mullet Posted 13 January , 2011 Share Posted 13 January , 2011 Hi I have been looking at a 1917 sheet of the area around Rumilly and Masnieres (Cambrai battlefield). There is a reference in the German lines to "Lamp Stations" just south of Rumilly... has anyone got a definitive answer to what these might be... searchlights? for use against aircraft or to illuminate the canal area around Masnieres from the high ground of Rumilly? I would be very interested to hear any thoughts. Best regards Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willy Posted 13 January , 2011 Share Posted 13 January , 2011 Hi I have been looking at a 1917 sheet of the area around Rumilly and Masnieres (Cambrai battlefield). There is a reference in the German lines to "Lamp Stations" just south of Rumilly... has anyone got a definitive answer to what these might be... searchlights? for use against aircraft or to illuminate the canal area around Masnieres from the high ground of Rumilly? I would be very interested to hear any thoughts. Best regards Andy Signalling posts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullet Posted 13 January , 2011 Author Share Posted 13 January , 2011 Signalling posts. Ah ha..... thank you very much. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Tulloch-Marshall Posted 13 January , 2011 Share Posted 13 January , 2011 Andy - Does the map locate the British front line as well, relative to the German lines shown ? - I've never seen this reference to "lamp stations" on trench maps before, and do wonder that anything involving a "lamp", facing "enemy" lines, would be tremendously attractive to the enemy's artillery, trench-mortars, and snipers. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willy Posted 13 January , 2011 Share Posted 13 January , 2011 Andy - Does the map locate the British front line as well, relative to the German lines shown ? - I've never seen this reference to "lamp stations" on trench maps before, and do wonder that anything involving a "lamp", facing "enemy" lines, would be tremendously attractive to the enemy's artillery, trench-mortars, and snipers. Tom Clearly this section of map is not frontline position at this time, given the railway route.Masnieres was captured by the 29th Division on the 20th November, 1917, the first day of the Battle of Cambrai. On the 30th November and the 1st December, Masnieres was held by the same Division against repeated attacks, but it was evacuated, under orders, on the night of the 1st-2nd. It was retaken on the 29th September, 1918, by the 62nd (West Riding) Division. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullet Posted 14 January , 2011 Author Share Posted 14 January , 2011 Hi Tom I believe Willy is correct. The area was very much to the rear of the main Hindenberg Line, and became the scene of action in November of 1917 with the Battle of Cambrai. To achieve this position high ground to the west of the canal first had to be fought over. I note that there are two mills that have been destroyed in the area of the lamp station, so presumably the area was subjected to artillery fire, but there is no knowing when this might have occured (obviously not in the run up to the battle as there was no preliminary artillery barrage and the map is dated 20/11/1917.) The interesting thing is that this is a British map, indicating that the lamps had obviously been observed, their nature understood and, as you say, I am sure they were an attractive target. I had never seen such an annotation before on a trench map, I was researching 1/Essex who were in action in the area with 29th Division, as Willy details. Best regards Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnreed Posted 14 January , 2011 Share Posted 14 January , 2011 I am compiling a Gazetteer of the Western Front (I have been on it for three years) and have found three examples of Lamp Signal Staions and two examples of Lamp Stations. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullet Posted 14 January , 2011 Author Share Posted 14 January , 2011 Hi John Thinking about it, I presume that the signalling lamps would be omni directional, through a sighting device along the lines of an Adlis lamp, so the receiver could be pinpointed accurately. Even so.... if they appeared on a British map, I guess they had been detected. Good luck with the Gazzetter... that sounds extremely useful... are you close to a conclusion? Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 14 January , 2011 Share Posted 14 January , 2011 I've seen an account by British signallers of difficulties due to German snipers who had spotted their lamps. In general great care was taken by both sides to position signal lamps so that they could only be seen by someone directly in the beam (for example by flashing from in side a bay formed by the walls of a building or from dead ground). One of the many tasks for balloon observers was to spot and plot such hidden signal posts. Lamps were used both in daylight and at night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnreed Posted 14 January , 2011 Share Posted 14 January , 2011 Andy This is just a sample, with Location Name, Map Sheet No, Map Sheet Name, Position Lat. & Long. (for Sat Nav) and Map Square Park Woods No 1 62CSW1 Dompierre 49º 53.412'N 2º 51.671'E N21 Park Woods No 2 62CSW1 Dompierre 49º 53.120'N 2º 51.554'E N21 Park Woods No 3 62CSW1 Dompierre 49º 53.137'N 2º 51.652'E N21 Park Woods No 4 62CSW1 Dompierre 49º 53.102'N 2º 51.800'E N22 Bismarek Woods No 1 62CSW1 Dompierre 49º 53.007'N 2º 51.667'E N21 Bismarek Woods No 2 62CSW1 Dompierre 49º 52.614'N 2º 50.494'E N26 It runs to 210 pages with 60 place names per page and I have proof read 76% I'm getting there. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullet Posted 14 January , 2011 Author Share Posted 14 January , 2011 That's going to be a very useful document... Best of luck John Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Baker Posted 14 January , 2011 Share Posted 14 January , 2011 I believe the technical term for German lamp stations was blinkstelle, which for some reason I rather like! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now