This weekend sees the 100th anniversary of one of the most important battles in the war
Near the town of leper (Ypres )in Belgium, a village called passchendaele British, Canadian, French and Belgium troops battled back and forth over a few hundred metres for a few weeks. They eventually won the high ground at a unimaginable human cost.
310.000 British and some 260.000 Germans just in this battle alone.
I have been to this area several times. scattered around the town are many other cemeteries, 20.000, 15.000, 26.000 and so on.
In the town of Ypres it's self is the memin gate, a large arch at the entrance to the town. on it are inscribed some 56.000 names of people who died and bodies never found.
It was called the war to end all wars!

They shall not grow old as we who are left grow old .
Age shall not weary them ,not the years condemn them,
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We shall remember them!

I wonder sometimes just how many do!

It's sad, that's all I can say, Sir.

Thank you missy
I think it's even sadder that it didn't change a thing!

WW1 was a horrible war. Poison gas and influenza killed many soldiers
too.

It was a terrible war.
They estimate 1.5 billion shells were fired in that area alone (flanders fields )
1 third of them didn't explode! The ground was to soft and muddy for the detonators to be triggered plus many were dud!

If you search "harry patch " a man who told his story at the age of 100,
If you're interested.
He died in 2009 at the age of 111.

Thanks for posting this mikey,

My father was in the first world war,I never really got much out of him, but you just knew the Heartache he was going through when ever the subject was approached.

And yes-we shall Remember them.

Your welcome Welbourn.
Not sure where you are but there has been a service on the bbc 2. I have been many times to Ypres. Very touching to hear the last post and if you ever get the chance to read the story of "harry patch "then do so.

I have. Thank you.

Passchendaele

Where for the first time the Canadian Corps fought as a single unit. The battle, some say, that defined Canada as a nation.

The British, French and Belgian troops failed to take Passchendaele. It was finally taken by the Canadian Corps at a cost of 15,654 lives. Very close to the 16,000 predicted by Commander Arthur Currie.


Very well made movie about Passchendaele

Passchendaele

Written and directed by Paul Gross.

Thanks, I will have to watch it.

I have been to the Canadian cemetery there, we had troops from every corner of the world, the British empire. In the 90 days of battle it equates to 5000 killed per day. 1 man per inch gained!

Deathwatch is a good one, also the battle of the somme and war horse

Thank you for sharing, mikey.

To all the brave soldiers who gave up their lives so we can live ours, we will always remember.

My grandfater died in june of 1918. My dad never really talked about him much. Dad was born in May of 1912.
That being said, I have never met anyone that served in WW1. I have nothing to relate except that any serviceman that has served their country deserves respect and honor. All who died in service to their country are Heroes.

Passchendaele - Action Short Edition (Fan Edit) [HD]


PASSCHENDAELE MOVIE TRAILER - NEW


Passchendaele Full Movie


Ypres, where the Last Post plays every single day




As Britain commemorates the First World War's end, the Belgian town of Ypres, the last resting place for so many of the servicemen who gave their lives, never has, and never will, forget. Caroline Davies reports

Antoon Verschoot will raise his bugle to his lips tonight and the plaintive notes of the 'Last Post' will echo beneath the Menin Gate, then float gently over fields that once were hell incarnate. Nowhere can Remembrance Sunday hold more potent symbolism than in the Flemish town of Ypres on the 90th anniversary of the armistice that ended the carnage of the First World War.

This unique homage to the 250,000 British and Commonwealth warriors who fell in the Ypres salient has been paid, without fail, for 80 years at 8pm. Tonight will be the 27,566th time. And for 54 years Verschoot, 83, has stood beneath the memorial to those with no known grave. 'Still now, with each note, I feel pain for them, for those who fought for freedom,' he said, his breath fogging in the night air. 'They are not buried or have no known resting place. It is such a small thing that I can do.

Thank you Mikey for sharing this with us.

In remembrance of all those who lost their lives...

Gettysburg, The Kyber pass, Verdun, Bastone, Dein Ben Phu, Khe Sanh, Fallujah, it's a sad sad comment on the human race when we count the eras by battles fought and lives lost.