Laurent Posted 10 September , 2004 Share Posted 10 September , 2004 Hi, in ILLIES village behind german front line (north of La Bassee town) , german bunkers and shelters are still in very good condition ! could someone send me trench maps of this battlefield ILLIES (1917 1918) to locate these bunkers ? Thank you. Regards Laurent. Next week i will send some photos of these german bunkers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Dunlop Posted 10 September , 2004 Share Posted 10 September , 2004 This is from a German map of February 1918 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Dunlop Posted 10 September , 2004 Share Posted 10 September , 2004 And just north of the previous image Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Dunlop Posted 10 September , 2004 Share Posted 10 September , 2004 And some of the map legend Regards Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurent Posted 10 September , 2004 Author Share Posted 10 September , 2004 THANK YOU VERY MUCH ROBERT !!! , that's exactly what i am looking for...Regards Laurent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Dunlop Posted 10 September , 2004 Share Posted 10 September , 2004 Glad to be of help. Let us know how you get with matching the locations of pillboxes, etc on the maps. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Dunlop Posted 10 September , 2004 Share Posted 10 September , 2004 Just south of Voilanes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Dunlop Posted 10 September , 2004 Share Posted 10 September , 2004 And Violaines itself - sorry about the misspelling above. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurent Posted 10 September , 2004 Author Share Posted 10 September , 2004 In Blue, localisation of german bunkers in good condition near ILLIES. i will take a photos of fews of them next week. Some german bunkers still present near Violaines front line... Laurent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simmo Posted 11 September , 2004 Share Posted 11 September , 2004 Are there (or were there) as many bunkers south of the La Bassee Canal and around Loos, than to the north? They seem far more numerous around Aubers - is this because south of the canal is more industrialised/populated and therefore any bunkers were more likely to have been destroyed and built over, post war? Simmo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurent Posted 12 September , 2004 Author Share Posted 12 September , 2004 "is this because south of the canal is more industrialised/populated and therefore any bunkers were more likely to have been destroyed and built over, post war" i think you're wright...there is no industry around Aubers, Illies and La Basse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mebu Posted 13 September , 2004 Share Posted 13 September , 2004 Hello Laurent, this is a very interesting area, isn't it? lots to see around Illies. Attached is trench map showing bunkers marked (a bit rough, done in the field)which were there7-8 years ago, Some show very intersting construction, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurent Posted 13 September , 2004 Author Share Posted 13 September , 2004 I will try to take pictures of these bunkers...soon ! Thank you Laurent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Robins Posted 13 September , 2004 Share Posted 13 September , 2004 The area running from Fromelles , Aubers through to just north of the La Basee canal seems to have a prevalence of bunkers of various sizes. This doesn't seem to be repeated in the Loos sector and during visits to this area I have always assumed that the soil conditions and water table were responsible for the German engineers incorporating bunkers into their defence lines. Certainly there are more drainage ditches in areas such as Fromelles and by contrast far fewer running down from Cuinchy to Hulloch and Loos village. Hence I would suggest trenches were more prone to flooding north of the canal. The other explanation is that the line was relatively static for a large portion of the war giving time to build the concrete fortifications. I would be interested to learn if my personal interpretation is backed up by hard evidence. Certainly an interesting and perhaps overlooked area. I look forward to seeing the pictures around the village in question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 13 September , 2004 Share Posted 13 September , 2004 Attached is trench map showing bunkers marked (a bit rough, done in the field)which were there7-8 years ago, Some show very intersting construction, Peter Hi Peter, Very interesting! Would you please post or send me off-thread the continuation to the left (towards and to include Gueudecourt) and give me the date reference to your map? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mebu Posted 15 September , 2004 Share Posted 15 September , 2004 hello Egbert, I have just posted some comments and observations on the bunkers near Illies, with a bit more of the map to the south, but only a mile or so: this has been rejected as too large. If you want Guedecourt, this is many trench maps off to the west, not the same defence lines or sector as Aubers/Illies? Peter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mebu Posted 15 September , 2004 Share Posted 15 September , 2004 Hello again Egbert, what I meant to say is that Guedecourt is not in the same sector as Illies, it is near Albert, and I do not have a map of Guedecourt. If you need a map of a specific area, I'm sure if you post a request you'll get some info, Peter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Dunlop Posted 15 September , 2004 Share Posted 15 September , 2004 Here is a German map from November 1916. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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