huwrevans Posted 16 January , 2011 Share Posted 16 January , 2011 In Munbys history of the 38th (Welsh) Division he mentions that in April/May 1918 the Div Arty was left behind aroung Armentiers to cover 34 Div Infantry who had taken over fron 38 Div. He states that two 4.5 howitzers of 121 Bde were lost to enemy arty in La Vessee on the 9th April and the Bde HQ was hit whilst locatedin La Rolanderie. I can't find these places on modern maps. can someone please point me in the right direction? Thanks Huw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willy Posted 16 January , 2011 Share Posted 16 January , 2011 La Rolanderie (farm)is located near Erquinghem Lys and was used as 34th div hq in august 1916 and march 1918, and i believe Suffolk cemty is very close to the original farm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Baker Posted 16 January , 2011 Share Posted 16 January , 2011 The other location is actually La Vesée. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huwrevans Posted 16 January , 2011 Author Share Posted 16 January , 2011 Thanks both. Working mainly from google due to working away. Anyone got any trench maps of that time of point me somewhere online to look? Regards Huw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willy Posted 16 January , 2011 Share Posted 16 January , 2011 Thanks both. Working mainly from google due to working away. Anyone got any trench maps of that time of point me somewhere online to look? Regards Huw I will dig one out for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Riley Posted 16 January , 2011 Share Posted 16 January , 2011 La Rolanderie Farm (today) on Google Earth is at 50°40'8.61"N 2°51'14.49"E. I am afraid that I have not checked this against a trench map recently but seem to recall that the positions are pretty much the same. It seems to have been used as billets by the 2/10th (Scottish) Bn, King's Liverpool Regiment (the 2nd Battalion of the Liverpool Scottish) in 1917 (amongst other units) as well as a Brigade HQ. I thought that I had a photo taken fairly soon after the end of WW1 but can't trace it at the moment. I will continue to look. The Chairman of the Erquinghem Lys Museum committee (all volunteers) and guiding light of the Musée d'Ercan (Jack Thorpe - a splendid Frenchman who speaks good English) might be able to help with any further detail of La Rolanderie through these links here and here Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
connaughtranger Posted 18 January , 2011 Share Posted 18 January , 2011 Hi There was a La Rolanderie Farm (H 11 c central) and a building further south named La Rolanderie (H 17 b 15.80) on a 1917 trench map. If the word 'Farm' wasn't used then it's likely to be the buildings in H 17. Mind you, if you were in Armentieres in 1917 and asked the way to L'Epinette, you would have received one of 2 possible answers: "Turn right and go straight on" or "Turn left and go straight on". Trouble is...both would have been correct! Regards Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huwrevans Posted 14 April , 2012 Author Share Posted 14 April , 2012 Finally got round to buying the maps and overlayed a 1918 map onto Googlearth the show trench lines around La Vessee and La Rolanderie. Just thught I'd post them to complete this topic Regards Huw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
connaughtranger Posted 14 April , 2012 Share Posted 14 April , 2012 La Rolanderie was 500 mtrs SSE of La Rolanderie Farm as I pointed out. Did Mumby or the Divisional Artillery give co-ordinates? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
connaughtranger Posted 14 April , 2012 Share Posted 14 April , 2012 So which one is the La Rolanderie referred to by Mumby? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huwrevans Posted 15 April , 2012 Author Share Posted 15 April , 2012 No grids in Munby just - "At 4:15 am on the 9th the enamy opened a very heavy bombardment on the whole front. The fire was particularly heavy on battery areas. 121st Brigade headquarters, at La Rolanderie, was shelled and hit, The orderly officer was killed and the MO wounded. Two 4.5" Howitzers, D 121st Brigade, in a forward position at La Vessee were destroyed." Map from March 1918 shows a defensive trench at La Roladerie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
connaughtranger Posted 15 April , 2012 Share Posted 15 April , 2012 My map (1 : 20000) corrected to 24/9/17 when the front lines were 4000 mtrs away. Arriving at the correct location depends very much on the presence or absence of the word FARM; that's why I feel the more southerly location is the likely one that Mumby is referring to, otherwise confusion could have arisen.....which it has 95 years later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huwrevans Posted 16 April , 2012 Author Share Posted 16 April , 2012 Yep thats what I was thinking. Though we may never know for definite. The NA couldn't locate any diary pages for those date for 121 Bde, maybe not suprising if the HQ had been hit. But if anyone knows any different........................... My map (1 : 20000) corrected to 24/9/17 when the front lines were 4000 mtrs away. Arriving at the correct location depends very much on the presence or absence of the word FARM; that's why I feel the more southerly location is the likely one that Mumby is referring to, otherwise confusion could have arisen.....which it has 95 years later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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