Simviation Forum - WW1 in color

Jul 23^rd, 2003 at 5:04pm

Craig. Offline
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Birmingham

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i dont know if any of you in the UK saw the start of the series here. If not i would recommend it next week channel 5 9pm.
its an amazing program and thats after the first episode. and seeing this in color sort of makes it a little more hard hitting.
first one showed alot of the places i visited during a school trip a few years back round battlefields in france belguim and germany. They had the menin gate, which was a truely emotional experiance for the entire tour group, every night 8pm they have bugalers playing the last post. seeing a bomb site that was 5 football fields long and wide, and 2 football fields deep. and seeing just how close the trenches were, its just amazing to see how these things actually came about.

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Reply #1 - Jul 23^rd, 2003 at 7:15pm

Crumbso Offline
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I've been on a trip very similar to that one. I've seen the same bomb site. It was an underground bomb set off by us after we tunneled under a german tranch it was set off at the beggining of the Somme battle and was heard all the way from London Shocked

I also went to the place where Hitler served as a runner. It was almost untouched and live shells were lying around everywhere and there were danger signs around. We were told not to touch anything and be really really careful. I really enjoyed the trip and it was very emotional.

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Reply #2 - Jul 24^th, 2003 at 3:34am

Craig. Offline
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Birmingham

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never saw that hitler one, went to a few sites that still had live ammo which was interesting. that crater site, one guy decided to try running it, problemw as he was a little overweight and by the time he got half way down he decided against the rest of the way:) we knew then if he had, we would have needed an airlift to get him out LOL:)
it was a four day trip of that we spent all of 1 night in a hotel. which was a 1 star bar-hotel. with a bowling alley that was about 1/4 of the size of the real deal:) but the trip was worth it even if i was awake for over 3 days:)

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Reply #3 - Jul 24^th, 2003 at 7:23am

Smoke2much Offline
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The Unrepentant Heretic
Sittingbourne, Kent,

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Quote:

I've been on a trip very similar to that one. I've seen the same bomb site. It was an underground bomb set off by us after we tunneled under a german tranch it was set off at the beggining of the Somme battle and was heard all the way from London Shocked

I also went to the place where Hitler served as a runner. It was almost untouched and live shells were lying around everywhere and there were danger signs around. We were told not to touch anything and be really really careful. I really enjoyed the trip and it was very emotional.

I think you are refering to the crater left by the mine that was detonated at the start of the 2nd or 3rd battle of the Somme (I forget which), which became known as Passchendale, this was in 1917 (late, September I think). The mine(s) and artillery bombardment destroyed the areas drainage and thus caused extensive flooding and the sea of mud that caused many losses to both sides. The first battle of the Somme began in June 1916 and was charcterised by the massive losses to the untrained Kitchener (Pal's) battalions.

Apparently it was quite common to hear the distant sounds of the various battles in southern England, I'm told it sounded like distant thunder.

I didn't see the program but would have liked too. I have been planning a trip (pilgrimage) to the battlefields in that area for the last fifteen years but somehow I've never got round to it.

Will

Who switched the lights off? I can't see a thing....... Hold on, my eyes were closed. Oops, my bad...............&&

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Reply #4 - Jul 24^th, 2003 at 7:57am

Craig. Offline
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Birmingham

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hey will, its well worth the effort if you ever get a chance.
but make sure you take warm clothes if you go in the winter/spring months. when we were out at one memorial it was flat land for miles and with the wind chill it was down to about -30*c it was a real effort to get off the coach without the warm clothes.
i believe they will actually be doing a piece on that Crater next week, if crater is the right word for it:)

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