Abbeville

[b3rn]

Will be visiting this town in September, interested in any information people have on the location of the hospitals, particularly No. 3 Australian General Hospital. Presume it's up on the hill, in the fields beside the cemetery.

(A common hit on Trove for Abbeville is the Australian PM forced to make an emergency landing beside 3 AGH.)

Not much remains from the town as it was in WW1, it seems ... what about the Somme barges that brought wounded back from the front? Where might they have docked?

Interested in any comments, suggestions or experiences of forum members regarding Abbeville.

[WhiteStarLine]

Hi b3rn,

I'd be interested in you sharing whatever you find. My grandfather was evacuated to 3AGH in 1919. An asthmatic, he had successfully seen through mustard gas attacks that turned the whole of Villers-Bretonneux yellow and caused 620 casualties, but post-Armistice it got to him and he spent 3 weeks in hospital.

I am very intrigued by a photo of Abbeville showing a narrow street near the railway station with extensive bomb damage. It can be seen at

http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/H18452. In my grandfather's photo album is a series of original images from the Somme and Hindenburg Line. It also includes 3 or 4 images he purchased or swapped while we was in France. One photo is exactly the same image as H18452 and either he took it and it found its way into the AWM collection, or more likely he swapped or traded for it while he was over there. If you walk down the same street, please take a photo for me!

Cheers,

Bill

[johntanner]

As you say not much of the town remains courtesy of 1940-45. But the station is old style ornate Flemish and the Cathedral and belfry give a flavour of what it must have looked like. Try L'ETOILE DU JOUR - 2 CHAUSSEE MARCADE - 80100 ABBEVILLE‎ for a really good meal! John

[b3rn]

Thanks - will certainly post back with photos, etc. And cheers for the tip, John.

WhiteStarLine - wonder if that photo is this view?

[b3rn]

Anybody know more about 'Ye Olde Gum Tree' YMCA?

Photo 1, Photo 2

[WhiteStarLine]

WhiteStarLine - wonder if that photo is this view?

Wow! Certainly looks like it, with the rounded archway style windows and the brick chimneystacks. Thanks so much for this as I would not have found it with a virtual drive myself.

[b3rn]

Done more digital digging; seems 3 A.G.H. (alongside No. 2 British Stationary Hospital and the South African General Hospital) was not near the cemetery, but somewhere in the triangle formed by the Doullens and Amiens roads

Google Maps link centered on this location

Anyone have a map or sheet reference that locates the British stationary hospital?

(And how come British records are basically invisible online?)

[Keithpac]

Done more digital digging; seems 3 A.G.H. (alongside No. 2 British Stationary Hospital and the South African General Hospital) was not near the cemetery, but somewhere in the triangle formed by the Doullens and Amiens roads

Google Maps link centered on this location

Anyone have a map or sheet reference that locates the British stationary hospital?

(And how come British records are basically invisible online?)

Hi, I would be interested in the 1st SA general Hospital if any info comes up, my grandfather was treated there

late 1918.

Weefy

[Gunner Bailey]

Hi b3rn,

I'd be interested in you sharing whatever you find. My grandfather was evacuated to 3AGH in 1919. An asthmatic, he had successfully seen through mustard gas attacks that turned the whole of Villers-Bretonneux yellow and caused 620 casualties, but post-Armistice it got to him and he spent 3 weeks in hospital.

I am very intrigued by a photo of Abbeville showing a narrow street near the railway station with extensive bomb damage. It can be seen at

http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/H18452. In my grandfather's photo album is a series of original images from the Somme and Hindenburg Line. It also includes 3 or 4 images he purchased or swapped while we was in France. One photo is exactly the same image as H18452 and either he took it and it found its way into the AWM collection, or more likely he swapped or traded for it while he was over there. If you walk down the same street, please take a photo for me!

Cheers,

Bill

I know Abbeville quite well and there is a long terrace of houses like that on the Route De Rouen close to the railway lines. A few of them suffer from subsidence, so maybe the repairs were not 100% successful. One of my grandfathers, a Sapper was posted to Abbeville Station for a short while in 1917 to help out with some unknown task - but probably setting up a telephone or message service.

John