Traverse the Lille - Amiens battlefields armchair style.

[towisuk]

Battlefield touring with a difference!! you need a cup of coffee, plate of biscuits and a comfortable armchair...

Calling at .......

This is especially handy for those who can't get to the battlefields for various reasons, it gives one an idea of the distances involved.

See if you can spot Ancre Cemetery...it's easy if you follow the route on a decent map of the area covered.

Ok, now for the important thing, the link.....

regards

Tom

[towisuk]

Oh!! I forgot...that will be Euro 21:70 please (cheaper if you are old like me !!!)

regards

Tom

[John Cubin]

Tom, I thoroughly enjoyed that. Spotted Ancre Cemetery. Also Railway Cutting Cemetery around minute 43, Beaucourt Hamel Station about 54 and, a real treat for me, the remains (pillars) of the Marmont Bridge just before Albert Station at about minute 57.

Thanks for posting.

[halibag3]

... and Heilly Station Cemetery (just off-pic to the left) at 1:04:15. Thanks for flagging this up, Tom.

JMD

[towisuk]

See what I meant about coffee, biscuits and a comfy armchair gentlemen.....

Its surprising what you can spot when following a good map, and as I said in my first post, there are many who are unable to get to the battlefields, this gives them an idea of distances and terrain.

regards

Tom

[Michelle Young]

Just spotted Level Crossing cemetery at Fampoux on the run into Arras, and think I clocked Dernancourt

[JWK]

That's brilliant! I could watch that for hours.....

[towisuk]

We may have to start a competition to see who has spotted the most WW1 related sites on this journey.

I "cast " the streaming video onto my Big TV screen using "Chromecast".....makes for easier viewing.

Tickets please!!!

regards

Tom

[towisuk]

And just one more thing,.....how many people noticed they have restored the "triangle" approaching Arras..?? @31:07 mins

I remember reading that there were a number of Germans given a battlefield burial here, and I often wonder if they were found and re-interred following the Armistice.

1917 map section....

And this from Google Earth shows the east section as not existing when the aerial photo was taken.....

regards to all fellow travellers...

Tom

[Michelle Young]

Thought I spotted the Triangle

Michelle

[towisuk]

Well done Michelle, I wish I could remember which book I was reading when it referred to the triangle as battlefield burial site

Tom

[Fattyowls]

Tom

Thanks for posting this; I found it absolutely compelling which rather worries me. I spotted the dreaded railway triangle mainly because I have caught the train down to Arras from Lille and back and made a point to look for it. I think I would have enjoyed the journey even without the history; does this make me a trainspotter I wonder? Perhaps I still want to be an engine driver.

Pete.

[towisuk]

" Perhaps I still want to be an engine driver."

Well, you've just experienced your engine drivers view Pete..!!!

regards

Tom

[towisuk]

A few years back I was covering the attack line of the 1st Kings Liverpool Battn on Mory Copse, amongst one of the many cemeteries my colleague and myself visited was Railway Cutting cemetery near Courcelles le Comte and Gomiecourt.

It's only taken just over a year for me to spot it at 43:00 minutes into the video, it appears on a slight slope on the right next to the railway line. We also visited Warry Copse cemetery which is just before it at 42:41 on the left of the line....but not visible because of the railway cutting at that point.

There are many Kings Liverpool burials in this cemetery (Warry Copse), and if I remember rightly 2 unknowns.... but identified only as Kings Liverpool, and as my colleagues uncle is a "missing" Kings Liverpool man, we hope he may be one of those two, only a very, very slight chance but at least we know a bit more now than before our pilgrimage.

So even after over a year I've re-visted the video I posted on the forum over a year ago (it's taken that long for the penny to drop.!!!)

regards

Tom

[Michelle Young]

I was only thinking about this video today as I was looking at Railway cutting and Warry Copse on a map. Starting to think about our Aprilvisit and places we want to go

Michelle

[towisuk]

Hi Michelle, it was a dull, drizzly day out in the battlefields when we followed the line of advance, we visited lots of cemeteries in the area looking for "unknowns", we even went to a small one... (Le Homme Mort) squeezed between the High speed rail line and autoroute just to the east of Mory.

Even with the inclement weather and the unsightly new wind generators built on that part of the battlefield, it was, I believe, the most enjoyable day I have spent in the Somme or Flanders for that matter.

The bottle('s) of wine we had that evening in our gite with, and after our meal were well earned.....

best regards

Tom

p.s. the only benefit of the wind generators, was the fact that the roads that were built for their construction, took us right into the fields in our car...no problems with farmers and access....!

[Michelle Young]

Very much looking forward to the visit Tom, been a while and some very hard work recently. I have some time off in February, I am trying to persuade him indoors that quick battlefield visit would be a good idea!

Michelle

[chaz]

Michelle, what week in Feb? we are last week.

[Michelle Young]

I'm off from 13th for 5 days. I'm still trying to persuade him though!