I realise that may be a bit insensitive on this thread. But me n ben get on well and humour should always be at the forefront of,our minds.
my grandfather was a corporal with the east yorkshire regiment. he married on halloween, less than a fortnight before the war ended. he died in the mid-60s, after spending the last years of his life bedridden after a back operation went wrong, leaving him partly paralysed. nowadays there would be compensation, i guess. i'm no expert, but the stupidity of the generals and majors astonishes. the final scene of blackadder goes forth is possibly the most powerful and evocative piece of television i can recall.
This is a common and simplistic view that doesn't reflect the whole truth. There was massive pressure for a breakthrough on the Western Front in the summer of 1916 as the French had lost a massive amount of men at Verdun, and their army was starting to mutiny. Hence the Allies needed to lure the Germans away to further up the north to save the French from capitulation. The order to attempt to push the Germans back (in their solid safe bunkers) was mainly to distract them from Verdun. We went into that war with cavalry and infantry, by the end of it we had tanks and planes.
The young girl mentioned on the headstone in the picture I posted is my grandmother, and was the thing that showed us we had found the right grave. We actually found the inscription mentioned at the commonwealth wargraves site, when doing various internet searches building on our first search of Charles Albert Herring. This progressed to finding his battalion, and by changing and omitting various names and associations culminated in my wife finding the picture I posted from the find a grave web site which I didn’t even know existed. In a morbid way i was quite chuffed to find that picture, with the research also opening up lots of new knowledge about previous generations while also uncovering new parts of my grandmothers life I didnt know about as she had never mentioned it and made me really appreciate what a tough life she had endured.
Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. I'm not having this revisionist ****e. First World War? Lions led by donkeys. End of ****ing story. Too many good men died too ****ing young for no ****ing reason because of ****ing idiots making ****ing idiotic decisions to let this go. That's both working class heroes like the Pals and astonishingly brave Upper Class Officers by the way. I draw no distinction. RIP to the Lost Generation.
i dont care what anyone says the best thing ever invented in history is the spitfire i saw it live at scarborough and it is absolutely incredible the way it dives and soars through the air, to think that is over 70 years ago like it absolutely flies, it's the best thing i have ever seen in my life ever to think 18 year old men were flying this is just, it is absolutely mindblowing we really should never ever forget the sacrifice they made back then. everyone has to go to an ww2 air show to see it fly, it is the bucket list, it really does feel unreal imagine seeing that fly above you in ww2, it would be the biggest and happiest thing you could ever see but the noise the noise aswell, rolls royce engines, the noise it really is the best sound ever made this is the most perfect thing ever invented in human history ever ever. fact the p51 mustang is just nothing like the spitfire, you can't copy the original they had to copy the spitfire engine to be able to go on bombing missions with the b17 flying fortress after many many research into ww2 this is what won the war. it stopped germany invading britain
The linked site is one place i got some information from and is about our own East Yorkshire regiment. http://www.ww1hull.org.uk/index.php/home/hull-in-ww1/the-east-yorkshire-regiment
let's not forget the messerschmitt 109 what a plane that was in terms of engineering way better than the spitfire in everyway, the nazi tech was seriously advanced, in air to air combat and flying, they also were the first to develop jet power planes, that are now used in every single flight in the world but the pilots defending britain were superior. fighting for their freedom for realism it should have the nazi logo on the tail though what a plane though beautiful infact we only won the battle of britain because hitler decided to bomb uk cities in revenge for our attacks on german cities instead of bombing air bases, if he kept bombing our bases, we'd be a german country right now
lets remember, they tried with junkers 88 we responded with the lancaster bomber still think the b17 was superior though, was a machine you can see how it got its name as the flying fortress please log in to view this image
My great grandfather fought in the trenches. He died not long after I was born so I don't remember him but I do have a picture of him with me sitting on his lap. That connection is incredibly important to me.
that is a poignant reminder at just how close these horrific wars were, it should have been the war to end all wars unfortunately it was not the case and despite being a creature that invents all this technology, man still feels the need to go to war
In my opinion, every school-kid in the country should make at least one trip to one or more of the countless war cemeteries spread across France and Flanders. I've done several such trips and never fail to be amazed and moved by the sheer number of head stones and/or crosses on show. Nothing brings home the futility of war as much as the sight of so many graves and/or lists of names of men whose lives were taken way too young. And it wasn't even the "war to end all wars" it was promised to be. Last year I travelled over for the 100th Anniversary of Oppy Wood to honour the memory of the Hull Pals' action of May 1917. During the trip I also got chance to mark the graves of all but 2 of the 11 men remembered on the First World War memorial in my own village. It's a trip recounted on my blog if anyone's interested! Tonight I'm away to Belgium for the Armistice Centenary commemorations in Ypres, during which I shall attempt to find and mark the final two graves of the remaining two 'Easington Fallen', both who are buried not far from Ypres itself. It promises to be another very moving experience. At the risk of more self-indulgence, here's the latest Not All Ticket post, which relates the story of arguably the bravest football team in the history of the game... Lest We Forget
My maternal grandfather, John William Harrison, originally from Driffield but lived in Hull went all through and survived WW1. He was in the Home Guard in WW2 and never spoke about any of his experiences even when we watched documentaries together.
The quality of the interactive museums in Flanders is top notch. Tyne Cot and the Cloth Hall at Ieper have both had money invested in them and appeal to visitors of all types.Toc H at Poperinge is another place to see. Depending on the time of the year, you can get out and about onto the B roads and country lanes and come across the small but immaculately kept small military cemeteries. Other stuff to see is Hill 60, Loch Nagar and Passchendaele (nowt left of the original place). The nightly ceremony at Menin Gate is a victim of its own success and there are always hundreds of people from all over the world - Kiwis, Aussies, Septics, Germans, Dutch and British. Maximum respect is due to local Belgian fire brigade who have been doing the honours for many decades. interrupted only by German occupation, and the first night after liberation they were back at it at Menin Gate. They were sounding the Last Post in the 50s and 60s when there a handful of people only most nights, and probably there were occasions when there were no visitors or people to hear it at all. The variety of quality beer is the best in world, the Flemish cuisine is also of a very high standard.and the people are chilled and friendly. Not many places beat it for a short haul long weekend.
