Guest private, 2nd worch. btn. Posted 30 March , 2004 Share Posted 30 March , 2004 just mentionning to aurel: No hate against the Diggers, certainly not. I'm following your work very close. You even know my name, and how I look. But the thing I meant about IFF is just how 'certain persons' can turn remembrance into making money... And that's the thing that bothers me.... so, aurel, please do not feel attacked by me. It's just MY opinion, that I wanted to share with you all. By the way, I really like this thread, good discussions... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ste Posted 30 March , 2004 Share Posted 30 March , 2004 And back to the important issues : Aurel - I'm from England and I'd call it Chicken wire! Ste Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Morgan Posted 30 March , 2004 Share Posted 30 March , 2004 We've always called it "wire netting." Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 30 March , 2004 Share Posted 30 March , 2004 And back to the important issues : Aurel - I'm from England and I'd call it Chicken wire! Ditto. Dave. (it was also used to hold foliage on German helmets for camouflage during WW2!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkristof Posted 30 March , 2004 Share Posted 30 March , 2004 A simular net of wire was used on the beds of Dug outs! not very comfortable i think... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurel Sercu Posted 30 March , 2004 Share Posted 30 March , 2004 (it was also used to hold foliage on German helmets for camouflage during WW2!) Dave, On helmets ? The stuff we found in Yorkshire Trench, though fragile, must have been rather stiff originally, not flexible at all. (I know because we sometimes found better preserved specimens in the ******* blue clay elsewhere.) And (Kristof), for dugout beds ? Possible. But the wiring in the Yorkshire Trench Dugout beds was of a different kind (square, if I remember correctly.) Aurel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurel Sercu Posted 30 March , 2004 Share Posted 30 March , 2004 (I know because we sometimes found better preserved specimens in the ******* blue clay elsewhere.) I find this utterly amusing (and at last adds some humour into this thread !). In my naivety and innocence I typed "b.....d blue clay" (that's what the soldiers called it !), and some b.....d changed it into b.....d. Was that you Mr. Moderator ? Aurel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkristof Posted 30 March , 2004 Share Posted 30 March , 2004 Aurel you are right! Indeed on beds it is square not round. My mistake... But it is simular. Did you find remains of Elephant plates? normal one or baby elephant? normal: sqaured curves + big, baby = small rounded curves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurel Sercu Posted 30 March , 2004 Share Posted 30 March , 2004 Both types were found in the immediate vicinity of the dugout (100 or so meters) but not in the dugout itself. Aurel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wedge Posted 2 April , 2004 Share Posted 2 April , 2004 Chicken wire, huh? I've yet to see that in a period picture but it goes to show soldiers will use what ever they can get their hands on to get the job done. There was a considerable amount of chicken wire found during the excavations at Auchonvillers, hence its use on the trench walls during maintenance of the site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mebu Posted 3 April , 2004 Share Posted 3 April , 2004 As it now seems likely that the Sanctuary Wood trenches may have been real once, if re-dug several times, and also the tunnel....one map shows Border Lane Tunnel to be in the area marked on the map by Croonaert, at ref 24d 5.7 (approx where the comm trench crosses the 60 contour) Can any of the locals check whether this is close to the existing tunnel? And in case Mr Kristof says the bunkers in Bayerwald were made by the Flemish....yes they were, in 1916. They were made in Wervick, in a German pre-cast factory using local, as well as pioneer, labour, and taken up on light railways, and erected to an engineers plan. We have a photo of the blocks being made, and on the railway, the engineer drawings, also a (very poor quality) photo of an officer stood beside one recently constructed, in the wood. Since Andre died some of the blocks have been re-used by the landowner next to the wood, there is a small barn or shed built of the Wervick blocks just outside the wood, south side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkristof Posted 3 April , 2004 Share Posted 3 April , 2004 Mebu, you may leave the Mr. away... about the block, There where several types. 2 main types: - with holes in different sizes - whitot holes in different sizes. Of the one's with hole we almost are sure they are from 1916 on used. So the trenches found at Bayernwald are form 1916 or younger... There are not so much bunkers in block left today, only +- 10 in flanders. Indeed because a lot of farmers used them to make constructions themself. greets, kristof Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcderms Posted 3 April , 2004 Share Posted 3 April , 2004 The tunnel is definitely kosher. It's on period maps and has the right entrances. I have also read an account by a stretcher bearer that mentions using these. As for the trenches, they are genuine according to my sources, experience and the local guides I have used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkristof Posted 3 April , 2004 Share Posted 3 April , 2004 i only comment this: WATCH OUT for local guides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkristof Posted 3 April , 2004 Share Posted 3 April , 2004 The proof of rabit/ chicken wire in the trenches. look well to the picture: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyHollinger Posted 3 April , 2004 Share Posted 3 April , 2004 Not to change or cast humor into this deadly serious debate ... but doesn't there seem to be a lady's leg coming from the left (as you look at it) bottom of this Tommy's great coat? See the alabaster white leg fitting very nicely into the black dancing pump? What was going on!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul guthrie Posted 3 April , 2004 Share Posted 3 April , 2004 Shovel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkristof Posted 3 April , 2004 Share Posted 3 April , 2004 I think it is another Enfield rifle. The snow lays also on the sling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Reed Posted 3 April , 2004 Share Posted 3 April , 2004 i only comment this: WATCH OUT for local guides. That is a very unfair and sweeping statement; there are many good local guides in the Ieper area. Some are members of this fourm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Posted 3 April , 2004 Share Posted 3 April , 2004 The proof of rabit/ chicken wire in the trenches. Hello Kristof Thats not chicken wire, its mesh. It is made from sheet metal, not wire, punched and pulled apart to create the holes. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkristof Posted 3 April , 2004 Share Posted 3 April , 2004 Are you sure Andy? It looks so supple... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Posted 3 April , 2004 Share Posted 3 April , 2004 Not to change or cast humor into this deadly serious debate ... but doesn't there seem to be a lady's leg coming from the left (as you look at it) bottom of this Tommy's great coat? See the alabaster white leg fitting very nicely into the black dancing pump? What was going on!!!! I see it too !!!! I'm not sure what that says about our psychological makeups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Posted 3 April , 2004 Share Posted 3 April , 2004 Are you sure Andy? It looks so supple... Yes, i'm positive. And yes, it is very supple, pliable and perfect for the job the photo is showing it being used for. When I was a teenager I worked for my uncle at weekends. He was a sheet metal worker and we used miles of the stuff to make machine guards etc. The one draw back is that the sheets are never finished and can wreak havoc on your hands. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkristof Posted 3 April , 2004 Share Posted 3 April , 2004 ok! i am not an iron specialist... so i certainly believe you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mebu Posted 4 April , 2004 Share Posted 4 April , 2004 Agreement with Max.... XPM, or expanded metal mesh; this appears on several standard trench specidication drawings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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