First World War - ‘Plugstreet’ 14-18 Centre

[@weltmanjoel8901]

Mr.Upton thank you for your excellent videos and stalwart dedication towards explaining the history of the First World War.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@diddyreason]

Another easy to understand documentary. Outstanding. Many thanks.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@MasterOfPunpets]

Mr Upton, thank you so much for making these videos. Thanks to you and your videos, my father and I are going on an excursion to Ypres next week to experience it in real life.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. Enjoy your trip. For accommodation near to Ypres try Varlet Farm.

[@annew8365]

Thank you for showing this centre. I can see how you could spend days there with the interactive displays.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@geordie1032]

Thanks for the upload, Steven. I visited Ploegsteert in 2014 following the footsteps of the forebears of a unit I served in. 7 field Company RE were engaged in constructing the first trenches east of Ploegsteert from St Yvon down to Le Gheer in October 1914. They witnessed the Germans singing Christmas carols on Christmas eve.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. My GF entered those trenches the following June, 1915. He was with the 5th Warwicks TA. Last week I filmed that area with a drone and will be publishing the video here in a few days time once I have edited it and overlaid trench maps. You should find it interesting.

[@geordie1032]

Excellent, really looking forward to that

[@StevenUpton14-18]

I'm working of the raw footage today. Hope to post either today or tomorrow.

[@localbod]

Thanks for another great presentation. I find it baffling that someone has consistently been giving your videos a thumbs down. I imagine it is the same person. Obviously it costs you money and time to travel to and stay in France not including the price of the drone and camera. KZbin is all about content and you make some interesting films. I guess there will always be ungrateful people.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. I do not take much notice of any dislikes. The very positive posts, such as your own, make it all worth while. I drive to Switzerland a lot and take an extra day to do some filming. Next one will be in December, weather permitting I intend filming Hill 70 near Loos.

[@jackthebassman1]

Another superb presentation and so well narrated - thanks again steven. I must try to fit it in during our September expedition.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. Its well worth a visit. There is a new centre like this at Fromelles. I will be posting a video of that of in a few days time.

[@RealButcher]

Damn, I remember those cartoons, my father had those. Very silly/funn. I remember one where, because of the shortage(?) of shells, they would mount a shell on a bike and cycle over the field, to mimic a trajectory. Funny. That graphic display is some terrific thing. Well well done. Would like to go there. Thanks for this excellent video. I am now watching all the other videos from you. Thanks.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@elijacobson3896]

I hope I get to go there. Thank you Steven.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@puddinfingers]

Very interesting video, My Great grandfather was a soldier in the 1st Battalion, The Connaught Rangers,

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. I hope he survived the war.

[@puddinfingers]

He did, apart from damaged hearing he came home unscathed

[@StevenUpton14-18]

My family was also lucky. They all came back.

[@alternativefm328]

Superb Steve absolutely superb

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@wtfbuddy1]

Great video - an interactive history of the battle is very well presented and displayed, I wish my National Military Museum would invest in a permanent display like you shown here. Thank you for sharing. Cheers

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@unkleswegward6969]

Please do more videos

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. I should be posting a new video later today.

[@michelvandyck8589]

You'll notice that the name of the place is actually Ploegsteert, 'steert' meaning 'tail' and 'ploeg' meaning 'plow', so it's named after some part of a plow. The British pronounced it wrongly and made it into Plugstreet. Interestingly this word, plugstreet, is now used in cycling idiom to indicate a part of the race track that is mainly sand and gravel, probably because that was wat the roads were like in this small rural village. So the yearly cycling race "Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields" has some gravel parts called plugstreets passing some of the cemetries and monuments, and even going through the Menin Gate at Ypres. Organized for the first time in 1934, the only Brit who ever won it, is a guy called Barry Hoban in 1974.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. The average British soldier of 1914-18 was not as literate as those of today. Therefore they pronounced place names phonetically. It is not about right or wrong. As British myself, many Belgian place names are unpronounceable to me. I suspect that to a Belgian travelling in Wales would have the same problem.

[@redtomcat1725]

I am sure it is a worthwhile visit. You have brought me there from the United States !

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@prospectord8437]

Pleese show more of the artifacts and the story's behind them I really appreciate you 🙏🏽

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@hawksboy]

Fascinating.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@JayEss414]

Very interesting.I have a family member buried at Mud Corner Cemetery.I hope to visit one day.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. Sorry for your families loss. I hope you get chance to visit.

[@themancalledx]

Thank you

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@3vimages471]

It's worth noting that Winston Churchill was at Plug Street for much of his 100 days as an officer during WW1. A very brave man .... he was in the front line and even went into No Man's Land numerous times.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@siskothekid4620]

Thank you Steven! This centre looks amazing, and the modern technology makes it very appealing. It makes me so grateful there are organizations and people that help establish and maintain these places for generations to come. I especially like those touch screen wall displays and the animated map table. I will most definitely be visiting this place in spring 2021. I know you would enjoy the wonderful museums in my hometown in Calgary, Alberta. Every time I visit my parents, whether at Christmas time or spontaneous drop ins, I always visit the museums and donate as much as I can. Cheers!

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. I have visited the Canadian Air Force museum at Trenton near Belleville a couple of times. For the past 12 years I have worked near to Toronto each September and once in Victoria.

[@tomgreaves991]

Calgary represent! Was planning to go to Ypres in 2021 where my grandfather served with the 7th Battalion CEF. He trained in Calgary with the 51st Battalion, whose white stone numbers are preserved on Signal Hill, by the West Hills shopping centre. The location of the actual camp is under the new Sarcee /Stoney Trail interchange.

[@zaynevanday142]

Is that New Zealand Auckland or British ?

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. In the context of 1914-18 all British Empire troops were regarded as British. Clearly in 2021 people get sensitive about nationality; however, my references to the British army include all those that fought under its flag.

[@zaynevanday142]

@@StevenUpton14-18 it was a genuine question as I have a friend in the UK who lives near an Auckland and the biggest city in NZ is also named Auckland and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear it’s named after the British one but the Auckland battalions were Territorial in NZ and numbered the 3rd

[@itsallspent]

Do any WWII battle fields cross over the WW1 battlefields?

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. WW2 was more mobile, with the exception of Normandy for a while. Whilst WW1 was far more static. I am referring only to the Western Front. Whilst the armies of both sides in WW2 advanced across the WW1 battlefields - the Germans in 1940 and the Allies in 1944 - there were no large-scale battles on the same sites that I am aware of. In 1940 the British did have a relatively small encounter/battle with the Germans at Amiens. This was also the location for a battle in 1918. But on very different scales.

[@itsallspent]

Thanks. Some WW I memorials would have been in place for Allies and German during WW II.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

@@itsallspent There are also quite a few of the Demarcation Markers that were destroyed by the German occupation forces in France during WW2. Which is a little odd, as they seemed to respect WW1 memorials and cemeteries.

[@thisnicklldo]

Arras would be one reasonable example. There are 3 actions in WW1 called 'Battles of Arras', and 1 in WW2. In WW1, the first was part of the race to the sea after the Marne in 1914. The second is probably the most famous of all in 1917, and included the Canadian capture of Vimy ridge. The third was part of the start of the 100 days advance in 1918. The WW2 version was a last defiant counter-attack by British Armour against the 1940 Blitzkrieg, which slowed them down a bit. Vimy is NE of Arras but there was fighting on the whole front from NE to E to SE of Arras itself. In 1940 the fighting was in an arc around the south of Arras (the British counter-attacked south, against the Germans coming North). I believe the SE part of that fighting was over almost exactly the same ground as the SE part of the 1917 battle. I don't know exactly where the fighting was in Arras in 1914 and 1918 - in both cases the war was fairly fluid, but it's possible, perhaps even likely, that some of the fighting was across the same ground in 1940. The thing is, Arras is a major hub in that part of France, so if there's a war everybody wants to control it, and the land around it.

[@2adamast]

Second Battle of Sedan (12-15 May 1940) in french Percée de Sedan

[@Gremriel]

Why is it spelled so inconsistently? Ploegsteert, Ploegstreet ?

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. It may depend upon which language they use: French or Flemish. However, I am only guessing.

[@Gremriel]

@@StevenUpton14-18 I looked into it some more. The official name of the town is Ploegsteert, and Ploegstreet or Plugstreet is probably the name the British troops gave the town, because it was easier to pronounce. The last bit is conjecture on my part, though.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

@@Gremriel I am aware that the British soldiers called it 'Plugstreet' as they had problems in pronouncing it correctly. Same goes for 'Whitesheet' and many others.

[@philippecasteleyn9327]

It means "tail of a plow".

[@zaynevanday142]

Clay Kickers

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@jasoncarswell7458]

Great video, but I really wish you'd focused a little more on the empty Coca-Cola machine.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@jasoncarswell7458]

@@StevenUpton14-18 ;-) great channel, love all your vids

[@markgardner1020]

If you knows of a better 'ole ...

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. Bruce, whom you quote, created many of his drawings near here.

[@joepalooka2145]

This is one of the places Winston Churchill spent his time in the trenches. He even brought along his oil paints and did a landscape of the area, with shells bursting in the sky and shell holes on the ground. He was very nearly killed by a shell landing nearby. What a man.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. It’s where my GF’s first entered the front line in March 1915.

[@Senzotan]

A pyramid. How appropriate for WW1 remembrance. It's like an insult.

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching.

[@ja37d-34]

I did not know there were so much mines all over the place. I was only aware of and was under the impression it was around Somme, kinda, like a dozen or twenty.. Good to learn about that. Was much more of that kind of thing than I was aware of!

[@StevenUpton14-18]

Thank you for watching. At the Butte de Vauquios there were over 500 underground detonations. Wherever the ground permitted it there was tunnelling and mine explosions. Must have been several thousand.

[@ja37d-34]

@@StevenUpton14-18 Yeah that is.... A huge ammount.. Thank you for teaching me more about this. :)