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Remembered Today:

1915 Trenches A 4-11 near Ypres


Ralphed

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Can anyone point me in the right place to find trenches A 4-11. I know they're near Ypres.

Any help most grateful

Ralph.

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Depends on the exact period in 1915 you're looking for and exactly where 'near Ypres' that you mean as there were several (the 'A' sector trenches in the Ypres area were located near Messines, just above the Ypres-Roulers Railway and also south of Sanctuary Wood).

Dave.

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It is very close to Sanctuary Wood. The 4th RF relived the 10th Sherwoods there on 14th Sep 1915. The Sherwoods diary indicates that A 4-11 were immediately adjacent to Sanctuary Wood as its D Coy was in the trenches at the South end of the wood. No maps in the diaries.

Map ref is Belgium Series B Sheet 28 if anyone can locate it. MG

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Depends on the exact period in 1915 you're looking for and exactly where 'near Ypres' that you mean as there were several (the 'A' trenches in the Ypres area were located near Messines, just above the Ypres-Roulers Railway and also south of Sanctuary Wood).

Dave.

...and to further emphasise the need for a specific date... if using the French sector letters (as the British did in some sectors of the salient in very early 1915), then you'll also find some 'A' trenches just east of Hill 60!

Dave ( but these didn't reach as high as '11' )

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Today i have posted a number of times posing different questions in different forums. Each time the responses have been quick and informative. I am in your debt.

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War Diary, 5th Battalion Border Regiment, date 23 December 1915 - "The Battalion took over trenches A.7 to A.12 on the right of Hooge."

Anyone have a relevant map?

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Rummaging through some old notes and found this.

It was the 4th Green Howards positions in Dec 1915. Not sure where I got the position from but the war diary does state they were in and out of A3-A6 Dec 1915-Jan 1916

Eddie

post-74029-0-50498000-1420908336_thumb.j

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Eddie you're a marvel! Been trying to find something positive about those trenches for years, literally. The line on your map runs along a trench called Winnipeg Street. I can follow that on Linesman and maybe, just maybe, there'll be some trace inside Sanctuary Wood. Can't thank you enough.

John.

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My pleasure. I only wish I could find where I got the information from to enable me to draw it onto the map!

Eddie

ps received your pm

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Just found an entry in the 4th APWO Yorkshire Regiment diary for the 4th Jan 1916 which reads " The battalion under Major H G SCOTT left for the trenches A3-A6 Map Sheet 28(Belgium) I30a8.2-I30b6.9. A long weary march in the rain ....."

Eddie

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I wonder whether the OP will actually let us know whether this Sanctuary Wood area 'A sector' is the actual one that he's looking for?

Though everyone appears to have totally ignored my posts # 2 and 4 (I have often wondered lately whether I'm posting in invisible e-ink on the GWF these days! :( ) and gone all out for the Sanctuary Wood trenches, I must point out (again) that, less than two miles to the north, there was another 'A Sector' of trenches (A1 being on the Ypres-Roulers Railway, A2 - behind Gully Farm, A3 - opposite the Cambridge Road cross road, A4 - nondescript (near Park Lane), A5 (and A5b) - Crump Farm, A6 - opposite 'The Mound', A7 - Warwick Farm, A8 - frontline on a level with Monmouth Cottage... etc etc etc... situation as in July 1915).

Less than 5 miles to the south, there was another 'A Sector' of trenches (situation as in May 1915)

Dave

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Dave - I think that you have got a good point. Up to mid 1916 it seems to me that some divisions invented their own system of numbering trenches, rather than use previous ones.

A while ago I was after trench "B2" southeast of Ypres, where the 9th Durham Light Infantry were in Jan 1916, and I seemed to have several possible "B" sectors to choose from, depending on whether the old French system was still in use, or the division had invented their own. Eventually (and I think you helped me Dave, or at least posts that you had written did) I think I worked out that it was probably in the front line on the southern edge of Armagh Wood, roughly opposite what would in 1917 be the German "Image Trench". Thanks!

So you see, some of us on the GWF don't ignore your posts :D

William

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I wonder whether the OP will actually let us know whether this Sanctuary Wood area 'A sector' is the actual one that he's looking for?

Though everyone appears to have totally ignored my posts # 2 and 4 (I have often wondered lately whether I'm posting in invisible e-ink on the GWF these days! :( ) and gone all out for the Sanctuary Wood trenches, I must point out (again) that, less than two miles to the north, there was another 'A Sector' of trenches (A1 being on the Ypres-Roulers Railway, A2 - behind Gully Farm, A3 - opposite the Cambridge Road cross road, A4 - nondescript (near Park Lane), A5 (and A5b) - Crump Farm, A6 - opposite 'The Mound', A7 - Warwick Farm, A8 - frontline on a level with Monmouth Cottage... etc etc etc... situation as in July 1915).

Less than 5 miles to the south, there was another 'A Sector' of trenches (situation as in May 1915)

Dave

Unfortunately this thread is missing some context. The OP followed another thread here which specified 12th Sep 1915 and a specific Battalion - the 4th Bn Royal Fusiliers. We know from the diaries that the battalion in question took over from the 10th Bn Sherwood Foresters a few days later and we know from that context that it was immediately South of Sanctuary Wood. I think the map on Post #8 has nailed it.

I assumed others were aware of the previous post, but clearly that has not been the case. The original poster might not be aware of the subsequent discussion. MG

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Here is one from July 1915, but as Dave has pointed out it may be the right A1-A11

post-4619-0-37317500-1421499188_thumb.jp

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John,

Yes its the same one, hand drawn a few months before the one in post 8. The 139th Brigade held those trenches in June-August 1915.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest spartacus1

Hello,

It is my first time on the forum. I'm especially interested in Warwick Farm east of Ypres. The owners of this farm are relatives to me.

I want to know if they stayed on the farm till 22 april 1915 (gas attack). Are they mentioned in regiments histories. Why the name Warwick Farm?

Did they stay untill 22 april 1915. Is this possible during the first battle of Ypres... Was this farm jused as ...???

Johan

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Spartacus1,

Welcome !

But .. if I were you, I would ask that question starting a separate topic.

Aurel

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