High Wood and La Boiselle mine crater

[Marco]

I found it interesting to read that after the war a considerable number of bodies was removed from the menioned locations and buried some distance away:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~aur/Cemeteries/CERISY-GAILLYfnc.htm

Interesting, i.m.h.o.

Regards,

Marco

[Paul Reed]

The bodies from the La Boisselle mine crater(s) were probably those buried in and around the lip; the multitude of graves on the lips of these craters are mentioned in many accounts of the Somme. Those from Lochnagar seem to have been moved to Ovillers Mil Cem (Lt Col Heneker eg), so I wonder if those in this cemetery came from the Y Sap crater?

High Wood was still being cleared of bodies after WW2; the late Yves Foucat of Pozieres, whom some of the forum members knew, first worked in London Cemetery when he joined the Commission in 1947; he buried men found in that part of the battlefield.

[Brett]

Can anyone tell me, please, whether the crater in this photo, taken during my grandfather's pilgrimage to La Boiselle in 1930, would be the Lochnagar crater?

Thanks very much.

Regards and best wishes,

Brett Payne

Tauranga, New Zealand

[Terry Carter]

Hello

The majority of bodies found in High Wood during the clearances after the war ended up in Caterpillar Valley Cemetery.

Terry

[ArmyOfficer]

Brett:

To me it looks as if it could be Lochnagar; the spoil looks like the Somme area and the lay of the land looks as if it could have been taken from the eastern side looking towards Ovillers.

[Paul Reed]

Brett; it is most likely to be Y Sap, as the Lochnagar Crater in the 20s and 30s was barely visited by battlefield pilgrims because of its isolated position. While it is famous today, prior to the 1970s if you mentioned La Boisselle and Mine Crater in the same breath, you would likely be talking about Y Sap - because it sat just astride the main road.

Also, on this photo the the background looks much more like Mash Valley and the troughs and peaks of the crater are much more like Y Sap.

[Brett]

Thanks Paul and ArmyOfficer, for your comments. I found several modern photos of Lochnagar on the net, and wasn't quite happy with it matching, so I will now try to find some images of Y Sap. Is it one of those which have now been filled in, I wonder?

Regards and best wishes, Brett

[Paul Reed]

It is one that has been filled in - in 1977/78. I posted some photos of it on this forum a while back under a heading like 'John Giles Archive'.

[Brett]

Thanks Paul, I'll have a look for it. Regards, Brett

[Chris]

Hi All

Getting back to the original point about what happened to men buried near the craters and where they were reburied it may be of interest to know what happened to the casulties of a battalion that attacked infront of Lochnager crater on 1st July 1916. The following is a breakdown of where the 164 men listed as killed on 1st July 1916 whilst serving with the Grimsby Chums are buried:

Thiepval Memorial - 126

Gordon Dump Cemetery - 11 + 1 special memorial

Ovillers Military - 10 + 6 special memorial

Cerisy Gailly - 4

Bapaume Post - 3 (one man with an initial burial reference of 57d.x.20.a

Serre Road No2 - 1

London Cemetery - 1 (Body found Sept 1937)

Maybe of interest

Chris