CROONAERT Posted 4 September , 2011 Share Posted 4 September , 2011 After the rather hectic end-to-end complete Western front tour of last year, we decided to take it a little easier this year. Only a few days dedicated to WW1 battlefields, but here're a few snapshots anyway... Starting off with a visit to the Somme battlefields and a quick visit to where Alan Seeger (and many of his comrades (including the German-American professor Siegfried Narwitz who always seems to lie in the shadow of his more famous literary compatriate in the histories) of course!) met his death on 4th July 1916 - Belloy en Santerre.... 1. The view from the RMLE jump-off trenches towards their intended target (Belloy). It was in this field that Seeger kept his 'rendezvous with death' ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 4 September , 2011 Author Share Posted 4 September , 2011 2. The village church that houses the bell donated by Seeger's family during the post-war reconstruction of the village ... 3. 'Place Alan Seeger' - the village center... ... 4. Belloy village war memorial... 5. Seeger's name inscribed upon the above mentioned memorial ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 4 September , 2011 Author Share Posted 4 September , 2011 An earlier haunt of the Legion (3 RM/1 RE) and also reminiscant of another literary figure (also the location of the first 'full' American death of the war) ... Frise... Site of the German fortified position of la Grenouillere... The River Somme from La grenouillere... The canalised section that was described so evocotively in Cendrar's 'La Main Coupee'... (view from the site of the French frontline towards the German lines (beyond the bend and on the opposite bank)... View from the German frontline back towards the French lines... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 4 September , 2011 Author Share Posted 4 September , 2011 German barbed wire still in the canal near Feuilleres... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 4 September , 2011 Author Share Posted 4 September , 2011 last of my Legion studies was to trace the location of death of one of Seeger's comrades who enlisted in Paris the same day that he did and served with him in the Champagne and the Vosges (and also appears in many of the photos of the 2RM/2RE alongside Seeger). He was a Swede named Elov Nilsen and ,at the time of his death (September 1916), had transferred to the metropolitan 170RI ("Swallows of Death"). He died during an assault on Tranchee de Berlingols just prior to a push on the Peronne-Bapaume road north of the river (NE of Clery). He died in the field between where I was standing to take the photo and the first of the two visible woods (Berlinval and Berlingols) on the Haute Montjoie plateau... ...and A nearby memorial (Bois Madame) to a soldier and his comrades of the 132RI who died in the same fields a few weeks later... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 4 September , 2011 Author Share Posted 4 September , 2011 Back south of the river and a few shots in passing... excavated ruins at Fay... positional remains in Wailleux Wood, Soyecourt... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 4 September , 2011 Author Share Posted 4 September , 2011 Biaches/ La Maisonette ... 1.Biaches necropole nationale... 2. The mass grave of the fallen of the maisonette action of August 1914 (Biaches village cemetery)... 3. La Maisonette ( a hotly disputed position between July and October 1916 too)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 4 September , 2011 Author Share Posted 4 September , 2011 Northwards to Serre-Hebuterne and the killing ground of June 1915... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 4 September , 2011 Author Share Posted 4 September , 2011 Le Transloy and the graves/memorials to over 800 Frenchmen who died here in August and September 1914 ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay dubaya Posted 4 September , 2011 Share Posted 4 September , 2011 Fantastic Dave and a profound thank you for bringing back some great photos from a perspective I know very little about...keep 'em coming Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 4 September , 2011 Author Share Posted 4 September , 2011 1914-15 French graves at Ovillers... (and a few general shots of the Ovillers - La Boiselle 1916 battlefields as per a request on here) .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 4 September , 2011 Author Share Posted 4 September , 2011 Fricourt New Military Cemetery and a very rainswept tambour... ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 5 September , 2011 Author Share Posted 5 September , 2011 last three for the Somme... Sailly-Saillisel CWGC... Mont St.Quentin... Thiepval memorial... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 5 September , 2011 Author Share Posted 5 September , 2011 ...and some of the hailstones that hit in the early hours of one morning!!! (that's a 2 euro coin for scale)... not the greatest of photos, but i was getting a real battering at the time!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 5 September , 2011 Author Share Posted 5 September , 2011 Up to Nieupoort and the top end of the Western Front (again!)... 1. The most northerly demarcation stone on the WF - Nieupoort an Zee 2....and the next one down... 3...The Nieuport memorial to the missing (with 1940 damage)... 4. King Albert monument 5. Location of the very end of the line (pre July 1917 ...post july visible in the distance)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 5 September , 2011 Author Share Posted 5 September , 2011 6. Memorial to Lt.Thuret (7e Tirailleurs) who died during an assault on 'la Grande Dune' (ie. 'Here') in January 1915. also the location of the isolated grave of a solitary 'inconnu' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 5 September , 2011 Author Share Posted 5 September , 2011 Water-spout off the coast... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 5 September , 2011 Author Share Posted 5 September , 2011 A view of Ypres during my fleeting visit to walk my dog around the palingbeek... Aalter war memorial (if anyone has a better image of this, could you let me know please as a chap i've researched is mentioned on it and , due to construction work, I had to take this shot using a zoom lense through some railings)... Licques war memorial(s)... one was for 1914-45 and the other for 1806 - 1907... ... Dover Patrol memorial, Cap Blanc Nez Brit Empire memorial, Boulogne basilica... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 5 September , 2011 Author Share Posted 5 September , 2011 Boulogne eastern cemetery... 1. French grave (principal medecin of Boulogne - from Corsica, died Boulogne)... 2. French (DoW at Boulogne) 3. French (doW Somme)... 4. French (KIA Camp Cesar (seine))... 5. Portugese 6. portugese 7. Portugese 8. general view 9. General view Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pighills Posted 5 September , 2011 Share Posted 5 September , 2011 Lovely to see alternative views - thanks for posting them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trenchtrotter Posted 8 September , 2011 Share Posted 8 September , 2011 Dont ya love the Somme weather...except for leaves on trees and crops stubble in fields could have been March!!! TT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auchonvillerssomme Posted 8 September , 2011 Share Posted 8 September , 2011 Thanks for showing us the pics, I never tire of looking at other peoples pictures of these areas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 8 September , 2011 Author Share Posted 8 September , 2011 Dont ya love the Somme weather...except for leaves on trees and crops stubble in fields could have been March!!! TT Only in looks. Actual temperatures were far removed from the March climate (it was even quite warm when the giant hailstones hit at 4am!) Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
532SQN Posted 12 September , 2011 Share Posted 12 September , 2011 Excellent photos thanks for sharing Cheers Rick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathie Posted 17 September , 2011 Share Posted 17 September , 2011 Thank you for those photos - I always read everyones stories and photos of their trips but this viewing has given me some ideas of being a little more adventurous than usual. kathie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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