In the Footsteps of The 6th Airborne at Ranville Church and War Cemetery | WW2 Walking The Ground

Enjoying the series, good job 👍

This is great stuff. Fantastic production, banter and tunics.

Such an unassuming little gate to walk through, fools you into thinking it’s going to be one of those little memorials to units or individuals dotted about Normandy. But then it opens up into the mass grave, makes you catch your breath seeing how many young men had to forever lie under the ground we walk on, especially when the journey now costs us so little.

Fascinating. Wish I’d seen this before going there in June!

Loving it all so far - such great info & so well filmed. Great banter - could listen to you all day & then some, James... it's all so very interesting. The whole project is instilled with such passion it's infectious.

This is a fascinating series, you are certainly giving plenty of ideas for when I get chance to head to Normandy this winter.
KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK LADS!!!

Did the Airborne (or British Army generally) call the Germans Krauts?

👍

its not a Schmeisser its an MP$)!!!!!! will people please get it right

So glad the chaps are doing a video series. I took my Mrs here just a few days after they filmed and told her about the toilet anecdote. She wept at the airborne graves around the fringe of the civilian cemetery which always helps bring me away from the stories and back to the people. I think the para dog and its owner are also in the CWGC cemetery next door, I cant remember. It was a nice short walk from Pegasus Bridge to Ranville, hard to imagine what it must have been like. I'm always struck by how similar the people who lived on our islands during WW2 are to us and the very personal messages left by family on their graves is a clear indication of that. They liked dancing, pop music, sports, they lived in our houses and walked our streets and lanes ... and now they rest there. I remember my grandparents. It was not long ago.

Love the story about a para taking a #2. Heard it from James before and I still love it.

I’m sorry to say that I find this way of presenting the events somewhat blasé and disrespectful, all things considered.
The narrative is also not 100% correct. Not just for this presentation, but also the Pegasus Bridge episode (and no doubt others).
I had a great deal more respect for James Holland prior to this series. But this ‘slick’ and flamboyant means of portraying the events could and should have been thought through with consideration for those who fought and fell; and for those who continue to travel to these sites every year to pay their respects to friends and relatives lost in the Normandy campaign.

We shall remember them.

Please tell me you're going to do the Merville Battery

Hands in pockets ! 🤬

Walking hallowed ground.

Never fired an mp40 then....

Very poignant 😢

Solid work, guys.

I really like the conversations that are recorded from behind as they walk. It’s such a refreshingly new thing to me; to have relevant and detailed discussions that aren’t rehearsed set pieces to camera in a static location. It shows the enthusiasm, knowledge, and similar conversations you have with your other afflicted friends. Someone knows a bit about that, another about something related, and then someone else will chime in with an aside about Burma when seeing that grave.

This is more walking and talking the ground than anything else and I’m throughly enjoying it. Purists might bemoan the conversational manner, but the alternative is the nonsense that Al and James poke fun at. The overly dramatic “scars of war” and same 5 minutes of a hurricane firing and a Panzer I going through a pond nonsense.

Lads what up with the freeky audio blip 7.20 in when speaking about Scholes and his brother?

Very good, gents. I like your candid and gently simplistic approach. It’s like walking the ground with two (very) knowledgable mates.

Very moving

Caddick-Adams, Peter
Sand and Steel
pp.434
Nom de guerre Sergeant Ramage
Apparently it was a Sten.

Brilliant series, thanks. Like the pace and the almost one shot way it's filmed, feels like I'm walking with you. What can be done when quality broadcasters discard the silly rules of TV

I just came back from a Royal British Legion Normandy Beaches cycle challenge and after Pegasus Bridge we stopped at Ranville cemetery. Our historian took us round to Den Brotheridge's grave but didn't mention the bullet holes so I missed them. I will be going back soon.

Just our of interest have either of you ever served in the forces and if you have what units were you both in

This ep strikes a wonderful tone for what is ultimately an incredibly sad story on many levels. Nicely adjusted when compared with the excitement of others in the series.

Excellent stuff, fellas. Long overdue a series like this. Looking forward to seeing Al in Chester and James in Warwick over the next few weeks 👍

Love this.... Not a lecture more a chat.

Listen to these guys on the podcast when out and about but these clips are brilliant. I visit one of these graves the white forces ones near my home of family. Unbelievably the person in question died 1941 enemy action Aberdeen ( grave in Glasgow next to his father) he was 39 so in the service core or whatever it was being too old for action. He was Suppprt staff at a air base in Aberdeen and a German bomber dropped one single bomb on the airfield being chased . No one else was killed and when he was found there was not a mark on him but the blast had killed him. We were always told as kids that the air was sucked out of him. As his grave is close I pay my respects on the passing or making a point of visiting on the date of his death. We can’t forget the sacrifices made.

Really enjoyed the video

In the church graveyard, there's a soldier's grave whose date of death is 05 June 1944, and our tour guide said he's never been able to find out what the story behind it is. Does anyone know?

Beautifully done guys, it's a place I never get tired of visiting as history like this never ever should be forgotten my respect and admiration will never wane for those that fought and died to defeat the evil of German facisim.

Wow lots of emotions showing the gravesites of these great Men! My Grandfather was killed in Burma it was a brutal
campaign. God Bless all who served!!

Great work. Sad seeing all those graves.

Touching- I’ve said it before- gods knows what my grandad saw fighting for Caen- my mum said his service record said he was shot. I know he was deaf in one ear and I wonder if this was because of the firing of ammunition? I want to find out more about him now- I have some photos of him as a captain in Belfast in 1944 in what looks to be a training battalion- I suppose he was a company commander but not sure how that fits in with Caen- the date on the photo states December 44- any ideas?

So glad I found your channel. Love the history in all your chats!

Very nice series. Thank you for doing it.