WWI German soldiers found in perfectly preserved trenches where a shell buried them.

[Ichinisan]

Glanced at the pictures. The items aren't nearly as "well preserved" as they imply.

Came in to post this.
Plus, where are the bodies? I would like to see how well they have been preserved.

The trenches were preserved not all the stuff in them. At least read the title.

From the article:

"Archaeologists believe the items have been so well-preserved because hardly any air, water or lights penetrated the trench"

I say the Items are *not* as "well-preserved" as the article implies. They look exactly like I'd expect for items that have been decaying in mud and dirt for 94 years.

 

[WT]

WWI was contested in a much smaller area than WWII, which was global in its proportions. With China, Russia, Australia, Italy ... hell, almost every country picked a side and fought it out.
The Russians and Chinese lost millions to the Germans and Japanese, respectively. It was not just a hundred trenches dug into the French countryside, it was was war being fought damn near everywhere.

 

[TheNinja]

I just finished read "All Quiet on the Western Front" that is about WWI trench warfare from a German soldier's side. It's really quite depressing and eye opening. The conditions these kids went through were insane. Toward the end of the war it was basically untrained, hungry, poorly armed kids (18 years old) that were just sent to the front lines to basically get mowed down.

 

[Perknose]

I'm Belgian, farmers here are digging up tons of ammunition every year. If you walk around the fields, it's not unusual to find ammo, including nasty chemical ammunition. The bigger ones are detonated in the North Sea, happens all the time. The problem is still so big that the Belgian army build a processing facility, they destroy more then 200 ton of ammo every year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi7qgL5pMaA

In this thread from a Belgian forum you can find some good pics, including one from a farmer plowing on a fosfor grenade

http://www.militair.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1837&p=45269

to give you an idea, this is a normal sight when you walk in the area, farmers put them on the side of the road so the army can pick them up
we have learned not to too touch anything

Came in here to post about this in Belgium. Absolutely insane.

Also, as almost always, dennil delivers! One of the class posters in OT. :thumbsup:

 

[Braznor]

There are people this stupid?

No, only your democrat and republican voters are this way usually.

 

[Rudee]

I just finished read "All Quiet on the Western Front" that is about WWI trench warfare from a German soldier's side. It's really quite depressing and eye opening. The conditions these kids went through were insane. Toward the end of the war it was basically untrained, hungry, poorly armed kids (18 years old) that were just sent to the front lines to basically get mowed down.

Wasn't worth bumping and old thread to hear that dude.

 

[mmntech]

I just finished read "All Quiet on the Western Front" that is about WWI trench warfare from a German soldier's side. It's really quite depressing and eye opening. The conditions these kids went through were insane. Toward the end of the war it was basically untrained, hungry, poorly armed kids (18 years old) that were just sent to the front lines to basically get mowed down.

Though WWII gets most of the attention, I think WWI was ultimately the more important of the two historically. A complex system of alliances between the great powers set into force a series of events that turned a Balkan assassination into a global war. Serb rebels attacked Austria, which attacked Serbia, which dragged Russia and Germany in, which activated the Schliffen plan, which led to the attack on Belgium, which brought France and the UK into the fight.

It was a war based on sheer stubborness, one that never should have happened had Russia and Germany ignored their alliances. This led to millions of men being mowed down, millions more injured both mentally and physically. They gave the best years of their lives so aristocrats could have an international pissing match. Then when all was said and done, the aristocrats told them to basically f-off. So these soldiers began searching out radical alternatives. In Russia, they turned to a man named Vladamir Lenin and his Bolsheveks. In Italy, a nationalist looking to restore the nation to its former pride and glory became president; Benito Mussolini. In Germany, a young soldier and artist named Adolf Hitler was outraged that his nation was forced to take sole blame for the war, and blamed it on a Jewish conspiracy. He joined the DAP party, became leader, then chancellor, and led the world in another bloody conflict more barbaric than the last.

From here we get the WWII, the holocaust, the cold war, and the current conflict in the Middle East. History is like a web. All events, past and present, are interconected. WWI served as the catalyst for ideas and conflicts that created the modern world. It's a shame it tends to get ignored in classrooms, reserved for one day a year.

 

[Lemon law]

Given the fact that bodies, objects, and the timber fortifications are so well preserved after nearly a century, is worth noting. But still not all that impressive in my mind, given the fact that far far older ancient battlefields are being accidental discovered with some frequency in this century. The two I remember best is some remnants of Napoleon's army being discovered buried in some mass pit in Scandinavia. With the bones well enough preserved to be able to determine they died of malnutrition.

Or an South American battle site now weathering out of a hill overlooking a modern Chilean city, that has been traced back to the ravages of Cortez. And I believes but can't recall off the top of my head, that we are discovering battle fields full of bones dating back before the time of Christ.

 

[Iron Woode]

there is a Canadian documentary series about WWI called For King and Empire. A simply fascinating look at the battles and the people that fought them. It also shows the land where the battles were fought and the cemeteries around them.

youtube has 6 full episodes available to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adk-0DQB_hE&feature=relmfu part 2 showing The Somme

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmSmLgvrAlM is part 3 showing Vimy Ridge

 

[bradley]

Interesting. A recent episode of Mythbusters 'Trench Torpedo' focused on German WWI trenches and whether their meticulously crafted sharp corners helped to better diffuse a blast. The myth was deemed "plausible."

http://mythbustersresults.com/trench-torpedo

 

[Triumph]

From here we get the WWII, the holocaust, the cold war, and the current conflict in the Middle East. History is like a web. All events, past and present, are interconected. WWI served as the catalyst for ideas and conflicts that created the modern world. It's a shame it tends to get ignored in classrooms, reserved for one day a year.

I often wonder if we have an unhealthy obsession with WW2. The amount of film and TV time associated with it, compared to any other war, is probably 50 to 1. I can't remember the last movie made about WW1. Do we glorify that conflict more than we should?

 

[Meghan54]

Do we glorify that conflict more than we should?

The winners typically do.

 

[Eureka]

I often wonder if we have an unhealthy obsession with WW2. The amount of film and TV time associated with it, compared to any other war, is probably 50 to 1. I can't remember the last movie made about WW1. Do we glorify that conflict more than we should?

WW2 is glorified because it provides a good backdrop. It's one of the few wars with very "clear" goals and motives, and large enough to continually provide material. You can't have a better "villain" than fighting the Nazis and Imperial Japanese who were ethnically cleansing their neighbors and who were also trying to take over their continents.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

The winners typically do.

Yup.

George Washington lost more battles than won.

 

[Vdubchaos]

That's a dangerous job

 

[Triumph]

The winners typically do.

So where are all the WW1 movies? Germany definitely lost that one.

 

[crownjules]

I often wonder if we have an unhealthy obsession with WW2. The amount of film and TV time associated with it, compared to any other war, is probably 50 to 1. I can't remember the last movie made about WW1. Do we glorify that conflict more than we should?

War Horse!

I agree that WW1 is often overlooked when the factors leading it up to it and its consequences have had a far greater impact. I was fortunate that in my high school, half of sophomore year was devoted to the War Years. It started in the mid-1800s, covering Bismarck and the Triple Alliance/Entente which led into WW1, through to the end of WW2. One of my favorite classes.

 

[Gibsons]

So where are all the WW1 movies? Germany definitely lost that one.

They weren't so clearly the bad guys in WWI. They can get some blame for initiating things on the western front, but at least there wasn't a holocaust.

Also, trench warfare doesn't make for great cinema. An accurate movie about the Somme would be a pretty depressing gorefest. Verdun as well. Jutland was rather anticlimactic. And the U.S. only jumped in at the last, so there's only so much you can show of 'mericans kickin ass.

 

[clamum]

I often wonder if we have an unhealthy obsession with WW2. The amount of film and TV time associated with it, compared to any other war, is probably 50 to 1. I can't remember the last movie made about WW1. Do we glorify that conflict more than we should?

You should watch "Beneath Hill 60" (available on Netflix). It actually does feature the mine explosion that started the Battle of Messines that an earlier poster mentioned. Great movie.

 

[WT]

You should watch "Beneath Hill 60" (available on Netflix). It actually does feature the mine explosion that started the Battle of Messines that an earlier poster mentioned. Great movie.

Thanks for this. Added to my queue.

 

[Gibsons]

You should watch "Beneath Hill 60" (available on Netflix). It actually does feature the mine explosion that started the Battle of Messines that an earlier poster mentioned. Great movie.

I think I need to see that.

Another sort of recent WWI movie was Flyboys. It was just ok. I might be remembering too charitably though, it certainly wasn't great.

 

[rasczak]

marked for later

 

[yllus]

I have 2 pics from ww1 I got from my grandfather who was a Pfc bugler. 1St pic is of germans in no mans land with a German body half way in a shell hole. The sec is with German pow's with their hands up with amrtican soldiers with fixed bayonets. Guarding them.

Was he issued a weapon at all? To me the most insane role of all would be someone like a bugler - in the thick of a war zone but with no way to defend yourself.

 

[OutHouse]

Wasn't worth bumping and old thread to hear that dude.

Says who?

 

[Ichinisan]

I often wonder if we have an unhealthy obsession with WW2. The amount of film and TV time associated with it, compared to any other war, is probably 50 to 1. I can't remember the last movie made about WW1. Do we glorify that conflict more than we should?

The Lost Battalion was OK. It was made-for-TV and available on DVD through Netflix.