Laurent Posted 28 November , 2004 Share Posted 28 November , 2004 Last photos of Laurier Farm, Vert Bois Farm and strong point south of Nieppe Forrest (West of Merville) Lys battlefield 1918. Photographs taken during a little trip to Lys battlefield close to "Vert Bois Farm" (1918) with Mark Law (adherent of this forum) and his family. His grandfather was killed in April 1918 at the time of the attack of the farm. Regards. Laurent. Vert Bois Farm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurent Posted 28 November , 2004 Author Share Posted 28 November , 2004 Laurier Farm. High resistance of german troops in april 1918. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurent Posted 28 November , 2004 Author Share Posted 28 November , 2004 Lys battlefield in may 1918. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurent Posted 28 November , 2004 Author Share Posted 28 November , 2004 Rue Verte Semelle in 2004. South of Laurier farm, german strong point in 1918. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurent Posted 28 November , 2004 Author Share Posted 28 November , 2004 Rue Verte semelle in 1918. 2 farms, target of british artillery in april may 1918. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurent Posted 28 November , 2004 Author Share Posted 28 November , 2004 Rue du Laurier in 2004 (the road to Laurier farm and Nieppe Forrest) . End line of german troops in 1918. You could find this road on the air photograph (preceding message) this road was the target of the artillery shootings in spring 1918, note the many impacts of shell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andigger Posted 28 November , 2004 Share Posted 28 November , 2004 As always Laurent...awesome, just awesome. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markl Posted 28 November , 2004 Share Posted 28 November , 2004 Have just got back from France. I would just like to publicly thank Laurent for spending the time with me on Saturday. He acted both as guide and translator and helped me on my quest to piece together some family history. If there is a vote for the most helpful member of this forum mine goes to Laurent. Thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markl Posted 28 November , 2004 Share Posted 28 November , 2004 I came across this website which contains the regimental diary of the German Regiment fighting at Vert Bois farm http://home.hetnet.nl/~elbro4/Redirect_FAR...tskalender.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurent Posted 29 November , 2004 Author Share Posted 29 November , 2004 I came across this website which contains the regimental diary of the German Regiment fighting at Vert Bois farm http://home.hetnet.nl/~elbro4/Redirect_FAR...tskalender.html Thank you Mark ! is it possible to have a copy of your Gandfather batt. picture's ? Regards Laurent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markl Posted 6 December , 2004 Share Posted 6 December , 2004 Picture of Vert Bois Farm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markl Posted 6 December , 2004 Share Posted 6 December , 2004 Picture of the "touring party": Laurent far right (me next to him.) Taken at Merville Cemetry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 7 December , 2004 Share Posted 7 December , 2004 Mark, when exactly was your Granddad killed? My Grandfathers IR 49 took position between Les Lauriers and roughly Vert Bois on April 22nd. They rotated with IR 93 and 72. 25 April: Brits attack left wing at Vert Bois and forced 6./49 to fall back 26 April: I. and II./49 loose forward line. III./49 with support of one Btl of IR 14 counterattacked and regained all lost ground to include parts of Vert Bois. 27 April: A raid against Vert Bois (Codeword "Helene") with parts of Granddads IR 49 in combination with IR 140 was succesful. Also a raid against a farm 200m southeast of Les Lauriers was succesful. Commander of raid "Helene" against Vert Bois was Lt. d.R. Freyer 28 April: IR 49 was shifted towards the right sector roughly in front of Les Lauriers Granddad was at that time in 4.Kompanie, I.Battalion/IR49 and I suppose he somehow "met" your Granddad in the fields around Vert Bois -both are reading our stories from above with a smile now serving together in the Grand Army up there (Granddad was killed near Les Lauriers 1 May 1918) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markl Posted 7 December , 2004 Share Posted 7 December , 2004 Egbert, Sadly my Great Grandfather was killed shortly before your Grandfather got there. On 14th April,1918. When we visited the farm recently the farmer explained to us that it had been his parents who lived there in 1918. By the end of the war there was very little of the farm left (or indeed any other buildings in the area) It was clearly a strategic target that was often fought over. In the action that my Great Grandfather was killed in on 14/04/18 the British actually took the farm (with heavy losses) but later had to withdraw due to heavy German attacks. You may want to look at the following link which details the actions from a German point of view. http://home.hetnet.nl/~elbro4/Redirect_FAR...tskalender.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Dunlop Posted 7 December , 2004 Share Posted 7 December , 2004 Mark Thank you for the information. I tried the hyperlink but it returned an error suggesting that the target page does not exist any more. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markl Posted 7 December , 2004 Share Posted 7 December , 2004 I have edited the link and it now seems to work Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Dunlop Posted 7 December , 2004 Share Posted 7 December , 2004 Thank you very much. Some very interesting material. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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