morrisc8 Posted 26 November , 2016 Share Posted 26 November , 2016 The photos i made from the original negatives from my collection. Villers-Franqueux suffered extensive distruction during the war. The village is between Reims and Hermonville. The names of the peoples houses were put on the negatives. Here is a link to the photos. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Posted 27 November , 2016 Share Posted 27 November , 2016 An impressive series of images Keith. They could have been taken yesterday couldn't they? Their quality is first class. So easy to gloss over, when reading a military account where it will say something like "We shelled enemy positions in the village, and it was destroyed..." This is what a single destroyed village looks like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Evans Posted 27 November , 2016 Share Posted 27 November , 2016 Keith, That is stunning, both in the photos and the presentation. To have the negatives indexed to that personal level is something else. Presumably they were taken by a local photographer? What is the music you used? It is haunting. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWF1967 Posted 27 November , 2016 Share Posted 27 November , 2016 A striking set of images. Very moving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pighills Posted 27 November , 2016 Share Posted 27 November , 2016 Great set of photos, thank you for posting. Makes you realise how much it affected the civilian population too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Bennitt Posted 27 November , 2016 Share Posted 27 November , 2016 Thanks Keith, very emotive. Different war, different circumstances but I am immediately reminded of Oradour sur Glane. Cheers Martin B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horrocks Posted 27 November , 2016 Share Posted 27 November , 2016 These are very interesting indeed, and of fabulous quality. I know this part of the world a little, having lived and worked not far away in the late 1970s, when there was still a surprising amount of evidence of the Great War if you scratched about a bit. I was tempted onto google street view to look at the buildings now, which is interesting. I note a recurring name as Duval-Leroy (or sometimes Leroy-Duval!). It caught my eye as it is the name of a major Champagne house, reputable in its own right and also a long-time source of some of our better supermarket own-label Champagnes. They are actually located some miles away in Vertus, but I am intrigued and wonder if there is a connection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morrisc8 Posted 27 November , 2016 Author Share Posted 27 November , 2016 (edited) 2 hours ago, horrocks said: These are very interesting indeed, and of fabulous quality. I know this part of the world a little, having lived and worked not far away in the late 1970s, when there was still a surprising amount of evidence of the Great War if you scratched about a bit. I was tempted onto google street view to look at the buildings now, which is interesting. I note a recurring name as Duval-Leroy (or sometimes Leroy-Duval!). It caught my eye as it is the name of a major Champagne house, reputable in its own right and also a long-time source of some of our better supermarket own-label Champagnes. They are actually located some miles away in Vertus, but I am intrigued and wonder if there is a connection. I was invited to the village by the mayor last year, i printed a few hardback books of the photos and gave them to him for the village. I did go to the Leroy-Duval Champagne house in Vertus and gave them a free copy of the book, they had a warehouse in Villers-Franqueux and Duval had a house there.. There were only 12 houses left that you could live in, the rest were pulled down after the war and the village was rebuilt from 1923.We found 5 of the original houses left as some of the others were pulled down, one of them just 5 years ago.This is a link to a French website that i put some of the photos on, to get some more info http://pages14-18.mesdiscussions.net/pages1418/photos-14-18/divers/photos-villers-franqueux-sujet_2146_1.htm#t16335 Edited 27 November , 2016 by morrisc8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madgarry Posted 27 November , 2016 Share Posted 27 November , 2016 Very interesting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 27 November , 2016 Share Posted 27 November , 2016 Great selection of slides and video Keith. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morrisc8 Posted 27 November , 2016 Author Share Posted 27 November , 2016 (edited) 21 hours ago, Phil Evans said: Keith, That is stunning, both in the photos and the presentation. To have the negatives indexed to that personal level is something else. Presumably they were taken by a local photographer? What is the music you used? It is haunting. Phil From the film The Last Samurai by Hans Zimmer Edited 28 November , 2016 by morrisc8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Evans Posted 28 November , 2016 Share Posted 28 November , 2016 Thanks Keith Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morrisc8 Posted 29 November , 2016 Author Share Posted 29 November , 2016 Here are two German recon photos and you can see what`s left and two maps Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morrisc8 Posted 18 December , 2016 Author Share Posted 18 December , 2016 I have a original German map dated 19 May 1918 of the area around Villers Franqueux, Thil, Courcy, Hermonville, Loivre, Cauroy.Does anyone know what the legend / symbols on the map are for. h, i, g4, l, f, o2, g2, w3, g, m, k, ect. , you can see some on the air photo, they might be gun batteries? Here are some of the map symbols. z1, m1, o4, qu2, k1,n1. Ect Ect. The symbol info is not on the mapKeith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morrisc8 Posted 18 December , 2016 Author Share Posted 18 December , 2016 Date on the map, and looks like a unit/Reg 476 ---- Rgt and name under Rgt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morrisc8 Posted 30 May , 2017 Author Share Posted 30 May , 2017 Then and now photos. Went round the village last year to find the few houses that were left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry_Reeves Posted 30 May , 2017 Share Posted 30 May , 2017 Thank you, very interesting TR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morrisc8 Posted 30 May , 2017 Author Share Posted 30 May , 2017 (edited) Few more. photos 1 and 2 The Mairie after and before ww1. photos 3 and 4 Station house before and now. photos 5 and 6 house then and now. Keith. Edited 30 May , 2017 by morrisc8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horrocks Posted 1 June , 2017 Share Posted 1 June , 2017 MorrisC8, I am intrigued that in the 3 - 4th of your then and nows, (the tall house with the ivy growing up it's wall) the evergreen tree appears to have survived the passage of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morrisc8 Posted 1 June , 2017 Author Share Posted 1 June , 2017 5 hours ago, horrocks said: MorrisC8, I am intrigued that in the 3 - 4th of your then and nows, (the tall house with the ivy growing up it's wall) the evergreen tree appears to have survived the passage of time. To the left of the post card with the stamp on, you can just see the tall house as well. The card below has some of the houses i found with the XXXXX by them. Church before and during the war and how it is now, [new]. Last photo is of the tall house from the other side. All original photos are from my collection. Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morrisc8 Posted 6 June , 2017 Author Share Posted 6 June , 2017 Here are some more. The shop is now a house, photos of the park, A road in the village that i could not ID and one other photo of the church. All photos taken by me and postcards from my collection. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morrisc8 Posted 22 November , 2017 Author Share Posted 22 November , 2017 Just bought one more ww1 photo of Villers-Franqueux and a German air photo of the mill. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Posted 22 November , 2017 Share Posted 22 November , 2017 Marvellous pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morrisc8 Posted 22 June , 2018 Author Share Posted 22 June , 2018 more original ww1 photos, from my collection shows the French army HQ in a house in ruins taken in 1917 VILLERS FRANQUEUX. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morrisc8 Posted 2 August , 2019 Author Share Posted 2 August , 2019 Just bought some original German air recon photos of the area. you can see the trenches. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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