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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Hooge Craters


unitedsound

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I'm struggling to place this image within the current Hooge Crater museum site.

Can anyone offer help?

Also, has anyone seen a trench map showing the museum's trench line exhibit?

post-34757-0-39057900-1313587176.jpg

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Hooge Crater museum, on the Menin Road, is housed in a small church building with a cafe added in what used to be the school-room. The rebuilt Hooge Chateau, now a hotel, is a little further up the road and this is the place which has an area of craters, concrete dugouts and excavated trenches. The photo shows the original Hooge Crater, which was in the fields behind the museum, not in the area which is now the hotel battlefield exhibit. The Hooge crater was filled in many years ago.

Tom

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Tom

Thanks very much for your informative reply.

I've been there twice and always had the impression that the pools of water were in fact the original craters. Do you know if they are linked to the infamous one?

ie were there multiple craters?

David

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David, the big Hooge Crater was blown in July, 1915. The craters we see today in the hotel grounds were blown by the Germans in 1916. There's a very widely-held belief that the present-day small craters are The Hooge Crater but as you have observed, their shape and size simply doesn't accord with the enormous crater in the photograph. I'm hoping that a Forum Pal will come along soon with an illustration from a trench-map, showing the position of the crater relative to today's museum, hotel and cemetery.

Tom

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Here's the location of todays museum and the hotel in relation to the craters

regards

Tom

post-5284-0-27249400-1313597415.jpg

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Hi,

the foto card in the first post doesn't show Hooge Crater but the Bluff

regards,

Cnock

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Hi

URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/830/hooge.jpg/]hooge.jpg[/url]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Hooge Crater in 1916

regards,

Cnock

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Thanks for the excellent map, Tom. David, you can see the big 1915 Hooge Crater just behind the museum and also the group of smaller 1916 craters in the grounds of today's hotel. You can also see how the original chateau was further off the road than its replacement.

Tom

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CNock

Thanks for the image and for setting the record straight.

Can I ask where the Bluff was?

David

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Tom

Your map is much appreciated. As the other Tom says, we now have a clear picture.

David

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Pierre

Thanks for the link to the Hooge section of your excellent site.

By coincidence, I was clicking through the Somme pages last night :)

Keep up the good work.

David

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David,

The Bluff was at the Ypres-Comines canal near Hollebeke

regards,

Cnock

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Pierre

Thanks for the link to the Hooge section of your excellent site.

By coincidence, I was clicking through the Somme pages last night :)

Keep up the good work.

David

Thank you, David, for your message here! I will keep extending my website, as long as I am able to travel. :)

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Hallo Pierre,

indeed an excellent site!

regards,

Eddy

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Cnock

Thanks for pointing me to the Bluff.

I've never been to Hollebeke but it looks interesting from what I've seen in Rose Coombs book.

David

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