Thiepval or The Menin Gate

[SOMMESOLDIER]

Hi,

Hope this works.

Cheers

Tim.

[Will O'Brien]

Menin Gate for me...............I have found many memorials moving, but Menin Gate edges it simply because it was the first I ever visited. I think in part it was the first time the sheer enormity of it all hit me..............Casualty figures are difficult to visualise when written in books............but seeing name after name after name etched into those panels really brought it home.

[stiletto_33853]

Menin Gate for me also, although Thiepval is an awesome memorial in its own rite. I dont know, i think its because Menin is still a daily part of peoples lives, with the ceremony every day. Whereas Thiepval is so bleak sometimes when the visitors are not there which has its own appeal as a place of memorial.

Andy

[Matt Dixon]

I suppose it depends on what you mean by "moved".

I personally find Thiepval rather ugly, although that does not in any way mean I am not moved by the symbolism and meaning of the names inscribed. It is interminably sad to read the rows and rows of names, knowing that each one means something to someone. As a peice of architecture, one cannot help but be amazed by the scale of it, but in purely architectural terms, it does nothing for me. I find many monuments moving, but it is hard to place them in terms of what the landscape looked like at the time of the action they are commemorating.

The Menin Gate is a wonderful peice of architecture, and once again each name brings a pang of sadness, in so much as they could not have been afforded the dignity of a proper place of burial.

In terms of monuments that have moved me, there are many. Vimy Ridge, with Canada staring with head bowed, is terribly poignant. The Kollwitz statues at Vladslo never cease to move me; the 9 Brave Men on the Somme; the Ossuary at Douaumont; the Caribou at Beaumont Hamel; the Brooding Soldier at Langemarck........

I voted for "another". In terms of sheer emotion and sadness, the London Memorial at Chipilly is the most heart wrenching I have seen. I have a whole roll of film on just this one memorial, and apart from the cemetery at Etaples, it's the saddest place I know.

[SOMMESOLDIER]

Hi There,

I did have an explaination to this thread but my original thread went pear-shaped.and part of a removed thread, which I asked for. I think both Memorials are very worthy but when I went to the one I found it hollow compared to the other. More to be explained towards the end of this poll, Without loading the question if that's ok.

Cheers

Tim.

[stevew]

Menin for me..............I feel part of the ceremony whereas at Thiepval on the 1st July I felt as though I was watching the ceremony.

Will sort of agree with Matt, Chipilly is very emotive

[bkristof]

The Canadian soldier with reversed arms at St- Julian - Ypres is one of my "favorites". It moves me much, certainly now in winter when the spots are shining on it in the dark... very strange effect.

[Muerrisch]

The Newfoundland Caribou: I have visited four out of the five so far [daft really, when you've seen one you've seen them all]

[katb]

I love Vimy Ridge - so beautiful and so accessible...

But how can you really and truly compare memorials? Thiepval may not be as aesthetically pleasing or have the ocation of the Menin Gate - but it does what it says on the tin: it records the missing of the Somme and can be seen over most of the battlefield? Does it have to do more? (tad biased as one of 'my' soldiers is buried in the cemetery) I remember the first time i went to the Somme and was flagging a bit as we neared Albert and then I saw Thiepval on the horizon and felt revitalised and moved.

[John Shaw]

Thiepval on the 11th of November is the most emotionaly charged place I know.

[Jonathan Saunders]

As a battlefield to explore and understand then I prefer the Somme but as a Memorial, then Menin Gate.

[paul guthrie]

As a battlefield to explore and understand then I prefer the Somme but as a Memorial, then Menin Gate.

Agreed, so much easier for me to visualize Somme as a battlefield. I prefer Menin Gate but The Missing Of The Somme says a lot. Chipilly Memorial could bring tears to a glass eye.

Vimy reminds me most of Soviet memorials with its gigantism. Some US could be guilty of the same, look at size of Chateau Thierry Memorial when only a few men fought there for a short time, too much.

[Tim Birch]

I always find Thiepval moving. I look out from it over the Somme fields and try to imagine all those unfound men lying out there. if I recall correctly Martin Middlebrook wrote that if you add together the lists of dead and missing, then subtract the total number of graves, known and unknown, that still leaves a short fall of about 50,000.

The enourmity of such a tragedy is staggering.

[Tony Cox]

For me it is also the London Memorial at Chipilly

Tony

[GTS]

I suppose it is possibly quite fatuous to compare monuments as they mean different things to different people. However I have to say I have been equally moved by many of the different memorials on the Western front. Most obviously both the Menin Gate at 8 PM, and Thiepval on a deserted day (although I must admit, I to, am not a great fan of the architecture) are very moving, as is The Newfoundland Caribou and the Canadian Statue at Langemarke crossroads. However the places that move me most on the Western front are the Cemeteries at Munich Trench and Waggon Road, north east of Beaumont Hamel. Both are fairly isolated and it seems seldom visited, indeed at Waggon Road, the visitor’s book had only about four used pages stretching back to 1976 on my last visit. The thing that I find most moving about these places is the fact that despite their sparse visitor numbers ,the CWGC still maintain them to the same incredibly high standard as they do Tyne Cot etc. Whilst I know we would expect no less from them, I still find incredibly affecting that those men buried there are not forgotten. On my visits to the Somme I always drive up the long farm track to these cemeteries and sit awhile amongst the incredible stillness that these places offer.

On a slightly different tack, there is also a monument near Verdun, at a crossroads on the road up from the town towards the Ossuary etc, which I find very moving. It is a large, monumental statue of a dying Lion. I don’t know why particularly, but I have always been affected by it. As far as I know it is a commemoration of a particular French regiment, so nothing overly special in itself, just very sad when you see it

[Matt Dixon]

Tony,

Interesting effect....how did you do that. Great photo though.

[Tony Cox]

Hi Matt

I used Adobe Photoshop, using the Lasso tool i drew around the image then render the clouds which are in Adobe as the new background.

There is a lot you can do within Adobe but it can get quite complexed.

Tony

[HarryBettsMCDCM]

Both Thiepval & Menin Gate hold Personal Feelings for Me as I have a Great Uncle on Each,But I think Thiepval for it's Brutish Symbolism,especially when deserted,as stated before eerily moving.