German World War I trenches at Fayat, France

The clip starts with a few Google earth views zooming into Fayat, France. Hidden from view in a short copse of trees is part of the German front line to the east of the small village of Fayat.

Even now, 90+ years after the end of World War I, the trench lines are still visable and some fragments of the past still litter the floor: several artillery shells, barbed wire, an old boot (WWI?) and a mysterious spike.

Please take a look at Video History Today http://www.videohistorytoday.com , the first web site to offer unique collections of re-usable original video clips designed for teachers and students.

The idea behind Video History Today is to give schools the raw material to make mini-documentaries and video essays on historical subjects.

Initial packages focus on World War I (Somme and Ieper areas), The Holocaust, the American Civil War and D-Day & Normandy 1944.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• wwI
• german
• trenches
• fayat
• artillery
• shells
• first
• world
• war
• one

[GR8TM4N]

Isn't there a danger from all these unexploded shells ? I mean, could they go off ?

[VideoHistoryToday]

@GR8TM4N You are quite right, these shells are still dangerous and many still do go off every year. Not sure if anyone is injured or killed: farmer's tractors have protective shielding. Farmers often pile them up at the road side for French army bomb disposal experts who go around regularly to collect them.

[NickerSkids]

Imagine 3 or 4 shells just sitting on the grass over 90 years later.

I thought all that stuff would have been away by now,i suppose they are getting churned up every new sow of the field.

[VideoHistoryToday]

They are still appearing, as you say because tractors churn up the fields. The farmers pile them up on the side of the road for the Army to pick up (or some very brave souvenir hunter!) Quite a lot of areas are completely cordoned off even today.

Apparently there are loads over in the Verdun area as well.

[deadbeatbloom]

.,.,i feel as if i may be able to view more of the footage if there was not .,.,.,a massive red bar in the side of the screen.,,, but other tan that ,..,.,.,.,rather interesting..,.,

[valstar1000]

Neat is that your land or a Friends?

[valstar1000]

@APdocumentary How did they start the war? It started when some Serbian killed Franz Ferdinand and his wife when he wasn't even that bad of a king. It is not like everybody who lived in Germany was a Nazi. World war 1 was mostly just about resources anyways and France and England were not the only place which were war-torn Germany got wrecked from the North, East and west and than the damn Versailles treaty was signed by the Frenchies and Brits.

[valstar1000]

@APdocumentary How did they start the war? It started when some Serbian killed Franz Ferdinand and his wife when he wasn't even that bad of a king.

[scientist1882]

This video is great. I may never get to tour the WWI battlefields, but this is the closest I can get to it. The terrain is still obviously shaped by that awful war nearly one century ago. Thank You for posting.

[radio187]

Good video. Even though I hear about it, tt is amazing to see 75mm shells just lying around on the ground. When you consider that there were literally hundreds of millions of shells fired even 0.1% is a staggering number.

[selmuir]

Very Good vid im suscribing

[Danman1971]

Thank You, That was a great video, keep up the good work mate.