mebu Posted 2 November , 2019 Share Posted 2 November , 2019 PS the bloke at the top of this OP probably saw it all happen- he could tell us which pill box was which.owl7_0001.pdfowl7_0001.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_Blanchard Posted 2 November , 2019 Author Share Posted 2 November , 2019 Captain C A Mackenzie was with the 2/7Liverpools when he was killed in December- the 57 Division had taken over this sector from 35 Dividion in October 1917. Below is a photograph of Cyril Atkinson Mackenzie when he was at school - Simon Langton Grammar school Canterbury and his grave in Canada Farm Cemetery. He had first fought with the London Scottish in 1914. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_Blanchard Posted 2 November , 2019 Author Share Posted 2 November , 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay dubaya Posted 3 November , 2019 Share Posted 3 November , 2019 Couldn't resist this little window in time I have no other information on the images showing 'Houthulst Battlefield October 1917' other than the photographer was Captain J Affleck MC taken after Armistice, (20 or so years ago I naively purchased a disc with a thousand or so WW1 images...very few have any text or description, but this is one of them). The reports from the 35th Divisional HQ regarding the 15th Sherwoods and 16th Cheshires actions on 22nd October can be found here lurking in the clouds. Due to my sloppy filing the following two images may be credited to either Eddy or Malte Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay dubaya Posted 3 November , 2019 Share Posted 3 November , 2019 Don't know if this interesting blog has been noted 'Columbo House, Houthulst Forest, Pig & Whistle, Columbo House and Courage Post are mentioned as pill boxes 'oblong about 10ft long' J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_Blanchard Posted 3 November , 2019 Author Share Posted 3 November , 2019 Hi Jay- thanks for all the additional information David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurel Sercu Posted 11 November , 2019 Share Posted 11 November , 2019 I was there 2 hours ago (invited by Peter ... :-) And there is nothing anymore, except some small concrete rubble where the bunker was.(And also : the approach was muddy ! The farmer thought my presence there (on semi-private property) was a bit suspicious .... "Anything wrong here ?!". Good idea of him to interrogate me. For it was an opportunity for me to learn - from him, who has lived there for 50 years - that there had been a WW1 bunker indeed, but that is was blown up in WW2, probably at the end of WW2. The place looks black I saw, but this has nothing to do with the former presence of the bunker hesdaid. But the concrete that is still below surface (grassland) makes it impossible to plough it up. (I may post a photo later today or tomorrow.) (Peter, I'll send an e-mail. Later today or tomorrow. And no, I did not go by bike ! :-) ) Aurel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_Blanchard Posted 11 November , 2019 Author Share Posted 11 November , 2019 Thanks for going today- intrigued by what you found. Coincidentally the book Defending the Ypres Salient 1914-18’ by Jan Vancoille and Kristin Blieck arrived today. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurel Sercu Posted 11 November , 2019 Share Posted 11 November , 2019 David and Peter and ...,, Nothing special ... Just one or two pics showing ... nothing"... This one : looking SE Aurel This one looking NW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurel Sercu Posted 11 November , 2019 Share Posted 11 November , 2019 And this one : a lump of concrete. (Peter, I hope it looks like WW1 concrete ?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurel Sercu Posted 11 November , 2019 Share Posted 11 November , 2019 Just to show the location where the pics were taken ... Google. The two arrows. I don't know when the satellite took its pic ... (Is there a way to find out the date or year ?) I agree, it does not look like the black area on my photos. But again : the farmer told me this was something dumped there later - When ?) I do not think that the Google pic shows something tall. There is hardly any shadow cast northward. Compare to the shadow of the trees further north. So I guess when the satellite photo was taken a sort of concrete floor may still have been more visible than now ? Maybe there is more concrete below the black stuff ? (No, I did not have a spade or shovel with me. And I was wearing my best clothes. And nice shoes. Including a tie ! And the farmer was on his way to me. Wearing wellies ... :-) Aurel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_Blanchard Posted 11 November , 2019 Author Share Posted 11 November , 2019 Thanks Aurel for the additional photographs. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bierast Posted 1 December , 2019 Share Posted 1 December , 2019 Our book Von Armentières nach Langemarck, due to appear in English next year under the title For King and Kaiser, includes numerous photos of the Houthulst Forest sector in 1917-18. Egypt House (see map on the previous page of this thread) became the Regiments-Gefechtsstand (regimental battle HQ) of Saxon IR 106 / 58. Inf. Div. in April-May 1918, and was named 'Pelikan' by the Germans. Its appearance when initially recaptured by the regiment in April 1918 is described as follows: As the staff began bailing out the shellholes at the English aid post ‘Egypt House’, now Regiments-Gefechtsstand Pelikan, a task at which the regimental commander and officers of the staff also diligently assisted, we found besides severed limbs a number of dead Tommies in the drained craters, which the medical personnel had disposed of in this simple manner. The stinking used dressings lay in a vast heap, and in a nearby funk-hole destroyed by a direct hit the half-decayed corpses of five Englishmen grinned at us. The whole area was in a horrific state, with the German-facing entrances of the originally German bunkers obscured from view by barricades built from piles of corpses. IR 106 alone recovered 107 British, 9 German and several entirely unidentified corpses for burial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mebu Posted 1 December , 2019 Share Posted 1 December , 2019 Bierast, very interesting, and very graphic. Presumably Pelikan was the same as that marked Brigade Haus on the map on post 2? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_Blanchard Posted 1 December , 2019 Author Share Posted 1 December , 2019 Managed to pick up a few photographs recently of the French sector nearby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bierast Posted 2 December , 2019 Share Posted 2 December , 2019 (edited) 4 hours ago, mebu said: Bierast, very interesting, and very graphic. Presumably Pelikan was the same as that marked Brigade Haus on the map on post 2? Well spotted - it would appear so! I would surmise that this bunker was originally used as a brigade battle HQ (prior to the opening of 3rd Ypres and subsequent loss of ground). Notice that the cemetery at the nearby crossroads is named on that map as Ehrenfriedhof am Pelikan. Edited 2 December , 2019 by bierast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AOK4 Posted 2 December , 2019 Share Posted 2 December , 2019 10 hours ago, mebu said: Bierast, very interesting, and very graphic. Presumably Pelikan was the same as that marked Brigade Haus on the map on post 2? No, the estaminet "in den Pelikaan" was located on the cross roads, Brigadehaus (Egypt Hous) was on the road leading south from the cross roads, some 150-200 metres away. Jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mebu Posted 2 December , 2019 Share Posted 2 December , 2019 the English aid post ‘Egypt House’, now Regiments-Gefechtsstand Pelikan, Jan, this suggests that the Brigade Haus/Egypt House/Pelikan Regiments-Gefechtsstand is not the same as the Pelikaan estaminet. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AOK4 Posted 2 December , 2019 Share Posted 2 December , 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, mebu said: the English aid post ‘Egypt House’, now Regiments-Gefechtsstand Pelikan, Jan, this suggests that the Brigade Haus/Egypt House/Pelikan Regiments-Gefechtsstand is not the same as the Pelikaan estaminet. Peter You're right, I checked the sector sketch of IR 106 and indeed Regiments-Gefechtsstand Pelikan is Brigadehaus/Egypt House, but not the same as the estaminet (where there was a bunker as well). Jan Edited 2 December , 2019 by AOK4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cnock Posted 13 January , 2020 Share Posted 13 January , 2020 the 'U' at Ferme des Indiens indicate Germann pill box north of Colombo House regards, Cnock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cnock Posted 13 January , 2020 Share Posted 13 January , 2020 other detail of French map showing the area between Five Roads and Ferme des Indiens, Colombo House in the middle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cnock Posted 13 January , 2020 Share Posted 13 January , 2020 The artillery Observation post and bunker near the Melane road. Several artillery OP's were erected in the wood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cnock Posted 13 January , 2020 Share Posted 13 January , 2020 German bunker in the wood after the fighting ceased Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_Blanchard Posted 4 April , 2020 Author Share Posted 4 April , 2020 Any idea of the location of this particular bunker? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 26 December , 2020 Share Posted 26 December , 2020 (edited) Originally from upper Weardale in County Durham, my great uncle 2nd Lieutenant Henry Stobbs was killed at Houthulst Forest on 26th October 1917. His story is quite similar to Captain McKenzie's in that he worked his way up the ranks from Private with the DLI and also spent a period of time at home and in hospital somewhere around 1916. He received his commission with the Northumberland Fusiliers and returned to the Western Front on Sept' 18th 1917. He was 26 when he died. He's mentioned as missing in the war diaries but they must have found his body as he has a headstone at Poelcapelle military cemetery. Edited 26 December , 2020 by whatsthenews error Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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