Guest Trench Boezinge Posted 4 November , 2004 Share Posted 4 November , 2004 I live since 2 years in Boezinge, as I was looking today for trench maps, I found a really interesting one for me. This is a trench map of the canalsite in Boesinghe, on the left of the map, you can see a building surrounded by water which I incircled. From locals I heard there was a mantion before the war, after the war they built two houses on it and divided this piece of land in 2. I live in the house closer to the canal. Living here for 2 years I found a few bullets (dug out by my dog, my first battlefield founds) and a British button just over the water in the field. Some years ago my neighbour filled his side of the waterreservoir. I also know that from late spring to early winter this reservoir is dry you can walk from the street to the end without wetting your feet. In my backyard I also found iron stakes for attaching barbwire used in the great war, which I still use to hold my goats inside my propertie.. Also I have a type of brick bunker which is 1 m high and 2 m wide, with the roof in steel plate often seen in dugouts in the trenches, this was later used by the formal inhabitant to put in potatoes and charcoal(if my spelling is right). Questions : - Does anybody know if my propertie was used during the war? - Has this 'bunker' been made after the war? I have no evidence it was, because the people used everything they found to rebuilt their homes, knowing that soldiers also used everything they could to shelter. boezinge2.jpe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurel Sercu Posted 4 November , 2004 Share Posted 4 November , 2004 Hi 'Trench Boezinge', Yes, I recognized that map right away. It's from my website The Diggers, isn't it ? (Article about the Wellgate.) So you live in "Waalkrantz Farm" ? (The name is not on your map, but it is on mine. For the article I deleted it.) Sorry I cannot answer your questions. Maybe you can ask Hans Robyn ? (He lives around the corner, Diksmuideweg). I think his dad used to live there ? Or another member of the family ? No doubt Waalkrantz Farm, west of the canal, was used during the war. By French troops until May 1915, and then by British troops. Like all the other farms nearby. (Talana Farm, Colenso, Tugela,...) Unfortunately I have never seen any mention of it in War diaries or Regimental Histories ... Aurel (Boezinge) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 4 November , 2004 Share Posted 4 November , 2004 I can't really see from your map what has been circled. Is it Waalkrantz Farm?. Here's a map from early 1917 showing it if it is. Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 4 November , 2004 Share Posted 4 November , 2004 Is it Waalkrantz Farm?. Looks like you beat me to that one, Aurel!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Trench Boezinge Posted 5 November , 2004 Share Posted 5 November , 2004 Yes, it is the Waalkrantz fram, thanks Aurel for the explanation and lightening up the history of my propertir and yes I must admit that this came from your site 'The Diggers', doing a search on google. I hope this is permitted. If you want to you can come and visit me, I know you live in Boesinghe yourself, my phonenr: is 0477/437885. In the first days coming I will try to find Hans Robyn for more information about this little site. Thanks Croonaert for the map I really appreciate this, this is a piece of information I looked for a long time already. Now thanks to you I'm sure there are other finds to do in my backyard. This is something I never mensioned before, working in this house 2 years ago, I had to make a little trench to have gas for cooking and heating, from my house to the street, about 12 m long. Digging the earth out, I found a huge bone which I showed to my brother who knows more than me about sceletons, someone told me then I should not tell it to anyone and I laid it back in the trench. Maybe someone has been burried in my foryard 90 years ago. Sincerely yours, if I can do something for you, you can always mail me. Thanks a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurel Sercu Posted 5 November , 2004 Share Posted 5 November , 2004 Looks like you beat me to that one, Aurel!!! Dave, Switching on my pc and seeing this : it makes my day ! By the way, is your map dated 16 Jan 1917 ? I think I have the same map (fragment), but as it is a poor quality photocopy I am not 100% sure. Aurel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurel Sercu Posted 5 November , 2004 Share Posted 5 November , 2004 Now thanks to you I'm sure there are other finds to do in my backyard. Assisted by your dog ! As to the human bone : no explanation... Where you live there has never been any fighting. The nearest was 500 meters east (east bank of the canal). There was a British line 500 meters west west of your placecrossing the Kapellestraat (at the former railway crossing), but that was the reserve line (at least end of 1915). And I have never seen any mention of a prewar cemetery at your place (the nearest being, as you know Talana Farm Cem., 700 m south.) And no maps showing trenches near your house. But then again, everything is possible... Aurel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 5 November , 2004 Share Posted 5 November , 2004 By the way, is your map dated 16 Jan 1917 ? No .It's the 1st April edition (edition 5A). T.B. (rather unfortunate initials there! ), here's another extract , this time from March 1918 (edition 6B(s)), the last 1:10,000 map published for this area. Showing a light railway and hutments near to (but not on the site of) your house. Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff. Hobson Posted 6 November , 2004 Share Posted 6 November , 2004 Aurel, Does te Yser-Commines Canal bear any relationship to the Map.? Regards, Cliff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Trench Boezinge Posted 9 November , 2004 Share Posted 9 November , 2004 Croonaert, Aurel and the Forummembers who can help me, Maybe you can help me with this one? I have thousands of questions, but let's begin with this one. My dog found it again I think he must be 120 years old or something, he has a lot of white hair and knows so much!! Again walking with my dog the other day in Boezinge, we were walking on the old railway that went from Boesinghe to Ypres. Then suddenly, almost in the middle between the Kapellestraat and the Noordhofweg, my dog (here he is again, he's a beagle (uk-race)) saw a rabbit and ran after it right through the bushes, so I went in the acre to get my dog back (named Kwibus), and attaching my dog to his lace again, I found under the bushes a small gate under the railway. First I thought it was a drainage system the farmer used because there was water in it, although I wasn't sure, a drainage system in the middle of the field, under an abandoned railway track. + Aurel since you're an Ieperling since birth (am I right?) did you know about this? + Is this really a drainage system ? + Or is my fantasy about worldwar 1 getting out of limit, suposing there could be another dugout or cavity under it? + Croonaert, maybe you have the right map to show, a little more south following the railway direction Ypres. Thanks in forward. (bedankt ip vworant, int westvlams en in 't iepers ènè ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurel Sercu Posted 9 November , 2004 Share Posted 9 November , 2004 Joffrey, I'm afraid I can't help you. I have a few extracts of trench maps, but most of them only show the canal + east side (as this side is far more interesting). The few I have showing the railway have northing relevant, or nothing referring to trenches or whatever. There appears to be (have been ?) a dug-out on the west side of the canal (and there were even plans to make a second, which were cancelled), but that's too far from the location you describe. Are you sure it is related to World war I ? Or can it be pre-war ? Or dating from between ww1 and 2 ? Aurel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 9 November , 2004 Share Posted 9 November , 2004 + Croonaert, maybe you have the right map to show, a little more south following the railway direction Ypres. Is this the correct area? Dave. (1917) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 9 November , 2004 Share Posted 9 November , 2004 1918... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Trench Boezinge Posted 10 November , 2004 Share Posted 10 November , 2004 Thanks again Croonaert and Aurel, on the second map you can see a line crossing the map it is almost right at that location, maybe they just tunneled under the railway to get at the other side, I'll go and have a look tomorrow and take some pictures. Thanks a lot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 10 November , 2004 Share Posted 10 November , 2004 on the second map you can see a line crossing the map it is almost right at that location, maybe they just tunneled under the railway to get at the other side, How high is the tunnel you've found? The line you mention is a (temporary?) light railway or "trench tramway". Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Trench Boezinge Posted 11 November , 2004 Share Posted 11 November , 2004 The little gate I saw is not higher than 0,50 meter and 0,50 m wide, but the rest could still be in the mud??? Today, I didn't have time to take a look but I promise to do it and take some pictures in the first coming days. Greetings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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