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Remembered Today:

Amiens Lunatic Asylum 47 CCs & 48 CCS


wesleycj

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Can anyone help me with the location of the very large lunatic asylum south east of Amiens.

It was used by 47 & 48 CCS in Aug 1918

I have found a map Ref " R.27.b " in the war diary of the 2nd Canadian Field Ambulance who were there on 6th August prior to the battle on the 8th.

I have a N&MP map CD but unfortunately the coverage does not extend that far to the west.

There is a photograph at the link below and it appears to be quite a large building and if its still there I am planning to visit it in Sept.

https://www.firstworldwar.com/diaries/casualtyclearingstation.htm

Chris

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Referring to the McMaster University website: http://library.mcmaster.ca/maps/ww1/ndx5to40.htm

The two maps that cover the vicinity to the South East of Amiens are 62d and 66e

Square "R" (as in R.27.b )is going to be ar the extreme easterly edge of these maps.

So:

62d.R.27.b is near a village called Proyart, about 20km directly east of Amiens.

66e.R.27.b is about 5km west of Roye about 37km south east of Amiens.

Do either of these fit the history?

If you enter 66e.R.27.b into the Great War British Trench Map Converter: http://rdf.muninn-project.org/TrenchCoordinates.html

you will see where it is on the ground.

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Dai Bach

Thanks for that but unfortunately it is located on Sheet 62e and unless I am inputing incorrectly the imagery on the converter does not extend that far.

Its described as an enormous building in large blocks in extensive grounds. The only other clues are that it is southeast and "a little" out of Amiens.

There were eventually 3 CCs sited there so I would think it must have been near a railway for getting the wounded shipped out.

Chris

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Some FA diaries have sketch maps showing evacuation routes.

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Inputting 62e.R.27.b gives


Centre hospitalier Philippe-Pinel

80480 Dury, France


Which if anything is in the south western suburbs of Amiens city.


I'm not familiar with Sheet 62e.

It's not indexed on the McMaster site.


Not familiar with it, but on Google Streetview, it has miles of high brick perimiter walls.

Would certainly fit in with a Lunatic Asylum.


It's history is here:


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Diolch yn fawr Dai Bach

That's the place - "maladies mentales" fits the bill and the satellite imagery fits the 'enormous buildings in extensive grounds. You could fit 3 CCS's in there no trouble.

I must have had a fullstop in the wrong place first time I tried the converter it worked fine second time around.

Chris

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Diolch yn fawr Dai Bach

That's the place - "maladies mentales" fits the bill and the satellite imagery fits the 'enormous buildings in extensive grounds. You could fit 3 CCS's in there no trouble.

I must have had a fullstop in the wrong place first time I tried the converter it worked fine second time around.

Chris

Croeso Chris.

Yes indeed, it looks very similar to Whitchurch Hospital, Cardiff, and I suspect many other similar institutions.

"Trench converter" can be a little bit fickle and I find Full stops are useful.

The format for a full co-ordinate is made up of 6 data items, and I find it is best to separate all with full stops :

[sheet number- A number which may be followed by the letters A,B,C or D]Full Stop[Letter]Full Stop[Number]Full Stop[Letter]Full Stop[Number, single digit 0-9]Full Stop[Number, single digit 0-9] or

[sheet number- A number which may be followed by the letters A,B,C or D]Full Stop[Letter]Full Stop[Number]Full Stop[Letter]Full Stop[Number, double digit 00-99]Full Stop[Number, double digit 00-99]

i.e no mixing of single and double digits for the last 2 data items and NO full stop at the end.

You don't have to enter all 6 data items.

You can omit the last 2, the last 3, or the last 4 data items. You can't omit just the last one data item.

If you omit the last 5 data items, ie, you only enter the Sheet number, strangely enough, you must follow it with a full stop- eg 28. not 28

Having carefully entered the data items in the Search box and press Enter, just check that the data entered hasn't changed.

It does so sometimes of its own volition, and can mysteriously insert a "+" sign and confuses itself.

It then zooms in to a location south of Ghana in the Gulf of Guinea, whose co-ordinates are 0°N, 0°E

Otherwise its a very useful tool.

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  • 2 years later...

Wesley did you find a photo of the asylum or one as a CCS? If you did would be interested in a copy if you don't mind. 

 

I have just just received this from MBrookwY who replied to one of my questions 

IMG_0340.PNG

IMG_0341.PNG

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hello from the Somme, this hospital still exists (now called : Philippe Pinel), here you'll find a picture, there one too

as Amiens has grown bigger, it no longer is on the outskirts, there are large stores on the other side of the road

Feel free to ask other questions ! kind regards, martine

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Martine, thank you for the above 

Do you have any images of when it was a Casualty Clearing Station in 1918?

 

Happy  Christmas

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2 hours ago, Dazscuba said:

Martine, thank you for the above 

Do you have any images of when it was a Casualty Clearing Station in 1918?

 

 

Unfortunately no ! I have searched but found just the ones I gave above ....  If you search, be careful : there is another DURY in another département (Pas-de-Calais), this one is Dury(Somme)

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On 25/12/2017 at 00:58, Dazscuba said:

Wesley did you find a photo of the asylum or one as a CCS? If you did would be interested in a copy if you don't mind. 

 

I have just just received this from MBrookwY who replied to one of my questions 

IMG_0340.PNG

 

 

Errr .... that would be MBrockway :lol:

These are in this topic here.

 

No 47 and No 48 CCS were only at Amiens Asylum for ~20 days before they were advanced to EDGEHILL.

 

Probably more likely to find pictures of the asylum when it was in use by No 41 Stationary Hospital 31 Aug 1918 to end of the war, or else as the Canadian Corps MDS before that.

 

Cheers,

Mark

 

 

 

 

 

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it was used by the French as well, I find names of French soldiers who died there

eg : Il est mort le 23 avril 1918, à 12 heures 30, dans l’ambulance 14/8 à l’Asile Départemental de Dury, Somme, des suites de blessures de guerre (intoxication au gaz). (here)

and this : "Later still, 444 graves were brought in from Dury Hospital Military Cemetery." + "DURY HOSPITAL MILITARY, CEMETERY, under the wall of the Asylum near the West side of the Amiens-Dury road. From August 1918 to January 1919, this building was used intermittently by British medical units, and a cemetery was made next to an existing French Military Cemetery. The British cemetery contained the graves of 195 Canadian and 185 United Kingdom soldiers and airmen; 63 Australian soldiers; one man of the Cape Auxiliary Horse Transport Corps; and one French and one American soldier."      here

Edited by mva
added infos
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