Quicksilver Posted 16 February , 2019 Share Posted 16 February , 2019 Good afternoon all. Decided to sign up and utilise, what appears to be, an excellent source of information. I'm going to the Somme in April for the first time in a few years, taking my wife and my Mother in Law (life long ambition to visit the WF). I like to think I am fairly "clued up" having been on and ran a few Battlefield tours in my time. However I am finding certain info a little difficult to track down. Basically, we will be staying within Hamel Village on the Ancre for a few days and I would like to be able to spout some anecdotes about the village. I know that there was advanced dressing stations there and that it was just behind the front lines for most of the time (up to 1918) but I cannot seem to glean much information. Can anyone help? I don't want big long or detailed histories but any anecdotes, photographs which I can use as we walk around the village would be useful. Trench maps showing British trenches? Location of the ADS or any other facility. etc. Really grateful for any help. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Regiano Posted 16 February , 2019 Share Posted 16 February , 2019 Here is something (1918) to be going on with. You can select different maps on this web page to show trenches in 1916 and move thr transparency to see a modern day mao overlay https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=15&lat=50.0655&lon=2.6603&layers=101465227&b=3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Regiano Posted 16 February , 2019 Share Posted 16 February , 2019 Something from 1917 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave1418 Posted 17 February , 2019 Share Posted 17 February , 2019 Just up the road is Hawthorne ridge, look at Bavarian infantry regiment 119 War diary which is on line. Some nice facts from the German side and standing on the ridge it’s easy to look at Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horrocks Posted 18 February , 2019 Share Posted 18 February , 2019 (edited) Buy a copy of Edmund Blunden's 'Undertones of War', many references to Hamel. Look out for the site of 'Kentish Caves', a sharp cliff-like bluff just outside the village on the Beaucourt road and almost directly opposite the level crossing to Mill Lane. The warren of dugouts behind the bluff housed the headquarters of the various units when they were on the line here. Also the site of Hamel Mill, on the east/upstream side of the little bridge over the Ancre on Mill Lane - the weir and part of the mill-race wall survive. This location is the site of Blunden's poem 'The Ancre at Hamel: Afterwards', written following a post-war visit to the battlefield. On the north side of the bridge and just over the crossing a track crosses the road. If you follow it on the east side you can find the point where the German line crossed the Ancre Marshes, known variously as 'The Mound' and 'Summer House', again referenced in Undertones of War. Tolkien was also familiar with this area, and the Ancre Marshes are widely thought to have provided the inspiration for the Mordor Marshes. "For a moment the water below him looked like a window, glazed with grimy glass, through which he was peering. Wrenching his hands out of the bog, he sprang back with a cry. 'There are dead things, dead faces in the water,' he said with horror. 'Dead faces!' 'I don't know,' said Frodo in a dreamlike voice. 'But I have seen them too. In the pools when the candles were lit. They lie in all the pools, pale faces, deep deep under the dark water. I saw them: grim faces and evil, and noble faces and sad. Many faces proud and fair, and weeds in their silver hair. But all foul, all rotting, all dead. A fell light is in them.' " Edited 18 February , 2019 by horrocks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quicksilver Posted 18 February , 2019 Author Share Posted 18 February , 2019 Thanks for the responses folks. All very useful, and just what I need. Like I said, I'm not looking to wax lyrical about loads of details but little snippets like these are ideal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quicksilver Posted 22 February , 2019 Author Share Posted 22 February , 2019 Took your advice Horrocks (nigh on) and managed to find a free on-line copy of "Undertones of War" two days ago. Nearly finished it and its a very good read. Some of the language used is a bit "flowery", no surprise given he was a poet, but overall, I enjoyed it. His descriptions of Hamel are good, as is is his recounting of his other Somme stint around Thiepval and the Schwaben redoubt. Thanks for the tip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghazala Posted 22 February , 2019 Share Posted 22 February , 2019 Look for the remains of the Mill close to the level crossing.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EAST YORKSHIRE Posted 22 February , 2019 Share Posted 22 February , 2019 Hello Quicksilver, if you are staying in one of the two Gites on the Junction in Hamel-the British line (Think it was called Devils Trench) ran straight through the remains of the buildings. Ian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EAST YORKSHIRE Posted 22 February , 2019 Share Posted 22 February , 2019 Oh and there are the William and Mary redans/redoubts. The very special Ancre Cemetery. The Battleground Europe book on "Hamel" is also a good read. Ian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigelcave Posted 23 February , 2019 Share Posted 23 February , 2019 15 hours ago, EAST YORKSHIRE said: Oh and there are the William and Mary redans/redoubts. The very special Ancre Cemetery. The Battleground Europe book on "Hamel" is also a good read. Ian. Do not confuse it withe one on Le Hamel, which is south of the Somme and is a largely Australian battle, with some US and British (RAF/tanks mainly) assistance (despite Pershing!) of 4th July 1918. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIRKY Posted 23 February , 2019 Share Posted 23 February , 2019 12 minutes ago, nigelcave said: Do not confuse it withe one on Le Hamel, which is south of the Somme and is a largely Australian battle, with some US and British (RAF/tanks mainly) assistance (despite Pershing!) of 4th July 1918. I did that!! Got the book and was totally confused! Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EAST YORKSHIRE Posted 23 February , 2019 Share Posted 23 February , 2019 55 minutes ago, KIRKY said: I did that!! Got the book and was totally confused! Tony And me!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghazala Posted 23 February , 2019 Share Posted 23 February , 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigelcave Posted 24 February , 2019 Share Posted 24 February , 2019 Well, Hamel is a good book in the series (Peter Pedersen had a distinguished career in the Australian army and works now (or certainly did) at the War Memorial in Canberra); the one you 'want' is Beaumont Hamel: Newfoundland Park and possibly Jack Sheldon's The Germans at Beaumont Hamel, same series but giving a perspective from the other side of the wire. There are also books in the series on Beaucourt, Redan Ridge and Thiepval (three different books), all nearby to the Hamel in Beaumont Hamel. And then there is Paul Read's Walking the Somme, same series and which covers many places of interest on the 1916 battlefield in a series of walks. Holts Somme (plus the map) and Martin and Mary Middlebrook's The Somme Battlefields are both good value for money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horrocks Posted 4 March , 2019 Share Posted 4 March , 2019 (edited) On 22/02/2019 at 12:46, Quicksilver said: Took your advice Horrocks (nigh on) and managed to find a free on-line copy of "Undertones of War" two days ago. Nearly finished it and its a very good read. Some of the language used is a bit "flowery", no surprise given he was a poet, but overall, I enjoyed it. His descriptions of Hamel are good, as is is his recounting of his other Somme stint around Thiepval and the Schwaben redoubt. Thanks for the tip. A short walk across the river and up the hill. My pleasure. Edited 4 March , 2019 by horrocks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horrocks Posted 4 March , 2019 Share Posted 4 March , 2019 On 22/02/2019 at 14:19, Ghazala said: Look for the remains of the Mill close to the level crossing.. Is this (and your other post) not a conflation of Hamel and Authille Mills? Authille Mill was down near the Auberge. No level crossing there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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