Warbird Information Exchange

The Sucrerie.

We took a slight detour to visit the Sucrerie Military Cemetary. This is situated on the main route from Colincamps to the front line where there was a small Sugar Beet Factory (hence the name). The tree lines track alongside it has hardly changed since the war.



With many of the trees re-shaped by damage from shelling.


As the troops marched along this road, they would have passed mass graves dug ready for their own dead.
It was in this Cemetery that we discovered a tragedy. The Grave of Rifleman J Crozier of the Royal Irish Rifles who died at the age of just 19 on 27th February 1916. Although there is no mention on his grave or record.

He was shot at Dawn.



Rifleman Crozier would vist us again.

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Thiepval.

The Thiepval Memorial was built after the war to record the names of 73,357 missing of The Somme between 1915 and 1917. The vast majority being from the July – November 1916 battle. Its position was chosen so that it would be visible from the entire length of the front (before the woods grew back that is). It is the “Menin Gate of The Somme”. In addition to the missing there are the graves of 300 French and 300 English troops, placed there to symbolise the joint efforts of the two armies.




I was there on a mission. A work colleague has a relative commemorated on the wall. I had promised to find him. When we did we had to laugh at the irony of a member of a the Bantam Battalion being so high up.





It is a very magnificent structure


And others had laid tokens of remembrance

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Again great stuff! Thanks for the running travelouge.

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

Home from Home


As I said earlier the base for our stay was with Avril Williams at her B&B at Ocean Villa Tea Rooms at Auchonvillers. The cellar of the house was used as a dressing station and surgery. If you are staying Avril will show you down there.
Photography is difficult and Avril would rather you do not dwell down there. She has a great respect for what went on down here and is anxious that it is preserved so visits are brief. But they are no less special for that.





On the walls there are various names carved into the brickwork. These were made by the Soldiers who were treated there. These are mostly from 1916 and the Royal Irish Regiment. On one was there are the initials JC carved in a shield. This was done in memory of Rifleman J Crozier probably by a friend. He was held here the night before he was shot. We found his grave by chance and before he went there himself he was held below our feet. All very sobering.
(a small experiment as there was no way I could get a good exposure)


In the back garden, the original trenches have been re-excavated (some in front of British TV cameras). This is the outside view of a secondary entrance to the cellar (there were always 2 entrances)


Kitchen?








A view across the Back Garden. Your stay there will be “rustic” but the breakfast is English and should you have an evening meal there then the food is simple French fare with good wine and is very good value. www.avrilwilliams.com> its an essential stopping point.
Avril also has a small museum over the road and a good view of the battlefield can be gained from its car park. The museum contains exhibits from most of the conflicts in this area .

World War 1


Compare this model of a trench with the shot from the back garden


World War 2, the Jeep made one of our party very happy.


And a Lancaster propeller spinner from a local crash site.

As an aside Avril makes an excellent cup of tea, which is what we needed after the trip down the cellar.


After tea we set out again into the Battlefields. Our first stop was Ovillers Military Cemetery.
Situated in No Mans Land it contains 3436 British and 120 French burials and was started like so many as a result of deaths at a Dressing Station. The majority of it is post war concentration. This is a view across no mans land, in the distance can be seen the Golden Madonna on the tower of La Basilique in Albert.


We were here to find the grave of Captain John Lauder who was the son of the music hall artist Harry Lauder who was killed on 28th August 1916. It is reported that he was not well liked by his men and the shot that killed him may have come from the rear. There are a few reports of scores being settled like this on the Battlefield.


The Lochnagar Mine was exploded 2 minutes before zero hour on July 1st. It was made up of 26.8 tons of ammanol and was exploded under the front of a German position knows as the Schwaben Höhe. It’s the largest mine crater on the Western Front. Crater is a war grave for the remains of the Germans who occupied the position.



The size of the person standing by the cross gives some scale to the hole. Here is the cross.

There is an interesting memorial near the rim

It is for Pte George Nugent whose remains were found during clearance of the are in 1998, he is now at Ovillers Military Cemetery.

Our next location was a bit different. We stopped at the German Cemetery sat Fricourt. This is the only German Cemetery near the British part of the 1916 battlefield.


We all noticed how very stark it is. There are 17026 Germans buried here, 5056 under steel crosses (4 to a cross)

and 11970 in 2 mass graves to the rear


There are a few stone headstones for Jewish burials and these as is normal have pebbles placed on them by visitors.

The bodies of many more Germans still lie under the battlefields as the victors normally took more care over the graves of their own men than they did of the enemy.
Nowadays the lost and missing of both side are remembered.

The next update will turn the toughest men to tears but make their chest swell with pride at the same time.

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Thank you so much for this tour. We sometimes forget those on the ground and the horrible conditions, fighting and loss of life that went on in the Great War.
Like you're Shuttleworth postings, wonderful job.
Thank you.

Ever read the book "Walking the Trenches"? Fantastic look at the history of the war.
Jerry

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"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."

Very interesting again. Keep up the good work. I'm glued to my computer screen waiting for the next edition. The excuvated trenches are definately pieces of history and its great to see they are being preserved for future generations.

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

Thank you for the poignant and educational posts. It must be an incredibly humbling experience to be able to visit this area. Great thread!

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Matt

The same type of scenes, all heartbreaking, can also be found at Verdun.

Very well taken photos. Thanks.

"Johnny Got His Gun", by Dalton Trumbo, ought to be required reading in every high school.

Wow

Tim

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The Devonshires



Just outside of and overlooking the village of Mametz lies as small wood called Mansel Copse. In this wood was a trench network that was held by the 9th Devons. Their task at Zero hour would be to leave the trenches and turn practically 90 Degrees and attack along the road between their position and Mametz.

One of their Officers Capt D L Martin was very concerned that a German Machine Gun position at the Shrine in the village Cemetery would cause them heavy casualties. Because of the direction of the attack it would be firing into their right flank.

Here is a shot of village from just below the trench line.


And the reciprocal view from the Shrine


Captain Martin had made a model of the area to prove his point to his superiors . They agreed with his assessment and told him he was going whether the gun had been destroyed or not. It wasn’t, and Captain Martin’s prediction came true and the 8th and 9th Devons suffered heavy casualties.

Afterwards 123 men of the 9th and 38 of the 8th were buried in part of the old front line trench in what because knows as Devonshire Cemetery.





Among their number was Captain Martin who went with his men knowing full well that they would be slaughtered.

He is buried in a shared grave. Effectively the trench is one long mass grave.

If you follow the line of graves beyond the trench into the wood, the old trench system remains in silent monument to the fallen.


Around the edge there are remains of the battlefield, in this case an old railway track that is used as a fence post.


Also here is Lt Noel Hodgson, one of the war poets.


After the burials had finished a sign was put up at the entrance to the Cemetery. Today it has been replaced by the stone below. Please take a moment to read the inscription.


THE DEVONSHIRES HELD THIS TRENCH
THE DEVONSHIRES HOLD IT STILL

As one of our travelling party remarked, if that doesn’t get you then you haven’t got a pulse.
Next stop was an appointment with the men of Ulster and the Pope!

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The Irish the Pope and a Windmill.
All around the battlefield there are many memorials, some formal others less so. We were driving near Triangle Point which is a spot that gives a good view across the battlefield. We got out to have a look round and I noticed what appeared to be a familiar tin can at the base of a tree. Next to it was a Poppy cross. On checking the guide books we realised that we were near the furthest point of the advance of the 13th Manchesters on 1st July.
Boddingtons isn’t sold on The Somme. This was a touching and informal tribute to those men.


Heading back towards our B&B (for an excellent dinner and wine, and maybe more wine) we stopped at the Ulster Memorial Tower near Thiepval. It was built on the German Front line that was taken by the Ulster Division on 1st July.


It stands in memory of the men of the Ulster Division who died in the assault. By the tea rooms (excellent cuppa and great cakes) there is an impressive amount of battlefield detritus on display.


Just down the hill, along what because known as The Bloody Road on account of the number of dead on it at the end of the day is a small German machine gun post known as the Pope’s Nose. It was positioned to allow a clear shot over the advancing men. As a result it was shelled heavily.


In this spot it is easy to pick up shrapnel including the lead balls contained in Shrapnel Shells like this one.


We walked back up the hill to the Mill Road Cemetery. The original part of this Cemetery was built over old German trenches and dugouts , all part of the Schwaben Redoubt. The headstones are laid flat because the ground underneath is so unstable.

The upright headstones were part of concentration burials after the armistice. Thiepval watches over the battlefield.

Just outside the village of Pozieres are two memorials that lie opposite each other on the main Roman Road.

First is the Tank Memorial. This is the Memorial to the Tank Corps nd is surrounded by some superb scale cast metal models of the tanks used in the first Tank Battles of 1916.


One of the models bears the scars of a strafing attack during the Second World War and still has a 50 cal bullet embedded in it.


Over the road is the remains of the Pozieres Windmill. This is the highest point of h 1916 battlefield. Its now an Australian Memorial to the troops who “fell more thickly on this ridge than on any other battlefield of the war”


An Australian School has left a memorial to one of their old boys at the windmill


It too is under the watchful eye of Thiepval.


Next. Our final day of travelling the battlefields would take us to the Woods.

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Thanks for sharing this with us. My Grandfather was a veteran of "The Great War". Charles F. Stuart (retired as Capt, I don't his rank here) 121st Infantry Ga. National Guard, the old "Grey Bonnets"

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Fly Fast Make Noise!

I'm gonna' go off on a tangent here. These great pictures reminded me of the Battle of the Bulge tour that we just took.
My post has to do with what was depicted in Band of Brothers and the actual site of the attack on Foy.


These are the Easy Co. foxholes at the edge of the Boi Jacques overlooking Foy. That white thing is Mrs. Mudge shoe.


More foxholes. They've, obviously filled in quite a bit in 65+ years. The gentleman in the picture is Henri Mignon. Was 8 years old when the battle started. Has lived in the area all his life and knows the place like the back of his hand. I booked an exclusive tour for just the two of us and he took us to places where large groups can't easily go.


As we all have seen, the attack on Foy in BoB depicted the charge across a field as only about 200 yards. WRONG.
This picture was taken from the edge of the woods on the left in picture 2. The trees on the right weren't there during the attack and the trees on the left were no taller than small shrubs. As is obvious in this picture, the charge to Foy was slightly farther than 200 yards. About 1200 yards farther! That little white spot down there is the outskirts of Foy.
Good ol' Hollyweird

Mudge the hijacker (sorry )

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Land of the free because of the brave

this thread is amazing! so much history. Mudge, i'd love to see all the pictures you've taken (been busy so maybe i missed them already)

I'd be happy to post 'em but they're all about the Battle of the Bulge and this is a warbird site. Not sure how many of the troops would be interested.

Mudge the shy

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