[Caael]

As you probably know, I went on a trip to france based on World War 1. This topic has taken an interest with me, as I saw a grave with my last name on it in a french graveyard. ( For any of those who care, my last name is Haigh) and I looked up a family tree, but find no records of an R. Haigh in British census', so my family might have more roots than I thought.

But it was truly terrible to be led around those graveyards, one of which had over 100,000 people in it. Inside a memorial, there was a huge shelf that went underground, with coffins stacked in it to commemorate all the unknown soldiers that were so mangled, they weren't recognised. It was sickening. I never knew how horrible war really was until I went on this trip. Never the less, the trip was still good.

Please discuss, I am eager to learn more about the war.

[Sea of Time]

It was a horrible war. It took place mostly in trenches, where soldiers would live amongst the bodies of their comrades, and the lice was horrible. We owe so much to those soldiers who gave their lives, because it was probably the ugliest war ever.

[Saturos S.]

All quiet on the western fron gives you a good idea of how the conditions were in the trenches. How the young boys nearly allways died in the first week they where at the front. It probably was the worst war for Europe yet. My Grandpa's brother in law died at the front (his sister was about 30 years older then he was.) But apart from that I don't know any family who died there. There probably were more though since I have a German family not that far back.

We saw all the graves too with school, it make quite an impact on you.

[Caael]

We're studying it in history at school as well. We got to go in some trenches that still remain, but we had quite a lot of fun, as we all played mock up wars by lobbing sticks at people.

I think it was the opposite in the war. Though I did hear that on christmas, there was no fighting, and in some trenches, the 2 sides had a game of football.

[Somia]

I can just imagine the atmosphere at the graveyards. My history teacher described it to us.

I'm taking Canadian history right now (not that I have a choice). And I've just finished the unit on WWI.

Did you go to Vimy Ridge?

[Caael]

We did. It was a great experience, we went in the underground subways, and we saw some of the rooms the Canadian soldiers stayed in, and we saw a shell that was lodged in the ceiling. Aparantly 20-30% of all shells were duds, which is interesting.

[Sea of Time]

Somia, on Nov 14 2006, 11:46 AM, said:

I can just imagine the atmosphere at the graveyards. My history teacher described it to us.

I'm taking Canadian history right now (not that I have a choice). And I've just finished the unit on WWI.

It's a requirement here for Grade eleven students to learn about WWI. We (our class) put on the school's Remembrance Day ceremony. It was really well done and really gave meaning to a day that usually doesn't have much meaning for kids our age.

It did piss me off, however, when someone's cell phone went off during the moment of silence.

[Caael]

I'll try to remember the places we went to, I know one of them was the biggest french graveyard.

[Somia]

Yea, someone's MP3 player was on really loud during the moment of silence this year, everyone was staring at the person and all he did was laugh like an idoit thinking hes cool. It disgusts me how disrespectful some people are these days.

[Aquamarine]

Caael, on Nov 13 2006, 10:14 PM, said:

But it was truly terrible to be led around those graveyards, one of which had over 100,000 people in it. Inside a memorial, there was a huge shelf that went underground, with coffins stacked in it to commemorate all the unknown soldiers that were so mangled, they weren't recognised. It was sickening. I never knew how horrible war really was until I went on this trip. Never the less, the trip was still good.

This reminded me of a place here in Serbia which I visited. It's called the Skele-Kula, or Skeleton Tower. It's not really a tower but a small building. I think it had only one, pretty large room. It had a wall in the middle as well as at the sides, of course. The walls were made of stone and in all of them you could see hundreds, even thousands of skulls, put in neat horizontal lines, which went from the floor all the way up to the ceiling. These were skulls of Serbian soldiers which fought the Turks when they tried to invade us. The Turks succeeded in claiming our lands and then made this building to scare the Serbian people and just have a laugh.

[Caael]

The sickening graveyard was called Notre Dame de Lorette. It was horrible, moving and incredibly sad. Look at pictures, and see how many graves there are.

[Sea of Time]

Somia, on Nov 14 2006, 12:11 PM, said:

Yea, someone's MP3 player was on really loud during the moment of silence this year, everyone was staring at the person and all he did was laugh like an idoit thinking hes cool. It disgusts me how disrespectful some people are these days.

There were people talking through the whole thing. Since when was it 'cool' not to respect the soldiers who died for your country? I guess it's just too hard for some people to shut up.

[Caael]

http://www.whitbyhs.cheshire.sch.uk/curric/history/trips/battlefields/battlefields2004/notredamedelorette/coffins.jpg

It's incredibly sad, those were the coffins of soldiers who could not be recognised. It went down some distance. Truly horrific.

[Sea of Time]

The unknown soldier. That's probably the most tragic story of WWI. Also, there are still bodies underground in Flanders Fields (where the poem is based) It's sad and probably should have stood as a message to future generations.

[Caael]

I just found those coffins sickening. I didnt cry, but I had about 4 people crying into my shoulder.

[Somia]

Oh my...

I heard that some soilder's body were blown to bits, they have to make a bag that was shaped like a human body and put their remaining in it. That's how bad it was. Let alone identifying some of their faces..

[Ravenblade]

It was pretty horrific - I mean, it was a modern war being fought by people who didnt understand modern war. It was the first time we had ever used tanks (which broke down all over the place) planes (which crashed all over the place) and mustard gas (which burnt people's lungs up and made them puke it up..and then die). The French had no idea how to fight it and when it started wore bright colours to show their pride and to strike fear into the heart of the enemy (which is what worked in the past) They were machine gunned to pieces and lost about 140 000 people in a week.

None of the countries involved really knew how to fight it, which is why we ended up being in trenches for years.

[Somia]

The brighter the colour the clearer the target.

I had an entire project on the tanks, yep, it broke down alot, but it was helpful in the trenches. The most important innovation of WWI indeed.

[pHantOm]

Ravenblade, on Nov 14 2006, 02:00 PM, said:

The French had no idea how to fight it and when it started wore bright colours to show their pride and to strike fear into the heart of the enemy (which is what worked in the past) They were machine gunned to pieces and lost about 140 000 people in a week.

Nothings changed in the past 80 years.