Berry-au-Bac Hill (Cote) 108

[cwbuff]

Is Hill (Cote) 108 accessible for a walking tour? Thanks.

[Beirnaert]

Hello cwbuff!

I was there last june and I had the opportunity to see Hill 108 and the quarry. Very interesting although nature has taken over the place.

It is not open to the general public, as it is private property. But there is Hill 108 association who regularly organize guided tours.

Start by contacting them, you can find them on Facebook by searching for "Cote 108 / Hill 108".

If you can't join a public tour, them you may have a chance to visit it outside the tours.

 

May I ask what your interest is in Hill 108? Has your ancestor fought there during WWI?

My great-grandfather was a hunter in the 1st Royal Saxon Hunter Batallion No. 12, he was stationned at Hill 108 for over one year, before being transferred to Soyécourt where he fell on september 4th 1916 during the Battle of the Somme.

Hope this information helps you!

BR,

M Beirnaert

[cwbuff]

7 minutes ago, Beirnaert said:

Hello cwbuff!

I was there last june and I had the opportunity to see Hill 108 and the quarry. Very interesting although nature has taken over the place.

It is not open to the general public, as it is private property. But there is Hill 108 association who regularly organize guided tours.

Start by contacting them, you can find them on Facebook by searching for "Cote 108 / Hill 108".

If you can't join a public tour, them you may have a chance to visit it outside the tours.

 

May I ask what your interest is in Hill 108? Has your ancestor fought there during WWI?

My great-grandfather was a hunter in the 1st Royal Saxon Hunter Batallion No. 12, he was stationned at Hill 108 for over one year, before being transferred to Soyécourt where he fell on september 4th 1916 during the Battle of the Somme.

Hope this information helps you!

BR,

M Beirnaert

My wife's grandfather was an NCO in the Saxon Field Artillery Regiment Nr. 64. He fought on Hill 108. To pass down the history he lived to the family, I have translated his regimental history into English. For each chapter, I'm working on supplemental information that includes more detailed information to put the story in context. I'm also including information on how to tour each area. I have visited many of the sites, but not this one. Thanks for the information.

[Beirnaert]

That's a very interesting story! Did your wife's grandfather survive the war? Respect for your tremendous work, translating the regimental history from German into English. Have you found much additional information on Hill 108 and Hill 91 to add to your history? I would be happy to learn about it - if you are willing to share.

Unfortunately, I only have one vague picture of my great-grandfather in a shelter on Hill 91. We visited Hill 108 & 91 in june with the local ranger who showed us the crater, the quarry and some old entrances to the underground bunkers. I can share some pictures with you if you want. It was very interesting. How many times have you been over to Europe for your WWI research?

[cwbuff]

13 hours ago, Beirnaert said:

That's a very interesting story! Did your wife's grandfather survive the war? Respect for your tremendous work, translating the regimental history from German into English. Have you found much additional information on Hill 108 and Hill 91 to add to your history? I would be happy to learn about it - if you are willing to share.

Unfortunately, I only have one vague picture of my great-grandfather in a shelter on Hill 91. We visited Hill 108 & 91 in june with the local ranger who showed us the crater, the quarry and some old entrances to the underground bunkers. I can share some pictures with you if you want. It was very interesting. How many times have you been over to Europe for your WWI research?

His name was Alfred Weber and he survived the war and died in 1976. You can see my work on colorizing his picture in this thread on the forum (https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/236875-saxon-artilleryman/). His father, Edmund Weber, was also in the war, but was KIA in July 1917 at Pilckem. I have also translated his regimental history into English and have been working on supplementing each chapter as I described above. Alfred told the story of his unit pulling out of a position in Flanders and he passed his father on the road, whose unit was moving into position in Flanders. That was the last time they saw each other. I'm trying to figure out about where that occurred.

 

I'm happy to share my research. Let me look at what I have on Hill 108 and figure out the best way to share that. I would be interested in any pics of that area.

[cwbuff]

The link below is a pdf file that contains one of the chapters that pertains to the fighting around Hill 108. It is Chapter 6 in the regimental history. The manuscript is designed for a 6x9 book, and does not fit the 8.5x11 pdf file. I do not intend to publish the book - I only intend a few copies for the family. The first part of the chapter is the translation of the regimental history complete with original figures. The second part is the supplemental material that I have put together including a tour of the area. Note that Chapter 6 describes the action in October 1914. Field Artillery Regiment 64 also fought on the same ground later in the war. The creates a challenge on how to handle touring information. I'm still thinking about how to treat that. Toward the end of the chapter you will see "text fodder" and not well developed thoughts.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ko148c9wc57ppi2/FAR64 Manuscript v15 6x9 Format - Chapter 6.pdf?dl=0

 

PS: I have been to some of the battlefield sites in Europe on two trips.

Edited 9 September , 2018 by cwbuff

[Martin Feledziak]

26 minutes ago, cwbuff said:

The link below

 

I can see that you have much more to this history, But from what you have shared I can see that it is an excellent job.

Very nice presentation, well done.

 

 

 

[Ottokarl]

Good morning,

 

apparently this book: http://souterrains.vestiges.free.fr/spip.php?article103 has not yet been mentioned in this thread. It contains a chapter (some 30 pages) on "La guerre souterraine sous la côte 108 et le mont de Sapigneul", including plenty of maps, period and contemporary photographs and diagrams. Certainly worth its money, in  my opinion. It's volume 2 of, if I am not mistaken, a series of three books on underground warfare. Some of the information can be found on the author's website: http://souterrains.vestiges.free.fr/spip.php?article47

 

 

[GROBBY]

On 09/09/2018 at 11:43, cwbuff said:

His name was Alfred Weber and he survived the war and died in 1976. You can see my work on colorizing his picture in this thread on the forum (https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/236875-saxon-artilleryman/). His father, Edmund Weber, was also in the war, but was KIA in July 1917 at Pilckem. I have also translated his regimental history into English and have been working on supplementing each chapter as I described above. Alfred told the story of his unit pulling out of a position in Flanders and he passed his father on the road, whose unit was moving into position in Flanders. That was the last time they saw each other. I'm trying to figure out about where that occurred.

 

I'm happy to share my research. Let me look at what I have on Hill 108 and figure out the best way to share that. I would be interested in any pics of that area.

Hi im not sure if this unit was in the area but I have this postcard in my collection and thought you would like to see it 

img001.pdf

[cwbuff]

Yes - his unit was in this area. That is a very interesting photo, especially given the scale of the excavation as compared to the man in the photo.

[healdav]

And, just down the road at Hermonville there is a small British cemetery.

The restaurant Cote 108 used to be very good, but the owners retired and sold up, and the last time I was there (admittedly some years ago) it was not very good at all.

[knittinganddeath]

@GROBBY I just saw this thanks to bierast's link in the Coucy thread. The writer doesn't seem to have been a big fan of punctuation so I'm not sure of some of the sentences.

 

Steinbruch auf Höhe 108 bei Berry-au-Bac ist nicht weit von uns, stand auch vor 14 Tagen in der Zeitung da hier gekämpft wurde. Weiter vorne ist eine Fabrik im Fabrikraum die deutschen im Kontor die Franzosen also unter einem Dach. 

 

An Herrn

G. Schnaithmann

Dresden

Querallee 17

 

den 22. Mai 15

Geliebte Eltern!

Bin soweit noch gesund

und munter. Hier

war's als ich Euch voriges

Jahr im Oktober von den Schwarzen

schrieb Oben (?) kann

man den Schutzengraben

erkennen. Bewahrt

die Karte gut auf

es ist ein Gedenken

an schlimme Zeiten.

Mit den herzlichsten

Grüssen Euer Robert

 

Quarry at Hill 108 near Berry-au-Bac is not far from us, it was in the newspaper 14 days ago when there was fighting here. Further ahead is a factory. In the factory room, the Germans [??? are ???] in the office [??? with ???] the French under one roof. 

 

To: Mr G. Schnaithmann, Dresden, Queralle 17

 

22 May 1915

Dear Parents!

I'm still healthy and cheerful. It was here that I wrote to you about the Blacks [??? African troops ???] last October. At the top one can recognize the trench. Keep the card safe, it's a memory of bad times. With the warmest greetings, your Robert. 

 

 

[Patrick]

Scroll down topic on Dutch forum for pictures

http://forumeerstewereldoorlog.nl/viewtopic.php?t=4851

 

situation in 2009  and translation of the French message panorama picture picture in post 

http://supergenials.free.fr/souterrain/mines/pano_108_sm.jpg

"To access it, it is better to forget to go directly up the slope from the factory, except if like Jean-Luc you to want to work (Play)with the machete!

You have to walk along the canal de l'Aaisne à la Marne from the lock and head east after about a hundred meters. There are paths."

@+

Patrick 

 

Edited 22 April , 2021 by Patrick

[cwbuff]

7 minutes ago, Patrick said:

Scroll down topic on Dutch forum for pictures

http://forumeerstewereldoorlog.nl/viewtopic.php?t=4851

 

situation in 2009  and translation of the French message panorama picture picture in post 

 

"To access it, it is better to forget to go directly up the slope from the factory, except if like Jean-Luc you to want to work (Play)with the machete!

You have to walk along the canal de l'Aaisne à la Marne from the lock and head east after about a hundred meters. There are paths."

@+

Patrick 

 

Great set of pictures!

[GROBBY]

Thank you for that .It is realy good to have it confirmed by the writer that he was in the area and its the first time I have come across a german mentioning about African Troops but I think it could be more likely to be Tirallieurs Senegalais of the French army.Happy translating

[healdav]

9 hours ago, GROBBY said:

Thank you for that .It is realy good to have it confirmed by the writer that he was in the area and its the first time I have come across a german mentioning about African Troops but I think it could be more likely to be Tirallieurs Senegalais of the French army.Happy translating

Certainly French troops in that area.

[GROBBY]

Great photos Thanks for sharing

[David_Blanchard]

You might like these. 

 

 

 

[GROBBY]

Thank you for those .T he crater looks like it had very heavy bombardment. I dont know much about this area so will have to do a bit of reading

[knittinganddeath]

Patrick - thanks for the link. The text of the postcard made a lot more sense after seeing those maps & pics. Quite astounding that their trenches were so close.

[healdav]

11 hours ago, knittinganddeath said:

Patrick - thanks for the link. The text of the postcard made a lot more sense after seeing those maps & pics. Quite astounding that their trenches were so close.

In the Bois Le Prêtre, the trenches are about 25 metres apart.