7:29am Posted 27 May , 2005 Share Posted 27 May , 2005 Found these two aerial photos titled somme jan 1916 and march 1916. I have rotated one to get more or less the same orientation in both, but i have no idea which way is north. There has been alot of activity and the minefield is incredible. Does anyone know where it is there are plenty of landmarks and maybe even the intense mining woulb be a give away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Reed Posted 27 May , 2005 Share Posted 27 May , 2005 It looks like the crater area near Auchy les la Bassee, just north of Loos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7:29am Posted 31 May , 2005 Author Share Posted 31 May , 2005 Would anyone have a trenchmap of the area please.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurent Posted 1 June , 2005 Share Posted 1 June , 2005 I have this map ! but i don't think it's Auchy Lez La Bassée ! Laurent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Jones Posted 1 June , 2005 Share Posted 1 June , 2005 Jim I have the identical photo to the second one but without 'March 1916'. Below is the reverse, which shows how it relates to the trench map (I think you have it upside down) with the Brickstacks north of the road. The date is actually 2 April 1916 and it was taken by 10 Sqn RFC. Regards Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7:29am Posted 1 June , 2005 Author Share Posted 1 June , 2005 Awesome thanks very much.. something to go at at last!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leigh Posted 1 June , 2005 Share Posted 1 June , 2005 The two images you posted at the top are upside down. The dark line is the Railway line goine SW from the railway triangle passing the west side of Auchy and the lighter line through the middle of the pic is the Bethune - La Bassee Road. Here is the superimposed image as indicated by Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leigh Posted 1 June , 2005 Share Posted 1 June , 2005 Quite a coincidence this thread as only yesturday I was having lunch at the spot marked with an orange dot L. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leigh Posted 1 June , 2005 Share Posted 1 June , 2005 Any chance I could get a nice high res scan of the second image mailed to me from one of you guys? I am particularly interested in the corner with the orange spot in the post above. Regards Leigh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7:29am Posted 1 June , 2005 Author Share Posted 1 June , 2005 Could you scan in the image with the same orientation as the reverse side. I have been looking at the topo map above and it is difficult to see whats what. I was convinced that the think line on the photo was the canal but im not sure of anything any more!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7:29am Posted 1 June , 2005 Author Share Posted 1 June , 2005 your right another give away is the railway junction at Auchy, it shows up very nicely on the top photo!! Nice one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7:29am Posted 1 June , 2005 Author Share Posted 1 June , 2005 is there still much to see? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leigh Posted 1 June , 2005 Share Posted 1 June , 2005 Not much evidence of the war but most of the roads are still there. The brickstacks are in private land behind a large wall so I could not see what was still there. Laurent posted a few pictures of the area a while ago I will post some later perhaps. Regards Leigh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leigh Posted 1 June , 2005 Share Posted 1 June , 2005 There were several threads about the area, search for Cuinchy and most will come up, notabley these, cuinchy 1 Cuinchy 2 and also recently Cuinchy 3 regards L. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7:29am Posted 1 June , 2005 Author Share Posted 1 June , 2005 Thanx for all the help on that.. i am amazed at the ground damage in the area it must have been one hell of a fight!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piscator Posted 1 June , 2005 Share Posted 1 June , 2005 When I checked the photo's against a French Ordnance survey map it is very noticable that there are few references to any area's of interest, in fact very little to indicate that a war was fought over that area at all, is this just a form of gallic indifference? Considering the growing interest in WW1 I would have thought some named points of reference would be included on their maps, and that doesnt mean town or village names, things like " Site of:-" (ie Hohen-Zollern redoubt). Compared with, shall we say the Ordnance Survey Explorer series the French blue series are a bit tat and nowhere near as detailed. Just an observation!!!! Len (nitpicker) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike McCarthy Posted 19 August , 2005 Share Posted 19 August , 2005 Great arial pictures. Can any expert identify which craters were "Midnight Crater", "Queens Crater" & "Baby Crater". All referred to in 16 KRRC (CLB) war diary for April 1916. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
healdav Posted 19 August , 2005 Share Posted 19 August , 2005 The French have always - even during the war - regarded the positions they held as being temporary, so even today they don't put them on the maps. The only things they do put on are permanent i.e. concrete structures that still survive and even then not always. I know of one place where a concrete pill box beside a main road is on the map whereas the next two pillboxes in the line which are in a forest are not on the map even though they are in better condition. Markings (a zigzag line) showing what they call fortifications are usually the German lines as they had concrete in them. Not all now survive due to replanting forests, and so on, even though they are on the maps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard Posted 19 August , 2005 Share Posted 19 August , 2005 Here is the superimposed image as indicated by Simon And here is the other one. A similar one and some photos of the area are on the WFA site here Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desmond7 Posted 19 August , 2005 Share Posted 19 August , 2005 I think these are brilliant. End of. Cheers to Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard Posted 19 August , 2005 Share Posted 19 August , 2005 I have rotated one to get more or less the same orientation in both Jim Presumably the originals are monochrome, so I presume the colours come from some unknown source. Any chance of posting unrotated or higher resolution versions? Thanks Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7:29am Posted 19 August , 2005 Author Share Posted 19 August , 2005 Presumably the originals are monochrome, so I presume the colours come from some unknown source. The last picture is infact one that i created using some remote sensing software, the detail on the WFA site is not so good, one must dither the images correctly and warp the images to get a "best fit" which is not always easy as most of early aerial photography is taken slightly obliquely to capture maximum contrast in the 3rd dimension.. bunkers, buildings earthworks etc. All the images are digital, i found the photo on the net and it was brilliantly identified by forum members, i then got the trenchmap from another forum member and simply combine the rasters..if you mean the coloured spot that is the lunchspot of Major Leigh!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Jones Posted 19 August , 2005 Share Posted 19 August , 2005 Any chance of posting unrotated or higher resolution versions? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Here is my version of one of the photos, that I posted the reverse of on 1st June. Regards Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7:29am Posted 19 August , 2005 Author Share Posted 19 August , 2005 That is fantastic resolution.. i shall drop it through the program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard Posted 19 August , 2005 Share Posted 19 August , 2005 The last picture is infact one that i created using some remote sensing software Jim I am curious about this remote sensing software. Is it something that would be useful with aerial photos? Simon Excellent photo. The more the merrier. Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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