Marie Chesham Posted 16 March , 2019 Author Share Posted 16 March , 2019 Peter Not sure my promotion is so well deserved yet but yes it has been fascinating to see how my questions have started such a debate! If you look at the letters you will also see that they have typed the address of his mother as 13 or 31 Hampstead Road. I appreciate the army had so many of these letters to send out but I picture his mother receiving that letter (from his records but of course there could have been more) she received two about the burial and one about his effects. I do not have any children but can only imagine how painful it was for her to continue to receive so many painful reminders. But it would seem to support that although this is army record keeping it can be flawed. It does look as if Langemark is a bit misleading ... Better go now and swat up on my duties as a Lance Corporal ... Marie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEW Posted 19 March , 2019 Share Posted 19 March , 2019 By coincidence I found a 1956 UBS concentration into Cement House Cemetery. The original location is described as side of small German cemetery (now no longer in existence) on right hand side of road between St Julien (Canadiam Memorial) and Langemarck. I've no idea if this is one of the German cemeteries already mentioned in this topic. Map ref for the German cemetery is given in 'Nord de Guerre zone' coordinates; Sheet 41 625.671, I've managed to convert those to Long/Lat which places the cemetery HERE. A visual conversion to WWI map ref is Sheet 20 U.29.d.8.5. This concentration may of course may have been previously concentrated by the Germans. Useful map reference conversion site for Lambert zones 1, 2 & 3, Nord de Guerre & Italy. TEW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AOK4 Posted 19 March , 2019 Share Posted 19 March , 2019 9 minutes ago, TEW said: By coincidence I found a 1956 UBS concentration into Cement House Cemetery. The original location is described as side of small German cemetery (now no longer in existence) on right hand side of road between St Julien (Canadiam Memorial) and Langemarck. I've no idea if this is one of the German cemeteries already mentioned in this topic. Map ref for the German cemetery is given in 'Nord de Guerre zone' coordinates; Sheet 41 625.671, I've managed to convert those to Long/Lat which places the cemetery HERE. A visual conversion to WWI map ref is Sheet 20 U.29.d.8.5. This concentration may of course may have been previously concentrated by the Germans. Useful map reference conversion site for Lambert zones 1, 2 & 3, Nord de Guerre & Italy. TEW There was no cemetery there but there was Keerselaere West on the other side of the street Langemarck - Vancouver Crossroads.The British soldier must have been found on Keerselaere West when the graves there were exhumed and transferred to Langemark in 1955. Jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEW Posted 19 March , 2019 Share Posted 19 March , 2019 I can't be certain how the conversion from Nord de Guerre to Lat/Long then to 'normal' WWI refs works out but the concentration sheet says the original location was on the right hand side of the road from St Julien to Langemarck. Post#42 you say Keerselaere West was at 28.C.5.b.0.7 which is about 400 yards west of that road whereas the description of the original location places it about 150 yards east of the same road. TEW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard Posted 19 March , 2019 Share Posted 19 March , 2019 (edited) On a 1:40,000 Body Density sheet 20, Cement House Cemetery is marked. It seems to be 20.U.28.c.2.5. The base cartography is dated April 1917, there is no date for the markup. Looking at Google Street View, there is an odd "cement" building in the garden of the property that approximately occupies the site. Howard Edited 19 March , 2019 by Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurel Sercu Posted 20 March , 2019 Share Posted 20 March , 2019 (edited) Howard, I am not sure if I understand. Do you suppose that Cement House Cem. was named after the construction shown in your streetview photo, which is north of the road Langemark - Pilkem - Boezinge ? (It is approx. 100 metres (?) closer to Langemark.) I have always assumed it was named after the German bunker next to the cemetery (just east of the cemetery), both on the south side of the road. (But it cannot be seen from the road with Streetview.) I think I have a photo of the bunker in my PC archives ... Aurel Photo June 1967. The road Langemark - Pilkem - Boezinge is in the background. I also have a 1938 photo. Nowadays the bunker is overgrown. I think the trees on the left are of Cement House Cemetery, or between the cemetery and the farm. Edited 20 March , 2019 by Aurel Sercu photo added Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marie Chesham Posted 21 March , 2019 Author Share Posted 21 March , 2019 Thank you for the photographs and further discussion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard Posted 21 March , 2019 Share Posted 21 March , 2019 18 hours ago, Aurel Sercu said: Howard, I am not sure if I understand. Do you suppose that Cement House Cem. was named after the construction shown in your streetview photo, which is north of the road Langemark - Pilkem - Boezinge ? (It is approx. 100 metres (?) closer to Langemark.) I have always assumed it was named after the German bunker next to the cemetery (just east of the cemetery), both on the south side of the road. (But it cannot be seen from the road with Streetview.) I think I have a photo of the bunker in my PC archives ... Aurel Photo June 1967. The road Langemark - Pilkem - Boezinge is in the background. I also have a 1938 photo. Nowadays the bunker is overgrown. I think the trees on the left are of Cement House Cemetery, or between the cemetery and the farm. Aurel I really do not know, it just piqued my interest that an odd "concrete" building was nearby, despite it looking quite modern. The Body Density map shows the Concrete House cemetery was North of the road and at least gives a reasonably accurate depiction of its location. Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AOK4 Posted 21 March , 2019 Share Posted 21 March , 2019 3 hours ago, Howard said: Aurel I really do not know, it just piqued my interest that an odd "concrete" building was nearby, despite it looking quite modern. The Body Density map shows the Concrete House cemetery was North of the road and at least gives a reasonably accurate depiction of its location. Howard I was talking about the German cemetery Keerselaere West being on the west of the road compared to the British remains found when the cemetery was exhumed in 1955 being found to the east of that road according to the coordinates... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurel Sercu Posted 23 March , 2019 Share Posted 23 March , 2019 Howard, You wrote : "The Body Density map shows the Concrete House cemetery was North of the road and at least gives a reasonably accurate depiction of its location." Yes, I noticed too. Odd. For Cement House Cemetery, as far as I know, has always been south of the road. But I also know that sometimes the location pointed out on Body Density Maps can be misleading (and wrong) in a number of cases. (I am thinking of Boezinge now.) The construction behind the house in the Streetview photo no doubt is post-war. Anyway, as Jan pointed out indirectly, putting Cement House Cemetery in this Topic can be a little confusing ... Aurel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEW Posted 23 March , 2019 Share Posted 23 March , 2019 Leaving out the 1956 concentration into Cement House Cemetery I've been seeing other concentrations from the general area between St. Julien and Langemarck into Strand MC, Bedford Road and Cement House. Strand included at least one concentration from Langemarck North GMC 8, died 23/10/14. The body map shows EG 6 in U.22.a and 12 in U.22.b. The concentration reports for Strand, Cement and Bedford only tallied 2 and 3 for those squares. TEW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now