sulvarbir Posted 25 October , 2015 Share Posted 25 October , 2015 Hi, I am taking a close friend to the Somme next Tuesday (27 Oct) and he wants to visit the site of Dewdrop Trench were his Great Uncle fell. He was a private in the Liverpool Regiment. We have tried to research the exact location of the trench and looked at lots of maps on the internet with mixed results. I was hoping that someone might be able to assist, possibly with a GPS location. There has been the Rue Nord and train line built and runs right through the area. It's situated between La Transloy & Lesbouefs. I would like to thank you or any of your members in advance for any assistance you may be able to offer. Kind Regards Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus1914 Posted 25 October , 2015 Share Posted 25 October , 2015 This is what I found but I can't find a map with it marked... N34 is marked on this map... North of Lesbouefs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger H Posted 25 October , 2015 Share Posted 25 October , 2015 With those map references it could well be this trench - dated 20/11/16 from the NA Trench Map CD Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard Posted 25 October , 2015 Share Posted 25 October , 2015 Hi, I am taking a close friend to the Somme next Tuesday (27 Oct) and he wants to visit the site of Dewdrop Trench were his Great Uncle fell. He was a private in the Liverpool Regiment. We have tried to research the exact location of the trench and looked at lots of maps on the internet with mixed results. I was hoping that someone might be able to assist, possibly with a GPS location. There has been the Rue Nord and train line built and runs right through the area. It's situated between La Transloy & Lesbouefs. I would like to thank you or any of your members in advance for any assistance you may be able to offer. Kind Regards Chris Surprisingly few trench maps show Dewrop trench accurately. Here is one with it shown in pencil, therefore giving an approximate location. Later maps with printed trench lines do not quite agree, they show more trenches but sadly most have no printed names. Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard Posted 25 October , 2015 Share Posted 25 October , 2015 This is from Jan 1917. One cannot be sure which one is Dewdrop, there was a lot of activity there and much digging done. Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EDWARD1 Posted 25 October , 2015 Share Posted 25 October , 2015 Here is a Jan 17 Map with the trench named. Eddie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus1914 Posted 25 October , 2015 Share Posted 25 October , 2015 Series Number Id: GSGS 2742; Sheet number: 57c SW; Edition number: 4a 1916 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus1914 Posted 25 October , 2015 Share Posted 25 October , 2015 Those maps should make the chap from the Liverpool Regiment have an emotional visit... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard Posted 25 October , 2015 Share Posted 25 October , 2015 You may need to "join up the dots" as the name Dewdrop seems to refer to slightly different trench lines on different maps. Here are two more having looked through 30+ maps. Gold dust will be a map reference from the Liverpool Regiment war diary or the CWGC records of where he fell. Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan24 Posted 25 October , 2015 Share Posted 25 October , 2015 Sulvarbir, These images are of square 34d taken from the 11th Inf. Bde war diary on dated 23 Oct 1916 I've also shown the modern overlay of square 34d from the NLS website so you should be able to pin point it very acuratly. you can down load it from the TNA for £3.30 ref WO95/1490/5 part 1. My relative was killed with the 1st Hampshires in this area on 23 Oct 1916 and there is loads of reports of various attacks in october 1916 - best £3.30 you can spend. You need to view the 1916 map at 45 degrees to line it up with the google earth overlay. Regards Alan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sulvarbir Posted 26 October , 2015 Author Share Posted 26 October , 2015 Can I thank everyone for all their helpful suggestions and advice about "Dewdrop Trench". Our intention is to visit the trench on Wednesday which is the date he died in 1916 and then to Thiepval were he is remembered. We intend to visit the Menin Gate on Tuesday to remember the fallen and also a friend called Graham Maddocks who died in 2003 but inspired me as a teacher and in club rugby. A great man,historian, and author who was passionate about the sacrifice made by our soldiers and allies in WW1 and tried to educate students so they should not forget. A sincere and genuine thank you. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard Posted 26 October , 2015 Share Posted 26 October , 2015 Can I thank everyone for all their helpful suggestions and advice about "Dewdrop Trench". Our intention is to visit the trench on Wednesday which is the date he died in 1916 and then to Thiepval were he is remembered. We intend to visit the Menin Gate on Tuesday to remember the fallen and also a friend called Graham Maddocks who died in 2003 but inspired me as a teacher and in club rugby. A great man,historian, and author who was passionate about the sacrifice made by our soldiers and allies in WW1 and tried to educate students so they should not forget. A sincere and genuine thank you. Chris Good luck. I had been looking for Dewdrop trench on and off for a while, my Grandfather's battalion, 1/Middlesex were there. Here is a trace of all the above posts (thanks for the ones I did not have), it looks like Dewdrop was more an area than a trench! Which one is "right" is difficult to say. If you have a map ref. that would help enormously. Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 26 October , 2015 Share Posted 26 October , 2015 Here are a couple of extracts from two editions (October/November 1916) of the 'Somme Nord' 1:20,000 scale trench map to illustrate a 'before and after capture' situation. Hopefully, it may help a little....but then again, it may just muddy the waters seeing as one also indicates a German recapture of lost positions!! Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 26 October , 2015 Share Posted 26 October , 2015 A slightly less 'cluttered' (and, I think, less complete) German extract of the area (16th November 1916) ...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horrocks Posted 26 October , 2015 Share Posted 26 October , 2015 I was there a couple of weeks ago. It looks from the different maps as though it was variously interchangeable with Rainy Trench, which I think was originally German, sometimes it was beside Rainy Trench, sometimes just ahead of it. The position is roughly opposite the latter day communal cemetery, a rather unprepossessing looking recently harvested potato field, the long slope in front of it leading up to the Transloy ridge, along which the motorway and the TGV track run. It is one of those Somme places that, certainly at this time of year, posesses a somewhat dispiriting aura. This is a photo that I posted on another thread of the rough course of Rainy Trench. Dewdrop was probably to the right of this position. The tree is at the back of the village cemetery. An off-topic observation is that in the evident competition to establish which post-war architect could design the ugliest church, the one responsible for that of Lesboeufs must surely have taken the prize. It is perfectly hideous, and renders this rather desolate spot even more depressing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilbo139 Posted 26 October , 2015 Share Posted 26 October , 2015 Nov 16......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horrocks Posted 29 October , 2015 Share Posted 29 October , 2015 You will have already visited the spot by now, but I found this photograph amongst those I had rejected. According to many of the maps above, I believe that I would be standing pretty much exactly on top of Dewdrop Trench, looking onto the Transloy ridge, the Lesboeufs - Transloy road beside me. It is as desolate a spot as any on the Somme, even on a benign early October morning. One can barely imagine what it must have been like for those that had to spend the winter of 1916/17 in these fields. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sulvarbir Posted 2 November , 2015 Author Share Posted 2 November , 2015 Hi, just a quick update to close this thread off. We attended the location of 'Dewdrop Trench" on Wednesday 28th October 2015 - 99 years to the day that my friends great uncle, Private John Joseph Power (31550)4th Battalion Liverpool Kings Regiment died. He has no known grave. We did visit the nearby Guards cemetery, Lesbouefs, at the suggestion of two council workers, and found some named soldiers from the same regiment so it is possible he may be buried there. Once again thanks for all the support. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 6 September , 2018 Share Posted 6 September , 2018 Not sure if any of you still follow this thread about Dewdrop trench but my Great Uncle Capt William Aeneas Stirling was also killed there on Oct 14th 1916 aged only 20. He was in D Company 2nd Battalion Seaforth Highlanders. It seems that those brave men fighting at and around Drewrop experienced some of the very worst conditions and casualty rates of the whole war. This article (link below) is worth reading as it is derived from the war diaries of soldier who fought there. It describes the horror not only of the conditions these brave men lived and died under but also of the decisions and orders given out by a high command often so removed from the reality on the ground as to make one weep at the utter futility of the men's bravery and sense of duty and the casual waste of so many lives. http://bairdferguson.tripod.com/id12.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exaltabit Posted 1 October , 2018 Share Posted 1 October , 2018 Hi All, I have also researched and visited this dispiriting site and Dewdrop trench. My grandfather attacked with 1 Royal Irish Fusiliers on 12 October 1916, was wounded and won the MC. I was lucky enough to visit exactly 100 years to the minute that they went over the top. Below is a picture of him pictured in 1914 when he first joined the ASC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now