First World War - Thiepval

[@Eliah153]

My grandfather, Unteroffizier Peter Ostlender, was killed at Thiepval by the combined efforts of the British army and a German colonel in August in 1916. On Wednesday 16th August the officer arrived in one of the rearward trenches and asked whether a rather incidental order had been communicated to the men in the front line trench. On learning that had not been the case, Herr Oberst insisted to correct that immediately. Otherwise, Men would be shot for insubordination. My grandfather and two of his men volunteered. Peter was hit by shrapnel and died next morning. One of his men disappeared, the other one survived. A few days later, the last postcard my grandmother sent him was returned to her marked "Zurück! Gefallen auf dem Felde der Ehre". (Returned - fallen on the field of honour"). In the 1980s, I visited Fricourt German Cemetry, where Peter is buried in one of the mass graves. I thought going there would be a challenge. But when I got there, I felt nothing at all. Imagining the remains of 11970 men in four huge holes in the ground was too much for me.Keep those videos coming, Steven! You´ce got a new subscriber Greetings from Winterberg, Klemens

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching and sharing your story. Sorry for your family's loss. We will remember them.

[@gustavvader2207]

I got to explore the Somme battlefields a few times. I explored Leipzig Redoubt. I was astonished by the amount of Stokes mortar rounds and relics lying everywhere. I then walked the path to Thiepval Memorial. Just an amazing area. Great video. Thanks.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@redtomcat1725]

Well done!! 70,000 unknowns !! The facts you state like 1/2 of those lost have no know burial are is lost today. It is hard for me to accept. Once you said how many British and Commonwealth graveyards there are. My memory refuses to keep this record. It is so sad !! Brings tears to my eyes. Thank You !

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. There are some 26,000 British and Commonwealth War Grave Cemeteries around the world. Just under 1,000 in France and Belgium. I know because I have mapped them all on my computer! When you drive around the Somme, Arras or Ypres areas and look around you see the 'Cross of Sacrifice' everywhere.

[@DaveH-zl3vd]

Great video Steven. Have visited this site (and many others) on the Somme over the last 25 years. I hate to be pedantic but for the benefit of those people who are going to visit the Thiepval memorial it is a common misconception that the memorial is built on the site of the old Thiepval Chateau. It was in fact located some 300M to the north adjacent to the existing farm. I have found the National Library of Scotland to be a very useful web site which enables WW1 trench maps to be overlaid with Google earth maps, a fantastic aid to locate WW1 sites today. They have an extensive collection of on-line trench maps.Keep up the good work, I'm looking forward to future From The Air videos.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching and your comments. More videos to come as and when I get time.

[@bulldog1066jpd]

Hey Dave, noticed your comment and would be interested in your source off online trench maps circa 1914 18

[@bulldog1066jpd]

Great video yet again.... so many innocent lives lost... it's truly heartbreaking 😢

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. There are 70,000 names on this memorial.

[@seanmccann8368]

Thank you Steven, my wife found the name of one of her long lost relatives at Thiepval Memorial - a young private of the 4th Kings County Volunteers - a Reserve Battalion of the Leinster Regiment.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@peterperigoe9231]

My Grandfather from Wexford, was in the Royal Irish Regiment based in Clonmel Tipperary, he was recruited in 1902 but early enough to just be out of Reserves before WW1 thank God. (it was then the standard terms 7 years with the colours and 5 in reserve) Was Kings County, Offally? I have been to Thiepval, and have a Grand Uncle buried at nearby Grandville road cemetery, people forget there was no conscription in Ireland, and in a the then 32 county Ireland there was slightly more from the South than the North who enrolled (for various political reasons) Cheers Steven for another video!

[@seanmccann8368]

@@peterperigoe9231 Yes Peter, Kings Co. became Co. Offaly (Contae Úibh Fáilí) after independence. I had a grand uncle who served in WW1 with The South Irish Horse who were also based out of Clonmel.

[@peterperigoe9231]

@@seanmccann8368 Hi Sean, not completely sure of my facts, so here goes, the South Irish Horse were one of a few Yeomanry units called up at the start of WW1 their Colonel in cChief was the then Lord Waterford and a squadron was based in Victorian barracks Clonmel. I have a cap badge from the South Irish horse which is brass and in the shape of a shamrock with S on one leaf I on the second and H on the third, with what appears to be Elephant's trunk hang from the base, no idea of the history of the badge or where the truck came out of? There is a newly formed Royal Irish Regiment society formed in Clonmel, and there are memorials to the Boar war etc.

[@seanmccann8368]

@@peterperigoe9231 You're correct in all except the 'trunk'. it is in fact the stylised stem of the shamrock leaf. The SIH were formed into a composite cavalry unit with members of the NIH.

[@JackFlemingFan1]

Thank you for posting another excellent video on The Somme Battlefield!

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@richardcharlesworth6069]

So glad I stumbled across your videos Steven. Back in June 2016, on my second day staying in Albert, I hired a bike and rode up to Beaumont-Hammel (I wish I had checked the contours as there's a few steep bits!). On the way back I went via Thiepval. The ride back to Albert was a lot easier!

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@JeremyMalies]

Great work and very moving for me. Thank you for all the effort you put into this. I went there early last summer to put down a wreath for a boy from my school. It's only from your aerial footage that I now have an appreciation of exactly where I placed it. Will go back with wreaths for the short story writer 'Saki' (H.H. Munro) and the composer George Butterworth.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@pabmusic1]

Very interesting, and rather moving. Thank you. I have to say, though, that most of the 70,000+ men represented on the Thiepval Memorial probably lie in the cemeteries around, as unidentified soldiers. It would not be right to think that most completely disappeared. Some did, of course, but most didn't (entirely, anyway).

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching and your feedback.

[@Rocky-xx2zg]

Thank you for this, much appreciated. Very Sad indeed.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@pureloyalist9277]

Brilliant Steven, All the best with the channel 👏 take care and stay safe 👍

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thanks, you too!

[@mcc9887]

Steven thank you ..I have stood on top of the Thiepval Memorial it has graffiti from the German soldier of the second world war carved into the wood work....

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@francishuddy9462]

I have been to the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing. (A school trip in 1982, and again in 2002). I found the inscription for my great uncle, Pte. John Murray, 38th Welsh Division (Cardiff Pals). Died aged 19. Battle of Mametz Wood, 7th July, 1916.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. Sorry for your families loss. We will remember them.

[@Kariakas]

Very interesting, quality visuals.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@elijacobson3896]

Once again well done and thank you.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@brettmeadway43]

Steve Upton. Watched most of your videos. Thank you. I went to see the movie 1917. Would be great to get your review on this movie and its authenticity.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. I did notice one glaring error. A British soldier without a hat on saluting an officer. We never do that. Besides a few issues, if I wanted to be really anal about it, but otherwise a great film.

[@nicksmth33]

just started watching all of these. awsome videos be awsome if you could get some side by side pictures of what it would lol like now compared to the image taken then

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@24934637]

The land in the whole area is forever scarred, not just physically by the still visible remains of the war, but also something more.....You can really FEEL that some horrific event has taken place there. The ground soaked in the blood of the fallen. Massive thanks to the CWGC for looking after the cemeteries. We WILL remember them!

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. We will remember them.

[@ThePhantomMajor]

Butte de Warlencourt may be a good subject for another video?

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Yes, you have reminded me of it. My grand father was there in 1916 at the end of the Somme offensive. Would be a good subject for the drone to film. Thank you.

[@bueffel2413]

Two reasons why I travelled to the Somme area. First, I wanted to see the remains of the battle fields and the memorials of the great war. Second, to visit the grave of my granddad, who fell in August 1944 (WWII) and lies on a German soldier cemetery at Bourdon/Somme (50km west of Thiepval). My dad however was born in Oct 1944, so he never met him.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

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

[@bueffel2413]

@@StevenUpton14-18, thanks a lot.

[@Kojak0]

Interesting videos you have here - it's quite captivating hearing about these 'minor' battles within the larger ones. One thing I have noticed is that every place is littered with allied graveyards - but where are the Germans? I have seen a number of these videos, but I don't recall having seen one graveyard for German soldiers?

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. There are quite a number of German cemeteries in France and Belgium. I have visited a few but not filmed any yet.

[@JammyDodger45]

The Allies tended to create graveyards next to the battle sites and these small local plots were formalized after the war hence the array of them spread seemingly at random. Although the Germans did similar during the war afterwards they elected to collocate the numerous small graveyards into fewer larger ones (there was also a tacit agreement that, as the Invader, their memorial sites should be less prominent in location and more low key in style).

[@StevenUpton14-18]

@@JammyDodger45 Thank you for clarifying this.

[@JammyDodger45]

Both the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge have excellent websites full of invaluable information. Just make sure you have a clear diary for the day because once you dive in its very easy to lose all track of time!

[@StevenUpton14-18]

@@JammyDodger45 - These organisations do an amazing job. We will remember them.

[@bgumbleton]

My great uncle and namesake's name is on the Thiepval Memorial. He was killed on July 16th, 1918. RIP. My bucket list is to go there one day.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. I am sorry for your families loss. I hope you get chance to see his name on the memorial.

[@bgumbleton]

@@StevenUpton14-18 thank you so much. Are you with the British Battlefield association? As someone from that association took the time to take a photo of the memorial plus my great uncle's name on the memorial. You might be that very person! If you were, thanks once again!!

[@StevenUpton14-18]

@@bgumbleton No, I am not even aware of the association. I am a member of the Royal British Legion Riders Branch. But filming is purely a hobby. I am fortunate that I drive across Europe several times a year and can take a day off to visit and film any part of the Western Front that interests me (which is all of it!).

[@glblb3030]

great video

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@jacobgur779]

Great video.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@davidmilton1736]

.my late wife's great,great grandfather is named on the Memorial.The only William Harbron.killled on 1st July 1916 aged 21...going over with the 21st Battalion, Tyneside Scottish at La Boiselle.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching and sorry for your family's loss. We will remember them.

[@gerbrand8132]

Very nice

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@grahamhodge8313]

A small point but just so that you are aware. In German, Leipzig is pronounced Lipezig and not Leapzig.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@spm36]

Good stuff bar pronunciation of Leipzig

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@sebastiangrumman8507]

Ancre is pronounced: anhk, as in honk without the haich.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@francishuddy9462]

Imagine if they had drones (and filming) in WWI ...

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. Having drones in 1914 would have been a game changer. The biggest problem in WW1 was battlefield communications.

[@theflaver]

Where were the Germans buried?

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. The Germans are buried in German military cemeteries. There are many of them across France and Belgium.