I'm Indy Neidell and here is a Great War Special
DICE and Electronic Arts announced that the next installment of their video game series
Battlefield will be set in World War 1. Now, since the first trailer was published, thousands
of people have joined our channel, which is cool. And to welcome all the new fans and
the older ones who are excited for the game too, we decided to make an extra episode
analyzing the trailer.
0:06 - 0:07 What do we see? A German soldier beats a British
or US soldier with a makeshift trench club. The background is hazy and muddy and we see
observation balloons and tree stumps.
Close Quarters Combat was very common in trench warfare,
and the soldiers often used improvised weapons.
The German Soldier: He is wearing a typical German gas mask - seems to the be M1917 model.
Instead of the standard German Stahlhelm, he seems to wear a metal (skull-) cap of some
sort. Maybe the Stirnpanzer was the inspiration for this. It was part of the armour that was
issued to Machine Gun sentries. The other part was what we call lobster armour.
He is also wearing the full marching gear
Which is kind of odd to wear in the field. We see some patch insignia on the shoulder
- this is not in line with actual uniform style. One explanation could be that this
is for the Squad insignia in the game. You can see the red finish on his collar as well,
which is the colour of the pioneers or the infantry. In the close up you see German leather
ammo and gear pouches. Looks like he’s wearing a scarf too.
The British or American soldier: He seems to wear the SBR Small Box Respirator. And
the typical British canvas belt and ammo pouches. And what looks like a trench coat with a turned
up collar. This is interesting: When he turns around you can see a “Geballte Ladung”
on his back - charges of multiple German Stielhandgranaten bound together.
These were used in WW1 to penetrate weaker armours before real anti tank weapons were available.
The Battlefield: The tree stumps, the mud, and the barbed wire are straight from the
classic images of the Western Front. You can see some ruins too. And at least 5 observation
balloons. There are also Flak shells exploding in the air.
0:08 - 0:12 The next scene is set in the desert and you
can see a lonely horse rider. The area covering Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, Mesopotamia,
Persia, Palestine, and up to Anatolia was an important theatre of World War 1 once the
Ottoman Empire entered the war. Horses were used to cover the distances, of course, as
were camels.
The rider is wearing more traditional gear including ammo bandoliers as a belt. And she
is notably pulling a sabre. The “stirrup-hilted” handle is actually more common for European
or British Hussars. It definitely doesn’t look like the typical scimitar that was common
in the area. But since the British were heavily involved in the the Middle East, this would
possibly be available, though sabres were status things and not often lost or given away.
In the close up we can see that the women riding the horse has facial tattoos resembling
bedouin tribes. The tribes were notably persuaded to rise up against the Ottomans in the Arab
Revolt with support of the British, notably T.E. Lawrence aka. Lawrence of Arabia.
0:13 - 0:14 The next scene seems to cover aerial combat
on the Western Front again. In the foreground we see the tail gunner of a plane which might
be a Sopwith Strutter 1 ½. He’s firing the aerial Lewis Gun, according to our friend
Othais who made a video about the guns seen in the trailer. The insignia on the wing indicates
that this is a plane from the Royal Flying Corps, the predecessor of the Royal Air Force.
In the background you can see observation balloons again, there is a river and cutting
through the battlefield and on the left you can actually see some untouched landscape
not yet consumed by trench warfare. This is a nice idea, however the actual distances
would be much greater, since behind the trenches you had supplies, maybe even 1 or 2 more trench
systems and so forth.
In the far back and in the beginning of the shot you can see the famous red Fokker Dr
1 triplane as flown by the Red Baron. Of course the plane in this colour is very noticeable,
but Richthofen’s Squadron was called the “Flying Circus” because the planes all
were painted in different colours. Furthermore, not all pilots choose to do this at all. The
scene covers another Plane which looks like another Sopwith Strutter too.
0:14 - 0:18 This seems to be the same scene again but
now we are on the ground. The Sopwith is flying above and more planes can be seen in the background.
You can also spot the fields and the river again.
But of course the interesting part is the foreground here where 7 soldiers are fighting.
Because of the contrast, we cannot make out a lot of details. But the 2nd and 3rd soldier
from the right are engaged in close combat again. This time the German soldier is wearing
the M1916 Stahlhelm and his weapon of choice is the Grabenspaten. According to Erich Maria
Remarque in All Quiet On The Western Front German soldiers used this instead of bayonet
because the bayonet had the tendency to get stuck in the rib cage of your enemy. The spade
however, was so sharp that you could cut through the whole body. The German soldier is also
wearing crutches on his back. Maybe he is a medic. Of course no one would carry those
in a trench assault but this is probably about recognising the medic in the game.
The soldier getting hit with the spade seems to be an American soldier, at least he is
carrying the Winchester 1897 Shotgun. He is also carrying the bayonet holster which is
an odd combo with the shotgun. There is of course the famous story that the Germans considered
this weapon to barbaric in combat and protested in 1918. Same thing happened with Dum Dum Bullets.
In the background of this scene you can see either smoke or gas. A variety of chemical
agents were used during the war. We made a whole special episode about them.
0:18 - 0:20 The next scene is again a German Fokker Dr.
1 Triplane chasing another plane through the canyons. He is firing a German IMG08/15. The
Fokker Dr. 1 never flew in the Middle East and certainly not the Red Baron who was on
the Eastern and Western Front. Airplanes in the Middle East had more of an reconnaissance
role, but there were Ottoman Aces too.
0:20 - 0:23 We are switching back to the Western Front
and see a plane crashing into a windmill. The fields in Flanders and Northern France
probably had those at some point. It’s odd that this one is still standing though and
hasn’t been pulverised by artillery. The soldier in the foreground seems to be British
or American again. You can see his backpack and spade quite well. The soldier on the left
is a bit puzzling. From the colours and gear, it seems to be a German soldier. Contrary
to the other soldiers seen so far, he is very lightly equipped with a spade, a bayonet,
a gas mask container on the back. He is not even wearing a helmet but the German Feldmütze
without a visor which means he is not an officer.
0:24 We see a quick shot of a tank driver. Yes,
the tanks were controlled by levers.
0:25-0:26 The desert again: In the quick camera pan,
we see a British Mark IV tank and a soldier stumbling. He might be Ottoman actually, since
a few thousand M1916 helmets were issued to the Ottoman Army. After the pan another Mark
IV appears accompanied by a soldier wearing a German anti tank rifle, the T-Gewehr. But
the soldier seem to be British judging from, for example, the puttees. Does that make sense?
Well, yes. Whole books have been written about foreign rifles in the armies and it was common
to try to incorporate captured equipment into your own army. There were limits to that of
course. The gear of this soldier is a bit puzzling to me, the hood and shoulder patches
don’t ring any bell.
We see some soldiers charging on horses and being attacked by a biplane. The soldiers
have different head gear from scarves to helmets and goggles. Pretty sure that that they would
not attack a tank in a frontal assault. Actually, we only found references to a few Mark I tanks
serving in the Battle of Gaza. Other lighter vehicles were used in the desert though.
0:27 - 0:28 This shot is a bit puzzling. Othais says the
person we see is firing the classic Colt M1911. Other than that you cannot really see anything.
The architecture of the building could be as much Paris as it could be Berlin so who
knows where it is.
0:28 - 0:30 Then there’s a new scenario. It’s a forest
with a ruin in the back. There was heavy fighting in places like the Argonnes, so this is not
unusual. The character whose Point of View we see is carrying a Lewis Gun. The important
thing of course is the green cloud in the centre which might be chlorine gas, or chlorine
mixed with phosgene, called Green Cross. While the soldier on the left is already collapsing,
the one standing right in the cloud seems to be fine.
On the right side a heavy gun is firing. This could be the French 75 mm field gun which
was widely used during World War 1 and was also used to deliver gas shells. It was also
exported to other nations.
0:30 - 0:31 That armour is ridiculous. There were experiments
with body armours and masks and stuff like that, but they looked a lot clunkier than
that. The Germans had the lobster armour for their sentries but it was impractical for
movement. Knowing the materials available at the time, the mask would also be pretty
heavy. We don’t know what kind of machine gun he’s firing. But it seems a bit out
of place.
The soldiers that get shot by that guy are Italian soldiers in a valley of the Isonzo
Front. Othais says that the weapons models don’t really check out, yet, but it might
be placeholders or unfinished designs. The Italian soldiers are wearing their version
of the Adrian helmet and standard uniforms with pouches. Interestingly, the soldier in
the front seems to have a axe or ice axe
Benito Mussolini was a big fan of knives, for example, and the Italian
elite storm troops, the Arditi, also used them a lot. The axes were the same tools they
used to dig shelters into the rock. The soldier is also wearing the grenade bundle on his back.
In the background one of the soldiers is equipped with a flame thrower. Some pictures of flamethrowers
we see in World War 1 show that these were used by teams, but there were smaller
versions too that could be carried by one soldier.
0:32 - 0:34 We are in the air above the Italian front
again. Apart from the planes and balloons we already know, the terrain is very interesting.
It seems more open than the other scenes and we can see a lot of height differences too.
That is of course completely in line with the actual battlefields of that front. In
the beginning there was a stalemate there too but with later offensives the front was
much more dynamic than you might think, especially in 1917 when Erwin Rommel fought there, for example.
0:35 - 0:38 The shot opens with a Mark IV tank again and
then we are in the trenches for the first time. These seem to be British soldiers which
wear Brodie Helmets, the normal uniforms and equipment, as well as the Lee Enfield .303
rifles - one of the most recognisable rifles of the war. Some soldiers have their bayonets
mounted. One soldier is preparing to go over the top, he is wearing a handgun and just
a cap. The surrounding area is still pretty much in tact, you can see trees. The tank
blasting over the trench is actually right because that’s what they were invented for.
0:40 Flamethrower guy again. You can see his protective
gear pretty well.
0:41- 0:42 An armoured train! The Germans used those
at Verdun and the Belgians also had some. They also played an important role in Eastern
Europe in the different wars that broke out there after World War 1.
The ship firing the broadside appears to be a an Iron Duke class battleship. People usually
think that the navies didn’t play a big role in World War 1, but when you follow our
show, you know that there were several naval battles, most notably the Battle of Jutland.
The planes attacking the ship in the next shot are not seaplanes which is what would
have been used in open waters. Airplane carriers in the classical sense were not used in World
War 1, but ships could carry seaplanes very well.
0:43 The plane crashing into the ground seems to
be a German Gotha G.I. bomber.
0:46 We are in a British or American artillery
position. The guns firing look like 9.2 inch howitzers. The shells lying around like that
are a nice detail because that’s actually how it looked like during a battle. Artillery
caused 75% of all casualties in the entire war and was enormously important in all theatres.
In the beginning it was less focused, but throughout the war more sophisticated tactics
like the creeping barrage were invented.
0:49 We can briefly see a side mounted scope for
a German Gewehr 98. Sniping or Sharpshooting was a part of striking fear and terror on
the other side. Snipers would pick targets in the other trenches which were sometimes
not very far away.
0:55 The final shot of the trailer is an iconic
German Zeppelin. The Germans used them for tactical bombing on the Western and Eastern
Front as well as for recon. They were not very precise for bombing at all, but the Germans
counted on the psychological effect. Contrary to popular belief, these could not be shot
down easily because they flew higher than most fighters or artillery shells and a simple
hole in the skin wouldn’t do much harm since they had many separate gas compartments. Later
on more sophisticated tactics were developed like incendiary bullets.
We got asked a lot how “accurate” the
trailer is in historical terms. It’s difficult to say. Some of the scenes feature some unusual
or experimental gear and some weapons are carried by soldiers from the other side. Overall,
it is an entertainment product foremost and you probably won’t get an accurate depiction
of the horrors of this war. However, the trailer already shows a lot of aspects that are usually
forgotten when talking about this war. The different theatres, the vehicles, and different
types of airplanes. Another interesting aspect is the close combat
which is something you always remember once you read All Quiet On The Western Front, so
it’s definitely applaudable that the developers took a look at the whole conflict and all
its aspects.
The trailer itself also shows a product which is not yet finished and most of the scenes
are only seen for the blink of an eye, so we don’t know for sure how loose or accurate
the whole game will be. For example, in a few shots you see soldiers which appear to
wear customised equipment while other scenes show accurate uniforms and equipment. Could
very well be that this is an indication for the different game modes. Looks like a lot
of fun, though. Look forward to playing it.