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The Great War 1914 - 1918


chrisp65

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Just watched an excellent show on PBS about German zeppelins and English efforts to destroy them in WW1. The zeppelins each had about 20 "balloons" filled with hydrogen. The incredible aspect of the balloons is that they

 

were made entirely from cow intestines, which were the only material that prevented the hydrogen from leaking. They would take the stretched out intestines, make them damp with water and bind them with other intestines.

 

When dried, they would form a seam so flawless that the gas could not escape. The need for cow intestines was so great that there was a total ban on sausage making for almost the entire war!

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I was watching a program on Gallipoli...how the Anzacs used dead bodies to fortify newly dug trenches. Grim stuff.

There is a great book and TV documentary on Gallipoli that dispels the myth that the Brits used the Anzacs as canon fodder ... Think it was called Gallipoli from above , even shows pictures taken after the landing with barely a casualty on the beach ( as opposed to the traditional view that it was a slaughter )

I went to Gallipoli a few years back definitely worth a trip if anyone ever goes to Turkey

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The Commonwealth fought strongly but the myth of Atatürk was just too strong.

On the tour they say that a big factor along with Atatürk was an Aussie regiment took the most important point on the peninsula but didn't appreciate the strategic importance of it at the time and abandoned it ... It was land that the allies never reclaimed and was a major factor in the "defeat "

Went to the Anzac graves and there were a group of Turks there( male and female ) laughing and joking and generally being disrespectful as well as hurling abuse at the westerners present ... Disgusting behaviour , it's the only negative I could take away from my tour around Turkey and I won't condemn a nation on the actions of a few but it did make me angry at the time

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The Commonwealth fought strongly but the myth of Atatürk was just too strong.

On the tour they say that a big factor along with Atatürk was an Aussie regiment took the most important point on the peninsula but didn't appreciate the strategic importance of it at the time and abandoned it ... It was land that the allies never reclaimed and was a major factor in the "defeat "

Went to the Anzac graves and there were a group of Turks there( male and female ) laughing and joking and generally being disrespectful as well as hurling abuse at the westerners present ... Disgusting behaviour , it's the only negative I could take away from my tour around Turkey and I won't condemn a nation on the actions of a few but it did make me angry at the time

The Turkish history books are the reason for this. Infact I'd go as far as to say they are disgusting in their representation of events.

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WW1 is still killing people- 2 Belgian men were killed on a worksite today when they struck an old shell. 

 

Scary to think how many more unexploded shells from both wars are still out there...

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There are so many out there.  It's mostly WW2 stuff in England because we were only subject to air campaigns but the street I live in got bombed in 1941.  The street my mum lives in was partially evacuated about a week before Xmas so the MOD could destroy an unexploded WW2 bomb. (video)

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I'm working on a project on Sheppey where a trench being dug for services was stopped on three occasions for uxb's - one was a german grenade, presumed to have been lobbed out of a passing plane.

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