Help

[monty]

Hi

I have just joined this forum, and I'm trying to locate the address of the cemetery's and battlefields sites in Belgium & Ypres. I have been to some of the sites when i was a coach driver, but im keen to return with my family, but cant remember the locations of them. Can anyone please help.

Thank you

[Orson]

Monty

Hi and welcome to the Forum!

One starting place would be a good map, which can show where the cemeteries are. You can then go to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) for further information. If you go to the CWGC homepage and change the search criteria from casualty to cemetery you can then type in the name of the cemetery and you will get directions. However, you do need to type it in carefully, making no mistakes.

Good luck

Orson

[Pighills]

Or, if you like to use your satnav, go to Braunceston Bruce's fabulous thread and download his thingywatsit (I mean file) which will give you door to door instructions for any cemetry in France or Belgium, a fantastic little POI file!!

Find it 'Here'

[keithmroberts]

You might find it helpful to look at the general guides published which start with...Major and Mrs Holt's guide to..... which give an overview of the various areas, and might help you to decide where you want to start.

Welcome to this entirely addictive forum,

Keith

[gem22]

Monty

I would suggest that the following list of books is a must for people who are new(ish) to the western front.

Top of my list would be 'Before endeavours fade' by Rose Coombs, together with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's map book 'Cemeteries and Memorials in Belgium and Northern France.

I would also add 'The Silent Cities' by Sidney Hurst,

Major and Mrs Holt's have 4 guides; Somme, Ypres Salient, Western Front North, and Western Front South. I have each of these simply because they all add something to the overall picture of the war and therefore increase my knowledge.

As you go on you may want to purchase French IGN maps and Belgian NGI maps. These are either 1:20000 or 1:25000 but may not be absolutely necessary.

In this day and age a satnav system is becoming a useful tool; but only if you know where you want to visit and you are looking for help getting there. I don't know of a system that has the necessary information pre-programmed (Santa Claus please note )

Any further information you need can be gleaned by asking the relevant question on this forum. A very valuable source of free information.

Good luck with your trips and do remember to let people know how you get on.

Garth

[Ron Clifton]

Hello Monty, and welcome.

It may seem a bit obvious, but if you are fairly near a cemetery and the landscape is reasonably open, the white "cross of sacrifice" is a great help in pinpointing its position.

I think the CWGC still produce a version of the Michelin yellow 1:200,000 series map number 52 which covers a lot of the relevant area and has a purple numbered spot for each cemetery. The concentration is staggering.

Ron

[daggers]

I would add Michelin map3 51 - Calais/Lille Bruxelles and 53 -Arras/Charleville/Mexieres.St.Quentin. There is some overlapping.

A coach driver was once very helpful to me when I wanted to get to Lijssenthoek Cemetery. If it was you, Monty, thank you very much. In any case, good luck with your visit.

D

[Ian Murphy]

Monty,

As forum pals have already stated, the SatNav option is a great way to go, one additional advantage of something like a TomTom is the ability to create your own itineraries.

When combining some of my own destinations with some of those from suggested routes from the "Major & Mrs Holt's" guidebooks I find that this feature is really helpful.

Hope this helps,

Ian.

[monty]

Thanks you to all for your information this is a great help. I will let you know how i get on.

[Salfordian]

Thanks you to all for your information this is a great help. I will let you know how i get on.

This is a good site to use

http://www.inmemories.com/Cemeteries/martinsartbrit.htm