i'm indy neidell jedi i'm indy neidell
space night I can say that right I'm
allowed to say that yeah and this is out
of the trenches where I sit here with my
lights my laser saber and answer all of
your questions about Star Wars and the
first world war
oh okay I can't say that and I can
answer their questions about Star Wars
you can answer questions about it right
I'm not claiming I'm part of it
[Music]
okay let's see
Tony step Tony stellar right Tony
stellar is our cameraman today alright
hi Tony hey okay what are you write Tony
stellar writes hi Indy a question for us
trenches alright how come Jedi Knights
don't always cut off body parts of them
on their own bodies with their
lightsabers
it seems self-evident that just swinging
it around you would accidentally cut off
some fingers or legs
please help okay
well Tony that's a very good question
now bear in mind this all happened a
long long time ago and as a galaxy far
far away so there's not so much
information available but what we have
says that yes of the Jedi Knights
particularly the Padawans those training
to be Jedi Knights did in fact cut off
many of their own body parts when you
think of it this sword which is not a
lightsaber but it's similar to a
lightsaber it's not like a regular sword
a regular sword you can you know tap on
your hand like that or you can put it
down you might like use clean dirt off
your shoe or something like that or even
if you swing around a regular sword get
a regular sword swing it around talk to
your friend you're going to touch some
of your body parts at some point with
your regular sword you can't do that
with one of these because then you would
in fact cut them off now they did have
very very excellent prosthetic
technology Luke Skywalker for example
had that you know had his extra hand
made and that had feeling and everything
so I would imagine that as long as you
were fairly close to a medical bay it
wouldn't be that big a problem to get a
new foot or our new fingers or something
like that if you were on Tatooine that
might be a much bigger problem because
of the lack of modern medical services
now there was a Jedi Knight on the Jedi
Council remember that one with a
gigantic neck that's about as long as
this as this sword that's a magnet for a
lightsaber right there that's a really
unfortunate Jedi if I was that kid I
wouldn't like look at lightsabers and
think man that's what I want to fight
against when I grow up okay
anyhow I'm gonna put my lights my laser
saber
Oh
whay and answer some more questions what
do you got for me
striker three four five if I okay hi
India question four out of the trenches
can you explain the role that british
malaya had during the war particularly
the resources Malaya gave for the war
effort and the amount of men sent to
fight for the British okay
British Malaya which was an only
recently centralised set of territories
owned by Great Britain on the Malayan
Peninsula and the island of Singapore
was the main provider of rubber and tin
for the British war economy after the
invention of the vulcanization process
rubber became incredibly useful for
industry and the overall economy before
and during the great war for waterproof
clothing gas masks medical gloves tires
insulators for cables and what you can
think many many other things like in the
manufacture of ships and submarines who
needed it the natural resources of the
region were extremely important for the
British war effort
now Germany's East Asia East Asia
squadron knew this of course but did not
have the power did not have the manpower
or ships power to attack the supply
lines head-on and chose to withdraw
their forces except for well a little
pirate ship that we've already talked
about and the journey that journey of
the light cruiser Emden which you have
to check out if you haven't showed how
vulnerable the supply lines actually was
in October 1914 the Emden appeared in
the harbour of Penang and wreaked havoc
on the surprised ships there torpedoing
the Russian cruisers gem shook the
eminence captain Muller aims to
undermine British authority with the
locals right and Britain was more afraid
of that than anything since the
authority over Malaya gave Britain say
in the colonial power politics of the
region and its biggest competitors were
the US and especially Japan to whom the
Great War had already given the control
of the German German possessions in the
region so economic tensions ran high
[Music]
a bad rash says question four out of the
trenches okay since America is slowly
showing up Pershing is organizing
training but you've mentioned the
artillery was not with the gun crews
which makes me think did Pershing have
to requisition British and French
equipment for training is that why
Americans also adopted the British
helmets uniforms of the war this series
is something I've been wanting since I
watched Ken Burns Civil War documentary
I hope I get to see another major war
covered in similar fashion by this
wonderful and dedicated crew alright
much love he gave us much love you
wonderful and dedicated crew okay
well we'll probably cover the American
uniforms in more detail in a special
episode in future since we've done that
for several other countries but this is
a quick rundown okay US troops arrived
in France with their own uniforms a
khaki colored standard uniform they had
introduced in 1903 and their own small
arms the standard infantry rifle m1903
springfield and small arms from american
gun makers like Smith & Wesson Colt
Remington and browning and the new model
the m1917 browning machine gun that had
only recently been introduced but like
with pretty much everything except men
and morale the US Army lacked sufficient
numbers to outfit hundreds of thousands
of soldiers and much of its available
equipment was outdated in the
spanish-american war or the border
expedition against Mexico it was
sufficient to give a man a uniform a
rifle and some basic equipment but not
so anymore in 1917 in Europe oh no since
they lacked pretty much all modern
fighting equipment and could not simply
wait until the American industry caught
up the Allies began training and
outfitting the American troops with
their own equipment and weapons most
soldiers were given the Brody helmet
except for most of the African American
combat troops who wore the French Adrian
helmet men were trained in using rifles
like the Enfield and the LaBelle and the
Allied machine guns the lucky ones got
their hands on a Lewis gun the less
lucky ones on a show shot
they were given the newest gas masks and
trench equipment the artillery of the
AEF the American Expeditionary Force
well their own 1903 field gun was
adequate preferred using the proven
models like the French 75 or the British
8-inch howitzers they also began
training in the Renault ft tech since
the US had no tank program except for
the mark 8 Liberty project later down
the line and the American pilots flew
French and British aircrafts their own
Kurtis models were only used as training
planes back at home so yes is my answer
to you it was vital for the AEF to be
equipped with allied weapons otherwise
they would not have been able to make an
impact for much more time fell Fifi all
right hey there great shill Thank You
SEL Fifi I have been a fan for a long
while now and I thought I would finally
ask a question for out of the trenches I
read an Ernst youngers storm of Steel
that the frontline troops would often
booby trap positions that they would
surrender to the enemy for example when
they fell back to the Hindenburg Line
many of the German soldiers would lay
traps for the Allies to signal that they
did this they would leave a wire cutter
on display for the enemy for example on
a table a gentleman's warning or some
ACOG humor I'm not sure can you me
confirm or deny this great show looking
forward to an episode every week cheers
from denmark
all right Denmark um the concept of
using traps to hurt your enemy well was
well known to all sides of the war
barbed wire is basically a booby trap in
itself as were spikes and you know steel
caltrops that people would throw on the
ground for men and horses to trip on all
sides experimented with explosive traps
quite early on
despite the Honourable war everyone
claimed to be fighting for example the
Germans invented a mechanical fuse
lighter for land mines in 1914 that
pretty much every other nation copied as
quickly as possible the reason why mines
weren't commonly used is that they were
clumsy and they simply were not that
effective on a strategic level on a more
tactical level smaller booby traps were
used
in delaying the enemy and destroying
morale as the war progressed and it
became more evident that every method of
killing as many men of the other side as
possible was fair game there were more
experiments with lethal booby traps
okay the Germans would leave dummies of
soldiers in no-man's land
and British raiding parties would trip
the positions they attacked with timed
explosives right wires could be attached
to the safety pins of Mills grenade or
of a German stick grenade could be
modified or with an instant fuse
retreating troops prepared their whole
trench systems with traps the retreat to
the Hindenburg lines that you mentioned
occurred in March 1917 and the Germans
pretty much scorched the earth and left
nothing of value for the Allies they
tore down buildings and dugouts they dug
up streets and railroads they blocked
roads and yes they even bombed and mind
their own former positions they even
deported local able-bodied men to work
in their own war industry before I give
you some examples we'll have to say that
there are a lot of rumors circulating
about this and you still can't really
separate the traps that really existed
from the ones that were fabricated by
those rumors
there were tales from of simple tripwire
and placements that triggered explosives
or grenades mines that were hidden under
the streets bombs with acid time
triggers and cellars that would explode
after a few days when the Allies had
occupied them poisoned Wells a lot of
smaller explosive traps in common things
like like like lamps or gramophones like
like a new shovel sticking out of the
ground and when a careless soldier tried
to pick it up it would trigger a grenade
or typical German souvenirs that were
tacked on to explosives the reports
speak the reports of that speak little
of casualties but of a lot of hatred
towards the Germans after that
experience okay well that is all for
today
and we only had one Star Wars question
which is interesting so but any other
out of the trenches questions and Star
Wars questions you know where to write
them and if you'd like to see our
special episode about that little pirate
ship the Emden which is really good it
was our Christmas special a couple years
ago you can click right here for that do
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