# Buffnut's 2021 Tour of Great War Sites...And Other Animals



## buffnut453 (Sep 24, 2021)

About a week ago, on the "What Cheered You Up Today" thread, I posted that I was heading to France and Belgium to visit some Great War sites. One foolish forum member suggested I post pics....so here I am. Be careful what you ask for!

Clearly, this will be an image-intensive thread but I hope it's informative.

Day 1 was spent in the Ypres area. I bounced around a lot of different locations but the key locations are all pretty close together so it's easy to do by car...plus it's late September so the summer tourist hordes were nowhere to be seen (YAY!!!!).

First stop was to visit a relative, Cpl Stephen Orme Gamble, who was killed by an artillery shell as his Royal Engineers unit advanced through Ypres on 30 April 1915 - it seems he just timed his run badly as his unit was working forward under shellfire. He was buried in Ramparts Cemetery which, like virtually every Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery, is absolutely beautiful, right next to the defensive moat that once surrounded the entire town of Ypres. I parked the car in a street next to the cemetery and just walked in through the nearest entrance, and there was Stephen's grave right in front of me.







For reference, you might find this image interesting which was taken in 1919 of Rampart's Cemetery (Stephen's grave is nearest the camera). I came across this image on the Great War Forum and have been trying to locate an original copy ever since, alas to no avail (as yet). Trust the Royal Engineers to develop one of the most elaborate crosses in the entire cemetery:





Here's a close up of his gravestone:






And here's the only pic I have of the man himself. It's very poor quality but it was sourced from our local newspaper so it's definitely him:








Ramparts is a small cemetery but it's in a beautiful spot and very peaceful. Here's a pic from the other end of the Cemetery that I'm really pleased with:

Reactions: Bacon Bacon:
3 | Like Like:
2 | Winner Winner:
4 | Like List reactions


----------



## buffnut453 (Sep 24, 2021)

Second stop was Essex Farm Cemetery where John McCrea penned his famous "In Flanders Fields" poem. The concrete bunkers of the aid station where McCrea was treating the wounded are still there. They were built into the bank of the Ypres Canal to protect the medics and their patients from German artillery fire. They look in a pretty bad way but they have at least been stabilized...and, frankly, I prefer this kind of preservation to a complete "restoration" which would ruin the appearance of the site.







And the reverse view looking back towards the cemetery:







Here's the interior of one of the chambers with a somewhat askew ceiling...it can't have been a pleasant work environment but I s'pose it beats getting hit by shells:







Any patients who succumbed to their wounds didn't have far to be carried....the Essex Farm Cemetery is literally about 10 feet away from the aid station. Not sure that would be reassuring if I was a patient:







One of those interred at Essex Farm was Rifleman Strudwick of the Rifle Brigade who was killed on 14 January 1916....he was 15 years old. His grave is commonly marked with multiple poppies and crosses, and even a collection of small bears. I'm not sure what he'd have made of the bears since he probably saw himself as a man, not a child. Regardless, it's still a terrible waste of a young life:







The day before McCrea wrote his famous poem, one of his best friends was killed. McCrea's words still ring out over 100 years later:

_In Flanders fields the poppies blow_
_Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow_
_ In Flanders fields._

Reactions: Bacon Bacon:
2 | Like Like:
1 | Winner Winner:
2 | Like List reactions


----------



## Thumpalumpacus (Sep 24, 2021)

Beautiful. I'll admit to leaking a little.

Reactions: Agree Agree:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## buffnut453 (Sep 24, 2021)

Next stop was the Cloth Hall in central Ypres. This huge landmark was intimately familiar to any of the soldiers who served in the region...and it was a well-known target for artillery gunners. Today, the hall houses the In Flanders Fields Museum which, frankly, was rather disappointing. It tries to tell the entire story of the First World War but it can't devote enough space to cover the topic adequately. 

My biggest frustration was not being able to climb the tower. It was only recently re-opened to the public so I was hoping I could get some great views of the landscape around the town. Alas, it was closed for yet more renovations.







The original structure of the Cloth Hall was completed in 1304 (yes...that's 1304!) but it was entirely destroyed during the First World War. Efforts to reconstruct it only began in 1933 and it took 34 years for the rebuild to be completed.

Just for reference, here are a few pics of how it looked in October 1915 (Source: YPRES - THE TOLL OF WAR | The Royal Montreal Regiment) 






Another pic, in better detail, of the damage (Source: All About Ypres)







From the Cloth Hall I headed to the Menin Gate on the east side of Ypres. Originally intended to commemorate the names of British and Commonwealth soldiers who had no known grave, it soon became apparent that it wasn't big enough for the job...as will be shown later. An idea of scale can be gained from the car that's hiding behind the grassy potted plant in the foreground:







Even though it failed in its original role to commemorate ALL missing soldiers, it still has an incredible 54,000+ names on it's walls. Here's one area full of names:







And this is what an entire interior wall looks like:







Note that there are archways on both sides that lead to stairs up to the top of the city ramparts. Every vertical surface from the archway up to the ramparts is filled with yet more inscribed names.

Reactions: Bacon Bacon:
2 | Like Like:
1 | Winner Winner:
2 | Like List reactions


----------



## buffnut453 (Sep 24, 2021)

From the Menin Gate I headed east to visit Hooge Crater. There's an outstanding, privately-operated, museum here that's definitely worth a visit. It has a great collection of relics, replicas and depictions of fighting around the area. Just across from the museum is, you guessed it, another CWGC cemetery comprising almost 6,000 graves...but less than half are named individuals:












I took this image of the road leading west down to Ypres just to provide a sense of terrain. The Hooge Crater location is what constituted a ridgeline on the Western Front and was considered ideal defensive ground and hence of great tactical and operational significance....and so it proved. The position was held by the Germans, taken by the British in 1815, retaken by the Germans in 1916, back again by the Brits in 1917, back into German ownership in the spring of 1918 during Operation Michael, and then finally back under British control during the 100 Days Offensive that brought the War to an end. In every occasion when the position was taken, underground mines were deemed critical to the success of the assault. 







Just further east from the Museum is a hotel and tea rooms built in the 1920s (the entire village of Hooge was obliterated during the Great War). The hotel clearly was marketing itself to visiting old British soldiers and their families...it even has a tea room! 







In the grounds of the hotel are a number of excavated trench positions and a pond (sadly choked with green algae) that the owner formed by landscaping 3 German mine craters dating from their assault in 1916. The remains of 2 German concrete bunkers are still evident, as is the large pile of munitions and barbed wire recovered from nearby.







Note the submerged concrete bunker in this image:







The other German bunker is very much in evidence:







As do the piles of shell cases and other detritus, like the coil of barbed wire in the lower image:

Reactions: Bacon Bacon:
1 | Like Like:
2 | Winner Winner:
3 | Like List reactions


----------



## buffnut453 (Sep 24, 2021)

Ok...last post to wrap up my Day #1 activities. After Hooge I went to the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 which was ok...they at least had a broader range of artifacts and interpretive areas than the Cloth Hall museum. Then I headed out to Tyne Cot, which is the largest CWGC cemetery in the world, with almost 12,000 burials, a full three-quarters of which are unidentified. 

The scale of Tyne Cot beggars belief. I've been to Arlington which is HUGE...but seeing so many gravestones from just a single conflict, and bearing in mind this was the 4th CWGC cemetery I'd visited in the day, plus I'd seen signs to at least another dozen, really blew my mind. Here are a couple of pics which, sadly, just don't do the scale justice:












As if that wasn't enough, Tyne Cot has an additional Memorial to the Missing because, as noted earlier, Menin Gate wasn't big enough. Here's one of the panels of the memorial wall which contains about 225 names (ish...I didn't count them all):







And here's the actual Memorial Wall which runs in a semi-circle at the entrance to the cemetery, with each panel filled with names. More names are contained in the 2 circular rotundas accessed via the columned areas in the wall:







In total, there are almost 35,000 named missing men on these panels...but don't try to count them all because the pics above and below were taken from different positions just to try and capture as much of the wall as I could:







Tyne Cot Cemetery is actually sited on terrain that was fought over during the Great War. Three German bunkers are still on the site. Two are towards the lower end of the Cemetery and make a stark contrast to the clean, white headstones:







The third bunker is actually underneath the crucifix in the focal point of the site. A portion of the bunker wall is still exposed to view:







After Tyne Cot, I took a quick detour to Polygon Wood which, by the summer of 1917 was completely obliterated. Here are a couple of shots showing the general area "before" and "after" Third Ypres (Passchendaele) in August 1917...and, yes, those images do cover the same area!











Needless to say, accessing Polygon Wood involved traversing yet another cemetery, Buttes New British Cemetery:







And here's what Polygon Wood looks like today. Mother Nature is a resilient old dear and she bounced back with a vengeance in this area:







Needless to say there are still traces of the Great War even among all this vegetation. "Scott Post" is a former German bunker that was captured during Third Ypres in September 1917. After the war it was used as a containment shield to limit the flying debris from surplus munitions that were blown up. Despite being repeatedly filled with explosives that were then detonated, the only substantial damage was the rear wall being pushed out slightly:












Last stop was to Pond Farm which was the scene of early fighting during Third Ypres. The 55th (West Lancashire) Division operated in that area and I have a number of relatives who served as part of that formation during that battle....so it was a "must see" item for me. One of my cousins was awarded the Military Medal for his efforts recovering the wounded in the period 31 July-4 August 1917 during the opening stage of Third Ypres (a.k.a. Passchendaele). 

The family who own the farm took it on from the family who operated it before and after the Great War. The son of the current owners (his name is Steyn) got interested in the First World War as a child and has amassed quite a collection of items, most of which they found on their land. 

Every spring, like other farmers in the area, they reap the "Iron Harvest" as their ploughs turn up shells, bullets and other war materiel. They keep a cage in their front yard of shells they find so the local bomb disposal team can neutralize them. Any particularly cool items are kept for a small museum that Steyn maintains as a labour of love:







Steyn and his father have created a replica British tank which they show around the continent. Although it has modern mechanicals (it even meets European emissions laws!), it provides a worthwhile demonstration of these lumber behemoths that were a revolutionary military development when they first appeared on the battlefield:







One thing that came across to me is the resilience of the local civilians who rebuilt after the War. We often focus on the military actions, the battles, the acts of bravery, and the combat casualties. However, the local Belgian and French people were no less courageous. They returned to their land that had been completely destroyed and rebuilt their lives. In the case of Pond Farm, the owner built a small brick home, just a single room, and his family of 7 children lived there for 7 years while he tried to re-start his livelihood. 

I asked Steyn how you go about ploughing fields when you know you're going to find unexploded weapons. He said "You turn the music up, and just do it." His father has had 4 munitions explode while he's been ploughing the fields of their farm over the past 30-40 years. 

In amongst all the weaponry and patent destruction of war, perhaps the most striking thing I saw at Pond Farm was this solitary oak tree. Steyn's mother told me that it was the only tree in the area to survive the Great War. Like the people who live there, it's a resilient part of the landscape:


I

Reactions: Bacon Bacon:
4 | Like Like:
2 | Winner Winner:
2 | Like List reactions


----------



## Marcel (Sep 24, 2021)

Nice pictures, Buffnut. The amazing thing is that there are still some of those mines lost and unexploded somewhere under the ground. If you have seen the Caterpillar crater, you know what that can do. Have you been to hill 60 as well?


----------



## buffnut453 (Sep 24, 2021)

Marcel said:


> Nice pictures, Buffnut. The amazing thing is that there are still some of those mines lost and unexploded somewhere under the ground. If you have seen the Caterpillar crater, you know what that can do. Have you been to hill 60 as well?



I know what you mean. I drove past a few mines that were still buried but unexploded when I went to Prowse Point on Day 2. Definitely would NOT want to be anywhere near one of those if it decided to go off. 

I didn't make it to Hill 60. As you can see from all the sites I visited, my time was rather compressed. I'm trying to see as much as I can that's really relevant to my family history...although I am catching a few other places in the midst of it all. 

I'm just really glad the weather has been so kind. We all know how wet it can be here, even in the summer (see Passchendaele for references!). It's been glorious so far. It looks like tomorrow will be nice but Sunday and Monday will be bad. I'll just have to make the most of it.

Reactions: Like Like:
2 | Like List reactions


----------



## Capt. Vick (Sep 24, 2021)

Amazing...

Reactions: Agree Agree:
1 | Friendly Friendly:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## pbehn (Sep 24, 2021)

I worked for about a year in the region off and on. Mainly in Dunkerque and Aulnoye (close to Mons), but also in Armentieres which has a major supplier of industrial nuts and bolts as well as a Mademoiselle. One night I got lost trying to get back to my hotel in Maubeuge, everywhere my headlights pointed off the road was white with crosses from cemeteries, as if the land was covered in snow. I have visited WW1 and WW2 cemeteries in daylight which is a sombre experience, but I will never forget that drive, that night.

Reactions: Bacon Bacon:
1 | Like Like:
3 | Winner Winner:
2 | Friendly Friendly:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Gnomey (Sep 25, 2021)

Good shots!


----------



## buffnut453 (Sep 27, 2021)

Apologies for the delay in updating the thread. Internet in the hotel in Amiens sucked, so I lost an entire post I'd almost finished and then couldn't get back online. However, that was the worst of the entire trip so I can't complain.

Day 2 was a real family history-centric day focused on a single member of my family. Please forgive the following background but it might help explain why I took this trip.

When I first got interested in family history (my sons will tell you that interest has evolved with marked obsessive qualities...in case you couldn't tell), I raided the--rather limited--family photo collection and went through them with my Mum to put names to faces. She drew blanks on these 3 military personnel.






These really piqued my interest, not least because the chap on the left is clearly an officer (well-cut uniform and Sam Brown belt)...and my family are common as muck. As far as I was aware, I was the first member of the family to earn a commission. The left-hand image suggested I was wrong. I was also interested in the chap in the middle because, well, I'm ex-RAF so I was intrigued to know I had a family member serve in the Royal Flying Corps.

I was fortunate to discover that the 1918 and 1919 Absent Voter Lists for my home town had survived and been transcribed. Looking for surnames that matched my family tree, I found that a William Gamble had 2 sons serving, one in the RFC (Jim Gamble) and the other in the Royal Navy (Ernest Gamble). It looked like I had a match. I then noted the address. William and his family lived literally across the street from my Great-Grandparents, John Lee and Mary Gamble. Mary was William's sister. And when I say "across the street", John and Mary Lee were at number 50, William and Louisa Gamble and their family were at number 49 - both my Grandma and my Mum were born in number 50. As a young child, my Mum was often sent across the street to show Auntie Louisa a new dress, or a new pair of shoes etc..

So I had 2 of the 3 servicemen identified. The officer was still a puzzle until another relative sent me a photo of William's and Louisa's gravestone which mentioned a "Beloved Son, 2Lt George Gamble, Died 24 September 1917." A little more digging and I discovered that George served in the Rifle Brigade, which matched the cap badge of the photo on the left. In short, the photos were of 3 brothers who were first cousins of my Grandma and lived across the street from her.

I'll cover some of Jim Gamble's activities later. Day 2 of my odyssey was focused on George. He enlisted as a volunteer in the Regular Army in early September 1914. By the time he landed in France in January 1915, he'd already been promoted to Acting Corporal. He spent the first 10 months of operational service with the 4th Battalion, the Rifle Brigade, in France. In November his unit was sent to Salonika in Greece and he stayed there for another 18 months, being promoted to Sergeant in that time. In the spring of 1917, he was selected for commissioning and returned to Blighty for officer training. He was commissioned on 27 June 1917 and went back to France to join the 2nd Battalion, the Rifle Brigade on 12 August. Thus the photo of him, which was taken in his home town, was taken at some point between those dates.

George joined his new unit on 24 August. It had just been relieved from time in the front-line trenches and was conducting company-level training to get combat replacements, including George, up to speed. They didn't have long to work up. On 11 September they moved to the Brigade Support position and 8 days later they took over the front lines from the 2nd Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regt. George was in D Company which, along with C Company, was initially in the reserve position, with A and B Companies in the front lines. On 23 September, C and D replaced A and B in the front lines.

Per the War Diary of the 2nd Berks Regt, they were defending the west bank of the River Lys in front of a hamlet called La Basse-Ville. That Diary provides map references and, thanks to a cool online app called TMapper (tmapper.com) I was able to pinpoint the start and end of the Rifle Brigade's position. Here it is on a contemporary map, side-by-side with a modern GoogleEarth image of the location. Note that the course of the River has been straightened since 1917 to make it easier for larger barges to navigate the waterway:






On the night of 23 September, the German forces (probably those in the red trenches east of the River) undertook a trench raid. According to a letter in George's service record, he heard the Germans cutting the wire in front of a neighbouring position and went to warn the other officer, 2Lt Claud Bruce Matheson, of the impending danger. Claud had been with the unit less than 48 hours! The Germans threw grenades into the British position, killing Matheson and two sergeants instantly and wounding George. He was evacuated to 26 Field Ambulance at Pont d'Achelles where he succumbed to his wounds on 24 September. He was buried at the nearby cemetery.

The site of Yank Post was near a sugar refinery that was destroyed in the Great War. Today, the entire area is a large truck loading/offloading facility, so I couldn't actually get to the exact spot where the 2nd RB line started in the north...but I could get pretty close because there's a cycle path along the river. Here's a shot looking generally southwest from the vicinity of Yank Post:







At the other end of the line (Halt Post) I drove onto a farm and, luckily, bumped into the young farmer and his wife. At first he claimed not to speak English. However, when I explained, in my badly broken French, why I was there, and showed him some pictures, he said, in almost perfect English, "By all means, walk around...just don't touch the electric fences for the cattle!" When I showed him the above map locations, he pointed out an access road that led to a modern dock that was virtually in the exact location I was seeking. So off I went and took this pic looking across to Deulemont where the German forces were situated:







Much of my research was informed by a wonderful book on the first liberation of La Basse-Ville in July 1917 by New Zealand units that was written as a labour of love by a Belgian lady. She graciously met me at a memorial and helped point out various locations so I could orient the modern village to the old WW1 maps. Here's a pic of her in front of a memorial she helped design and implement:







I also took some pics from the German positions looking back at George's defensive line. The factory chimney in the second image was built in 1922 and is the same chimney visible from the modern quay at the Halt Post location shown earlier in the post. The third image helps explain why the German positions were so far back from the river...you don't want to be digging trenches in a flood plain, plus you have open fields of fire if your enemy tries to attack your position:

















George's evacuation route back to the Field Ambulance isn't very clear but it must have been long and, if he was at all conscious, incredibly painful. The most direct route is 9 km long via the road that leads from La Basse-Ville along the south end of Ploegsteet Wood (know ubiquitously to the Tommies as "Plugstreet") but that route was considered too dangerous. The 26th Field Ambulance, which was responsible for casualty evacuation listed combinations of stretcher bearers for 600 yards in the trenches, then wheeled stretchers on roads, tramways through Plugstreet Wood, and eventually motor ambulances. It must have taken a long time to get him to the 25th Field Ambulance...and certainly more than 9 km.

Here's a pic of the location where the 25th FIeld Ambulance was located, probably covering all of the brown area plus the greenhouse visible to the right. It's just a farmer's field but it's about 150 yards or so from the cemetery. While it's not much to look at, it's special to me because that's where George died sometime on 24 September:







George was buried in Pont d'Achelles Cemetery. Luckily his grave location persisted despite the location being overrun 2 more times during the Great War, firstly by the Germans during their Operation Michael offensive in March 1918 and then by the Allies later that summer as they pushed Germany back in the 100 Days Offensive that ultimately won the War.







There are interesting quirks in pretty much any CWGC cemetery, like these 2 graves, one British and one German, both killed on the same day and lying next to each other:







That's more than enough for one post. Next time I'll show you Claud Matheson and the two sergeants who were killed when George was mortally wounded...but that's for tomorrow. In the meantime, here's an artsy pic of Pont d'Achelles Cemetery, followed by one of a butterfly making use of a headstone to warm up:












More inane ramblings to follow soon.

Reactions: Bacon Bacon:
2 | Like Like:
4 | Winner Winner:
2 | Like List reactions


----------



## rochie (Sep 27, 2021)

fantastic thread

Reactions: Agree Agree:
2 | Friendly Friendly:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Airframes (Sep 27, 2021)

I agree with Karl - keep it coming.

Reactions: Like Like:
1 | Friendly Friendly:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## buffnut453 (Sep 28, 2021)

One quick update that ties back to my Pond Farm visit on Day 1. I mentioned that one of my relatives was awarded the Military Medal for services during Third Ypres. It might help to see the family connection.

The photo below shows Jim Gerrard who was awarded the MM for services recovering wounded soldiers in the period 31 July to 4 August 1917. It shows Jim in his Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) uniform with his new bride, Eva Gamble, who was the younger sister of the 3 brothers discussed at the beginning of post #12:







The original image was taken at Blackpool which is where Jim, along with many RAMC soldiers, was trained. I suspect it dates from February 1916, which is when the pair married just before Jim headed off to France with the 1/3rd West Lancashire Field Ambulance (WLFA), a Territorial unit. The "1/3rd" designation indicates how the British Army expanded in 1914 and onwards. Each regiment had a number of battalions. In the case of the RAMC Field Ambulances, there were the 1st, 2nd and 3 WLFAs. Rather than creating the 4th, 5th, 6th etc, the Army expanded each WLFA with different readiness levels of troops, thus 1/3rd WLFA was the first echelon (combat ready) of the 3rd WLFA. Typically, the third echelon (3/3rd WLFA) was solely used for training to provide personnel for the front-line units...but that wasn't always the case. 

If one were to describe a stereotypical courageous soldier, I don't think an image of Jim would come to mind. He's rather skinny and not at all muscular...and yet he earned the enlisted equivalent of the Military Cross, which is no shabby achievement. Here's his Medal Index Card for the MM (note that award of gallantry medals typically occurred a few months after the event for which they were awarded:







The following text is drawn from a book on MM awards and outlines the rationale for the award:

_MM L/GAZ: 2.11.17. ONE OF 9 AWARDS IN THIS SCHEDULE TO 1/3RD FD AMB AWARDED FOR GALLANTRY FROM 31.7.17 TO 2.8.17 AT PILCKEM RIDGE 3RD BATTLE OF YPRES, WITH 55TH DIV." FOR GALLANTRY IN DRESSING AND BRINGING IN THE WOUNDED UNDER HEAVY FIRE." THE AWARDS ARE ACCOMPANIED BY 6 MMs TO 2/1 WESSEX FA and 4 MMs TO 2/1 FD AMB ….ALL TO 55TH DIV.FOR PILCKEM RIDGE ON 31.7.17 TO 2.8.17. 

HIS SCHEDULE NUMBER IS:106962 RP/NO :68/121/294 (AWARDS FOR 3RD YPRES)_


And here's Jim's name (second from last) on this list of MM awardees of the 55th (West Lancs) Division:







The following excerpts are taken from the War Diary of the 1/3rd WLFA, written by Capt GIlbert Rogers. They give some sense of the conditions under which Jim and his mates had to operate (I find the bolded text particularly telling):

_On Wednesday morning and till Saturday, with the amount of rain and its concomitant mud, the work of the R.A.M.C. became of such a nature to be beyond adequate description. Collecting casualties from the Right Brigade front meant traversing a distance of 3,000 yards on the roughest of rough ground, most of it an intricate jumble of shell holes full of mud and water. *The ground between was at least over the ankles in mud, mostly over the knees and frequently up to the waist. The mud was of a sticky, gluey nature, and sometimes it took 5 hours to travel the 3,000 yards back with the casualty*. 

Unfortunately, the *major portion of the ground was exposed with no protection and subject to severe enemy shelling*. As a consequence, *it was impossible to create Relay Posts of bearers to lighten the carrying*, on account of the very real risk of furnishing too many casualties among the bearers while waiting at these Relay Posts. 

In spite of these difficulties, *the bearers steadily performed the journey on the right, not once, but sometimes three times in 24 hours, starting out at earliest dawn and ending only with the darkness, by that time being utterly exhausted*. The same process was going on on the left but there, the distance was not so far, and therefore, the work was not quite so exhausting. 

One fact was made obvious almost at once, and that was that the Bearers of the three Field Ambulances were very far from being sufficient for removing casualties. On this occasion they were aided by the original party of Infantry already referred to and also by a batch of 150 Infantry for a few hours of one day, but *that the casualties of the Division were completely cleared, meant indescribably exhausting work for the R.A.M.C. bearers which could not possibly have been continued beyond the final day (4th​ August) when they were without exception unfit for any further immediate work*. 

*During a carry down of a casualty, one frequently saw a couple of the stretcher bearers slip in a shell hole or deep patch of mud up to the shoulders, the other four bearers would then support the stretcher while the two bogged ones would extricate themselves so as to continue carrying. This I saw under severe shell fire. Not once did I see a casualty be allowed to fall or slip off the stretcher.*

The work of the R.A.M.C. bearers was not finished yet. The casualties would be all examined in the mine shaft (WEILTJE) and then re-dressed if necessary and made as comfortable as possible, being injected with anti-tetanic serum. Bearers would then be called upon to carry the re-dressed cases along the entrance tunnel and down the road to the point where the ambulance cars could get to, and then load up the cases for transfer to the Main Dressing Station or Casualty Clearing Station. _


These 2 photos, the second being a famous image of stretcher bearers (not from Jim's unit) at Third Ypres, give a visual indication of conditions:












Note that Capt Gilbert's account identifies six stretcher bearers in a team, as borne out by the above image (actually 7 in the image). Normal establishment was 4 bearers in a team but 2 additional bodies were needed at Third Ypres because of the conditions. The mud is definitely above the knees for a couple of the chaps at the back of the stretcher.

Finally, I came across this rather wonderful poem "To Stretcher Bearers" by Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy who was a Padre in the British Army. It's taken from a collection of poems he published after the Great War entitled “More Rough Rhymes of a Padre”. As a Padre, Kennedy was intimately involved with the casualties. He jotted down things he heard stretcher bearers saying as they brought the casualties in from the field, and then strung the phrases together. I like the way he captured the working-class accents of these men. To me, it's a moving testament to the words of support the stretcher bearers offered to the men they were recovering and treating...and to the battlefield threats they traversed:

*To Stretcher Bearers*

_Easy does it — bit o’ trench ‘ere,
Mind that blinkin’ bit o’ wire,
There’s a shell ‘ole on your left there,
Lift ‘im up a little ‘igher.
Stick it, lad, ye’ll soon be there now,
Want to rest ‘ere for a while?
Let ‘im dahn then — gently — gently,
There ye are, lad. That’s the style.
Want a drink, mate? ‘Ere’s my bottle,
Lift ‘is ‘ead up for ‘im, Jack,
Put my tunic underneath ‘im,
‘Ow’s that, chummy? That’s the tack!
Guess we’d better make a start now,
Ready for another spell?
Best be goin’, we won’t ‘urt ye,
But ‘e might just start to shell.
Are ye right, mate? Off we goes then.
That’s well over on the right,
Gawd Almighty, that’s a near ‘un!
‘Old your end up good and tight,
Never mind, lad, you’re for Blighty,
Mind this rotten bit o’ board.
We’ll soon ‘ave ye tucked in bed, lad,
‘Opes ye gets to my old ward.
No more war for you, my ‘earty,
This’ll get ye well away,
Twelve good months in dear old Blighty,
Twelve good months if you’re a day,
M.O.’s got a bit o’ something
What’ll stop that blarsted pain.
‘Ere’s a rotten bit o’ ground, mate,
Lift up ‘igher — up again,
Wish ‘e’d stop ‘is blarsted shellin’
Makes it rotten for the lad.
When a feller’s been and got it,
It affec’s ‘im twice as bad.
‘Ow’s it goin’ now then, sonny?
‘Ere’s that narrow bit o’ trench,
Careful, mate, there’s some dead Jerries,
Lawd Almighty, what a stench!
‘Ere we are now, stretcher-case, boys,
Bring him aht a cup o’ tea!
Inasmuch as ye have done it
Ye have done it unto Me._​

Reactions: Bacon Bacon:
2 | Like Like:
3 | Winner Winner:
2 | Like List reactions


----------



## Marcel (Sep 28, 2021)

Great stories and photos! Thanks for taking the time to write them.

Reactions: Friendly Friendly:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Capt. Vick (Sep 28, 2021)

Amazing thread

Reactions: Like Like:
1 | Agree Agree:
1 | Friendly Friendly:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Crimea_River (Sep 28, 2021)

Excellent pics and research!


----------



## buffnut453 (Sep 28, 2021)

Ok...on with the Day 2 stuff. After visiting George at Pont d'Achelles, I decided to pay my respects to the other victims of the German trench raid, who were all buried at Prowse Point Cemetery which lies on the northern side of Ploegsteert Wood. It's somewhat ironic that Prowse Point was the location where 2nd RB gathered immediately prior to relieving the 2nd Berkshires. The site is named after Major (later Brigadier) Charles Bertie Prowse who demonstrated heroism during a stand by the 1st Hampshires and 1st Somerset Light Infantry in October 1914. The cemetery is at the top of a hill, with very pleasant views downhill, southward, towards Ploegsteert Wood. 







Here's Claud Matheson's grave, with Sgt Davies and L/Sgt Bunn following. I also found a grave of a Rifleman who also died on 23 September 1917 so I've included him because there were other casualties on that date:























Claud Bruce Matheson was the son of a Scottish church minister. He had a very different upbringing to George's more humble abode. Educated at Glenalmond and Keble College, Oxford, he became Assistant Master at Llandovery College prior to the war, where he trained the local Officer Training Corps unit. He was commissioned on the same day as George but only disembarked in France on 7 September 1917. The 2nd RB War Diary notes that he, together with 3 other Subalterns, joined the Battalion on 21 September so, at the time of the attack on the night of 23 September, he really had been with the unit scarcely more than 48 hours. That's not a lot of time to get acclimatized to the environment or even to the platoon he'd be leading. Here's a pic of him I found online:







George's service file contains a letter written by Claud's mother to the War Ministry asking to be put in touch with George's parents:











The letter reads:

_The Parsonage, Strathairn Oct. 11. 1917

Dear Sir,

I hope I shall not be troubling you too much if I ask you you _[sic]_ could very kindly let me know the home address of Lieut. Gamble who was killed in France on 24 Sept. – or, rather, died of wounds received the night before. My son was killed at the same time and from one account we have been told that Lieut. Gamble came to tell our son that he heard the Germans cutting the wires, and in so doing he encountered the bomb that killed them both – my son instantly. I should like to be able to thank Lieut. Gamble’s people for what he did, veritably laying down his life for his friend, though they may not even have known each other. Trusting you will pardon me for troubling you.

Yours very sincerely,
Susan E. Matheson_


It's almost certain that George and Claud didn't know each other very well given how little time Claud had been with the Battalion. I also wonder how Mrs. Matheson might have reacted to learn that "Lieut. Gamble's people" were a coalminer and his wife living in a 2-up/2-down end-of-terrace house with a family of 12 living in it. Here's a pic of the house...just 'cos:







The two sergeants were Sergeant Sydney John Davies (Service Number B/200600) and Lance Sergeant Frederick Bunn (Service Number B/2569). Prior to the war, Frederick Bunn lived in Wymondham, Norfolk, with his wife, Mabel. He was just 23 at the time of his death. Sydney Davies, 28, lived in Hoxton, London, and was unmarried: his next of kin were a sister, Mary E. Palmer, and parents Joseph and Mary E. Davies of 38 Witton Square, Islington, London.

I can't help but think that Davies and Bunn were the respective platoon sergeants to Claud and George, and that the group met to outline the threat that was emerging. Although KIA, these men didn't die in some great battle. They were simply casualties of the daily grind of trench warfare where a stray shell, a moment of carelessness, or a trench raid could take a soldier's life at almost any time. Given the stresses and strains, it's not surprising that units were rotated away from the front line positions every few weeks.

Reactions: Bacon Bacon:
2 | Like Like:
3 | Winner Winner:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## buffnut453 (Sep 28, 2021)

Ok...enough personal indulgencies. Immediately next to Prowse Point Military Cemetery is the 1914 Christmas Day Truce memorial. Supposedly, one of the documented football matches that happened in no-mans' land took place at this spot. The memorial shows a football sitting atop a broken artillery shell. The display includes a pair of reconstructed trenches, ostensibly in the positions occupied by British and German troops, although I have my doubts. They look too close together...they're easily within hand grenade throwing range. You can see Ploegsteert Wood in the background.






The inscription stone is signed by Michel Platini who was the UEFA President when the memorial was created:






And here's a pic from below the memorial looking back up at it, with the replica trenches to the left and right. You can see how close together they are:






Just next to where the above photo was taken there's an old Great War concrete bunker that is still being used to store tools etc:






I've mentioned Ploegsteert Wood a few times in this post so, just for reference, this is what it looked like in the summer of 1917:







That about wraps things up for Day 2. As I left Warneton, I came across this WW2-vintage gun emplacement pointing west to defend against any advance across the Lys river from Belgium. Clearly it was part of the French pre-war defences in the area, not that it did much good.












Surprisingly, the bunker is still occupied, although I don't think the current resident is particularly threatening....probably just awoke from her mid-afternoon nap and revving up for the early evening snooze:

Reactions: Like Like:
5 | Winner Winner:
2 | Friendly Friendly:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Snautzer01 (Sep 28, 2021)

Great thread. Read it in one go.

Reactions: Agree Agree:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## buffnut453 (Sep 28, 2021)

Snautzer01 said:


> Great thread. Read it in one go.



Wow...that's dedication right there!!!!

Reactions: Agree Agree:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## buffnut453 (Sep 28, 2021)

My Day 3 started out rather differently. Having seen pretty much everything I wanted to see from my Ypres/Warneton bucket list, I elected to drive the 1.25 hrs to Waterloo since I may never get the chance to go there again. It was too good an opportunity to pass up.

I did have a couple of slight family associations with Waterloo, one being a Great x4 Grandfather who was a soldier in Wellington's army in Spain, 1810-1814. Also, Jim Gamble, my RFC/RAF pilot cousin, recorded flying over the battlefield in early 1919...so, clearly, intense family history interest for me here!!! 

For those who haven't been, Waterloo is a pretty big deal in Belgium. Aside from the huge monument on the battlefield, there's a sizeable museum and walks to other battlefield locations. The museum itself was...interesting. It took a very pro-Napoleon stance, citing that he was fighting against the oppression of the ruling classes. Unfortunately, they somewhat ignored the fact that he was a dictator who seized power in a coup. As dictators go, he may have been more benevolent than most...but I'm pretty sure he didn't really care about "the people" otherwise he wouldn't have plunged France into 17 years of warfare.

The museum did an excellent job of describing the equipment and the timeline leading up to the battle, but actual visualizations of the battle were largely missing, which makes comprehension of those complex chains of events hard to comprehend. There was also a rather splendid collection of Napoleon's belongings which was definitely worth a look.

The main feature dominating the landscape is the Lion's Mound, built 1820-1826 and marking the place where the Dutch Prince of Orange was wounded during the battle. One has to wonder how much destruction to the actual battlefield was wrought by creating this huge artificial hill...but it's such a dominant feature that it's very much there to stay.

The climb up to the top is a little daunting but I eventually made it:







And, just to prove it, here's a couple of views from the top. The first shows the Panorama in the foreground, a really impressive panoramic painting of the battle. Off to the left, the underground museum and visitors' centre is just visible:







Despite my grumbles about the mound defacing the battlefield, the views from the top are truly impressive. This shot was taking looking towards Hougoumont Farm which is about 1.4 km away from the visitors' centre. The pale footpath to the right of the image takes you to the farm, with a couple of notice boards en-route. It runs along a ridgeline that was a key British defensive position:







Here's a nice close-up of Hougoumont Farm. There is a museum in the farm but it's only open at weekends and on Wednesdays...so I missed the boat.  The actual scale of the farm is pretty large. It's secured by a wall that's probably 200m long on each side...so not exactly a small residence.







En route back from the farm to the visitors' centre, the path takes you up to the British defensive ridge position. It's not something I'd like to march up in nice, neat, Napoleonic ranks:







And, just to be clear, no Abba songs were sung at this location and no sequins were worn during the taking of these photographs!

Reactions: Like Like:
5 | Like List reactions


----------



## buffnut453 (Sep 28, 2021)

After wandering around Waterloo, I found myself at a bit of a loose end. So I consulted a guide book that I purposely brought on the trip. If you're at all interested in visiting Western Front sites, I can't recommend this book highly enough. It's simply packed with dozens of little hidden gems to discover throughout the battlefields of France and Belgium. One warning, though...make sure you get the latest edition as it's been revised and expanded several times over the years.







Casting about, I discovered that Mons wasn't too far away...so off I popped. If any location can be said to bookend the Great War, it's Mons (at least for the British participants...the French, Belgians and Germans obviously will have different perspectives). It was the site of the first major engagement by the BEF in 1914 and it was liberated by Canadian forces on 11 November 1918. 

The main military cemetery in Mons is at Saint Symphorien and is interesting for a number of reasons. Firstly, it has very similar numbers of German and British Commonwealth burials. It was established by the German Army in 1914 and, after the war, Germany erected a granite obelisk in the centre with the inscription "In memory of the German and English soldiers who fell in the actions near Mons on the 23rd and 24th August 1914." It's also an incredibly pretty location, with multiple levels and corners to discover:

















The quirks of Mons occupation coupled with the inclusion of both British Commonwealth and German soldiers in the cemetery led to a couple of unique features. Firstly, Saint Symphorien holds what are generally accepted as the first and last British soldiers killed in action during the Great War. Pte John Parr of the Middlesex Regt was killed on 21 August 1914 at the ripe old age of 17. He'd enlisted in 1912 aged 15 but had lied about his age. Pte George Edwin Ellison of the 5th Lancers was killed at 0930 on 11 November 1918. He'd served throughout the Great War and, in fact, had fought at the Battle of Mons in 1914. John Parr and George Ellison face each other in the cemetery. Ellison left behind a wife and son:











One grave I missed was that of Canadian George Lawrence Price who is the last recorded British Commonwealth soldier killed during the Great War at 1058 on 11 November 1918. Sorry I missed him!

Saint Symphorien was also the burial location for the first Victoria Cross winner of the Great War:






Just a few yards away is the first recipient of Germany's Iron Cross, Oskar Niemeyer:







And here endeth the 3rd Day.

Reactions: Like Like:
4 | Winner Winner:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## buffnut453 (Sep 29, 2021)

Moving on, Day 4 was a long day of driving from Lille to Amiens but was very productive. I had planned to spread visits to locations over Saturday (Day 4), Sunday and Monday but the weather forecast for the latter 2 days wasn't promising so I decided to cram as many of the outdoor locations as possible into Day 4.

First stop was the site of Bethencourt Aerodrome but I'll cover that in a later post about Jim Gamble. 

I dearly wanted to visit "Deborah" at the Cambrai Tank 1917 museum but, alas, it only opened at 1330 and I simply couldn't wait around. If you haven't heard of "Deborah", she's the only survivor of the tanks that took part in the Battle of Cambrai in 1917. After the War, she was tipped into a hole, covered over and forgotten about. Philippe Gorczuynski, a local hotel owner, grew up playing in the fields nearby and collecting bits of war debris that he and his mates found. That interest grew until one day he interviewed an elderly lady who'd been a child in the area just after the Great War. She remembered a tank being buried but couldn't remember exactly where. Intrigued, Phillippe dedicated a huge amount of time and resources to try and find the tank. Unlike the Spitfires in Burma, the tank actually existed...and it was recovered in 1998. It now has its own dedicated museum, located adjacent to the graves of 4 of her crew who were killed when she was knocked out on the first day of the battle. Here's a pic of "Deborah" being recovered (source: tank100.com), followed by one in her new home that opened in 2018 (source: Cambrai Tank 1917):












Next stop was to visit another relative, Able Seaman Frank Lee who was killed in September 1918. It's only in the past few years that I learned of the Royal Naval Division in the Great War. At the outbreak of war, Britain found itself in the rather odd position of having more Royal Navy sailors than it actually needed, so it formed the Royal Naval Division to fight on the ground in France. It later became the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division under the War Department as opposed to the Admiralty...although the RND persisted in RN traditions (signifying passage of time with bells, "going ashore", remaining seated for the loyal toast etc.), much to the disgruntlement of the Army. 

Frank belonged to the 63rd Machine Gun Battery, part of the Divisional Troops. He enlisted 13 November 1915, was drafted for the BEF on 11 November 1917. Initially assigned to the 190th Machine Gun Battery in January 1918, he was moved to the 63rd on 1 March 1918. He was killed on 27 September 1918 on the opening day of the Battle of Canal du Nord. He's buried in Quéant Road Cemetery but that wasn't his original burial site. During the War, soldiers were often buried where they fell, which explains why so many graves were lost given the destruction meted out on the land during the years of fighting. After the War it was decided to move as many of the remains as possible into established cemeteries, and a Graves Concentration Committee was established, with teams operating in France and Belgium to undertake this task. For example, on 11 November 1918 there were only 71 graves in Quéant Road Cemetery but, following the Armistice, it was expanded and now holds more than 2,200 graves. Frank Lee's grave was one of those that was relocated into Quéant Road Cemetery..

Here are a couple of pics of the cemetery, followed by one of Frank's headstone:

















And here's a rather poor photo of Frank himself, courtesy of a family member. His "cap badge" is actually the RND shoulder title:







Luckily, the CWGC entry for Frank included the Graves Concentration Report which included the map reference for his original grave. He'd been buried alongside 6 other soldiers who all apparently died on the same day. I mentioned TMapper previously as a way of translating British WW1 map references into GoogleEarth locations. For reference, the National Library of Scotland also has digitized copies of British Great War trench maps that can be viewed online for free or downloaded for a fee; simply google National Library of Scotland trench maps and you'll find it. Here's a screenshot from the TMapper application showing the location of Frank's original grave location, just outside the village of Les Moulins near Inchy-en-Artois:







With such information available, it seemed churlish not to visit the location...and it proved to be one of the best experiences of the trip. I drove south through Les Moulins and found the right turn that would take me to the grave site. Unfortunately, there was a no-entry sign because it was a private farm. I figured the odds of meeting anyone were slim to non-existent; if I did, I hoped my schoolboy French would help me explain why I was there, which might garner some sympathy.

As I drove up the lane, I saw a small, silver car sitting on the road to the left. "Uh-oh!" methinks, "That's probably the farmer." Undeterred, I pressed on and stopped at the T-junction next to the site. The silver car followed me, pulled up behind my car, and an old French man wound down his window. He confirmed he was the farmer and wanted to know why I was on his land...also, he spoke zero English which made this doubly entertaining. I explained, in my very poor grasp of the French language (aided by GoogleTranslate, I hasten to add) that a relative of mine had died near hear and I was trying to find the location. I showed him the GoogleEarth location from TMapper but he seemed to think I was in the wrong location and should be looking further northwest near L'Hirondelle River (you can make that out on the above image just north of the grave location). Eventually, I was able to point out the T-junction on the image and confirmed that we were standing there, and showed him L'Hirondelle on the image....and the light bulb came on and he realized I was in the right place.

The farmer asked about my relative and I showed him the photo of Frank above. He also asked if they moved his body, and I told him about Quéant Road Cemetery and showed him the pic of Frank's headstone. At that point, his whole demeanour changed. Having at first been (rightly) suspicious and mistrustful, he suddenly became much friendlier. I asked if I could take a picture of the grave site and he warmly agreed, saying I could take as much time as I needed. He then got back in his car and drove off with a beep of the horn and a hand waving out of the window. It was a lovely exchange and I'm so glad (a) I was able to explain the importance to me of that little corner of his land, and (b) he was so receptive to welcoming a stranger on his land to pay respects to a fallen relative. I probably spent 30 mins talking with him, struggling to overcome the language barrier and other obstacles...but we got there in the end. The result is this rather mundane photo but which is special, not just because of Frank but because of the (eventually) friendly experience I had with that French farmer. The corner of the brown earth field to the left of the track is the actual marked location of the grave site per the original map reference:







More to follow from my Day 4 adventures later.

Reactions: Bacon Bacon:
3 | Like Like:
2 | Friendly Friendly:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Capt. Vick (Sep 29, 2021)

Wow...

Reactions: Agree Agree:
2 | Like List reactions


----------



## vikingBerserker (Sep 29, 2021)

This is just a brilliant thread

Reactions: Agree Agree:
1 | Friendly Friendly:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## buffnut453 (Sep 29, 2021)

vikingBerserker said:


> This is just a brilliant thread



Many thanks. All bacons/likes/winners gratefully received...emphasis on the bacons, of course, 'cos me likeee bacon!

Reactions: Bacon Bacon:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## buffnut453 (Sep 29, 2021)

The next stop on Day 4 was an unplanned detour that resulted in an unexpected discovery.

I decided to head over to Givenchy to see the 55th (West Lancashire) Division memorial there. A number of family members served in that division, including Jim Gerrard MM previously mentioned, so it seemed fitting to pay a visit. The memorial marks where the Division, a Territorial formation, made a powerful defensive stand against the German advances generally known as Operation MICHAEL.

By way of background, Operation MICHAEL was Germany's all-in attempt to win the War in the spring of 1918. With America entering the fray in late 1917, the writing was on the wall, strategically speaking, for Germany. Once America mobilized, there was no way Germany could win. In what Germany probably saw as good fortune, the Russian October Revolution of that year took Russia out of the War which freed up tens of thousands of German troops from the Eastern Front to join the fight in the west. The move and resultant operation marked the resumption of manoeuvrist warfare after 3.5 years of relatively static trench warfare.

Here's a map (Source: Wikipedia) showing the extent of German advances during Operation MICHAEL. Givenchy and Festubert, right at the bottom of the map, were where the 55th (West Lancs) Division was located. Attacked by 3 German divisions, the 55th held strong even though the Portuguese division to their left pulled back, leaving the 55th's left flank exposed. After a week of continual fighting, which drew in more German forces and effectively blunted the entire offensive in the region, the 55th Division was relieved by the 1st and 3rd Divisions having suffered somewhere between 3,120 and 3,870 casualties.







Here's the memorial cross in Givenchy, with a couple of other pics showing details, including the Division motto that appears on the cross, as well as on the corner markers of the base:



























Right next to the 55th Division memorial was a surprise bonus, a smaller memorial and monument marking one of the War's unique events: the award of the Victoria Cross to Sapper William Hackett of the 254th Tunnelling Company. Hackett was the only tunneller recipient of the VC during the Great War.

On 22 June 1916, just before 0300, the Germans exploded a large underground mine (the Red Dragon mine) beneath the British trenches as a precursor to an attack. Hackett, together with Thomas Collins and 3 other Sappers of the 254th Tunnelling Coy were underground digging their own shaft to mine the German trench positions. The force of the Red Dragon blast collapsed the British mine, trapping the men. After 24 hours of digging through the earth and broken timbers, a relief party created an access hole to reach the trapped men. Hackett helped 3 of his mates through the hole but then the earth started sliding in, filling the rescue hole. Hackett could easily have followed the 3 other men but he refused to leave Collins who had been seriously injured, saying "I am a tunneller and must look after the others first." The rescue hole continued to get smaller but, despite repeated pleas from the rescue team, Hackett refused to leave his comrade. Eventually, the gallery collapsed and, although the rescue party worked strenuously for a further 4 days, they couldn't reach the 2 men.

Most of the British tunnellers were miners. They understood the dangers of working underground and the unpredictability of earth movements. Hackett well knew the nature of the sliding earth as the rescue tunnel closed in. He knew his chances of survival would be minimal and yet he stayed with his wounded comrade. Their bodies remain, some 4o feet below the field in front of the memorial.











I rather liked the reverse of the memorial. The moles at the base are a nice touch...a fitting tribute for tunnellers:

Reactions: Like Like:
2 | Winner Winner:
1 | Informative Informative:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## SaparotRob (Sep 29, 2021)

I never knew Portugal fought in the Great War. I thought Portugal was neutral.


----------



## buffnut453 (Sep 29, 2021)

SaparotRob said:


> I never knew Portugal fought in the Great War. I thought Portugal was neutral.



Only neutral until March 1916.

Reactions: Like Like:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## buffnut453 (Sep 29, 2021)

Next stop on Day 4 was the Pozieres Cemetery and Memorial where another relative is recorded with no known grave. The location has an impressive frontage on the main road between Baupaume and Albert.






The amount of time, effort, and detail that went into some of these CWGC sites really is impressive. For example, at Pozieres there are some detailed, evocative carvings flanking the top of the archway depicting a flag-draped casket with a soldier's pack, rifle and helmet on top. Most visitors probably don't even see them but the detail is there:






For those who haven't visited a CWGC cemetery before, they all have a built-in alcove with a metal door, in which is held the list of named individuals present in the cemetery, together with a visitor log where the public can record their visits with comments. At most such cemeteries, the list of names is a single volume. This is the list of names at Pozieres - 4 volumes:






Pozieres isn't a particularly large cemetery with Inside the cemetery, with just (yeah...just) 2,758 gravestones. However, the surrounding Memorial wall contains a further 14,657 names of soldiers with no known graves. Each panel in the Memorial contains about 180 names, and the walls of the cemetery are lined with panels between the pillars. Note that this number of names is in addition to all the names at Menin Gate and Tyne Cot, and explains why the registers pictured above run to multiple volumes.






My relative is Tom Lee who served in the 12th King's Liverpool Regiment. He was killed near Cugny, France, during Operation MICHAEL in March 1918. Unfortunately, Cugny was too far away for me to visit the general area where he lived, despite the fact that the 12th KLR War Diary lists the locations of the various Companies on the day he was killed. Tom is in good company on the Memorial wall as there are 3 VC winners also recorded without known graves. Here's Tom's panel with his KLR mates, plus a close-up of his name:












And here's the man himself, again courtesy of a relative. It's a REALLY poor quality image, probably a screen grab from a microfiche of a local newspaper. However, I'll take whatever I can get:







At each one of the cemeteries, I do take a few moments to look at other graves, some of which have touching commemorations of the soldier. Phrases like "Our beloved only son" or "For my boy, from Mother" are not uncommon. Here's just one example of many seen over the course of the trip. It reads "Husband of Margaret, Only Son of C & A Ward, Dearly Loved, Our Hero. If Serjeant Ward and his wife didn't have any children, then that's the end of the Ward family line for that family, like so many of the men buried on the Western Front:







Finally, I found taking this pic difficult. It shows 3 graves that were added to the cemetery just in the past week. Soldiers' bodies are still being found on the Western Front every year. These 3 are all, sadly, unidentified, but at least they now have a resting place.







Here's the CWGC news release about the recent burials - 13 in total in the Pas de Calais region, which includes Pozieres:






13 brave soldiers killed during the Great War are honoured on the Western Front | CWGC


13 brave soldiers killed during the Great War are honoured on the Western Front | CWGC




www.cwgc.org

Reactions: Bacon Bacon:
3 | Like Like:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## rochie (Sep 29, 2021)

amazing stuff.

when Terry and I visited the cemetery at Oosterbeek for those killed in Market Garden operation a few years ago it was the graves of soldiers that had no details at all, not even a unit badge that really got to me.

Reactions: Friendly Friendly:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Gnomey (Sep 29, 2021)

Excellent stuff!

Reactions: Agree Agree:
1 | Friendly Friendly:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## buffnut453 (Sep 29, 2021)

My next stop on Day 4 was to visit the area where my Great-Great Uncle William Pountney was wounded during the Battle of the Somme. Bill was quite old for a soldier, being 34 when he enlisted on 1 September 1914. He was another volunteer who signed up before conscription...seems to be a common trait with lots of my family members.

Bill was posted to the 9th Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers and spent the next 10 months in the UK (the 9th RWF was only formed on 9 September 1914...officially AFTER Bill was posted to the unit!). On 12 October 1914, he was promoted to Acting (Paid) Lance Corporal but responsibility clearly didn't sit well with him because he asked to be reduced to Private in early January 1915. On 19 July of that year he was shipped off to France. The New Year of 1916 was eventful, perhaps in a good way, as he was admitted to hospital for a month, I think for haemorrhoids, followed by a further month in a Convalescent Depot at Rouen and yet another month at the Infantry Base Depot at Etaples. Methinks he may have been swinging the lead a wee bit. Regardless, he was back with the 9th RWF in late March 1916.

Bill's brigade was selected as a reserve formation for the Battle of the Somme, which kicked off on 1 July 1916. The 9th RWF War Diary describes the unit's actions while they sat in the relative comfort of the rear:

_At 10.00 p.m. the Battalion left its billets and proceeded to a preliminary position of assemble in a hollow immediately west of the railway, south of the main AMIENS-ALBERT Road at the latter town. There, the Battalion bivouaced _[sic] _for the night June 30th​-July 1st​, and at 10.30 a.m. proceeded in its turn to the trenches on the TARA-USNA line some 1,000 yards east of the town. _

I pored over the relevant trench map to see if any features matched the description of "a hollow immediately west of the railway, south of the main AMEINS-ALBERT road at the latter town." The following area jumped out at me as clearly matching the description. It could be the area slightly further south but that seemed to offer less protection as the area was narrower than the circled area.






I found the same area on GoogleEarth and it hasn't changed that much:






Since I was in the area, I had to have a look. It was pretty easy to find and fits the description rather well. Am I certain Bill was there just prior to the Battle? Absolutely not, but it's certainly a very likely candidate given the terrain. Here are a few ground-level views taken from the same location - not a bad place to hide away. The towers for the railway electric power lines are visible in the first image, showing how the elevation of the railway helped provide additional obscuration and protection for the troops in this position:











After the first day, it was clear things weren't going well for the British. German defences were far stronger and more resilient than expected. With the front line forces suffering considerable casualties, it was time to call on the reserve formations, including Bill's unit. Per the above War Diary entry, they moved forward about 1000 yards east of Albert and took up positions on the "TARA-USNA line" Heading east from Albert, the main road rises quite markedly to a pair of hills, the Tara south of the road and the Usna north of the road. In reality, they're little more than a continuation of the same ridge line but they were differentiated on maps at the time so who am I to argue with the map makers? Here's another portion of the trench map showing the Usna and Tara hills quite clearly in the centre, together with their relative position to the German trenches defending La Boisselle:






The 9th RWF probably took up positions west of the hills, in the valley between Tara-Usna and the town of Albert, to avoid being seen and to limit exposure to direct fire. Coincidentally, the Tara-Usna valley area is about 1000 yds from the original bivouac position shown previously.

The 9th RWF, in concert with the 9th Cheshires, was ordered to attack La Boisselle on 2 July but the logistical challenges that plagued the Battle of the Somme continued. The front trenches were so crowded that it proved impossible to make good progress towards the jumping off point. The War Diary notes that the Battalion "only reached the craters - which had been formed in the German defences the previous morning - by daybreak on the 2nd." It's likely "the craters" refer to mines that were blown up on 1 July, the most significant being the Lochnagar Crater which is still there...but you'll see that in a later post. Lochnagar Crater was off to the right of this image, which is perhaps the route the 9th RWF followed into the front line positions and thence into La Boisselle.

The approach from the valley to the front-line trenches would have been protected but this is what the view towards La Boisselle looks like today. The Tara and Usna valleys lie behind the camera position, but are now built over by Albert's urban sprawl, so it's hard to accurately gauge the lie of the land from the top of the Usna/Tara hills:






Congestion in the front line trenches continued, and it was 1600 by the time Bill's unit went over the top with orders that "the objective [be] gained regardless of the cost." Those are never words that ANY military person wants to hear. The 9th RWF, 9th Cheshires and 6th Wiltshires went forward. "Owing to the congestion of troops in our front line system of trenches and to the havoc wrought by hostile artillery the previous evening, it was found impossible to launch the attack on a regular frontage, and it was entirely due to the handling by their leaders of the various Companies...that the advance to the German line resulted in so few casualties." Once in the thick of the fight, grenades were thrown and considerable progress was made, with the attacking force reaching and consolidating at the church in La Boisselle by nightfall.

At some point in the battle, Bill Pountney took a gunshot wound to the chest (Total 9th RWF casualties for July 1916 were were 3 officers and 42 ORs killed; 10 officers and 240 ORs wounded). He was evacuated through No.34 Division Collection Station at Dernancourt, then to No.45 Casualty Clearing Station, at Vecquemont (sitting on the train line from Albert to Amiens), before ending up at No.11 Stationary Hospital at Rouen. He was repatriated to the UK on 5 July and was admitted to the Lord Derby Hospital in Warrington, less than 10 miles from his home. He recovered remarkably quickly--because "the wound healed without interruption--and was discharged from the hospital on 25 July. He spent a further 3 weeks, probably on leave recuperating, before going back to the Army, serving in a couple of different RWF Battalions. He returned to France in October and finally made it back to the 9th RWF in November 1916.

On 9 December he was appointed Acting LCpl (Unpaid) but that promotion didn't last long. He lost his stripe on 31 January for being drunk on duty....a little New Year's cheer to keep warm, perhaps? He spent a few weeks home on leave in January 1917 and I can't help wondering if his wife, Elizabeth, asked him to apply for a safer job that the infantry because, on 9 March he joined the 354th Electrical and Mechanical Company, Royal Engineers. A month later he officially joined the RE with a new regimental number. While this may at first seem a much safer option, in reality the Elec-Mech Coys were responsible for all the electrical and mechanical stuff necessary for trench warfare: lights, generators, water pumps, etc. If the electric wires were cut by shellfire, it was the Elec-Mech REs who went out to fix it. This work probably suited Bill nicely because he'd been an engine driver pre-war.

As of 15 April 1918, Bill's service record notes the following technical abilities based on his time with the RE:

Firing and Driving Steam Engines, and Making Repairs to Same: Very Superior
Driving Gas or Oil Engines, and Making Repairs to Same: Skilled
Driving Petrol Internal Combustion Engines Including Procedure in Case of Breakdown: Skilled
Working a Pumping Station: Skilled
Engine Erecting: Proficient
Qualifications in an Iron Trade: Rough Fitter
Working an E.L. Blast Including Repairs to Lining etc: Proficient
General Qualification: Skilled
Bill survived the war, being discharged on 17 February 1919, and returned to his wife and their 2 sons. He was medically examined but never claimed any disability despite the GSW to the chest and all the other hardships he must have faced. Bill passed away in 1943 and I can't help wondering that the Great War did, eventually, shorten his life. However, he was clearly a tough old duck.

Reactions: Like Like:
7 | Like List reactions


----------



## buffnut453 (Sep 30, 2021)

After La Boisselle, I made one additional airfield-related stop on Day 4 but I'll cover that in my last post. The final stop of the day was in Amiens instead, and was related to WW2...plus it had nothing to do with my relatives, so you can all relax! 

Back in the Neolithic era when my wife was foolish enough to marry me, we lived in the small village of Great Paxton which was about 8 miles from RAF Tempsford, the main operating base for Allied agent drops into occupied Europe. It was while we lived there that I came across the story of Percy Charles Pickard who was a Lysander pilot at Tempsford and undertook a number of agent drop missions into France. I later learned that he transferred to fly Mosquitos, probably my all-time favourite aircraft, and that he lost his life in what was later (incorrectly) titled Operation JERICHO to blow holes in the walls of Amiens jail so that resistance fighters who were held there could escape.

There are a lot of myths surrounding the Amiens raid. Firstly, it was never called Operation JERICHO. That title came from a post-war fictional film based very, VERY loosely on the story. The actual mission title was the much less prosaic Ramrod 564. Also, despite being the senior officer in the raid (he was a Group Captain at the time), Pickard did not lead the mission. Pickard had planned to lead the operation but changed his mind, ceding leadership to Wg Cdr I.S. Smith. The reason for the change was pretty straightforward. The operation order dictated that the last aircraft should attack the prison itself if the walls were not successfully breached. Pickard did not want to order any of his crews to undertake such a distasteful task, so he took the job on himself, even though it put him in the tail-end charlie position, and hence at greater risk of being shot down.

Here's a photo of Pickard taken just before the mission departed:







The attack was made at low level, with 11-second delayed fuses on the bombs. The puffs of smoke visible in the amazing photo below give away the location of where the bombs fell, but they have yet to explode.







The raid was something of a proverbial curate's egg...good in parts. The walls were breached and 255 prisoners escaped but many escapees were shot as they ran from the jail and 182 were recaptured soon afterwards. The eventual death toll from the raid, including a large number who were actually killed by the bombs, totaled 96. Resistance prisoners who made good their escapes were later able to expose over sixty Gestapo agents and informers, severely affecting the German counter-intelligence effort. Ordinary prisoners, not recaptured or giving themselves up, were informally amnestied by the French police and left alone. Pickard and his navigator, Flt Lt Bill Broadley, never actually bombed the prison. They were shot down by a marauding Fw190.

Here's a photo showing the breach in the wall:







And here's a pic of the main gate for the jail which looks very similar to the above gate:







To the right of the gate is a memorial to the Resistance fighters killed by the Germans during the escape:







The French locals recovered the bodies of Pickard and Broadley from the burned wreckage of their Mosquito. They are buried in the CWGC cemetery located in the Amiens St.Pierre Cemetery which is less than 500m from the gate of the jail. The CWGC area is situated opposite a French military cemetery. Here's the French area:







Literally across the street to the left is the CWGC section and contains both Great War and WW2 casualties:







Pickard and Broadly are located towards the back, within a row or two of each other. They were clearly two very brave men:













After Pickard's death was announced, moves were made to get him awarded the VC. The French Government even made representations. However, the proposals were turned down because he died on an "ordinary" operation. That seems a tad trite for my liking.

Pickard and Broadley seen sharing a smile just before the op....this was probably the last photo of the 2 of them alive:

Reactions: Bacon Bacon:
5 | Like Like:
1 | Winner Winner:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Airframes (Sep 30, 2021)

Great stuff. Note that, in the photos, Pickard is wearing the Dennison smock, given to him after Operation Biting, the Bruneval raid, when British Paras raided the radar station and captured vital parts of a Wurzburg, the Op being lead by ( then) Major John Frost, with Pickard in command of the flight of Whitley para-dropping aircraft.

Reactions: Informative Informative:
3 | Like List reactions


----------



## nuuumannn (Oct 1, 2021)

Fabulous thread, Mark and you covered some of the ground I did when I did a similar thing in 2019. I visited the Ramparts Cemetery as well, it's a lovely spot, particularly at dusk. I took these following the Last Post that night at the Menenpoort...




Great War Tour 78 




Great War Tour 79

Reactions: Like Like:
2 | Like List reactions


----------



## nuuumannn (Oct 1, 2021)

rochie said:


> hen Terry and I visited the cemetery at Oosterbeek for those killed in Market Garden operation a few years ago it was the graves of soldiers that had no details at all, not even a unit badge that really got to me.



There are sooooo many...




Great War Tour 158

The French have a simple cross with the term "Ingonnu" and that's it. Simple, yet poignant.




Great War Tour 23

Reactions: Bacon Bacon:
1 | Like Like:
4 | Like List reactions


----------



## buffnut453 (Oct 1, 2021)

nuuumannn said:


> There are sooooo many...
> 
> View attachment 643202
> Great War Tour 158
> ...



Really like the composition of this image. The way the right edges of the crosses all line up. It's like the crosses behind are an echo of the one that's the subject of the photo.

Reactions: Like Like:
1 | Agree Agree:
1 | Friendly Friendly:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## nuuumannn (Oct 1, 2021)

buffnut453 said:


> Really like the composition of this image.



Thank you, Mark. It was taken at the giant memorial at Thiepval.





Great War Tour 26


----------



## Capt. Vick (Oct 1, 2021)

One can not fathom such losses today

Reactions: Agree Agree:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## buffnut453 (Oct 1, 2021)

nuuumannn said:


> Thank you, Mark. It was taken at the giant memorial at Thiepval.
> 
> View attachment 643205
> Great War Tour 26



Great segue into Day 5! Thanks for playing the straight man to my comedic inanities. 

So, dear readers...if you've been paying attention (there will be a test at the end!), you'll recall that the weather forecast for Sunday and Monday was bad so I crammed in as many outdoor visits as I could on Saturday (Day 4). The next obvious question is what to do on Day 5. The forecast rain hadn't started when I awoke so, despite a cloudy start to the day, I decided to head out and see as much as I could before the rain set in. I'd already booked a visit to the Somme 1916 Museum in Albert but I expected that would only occupy an hour or so. Thiepval was one obvious place to visit (later in the day, as evidenced by the sunshine). Alas, my photo isn't as pretty as yours:






Yep...couldn't get near the monument at all...which is a shame given that it records another 72,337 missing soldiers. If you're keeping track, we've now easily exceeded 150,000 names of the missing at Menin Gate, Tyne Cot, Pozieres and Thiepval. 

Earlier in the day, I dug out Rose Coombs' book and looked for interesting stuff to explore within a reasonable driving distance of Amiens. I think I came up with some beauties.

First off, there's the Red Baron's crash site. It's located east of Amiens and has a conveniently situated marker so you know when you've arrived:






Here's what the area looks like in the vicinity of the sign. Note the broken chimney stack...it'll come up again later:












A few km away is the Australian Corps Memorial at Le Hamel which commemorates the 100,000 Australian soldiers who served in France. It's located at the site of the final objective for the Battle of Hamel, the first attack planned and executed by General Sir John Monash. It was a remarkable success, integrating artillery, tanks, air and infantry to take an impressively steep-sided hill in just 93 minutes on 4 July 1918. 






Right next to the Memorial are some original German trenches that were so successfully stormed by the Aussies during the Battle of Le Hamel:






At one spot in the trench system, I even found a couple of small poppies struggling through the chalky soil (I hope you can see them):







Going back to the Red Baron, it was from positions not too far from the site of the Aussie Memorial where the Australian soldiers who fired on von Richtofen's Fokker were entrenched. Looking across the Somme Valley from the memorial, you can just make out the broken chimney stack mentioned above in the centre of this image. The line of dark green trees in the base of the valley marks the line of the Somme River:

Reactions: Like Like:
2 | Like List reactions


----------



## buffnut453 (Oct 1, 2021)

Just further east from Le Hamel is another Red Baron site. The airfield from which he made his final flight lies just outside the village of Cappy. Again, there's a helpful marker to describe the location:






Today, the site is nothing more than a farmer's field, like so many of the largely temporary Great War aerodromes. The viewing angle for the photo below probable isn't too dissimilar to the wartime photo displayed on the notice board:






While the airfield has disappeared, a more permanent reminder of the Red Baron's presence is still nearby. Just behind the location where I was standing to take the above photos is Cappy Chateau, which was used as the officers' mess by the German pilots. It's strange to think that this building is the last place where von Richtofen slept on earth. I apologise for the rather poor quality of the photo but the Chateau is a private residence with a substantial metal fence...so it was hard to get a decent view of the place (plus I didn't want to appear like some weird peeping-tom):







Driving through the village of Cappy, I came across something I'd never seen before. As many of you will know, pretty much every town and village in Europe has memorials to local lads who died during the First World War. Cappy is no different. However, this is the first such memorial I've ever seen that has been painted. If others have seen anything like this before, I'd love to hear about it:







Rose Coombs came up with the goods again for my next stop, a place I'd never heard of before. As the Battle of the Somme was raging in 1916, the French elected to attack Soyecourt in a bid to draw German resources away from the British attacks further north. French forces took over some German trench positions in Wallieux Woods (Bois de Wallieux):











The trenches have been preserved as a memorial to the French soldiers who took them, and as a reminder of the impact of the Great War on the region:






View attachment 643290

Reactions: Like Like:
3 | Winner Winner:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## buffnut453 (Oct 1, 2021)

After Wallieux I headed into Albert to visit the Somme 1916 Museum. It's an impressive place established in tunnels beneath the central church in the town. Over the centuries, the tunnels have been used as shelters by civilians from shelling and bombing. It's a pretty long walk-through museum but there are a lot of artifacts, some of which are highly interesting. One thing that stood out for me was a panoramic view of the area near La Boisselle during the Battle of the Somme. You'll remember my Great-Great Uncle took a GSW to the chest while attacking that village. It was awesome to see the panorama with key locations labelled. I took a series of photos which don't do the panorama justice but I think you'll be able to piece it together:


























This is my favourite because it gives a clear view of what La Boisselle looked like in July 1916. Note the white chalk where the ground has been disturbed. This wasn't the mud of Flanders. When artillery shells exploded, their innate shrapnel content was augmented by shards of chalk and flint from the ground. Note the reference to Glory Hole...we'll see that later:

Reactions: Like Like:
3 | Winner Winner:
1 | Informative Informative:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## buffnut453 (Oct 2, 2021)

The next stop was associated with La Boisselle and was one of the most amazing points on the journey.

On the morning of 1 July 1916, the opening day of the Somme offensive, the British exploded 2 huge mines under the German lines. The British tunnellers liked to give their digs names and so it was the case here. The two saps were called Lochnagar and Y Sap. The following, from Wikipedia, gives some indication of the effort that went into the Lochnagar mine...and the amount of explosive used:

_The Lochnagar mine consisted of two chambers with a shared access tunnel. The shaft was sunk in the communication trench called Lochnagar Street. The Lochnagar mine probably had the first deep incline shaft, which sloped from 1:2 to 1:3 to a depth of about 95 ft (29 m). It was begun 300 ft (91 m) behind the British front line and 900 ft (270 m) away from the German front line. Starting from the inclined shaft, about 50 ft (15 m) below ground, a gallery was driven towards the German lines. For silence, the tunnellers used bayonets with spliced handles and worked barefoot on a floor covered with sandbags. Flints were carefully prised out of the chalk and laid on the floor; if the bayonet was manipulated two-handed, an assistant caught the dislodged material. Spoil was placed in sandbags and passed hand-by-hand along a row of miners sitting on the floor and stored along the side of the tunnel, later to be used to tamp the charge.

When about 135 ft (41 m) from the Schwabenhöhe, the tunnel was branched and the end of each branch was enlarged to form a chamber for the explosives, the chambers being about 60 ft (18 m) apart and 52 ft (16 m) deep. When finished, the access tunnel for the Lochnagar mine was 4.5 by 2.5 ft (1.37 by 0.76 m) and had been excavated at a rate of about 18 in (46 cm) per day, until about 1,030 ft (310 m) long, with the galleries ending beneath the Schwabenhöhe. The mine was loaded with 60,000 lb (27 long tons; 27,000 kg) of ammonal in two charges of 36,000 lb (16 long tons; 16,000 kg) and 24,000 lb (11 long tons; 11,000 kg). As the chambers were not big enough to hold all the explosive, the tunnels that branched to form the 'Y' were also filled with ammonal. One branch was 60 ft (18 m) long and the other 40 ft (12 m) long. _


Y Sap was similarly in size and located north of the main Albert-Baupaume road but its crater was filled in after the war. Lochnagar's crater remains a truly awe-inspiring landmark to this day. The first image is a view to the north, taken just adjacent to Lochnagar, showing the main Albert-Baupaume road (you can just make out a vehicle at the top of the patch of green in the centre of the image). The photo I took looking into La Boisselle on Day 4 was taken at the top of the ridgeline there:






The following photos simply wont justice to the size and scale of the Lochnagar Crater. Bearing in mind that there's been over 100 years of rain, snow and wind affecting this place, with associated subsidence of soil into the base of the crater, the sides are still remarkably steep.
















Maybe this GoogleEarth image of the area will help provide some scale for this "bluddy big 'ole". The grassy area between Rte de Becourt (near the "Old Blighty" Tea Room) and L'Illot de la Boisselle to the west is the site of the Glory Hole mentioned previously:






This image was taken from the southern end of the crater looking back towards the access road and carpark (the latter is adjacent to the location marker in the GoogleEarth image above). To give an idea of scale, the memorial cross that's standing against the skyline is about 15 ft high:






Just near where the above image was taken, there is a much smaller cross with a name plaque. It marks the place where the body of Private George James Nugent serving with 22nd Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers (Tyneside Scottish) was found on 31 October 1998. At that time, Lochnagar Crater had been a place of pilgrimage for Great War veterans and their families for over 70 years. It was a well-known and well-visited location, and yet it still held onto the secret of Pte Nugent's body until 1998. How many more remain to be found?







After leaving Lochnagar, I stopped by the Glory Hole. It's on private land and I hadn't made arrangements to visit, although clearly it's prepared for visitors. While much less awe-inspiring when compared to Lochnagar, the Glory Hole is a remarkable place in its own right. It became a focus of mining attention because of the close proximity of Allied and German front-line trenches in this area, at some points barely 50 m apart. Between April 1915 and January 1916, some 61 mines were exploded in this area, some loaded with 20,000–25,000 kg (20–25 long tons) of explosives. This is what the site looks like today:












That wraps up Day 5...so just one more day to go (although it will include images taken across multiple days). More to follow...

Reactions: Like Like:
4 | Like List reactions


----------



## Wurger (Oct 2, 2021)




----------



## rochie (Oct 2, 2021)

brilliant.

i really must get over to the continent more !


----------



## nuuumannn (Oct 2, 2021)

That's one big hole! Apparently the loudest noise made by man at that time, that is until the Messines offensive when 19 mines went off around the same time...


----------



## buffnut453 (Oct 2, 2021)

Day 6 was all about Jim Gamble, the younger brother of George Gamble, who served in the RFC and RAF during the Great War. The next few posts will cover some of the sites where Jim served, although the chronology will be backwards simply because of the itinerary for my trip. Hopefully, by the end of the next few posts, you’ll realize why I pulled together the information in the way I did. As before, I also hope you’ll indulge a little background information first.

Jim joined up on 4 February 1915, another volunteer, and spent most of his service in the UK, almost certainly at Farnborough, the home of British military aviation. Here’s a pic of the fresh-faced lad, almost certainly taken shortly after he enlisted – he would be 7 months shy of his 21st​ birthday at that time:






In 1914, the British Army did not have an integrated process for allocating identification numbers. Each regiment had their own numbering system and when the RFC was formed in May 1912 as a distinct arm, it had to come up with its own “regimental” numbering system…so they started with No.1 and worked upwards. Jim Gamble’s RFC number was 3594 so he’s a rather early member of the force. For anyone interested, there’s an excellent book about the first 150 RFC personnel entitled “A Contemptible Little Flying Corps”.

Jim was a steam engineer in civvie street and joined up as a fitter. He was progressively promoted through the ranks and, by 1 July 1917, was promoted to substantive Sergeant rank with his character assessed as “Very Good” and Trade Proficiency as “Superior”.

Jim’s service record notes that on 9 November 1917 he was graded “Fit” as a pilot. This was less than 2 months after the death of his elder brother, George, and I can’t help wondering if that event influenced Jim’s decision to take a more active role in the War. It’s conceivable that Jim wanted to avenge his brother’s death but every picture of Jim show him as a fairly happy-go-lucky kind of bloke, so I doubt that “getting one back at the Hun” was his primary motivation. It seems that one of his mates at Farnborough, Sgt Arthur Simmons, also applied for pilot training around this time so perhaps Jim was simply attracted to the opportunity. Regardless, it would take him to places he would have never imagined prior to 1914.

Jim started flying training with the academic course at No.1 School of Aeronautics, Reading, on 24 November 1917 before proceeding to Netheravon to learn to fly. Netheravon is still there with many of its original buildings. I hope to visit the site again at some time, having spent a brief time there when I was in uniform. Here’s a pic of one of the enlisted men’s huts still there after over 100 years (Source: Bournmouth News):






Jim soloed for the first time in Airco DH6 C5475 on 12 March 1918 after some 9 hours and 30 minutes of dual instruction. He then broadened his flying experience on more advanced types including RE8s and eventually the Bristol F2b Fighter that he would fly operationally. On 30 June 1918, Jim remustered as a pilot. I presume this was the date when he was awarded his wings. Here’s pic of Jim taken while on home leave, probably around this timeframe, with his new wings in place:








Jim was eventually sent to France, posted to 11 Squadron flying Brisfits and completed 20 operational sorties before the end of the Great War, his last being on 10 November 1918. After the War, Jim attempted to continue flying by joining Handley Page South African Transports, one of many efforts by Handley Page to find a civilian use for their O/400 heavy bombers. The enterprise, which was based in Cape Town, didn’t last long, although Jim did manage a few flights. He clearly enjoyed South Africa given the following comment in his logbook:

_Beautiful country colours, gorgeous, thickly forested and scores of gullies. Sea, land, shores, everything magnificent. Country worth living in._

Jim made several attempts to rejoin the RAF but none were successful, and so he settled down in our hometown and raised a family. As late as the Second World War, Jim was still writing to the Air Ministry asking if his pilot experience could be of service. Jim’s entry in the 1939 Register, a one-off “census” of the British population at the outbreak of WW2, identifies that he was a pilot with 11 Sqn. He clearly still felt he had abilities to offer.

So…having provided some background, I decided that, during my various visits to places in Belgium and France, I’d take the opportunity to visit the sites of airfields where Jim Gamble flew from during and immediately after the First World War.

First visit on my trip was to Nivelles, Belgium, which was a minor diversion during my trip to Waterloo. Jim’s squadron moved there on 16 January 1919. Here’s a pic of Nivelles in late 1918 (Source: Nivelles Airfield, Belgium):






This pic of the airfield was taken at the time that Jim was there. It shows Bristol F2b Fighters in front of the large, main hangar (Source: Maj F W Smith Collection):






Looking at the area on GoogleEarth, most of the site has been redeveloped as an industrial park. However, the area to the left, which is blurred out because it’s still a Belgian military facility, appears to have some long buildings next to the northern fence line which might, conceivably, be Unfortunately, that site has been built over with an industrial park, although part of the site is still in use by the Belgian military (the area is pixelated on GoogleEarth imagery). Some of the buildings near the northern boundary of the military site might have borne a resemblance to hangars that were at the airfield in 1919.






Alas, a personal inspection from outside the wire showed them to be more modern structures. Here are a few pics of the current buildings which clearly are not WW1 vintage and don’t match any of the images I’ve seen of Nivelles Aerodrome:











The photo below of Jim (left) with Sgt Pilots William Anson Hutcheon (centre) and George Albert Wardale (right) was likely taken at/near Nivelles. Dating is based on the lack of foliage in the trees, the fact that Hutcheon and Wardale only joined 11 Sqn on 24 February 1919, and knowledge that the Sqn moved to Spich, Germany, on 20 May 1919 as part of the British occupation forces. 






More to follow tomorrow.

Reactions: Like Like:
3 | Like List reactions


----------



## pbehn (Oct 2, 2021)

Its hard to get or imagine a true perspective on this kind of thing.


Hawthorn mine exploding at Beaumont Hamel, Somme, France, 7.20 a.m. lst July 1916. The mine was exploded by 252 Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers using about 40,000 lbs of ammonal. The resulting crater was 80ft deep and measured 150 yds by 100 yds.

Reactions: Like Like:
2 | Like List reactions


----------



## buffnut453 (Oct 2, 2021)

pbehn said:


> Its hard to get or imagine a true perspective on this kind of thing.
> 
> 
> Hawthorn mine exploding at Beaumont Hamel, Somme, France, 7.20 a.m. lst July 1916. The mine was exploded by 252 Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers using about 40,000 lbs of ammonal. The resulting crater was 80ft deep and measured 150 yds by 100 yds.




Agreed. You might like this 2016 video I just found. We've all seen those haunting images that overlay an old, usually WW2 photo, ontop of a modern photo of the same location. Well this guy did the same thing with film. There's a wee bit of footage of La Boisselle in there, and the Beaumont-Hamel mine explosion is included.

Reactions: Like Like:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## pbehn (Oct 2, 2021)

They are so evocative and thought provoking. Years ago I stumbled across this in the Daily Mail of all places. The building on the right is the Louvre Museum now, the building on the left is the one I worked in for 2 years (known as "Le Louvre des antiquares" or the "Grand Hôtel du Louvre"). Its completely weird seeing a picture like that of the place and area that you worked in. Here is the punch line, when I worked there it was owned by my deceased fathers pension fund, he was a railway engine driver, they were paying my mothers pension but paying their concierge far, far more than is decent.










Louvre Saint-Honoré - Wikipedia







en.wikipedia.org












Artist blends scenes from war-torn Paris with today's tourist traps


Whether it be with thousands of tourists queuing or soldiers parading in victory or defeat, Paris's most iconic landmarks are as recognisable today as they were in the 1940s.




www.dailymail.co.uk

Reactions: Bacon Bacon:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## nuuumannn (Oct 2, 2021)

buffnut453 said:


> Agreed. You might like this 2016 video I just found. We've all seen those haunting images that overlay an old, usually WW2 photo, ontop of a modern photo of the same location. Well this guy did the same thing with film. There's a wee bit of footage of La Boisselle in there, and the Beaumont-Hamel mine explosion is included.



This is a great wee clip, I watched this a couple of years or so ago when I visited the area.


----------



## Wurger (Oct 3, 2021)




----------



## buffnut453 (Oct 3, 2021)

Going back to the trip, prior to Nivelles Jim Gamble's squadron was based at Aulnoye in Belgium where it spent a month. The Aulnoye Aerodrome location is entirely developed now and I simply didn't have time to visit. Prior to Aulnoye, 11 Squadron was at Bethencourt near Cambrai, an airfield that proved really hard to find because there were simply so many airfields in that area. I eventually came to the conclusion that Bethencourt was just north of the main Cambrai-Le Cateau road, as shown in this trench map, situated near a place called Le Jeune Bois. This location was later confirmed when Cross & Cockade International eventually got to this area in their serialized gazeteer of RFC/RAF/French airfield locations.






The road layouts are still quite similar, with a staggered junction of roads coming in from the north and south into the main Cambrai-Le Cateau road:






Bethencourt was my first stop on the Day 4 drive from Lille to Amiens. The following image was taken looking east from the road coming in from the north (D16A). It's just a farmer's field today but it's the place where Jim's Squadron was operating when the Armistice was declared on 11 November 1918 and from where he flew his last operational sortie the preceding day. Jim moved there on 31 October 1918:






According to one account, there was quite a party at Bethencourt Aerodrome on the night of 11 November. A rather large bonfire was built and, later in the evening, some bright spark decided to throw petrol cans on the conflagration. Reportedly, the resultant explosions caused some nearby Army units to stand-to because they thought the ceasefire had broken down.

There is still a restaurant called "Le Jeune Bois" on the south side of the main road, although that location is changing. Website searches had me looking for an older building per the image below...which is followed by what I actually found there (I know which building I'd prefer to dine in!):












Prior to Bethencourt, 11 Squadron was based at Mory, an advanced landing ground that was only ever used briefly by 2 pairs of RAF squadrons. With the 100 Days Offensive in full swing, the RAF squadrons had a hard time keeping up with the Army's advances, so advanced landing grounds were developed for brief operations and to enable aircraft to refuel before heading back to their main operating base. In the case of 11 Sqn, they spent the last 2 weeks operating from Mory alongside 57 Sqn. The latter was a bomber squadron and it seems that the pairing was deliberate as a number of 11 Sqn operations involved providing fighter escort for 57 Sqn's DH9s. One of 57 Sqn's personnel provided a rather vivid account of conditions at Mory:

_After a few days  was collected by a Crossley Tender to join No.57 Day Bomber Squadron on a small airfield near a devastated village called Mory, between Baupaume and Combles. The driver lost his way in the dark and we spent the night trying to sleep on the floor of an empty house which was serving the purpose of Wing Headquarters. The telephone seemed to be ringing all night—this, and the rumble of gunfire in the distance, gun flashes and all, together with droves of prisoners-of-war being marched through the village—all made me feel that at last I had caught up with the war! 

Mory was an example of a makeshift landing ground [located] in a section of the country that had been a battlefield several times during the past four years. The surface of the ground was composed of a series of shell holes filled in to make the landing area, which was a hazard to land on and an adventure even to taxi over. _

_Here we lived in bell tents, dark brown affairs, not very waterproof, surrounded by mud inches deep. To get to our Mess, housed in a marquee, we had to walk on duck boards which were placed over the mud. Some of the personnel preferred to build huts made from salvaged timber, or used dugouts that were found in the neighbourhood. Jock Wilson and I shared a tent as we disliked the idea of sharing our sleeping quarters with the rats that abounded among the deserted shacks and dugouts.

Unsurprisingly, today Mory is just another farmer's field:









_

Reactions: Like Like:
3 | Winner Winner:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Wurger (Oct 3, 2021)




----------



## buffnut453 (Oct 3, 2021)

And all of this brings us to Day 6, 27 September, which marked the 103rd anniversary of Jim Gamble's first operational sortie from Vert Galant Aerodrome. If the name Vert Galant sounds familiar, it's the airfield from which Albert Ball made his final flight on 5 May 1917. Ball had previously served with 11 Sqn and was a national hero. After his death, he'd be awarded the VC, in addition to his existing DSO with 2 Bars and MC. Ball was credited with 44 aerial victories and, while he has zero direct association with my family, I thought it appropriate to mention him here given the Squadron and location affiliations. Here's a pic of Albert Ball in the cockpit of an SE5a taken in the month before his death (Source: Wikipedia):






When Jim joined 11 Sqn, on 7 September 1918, it was based at Le Quesnoy (near Le Quesnoy-en-Artois). He spent about 20 days performing "gopher" duties (e.g. collecting aircraft from the depot), conducting familiarization flights and, presumably, being checked by his Flight Commander and CO to be sure he was ready for combat operations. The Sqn moved to Vert Galant on 19 September. 

Jim's logbook records a number of familiarization flights with an experienced observer to be sure he was ready for combat. His first operational sortie, on 27 September 1918, was with that same observer, Sgt Charles William Cooke, who would later be awarded the Military Medal, the enlisted soldiers’ equivalent to the Military Cross, for services while on 11 Sqn. Ironically, the home address listed in Cooke’s service record is barely 3 miles from where Jim Gamble grew up…and yet they met in France to fly combat operations together. Here’s a pic of Sgt Cooke provided courtesy of his family:






Vert Galant was and is a farm located at a crossroads on the main Amiens-Arras road. The location resulted in 3 separate landing grounds being used: east and west landing grounds were both south of the crossroads, on either side of the Amiens-Arras road, while the north landing ground was in the northeast quadrant of the crossroads. The 1916-vintage map below shows trenches in close proximity to the airfield. It also shows the 3 distinct airfields associated with the site, which must have made it a busy place:






These photos courtesy of the Imperial War Museum show Vert Galant Aerodrome in 1916 and later. Note the barn located behind the row of tents in the first image, that’s also visible just right of centre in the second image. The road to the left of the DH2s is the main north-south Amiens-Arras road:






Note the barn nestled in the crook of the junction, just to the right of a row of nissen huts (which suggests this image is more recent than the above 1916 pic). Also note the lines of trenches in the background, as well as some in the foreground. 






And this is my pic on a rather soggy Monday morning, taken exactly 103 years after Jim's maiden operational sortie from Vert Galant:






Fortunately, I'd also made a stop here on Day 4 so I got some much better pics in the sunshine. Firstly that very distinctive barn:






The old farmhouse sits across the main road from the barn. It's the same building that can just be made out right at the very top right edge of the of the WW1-vintage aerial photo posted above:






I did pick up a new detail on that wet 27 September morning. Directly opposite the brick barn, and just south of the main farmhouse, is another barn. I had thought it was a newer structure but when I compare it to the aerial image with the trenches, the large main door and the smaller window to the right directly correspond with the appearance of the barn in the old photo. Also, at the gable end, one can see the old brickwork underneath. The structure has definitely been extended to the wet but it's pretty clear that it, too, was a witness to Jim's first operational flight:






As I wandered around the crossroads on Day 4, something caught my eye on the ground by the side of the road:






Now, I'm the first person to tell people not to go picking up unidentified munitions from battlefields. However, this was clearly a fragment of something that had already gone BNAG! (sorry, old habits die hard...I've been deliberately mispronouncing "bang" as "bnag" since my days in uniform) so I reckoned it was entirely safe. When I prised it out of the earth, this is what it looked like. For scale, it's about the height of a soda can:






Cleaned up a little, it seems to be a fragment from a British 4.5 inch high-explosive shell. I'm unaware of Vert Galant ever being fought over so it seems likely that this relic was brought into the area with a truckload of hard core for the roads or the farm. Regardless, it was a nice keepsake from a lovely, sunny day exploring Vert Galant aerodrome. 

The romantic in me was also thrilled, despite the crappy weather, to visit the place where Jim took off on his first operational sortie on the 103rd anniversary.

Reactions: Like Like:
3 | Winner Winner:
2 | Like List reactions


----------



## buffnut453 (Oct 3, 2021)

Well, folks, that about wraps up the account of my trip. To end on a more light-hearted note, I thought some might be interested in the fact that the French name for shopping carts/trolleys is "chariots". I think we should expand the usage...turn every supermarket trip into an excuse to behave like Ben Hur. I LIKE THAT IDEA!!! We could turn panic buying sprees into a spectator sport and sell tickets:







In closing, it was a truly lovely holiday. Apart from the final morning, the weather was unusually cooperative. I got to see some beautiful parts of France and Belgium, meet some friendly people, and visit a lot of places that have been on my bucket-list for a number of years now. 

And on that note, adieu!

Reactions: Bacon Bacon:
5 | Like Like:
2 | Agree Agree:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## rochie (Oct 3, 2021)

a great read, thanks

Reactions: Friendly Friendly:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Wurger (Oct 3, 2021)




----------



## Crimea_River (Oct 3, 2021)

An amazing read. Thanks for taking the time to lay it all out for us.

Reactions: Agree Agree:
1 | Friendly Friendly:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Airframes (Oct 3, 2021)

I agree, a great thread all the way through - almost like being there.
Thanks for all the effort, photos and narrative - now I'm off to fit some swords to my chariot wheels ....................

Reactions: Like Like:
2 | Like List reactions


----------



## Gnomey (Oct 3, 2021)

Good shots!


----------



## nuuumannn (Oct 6, 2021)

Magnificent, Mark! Brilliant to see and read and a great wee souvenir from the airfield area. Thanks so much for sharing that adventure with us.

Reactions: Agree Agree:
1 | Friendly Friendly:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Snautzer01 (Oct 6, 2021)

buffnut453 said:


> Well, folks, that about wraps up the account of my trip. To end on a more light-hearted note, I thought some might be interested in the fact that the French name for shopping carts/trolleys is "chariots". I think we should expand the usage...turn every supermarket trip into an excuse to behave like Ben Hur. I LIKE THAT IDEA!!! We could turn panic buying sprees into a spectator sport and sell tickets:
> 
> View attachment 643474
> 
> ...


Thank you, i read it again in one sitting. Great story.

Reactions: Agree Agree:
2 | Friendly Friendly:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## buffnut453 (Jul 12, 2022)

buffnut453 said:


> The next stop was associated with La Boisselle and was one of the most amazing points on the journey.
> 
> On the morning of 1 July 1916, the opening day of the Somme offensive, the British exploded 2 huge mines under the German lines. The British tunnellers liked to give their digs names and so it was the case here. The two saps were called Lochnagar and Y Sap. The following, from Wikipedia, gives some indication of the effort that went into the Lochnagar mine...and the amount of explosive used:
> 
> ...



Hey folks, apologies for resurrecting this thread but I watched a documentary on the Battle of the Somme this evening and it got me thinking about my Great-Great Uncle Bill Pountney who was wounded on 2 July 1916 attacking La Boisselle. The War Diary of his unit (the 9th Royal Welsh Fusiliers) doesn't explicitly identify where they were fighting, or what their objectives were.

Watching the documentary caused inspiration to strike...I wondered if the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records for the 9th RWF soldiers that were killed on 2/3 July might include concentration reports identifying where the bodies were found before they were moved to a CWGC cemetery. As luck would have it, I found one soldier killed on 2 July plus a few more on 3 July...and all the positions, when plotted on T-Mapper, came out in the area between the Loch Nagar Crater and the village of La Boisselle. Here's a screenshot from T-Mapper showing the original burial site of the chap who was killed on 2 July:







The first image in the post I'm replying to shows the view from Loch Nagar Crater generally southwest towards the high ground from where the 9th RWF launched there attacks. I unknowingly took that photo during my visit last year because it was one of the few areas where I got a good, clear view of the area from which the 9th RWF attacked. Given that all the 9th RWF soldiers who were killed and whose identities are known were originally buried in this area (with none appearing northwest of the main road out of Albert), it seems pretty certain that Bill Pountney was shot somewhere roughly within the field of view of that photo.

Re-reading the War Diary again, it does mention craters which almost certainly referred to the Glory Hole craters, which already existed at the time of the battle, as well as the Loch Nagar and Y Sap mines, the latter being just over the Albert road. The War Diary entry for 2/3 July reads "This Battalion therefore only reached the craters - which had been formed in the German trenches the previous morning - at daybreak on the 2nd."

Just got a few shivers down my spine thinking about having walked that ground last year. Methinks I'll be revisiting before too very long!

Reactions: Like Like:
4 | Like List reactions


----------



## Capt. Vick (Jul 12, 2022)

Echo all here, well done!


----------



## buffnut453 (Jul 12, 2022)

Interestingly, I just pulled a GoogleEarth image of the area. Take a look at the brown field just northwest of the Loch Nagar Crater, above Rue de la Grande Mine. Those lighter areas correspond pretty well with the trenches shown on the right-hand 1916-vintage map in my previous post.

Reactions: Like Like:
3 | Winner Winner:
2 | Like List reactions


----------

