@eskhawk
I remember reading an article in the 80s of a Frenchman who chopped down a tree...When his lumberjacking was complete he sat on the fallen tree to eat his lunch...A short time later the lumberjack jumped off of the log screaming in pain, as if he were on fire...He tore off his clothes and saw his buttocks and thighs were burned and blistered...At the hospital he learned the injuries were chemical burns...The fallen tree had absorbed so much mustard gas in WWI, it's wood was dangerous, even deadly, seven decades later
@Haru-qh2qz
I met a Farmer living in the Yellow/Red zone once. He has found countless bodies, planes, guns, and ordinance throughout the years. He had so much that he was able to open his own museum in his village, expanding it to house more and more things as he found them. Crazier still, he managed to contact some of the pilots who survived the crashes and invited to see the items. For those who didn't survive, he tracked family members to return the remains and memorabilia. It's sad, but fascinating. Can't help but feel the weight of death in there.
@raquellofstedt9713
That part about the blue eyed grass got to me. My grandfather was one of few survivors of his company. Most of his comrades probably still lie in those forests, under those blue and white flowers
@Shinzon23
I've visited this region. And I have to say i've never been somewhere that I could describe as haunted until there; the air is silent and heavy, and even the trees are ghostly white from all the chemicals from buried munitions
@JeffLambrecht
Many thanks for covering this topic that is little-known even in France. I’m from a little village at the edge of the red zone north of Compiègne where we live with visual reminders of WWI and WWII. The village has two main roads, one of them had been turned into a trench held by the French forces during WWI. That’s where my family’s farm in located. Growing up, we were told about the great tragedies that happened in the area, and warned against picking anything up that looked unusual as they mostly were old ammo shells and other rusted mementos from the wars. We knew that we lived, slept and played on a graveyard… We were also constantly worried about the unexploded ordinance that still litter the fields to this day, some of which have injured family members and neighbors during plowing and harvest seasons. WWII stigmas are also very present- from the old bunkers in the forest out back where generations of kids have played since, the bullet holes on walls around the village where the German occupiers shot French resistance fighters, to the remains of a Canadian bomber plane shot down nearby. Life finds a way to overcome past traumas, and with time we will get rid of all the remaining explosives to live more normal lives. I do however hope that we will never forget what war truly brings -destruction and suffering.
@Ominous89
When I got homeless, I got myself dropped at Ypres from where the hike to Paris started. My first night outside was near a WW2 bunker system in the red zone. The next day I was cycling next to the Somme. 100 years after the war, you can still feel the war there. The profound sadness and despair, fear and anticipation never left the place. You can still see the scars of WW1 there. Ypres still ceremonially remembers WW1 on a daily basis. Every day, 100s of people come to look at it. 100 year later. I've seen museums and expositions in Ypres and Paschendaele. I've walked through reconstructions of tunnels and trenches. I've smelled the variety of gasses they used. Read stories about nothing could have survived the gas bombs. Not even the birds, the insects, not even the worms survived the gas bombs. Ypres was gone. Everything died. Visiting Ypres and Paschendaele made a life long impression on me.
@TayyabIftikharKing
You never seize to amaze me
@AsyaProsvetova
Ukrainian here. And it pains me deeply to know what will happen for at least a third of my country. Thank you for heads up though
@SuperMadsr
We went to the Somme near Armien about 12 years ago on a tour. We found a grenade from WW1. Our guide went to put it in a safe place till he could have it taken away. Was so unreal to think about a hundred years ago someone had that in their hand. We also found unexploded ammunition.
@joegordon5117
When I was a boy in the 80s, our school history department had a "Flanders" trip to Belgium and Northern France. A couple of sites we visited were left as they were, the only changed to them were largely by nature, slowly filling in shell holes. The entire landscape, although covered in grass and clumps of trees undulated up and down, and we realised these were shell holes. So many of them, still so visible many decades after the battles had ceased, it was terrifying to see the very earth so damaged, and made us all think if it did this to the actual earth, how much worse was it for the men and animals on both sides? We were strictly warned not to touch anything, should we see anything projecting from the ground, and we knew that also under that ravaged ground there would be remains of men who never came home, and who had never been found. It made a deep impression on my young mind, more so than the books and classes on the period had.
@doug3512
My grandfather never truly recovered from his experience in WWI. He suffered multiple heart attacks in his 40s and was said to have a nervous condition. He died at the age of 56 on 1939. He was awarded the silver star and purple heart in WWI, but that really doesn't acknowledge the true sacrifice.
@dystopianfuture1165
If I remember correctly, in the 1950’s somewhere in Belgium one of the mines exploded from a lightning strike. Only a cow was killed. There are a few underground mines filled with explosives that haven’t denoted yet.
@leowilly29
Fun facts : my grand parents come from little villages next to Verdun and one way to gain some money was to go to those zones and collect riffles, helm, ammunition, anything in metal and sell to your local scrap dealer. My grand father bought candies with that kind of money. It seems unreal for us today, but for them in their home region devastated by war it was a solution to make easier your everyday life.
@GS12478
I once visited the necropolis near Verdun when I was a child. The amount of graves outside is very impressive and sad. Especially remarkable were the bones of the unidentified soldiers. They are stored in the basement of the monument. Big halls, filled up to the ceiling thousands of bones. You can see them through the windows outside. War is truly terrible, and I will remember this for the rest of my life
@6NBERLS
Most excellent. Despite the homicidal tendencies of the human race, there remains a critical human core that still values human life. This video is a much needed reminder that this core does indeed exist.
@fundude365
If you have the opportunity and are at all interested, I would highly recommend visiting the area. The Vimy Ridge memorial in particular sticks in my memory. Luna-forming is a very apt term for what happened to the area. In places it's like somebody took a patch of ground from another planet, and transplanted it to the surface of the earth. I will note though that the effect is alien and melancholy. The towns are wonderful places to visit, but the memorials are pretty haunting.
@hbailie9115
Every year when I stop all curriculum & teach my kids about Canada's military history, it blows their tiny minds when I show them pics from Vimy Ridge and Beaumont-Hamel, with all the 'no-go' areas. Definitely going to show them this video. Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to all who celebrate!🎉
@skippygatten8572
I visited the Western Front in 2018. I found an unexploded shell at the Somme which I reported to the local police. I also found some bones around Verdun in the middle of the forest which I left alone.
@andysm1964
That Young Simon ,was one of your best -thank you. An area of France i have got to know with friend in Carvin ,the former mining town( and front line in ww1 )and qui bien sur, Lille.. i am reminded of the woodlands in the area and it`s history,plus in Carvin ,a ww1 German war cemetery. It is very reflective how little about the land in the area i knew about.. Vive la natuer
@TheGamersGuildYT