If all these craters were created by long tunnels, how do they now hold water?

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. The sunk a shaft to below a certain layer in the ground then went sideways towards the opposing trenches. When first exploded the craters were dry. But after so many years they fill up where the water table is near the surface.

[@backchat8086]

Thankyou, very interesting. I wonder if and if so how many tunnels still exist under all that.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. I saw a documentary about that a while back. There are hundreds. Many still have the explosives in them. One is directly under a French motorway. Its too dangerous to try to remove them. so they are left to rot.

[@notyou1877]

This is more precise than dive bombing each one separately.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. In WW1 dive bombing had not been developed.

[@Rocky-xx2zg]

I have to wonder: The effort to reclaim the Land for farming must have been a moumental and extremlely dangerous task. The battle areas had to covered with dead body remains, barbered wire and unexploded shells . It must have taken years to accomplish.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. I have also thought of the same things. There are areas in France known as ‘Red Zones’, that were never recovered due to being too dangerous.

[@seabeeusn76]

The irony of the disposable munitions team using a Mercedes Benz to transport these live rounds...

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@davidgillette7109]

Thank you for your work. We must never forget the sacrifice these men on both sides made. I believe we must also never forget the insanity and utter brutality of those in-charge. We to this day live with the consequences of this insanity.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. Its hard to judge others when we were not in their shoes. Attitudes 100 years ago were shaped by a life very different to our own.

[@edwinthompson6510]

@@StevenUpton14-18 those young guys had no idea what so ever what they were going to on the Western Front why we as a country got involved is king and government not wanting revolution,,,, so 1914 was the answer

[@emielvanderwel5200]

very informative!

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@gordonmckenzie926]

Fabulous.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@retiredafce3373]

It’s crazy to think that after a hundred years there is still that much explosives buried in these battle fields.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. It is too dangerous to try to remove it.

[@jamestulk5111]

Moo Cow Farm?

[@StevenUpton14-18]

@@jamestulk5111 - Thank you for watching.

[@astolatpere11]

Nice!

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@aimdrummer]

Makes me laugh, in the UK if work uncovers suspicious ordnance for any reason, they create a mile wide exclusion zone, evacuate houses, charge around looking serious... in Belgium they find live ordnance and leave it in a pile by the road for bomb disposal to cart away when they next swing by.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@p28-e7j]

Tis of course where the word to undermine comes from.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@peterchilds1411]

These men suffered terribly for no reason, their sons fought again and their grand children gave their countries away to foreigners who disrespect their culture, values and sovereignty.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@dollybanks9080]

Karma comes around. tick tock for those still waiting

[@TANTRUMGASM]

...those poor boys, God Bless em.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching

[@Wastelander13]

Many of these craters are now biotops.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@changjoe01]

This land must have been so polluted by all the explosives and shrapnel from the war. Are today's crops safe too eat?

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. There are areas that are still too dangerous to farm.

[@jonmeeus7687]

pool of peace

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@tommartinez62]

It seem France would not have any fishing ponds, had WW1 not occurred.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@Kurio71]

I believe Corporal Hitler was stationed around here

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. You are correct; for a time Cpl. Hitler was within a couple of miles of here. See my other film: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iXfck6FtmrGgbbM

[@dominiklipinski7134]

Mesen i Belgium

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@michaellalanae7228]

Money well spent

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.