Fattyowls Posted 17 May , 2020 Share Posted 17 May , 2020 (edited) Chums My friend @Knotty was giving me amusing grief over on the WiT? thread the other day about me having a photo of every battlefield in France and Belgium. Being only on nodding acquaintance with the truth I said I did. I do have a lot of photos, some of them with level horizons and reasonably exposure, and I have also collected a lot of much better ones from the talented photographers on the forum. I run these as my laptop background and I find myself thinking that next time I'm over I must try to take a photo looking back the other way. Now it seems that we aren't going to get a chance to do any battlefield photography for a while yet so I thought, why don't we see if among the thousands of photos we have all taken if there is already one out there. It's not just photos looking back the other way of course. Feel free to add any that you are particularly proud of (in my case that I might not be ashamed of). As Gordon John (or John Gordon) Sinclair says to Clare Grogan in 'Gregory's Girl' "I'll start it off and you join in when you feel confident". Pete. Edited 17 May , 2020 by Fattyowls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 17 May , 2020 Author Share Posted 17 May , 2020 Starter for ten. This is a view looking south from the Pozieres Memorial area towards where Contalmaison should be. I can't see Contalmaison; has anyone got a photo looking back towards the memorial? Or photographic proof the village isn't a figment of my imagination. Despite visiting the Somme lots of times I honestly can't ever remember going there.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWK Posted 17 May , 2020 Share Posted 17 May , 2020 The Christmas Truce cross, with the church of Mesen/Messines in the background. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 17 May , 2020 Author Share Posted 17 May , 2020 Good one JWK; that is a piece of history now as the cross has gone I think, replaced by the UEFA memorial across the road. Not an improvement in my view...... Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWK Posted 17 May , 2020 Share Posted 17 May , 2020 (edited) 25 minutes ago, Fattyowls said: Good one JWK; that is a piece of history now as the cross has gone I think, replaced by the UEFA memorial across the road. Not an improvement in my view...... Pete. Ah, I didn't know that! I knew they created some fake trenches, or something, near Prowse Point, but didn't realise they did away with the cross. The photo was taken in October 2015. And I don't know if this fits the bill, not an actual battlefield, but it's a battlefield of sorts. The German cemetery at Lens-Sallaumines (with the civilian graves, and WW2 Allied graves, in the distance) Edited 17 May , 2020 by JWK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 17 May , 2020 Author Share Posted 17 May , 2020 I like that one too, it reminds me of Langemark which is probably the German cemetery I know best. On the subject of looking back the other way this is the view back to Ploegsteert Wood from the New Zealand Memorial in Mesen. I think I can just make out the trees of the beautiful Prowse Point above the break between the two red tiled roofs of Le Petit Douvre Farm in the left middle distance. The farm famously still has a massive mine beneath it, thankfully now flooded. You can also make out the spires of Armentieres on the horizon to the right of the wood. Pete. P.S. I have photographs of the UEFA memorial but I hate it so much I can't bring myself to post any. Bring back Taff's wooden cross is what I say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 18 May , 2020 Admin Share Posted 18 May , 2020 8 hours ago, Fattyowls said: Good one JWK; that is a piece of history now as the cross has gone I think, replaced by the UEFA memorial across the road. Not an improvement in my view...... Pete. Fear not Pete it’s still there, at leat it was in December Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 18 May , 2020 Admin Share Posted 18 May , 2020 12 hours ago, Fattyowls said: Starter for ten. This is a view looking south from the Pozieres Memorial area towards where Contalmaison should be. I can't see Contalmaison; has anyone got a photo looking back towards the memorial? Or photographic proof the village isn't a figment of my imagination. Despite visiting the Somme lots of times I honestly can't ever remember going there.... I suspect this may be the view from the other direction Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 18 May , 2020 Author Share Posted 18 May , 2020 4 hours ago, Michelle Young said: Fear not Pete it’s still there That is really cheery news Michelle, thank you. I think I will celebrate with a cup of industrial strength Java. Now that the UEFA memorial is there (awful and incorrectly placed though it is) the cross can go back to marking where the legend that is Taff Gillingham and his merry band marked the Christmas truce in a recreated trench in 1999. The photo of the Pozieres Memorial is superb; I've never been a fan but it looks impressive from that angle and distance. By a combination of greatwar360.com and Google Earth I think I will be able to explore Contalmaison virtually. Pete. P.S. Pass on my best to 'im indoors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Regiano Posted 18 May , 2020 Share Posted 18 May , 2020 17 hours ago, Fattyowls said: Or photographic proof the village isn't a figment of my imagination Contalmaison does exist: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Baker Posted 18 May , 2020 Share Posted 18 May , 2020 Messines ridge from Nieuwkerke (Neuve Eglise). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 18 May , 2020 Admin Share Posted 18 May , 2020 The back of Dud Corner from the approximate site of the Loos Rd Redoubt Pozieres from a different angle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 18 May , 2020 Author Share Posted 18 May , 2020 1 hour ago, Chris_Baker said: Messines ridge from Nieuwkerke (Neuve Eglise). Thanks Chris, I like that one because of the light framing the ridge top. This is Nieuwkerke from the Mesines Ridge - just slightly off to the left of yours, from a well known mine crater with one of the forum's premier photographers surveying the view back to Vimy and Loos..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 18 May , 2020 Author Share Posted 18 May , 2020 (edited) Michelle, the Dud Corner and the other Pozieres Memorial ones are excellent; the light in the latter is lovely; I'm rapidly changing my opinion of it. 1 hour ago, Don Regiano said: Contalmaison does exist: I can't overstate my relief Reg. I thought it was just me...... Pete. Edited 18 May , 2020 by Fattyowls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 18 May , 2020 Admin Share Posted 18 May , 2020 Étaples. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Regiano Posted 18 May , 2020 Share Posted 18 May , 2020 in a similar setting, Bancourt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Regiano Posted 18 May , 2020 Share Posted 18 May , 2020 Thiepval from the Dorsetshire memorial/Lonsdale cemetery, Authuille Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 18 May , 2020 Author Share Posted 18 May , 2020 The two crosses with the sun behind them are moving, and both from cemeteries that I hope to visit, Etaples for Richard Wynn and Bancourt for David Jones VC, thank you. I'm hoping that having posted a picture with @Marilyne she might drop in to either sue me over image rights or post some of hers. She's busy keeping Belgium going at the moment so I wouldn't want to interrupt. The area beyond Thiepval and the Leipzig salient is a hidden gem as far as I'm concerned; this is a little further up the track by the wood I think looking back past the memorial to Mill Road. The Ulster Tower is just visible over the trees on the left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Regiano Posted 18 May , 2020 Share Posted 18 May , 2020 Another view of Thiepval, this time looking down Paisley Avenue, original burial site of Capt. Richard Kirk 1/6 Cheshires, KiA 13 Nov 1916, followed by looking across where he was killed (Maisie Lane when attacking St. Pierre Divion) towards the Ulster Tower Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWK Posted 18 May , 2020 Share Posted 18 May , 2020 View from Croonaert Wood/Bayernwald (behind you) towards the Kemmelberg Croonaert Chapel Cemetery mid right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 18 May , 2020 Author Share Posted 18 May , 2020 Reg and JWK - excellent stuff and unfamiliar views of familiar locations. I'll lower the photographic quality level with a couple of mine tomorrow. Stay safe gang. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knotty Posted 18 May , 2020 Share Posted 18 May , 2020 Now look what you’ve started Pete, I shall be joining you tomorrow once I’ve dug a few photos out.😁 John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 18 May , 2020 Author Share Posted 18 May , 2020 (edited) 8 minutes ago, Knotty said: Now look what you’ve started Pete, I shall be joining you tomorrow once I’ve dug a few photos out.😁 Don't go blaming me, it was you that planted the seed in my fevered imagination. I think the finger of suspicion is pointing firmly towards the greater Kidderminster metro area....... It's only been going just over 24 hours and it's already turned up some wonderful views, and I've posted a few photos too. I can't decide which are my favourites, but Michelle's views of the Pozieres Memorial have almost changed my mind about it, and JWK's view across the fields past Croonaert Chapel to Kemmel has a lovely light which I particularly like. Pete. Edited 18 May , 2020 by Fattyowls Klingon grammar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 19 May , 2020 Author Share Posted 19 May , 2020 This is not quite looking back the other way from JWK's photo of Kemmel from the Croonaert Chapel area, but it shows the strength of the Hollandsechuur Farm position on the spur just below the horizon centre right. I think the cemetery is just to the right of the farm buildings but is either in the dip or obscured by the trees. You can see the spires of Ypres on the horizon just to the left of the farm, and the northern crater of the two Petit Bois mines as the line of reeds, the southern one is just to my right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interested Posted 19 May , 2020 Share Posted 19 May , 2020 The Battle of the Canal du Nord 27th September to 1st October 1918, when the 1/6th Manchesters were caught in enfilade from Beaucomp Ridge. Difficult to see the terrain from the picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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