[February 9, 2026] Hindsight is a cruel mistress. The advantage of technology allows us to view the past, both its beauty and horror, in such a way that we can gain at least a small appreciation for those who lived before us. One such video captures a bird’s-eye view of the destruction wrought by that war, a “War to End All Wars.” Flying over WW1 battlefields.
To know the past is, as many have noted, to prevent repeating it. That’s why videos like this one let us see it as it was. This is colorized, restored, and sound-designed rare footage of a 1919 airship flight over the Western Front battlefields in France.
The journey takes us over Arras, Loos, La Bassée, Armentières, Merris, Bailleul, and Mont-Saint-Éloi, revealing the extent of wartime destruction in towns and landscapes. Filmed from the airship’s nacelle, the footage shows the pilot, controls, and cables in the foreground, as it flies low over towns, factories, markets, ruins, and iconic sites like Vimy Ridge and Arras.
WWI Aftermath: HD Colorized Flight Over Flanders Fields (1919 Doc) pic.twitter.com/lPAB06Jv99
— Voices of WW2 (@VoicesofWW2) September 18, 2025
The sights are haunting. Watching this video feels like witnessing something we are not meant to see with the human eye.
This is French airship pilot Jacques Trolley de Prévaux flying over the battlefield a year after the Armistice. It comes from a 2010 BBC documentary titled “The First World War From Above.” It truly makes us appreciate what we have today.
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NOTE: Recall an earlier colorized and repaired video from WW1 that I posted in “They Shall Not Grow Old: a Must See.”
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Good one Gen. Satterfield. And I find it haunting.
I can even see the people walking in the dirt streets among totally gutted buildings. Amazing.
There is still much to be written about World War One, and I do expect that it will be revisited in order to find some great lessons on how not to fight a war. Interesting, however, is that the Ukraine-Russia War is devolving into much the same way as WW1 did, with trench fighting, frontlines rarely moving, attrition warfare style, and a piece of technology that dominates the battlefield – artillery in WW1 and drones in the Ukraine-Russia war. This is what happens when a certain type of technology dominates. And, as we saw in WW1, artillery was overcome may fast maneuver tactics, mostly motorized. Even during the Vietnam War, the north Vietnamese army learned to avoid American artillery by closing quickly to fight. Drone technology may be very dominate today, but tactics evolve. Good info, Gen. Satterfield. Thanks for giving us a chance to see this video.
Winston, that is true. And we can see from this video (enhanced and colorized) the destruction wrought on the French countryside. Note that the video is a year AFTER the war ended and the devastation remains. One would have thought folks then would have put an end to the war quicker. But, logic does not always work.
This has beauty in its own way.
Great video. I think the colorization makes this video better visually but takes away from the reality of those times.
I agree with you Fred. But the colorization makes it more like we are there. I know the aircraft sounds were added later, and that is fake but makes the video more believable.
Sir, nailed it…. “The sights are haunting. Watching this video feels like witnessing something we are not meant to see with the human eye.” – Gen. Doug Satterfield. This is an example of the kind of info that I love to see. The “beauty” is thrilling of the remnants of the horrors of this “war to end all wars.” Keep these kind of ideas coming our way.
Wow, just wow.
Yep WOW WOW WOW WOW 🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️