Don Regiano Posted 3 July , 2020 Share Posted 3 July , 2020 (edited) 26 minutes ago, Fattyowls said: I knew you weren't joking Reg, To paraphrase M to 007 in Goldfinger - you never joke about your antennae.... Is this is where the 8th South Lancs would have gone forward? A panoramic with Railway Wood behind me looking over the little swale to Westhoek, with Zonnebeke church on the horizon.... I'm no expert on the geography of the place as I haven't really studied it but I think you are spot on. Their front line was near the modern day large junction near Frezenberg with their left flank being the Ypres-Roulers railway (current day N37 I think). BN HQ was moved to Sexton House because of heavy shelling. Somewhat optimistic Red Line Objective was to the NE of Zonnebeke, near Broodseinde - see map: Edited 3 July , 2020 by Don Regiano Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 3 July , 2020 Author Share Posted 3 July , 2020 You've got it Reg; Sexton House would be at the end of the line of houses in Westhoek, to the left of the woodland. The motorway runs across the photo just behind, something I remember us discussing what seems like an age ago with regard to James Brannick. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Regiano Posted 4 July , 2020 Share Posted 4 July , 2020 11 hours ago, Fattyowls said: You've got it Reg; Sexton House would be at the end of the line of houses in Westhoek, to the left of the woodland. The motorway runs across the photo just behind, something I remember us discussing what seems like an age ago with regard to James Brannick. Pete. Yes Pete and also my relative from St. Helens. I was kindly sent a death plaque from Renée in Texas with his name on it. I've done a lot of research on CWGC and SDGW records and can only find 2 with that name (including my relative). The other was actually in 10KLR and came from Manchester, so local. I'm quite happy to take a 50% chance and am chuffed to bits. Here's the trench map of the area: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marilyne Posted 7 July , 2020 Share Posted 7 July , 2020 Talking about hidden cemeteries... parked the car in the middle of nowhere... finding "Happy Valley" was interesting. Luckily there was a sign ... M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 7 July , 2020 Author Share Posted 7 July , 2020 One of the many joys of this thread for me at least is the number of cemeteries that I have never heard of, would never have thought of and would never have visited. Having said that I wonder how many times I've been past Happy Valley on the Autoroute du Nord without suspecting it was there. Pete. P.S. Have a great trip Marilyne, hope bear does too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marilyne Posted 7 July , 2020 Share Posted 7 July , 2020 31 minutes ago, Fattyowls said: P.S. Have a great trip Marilyne, hope bear does too. as posted earlier: he's ready: M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 7 July , 2020 Author Share Posted 7 July , 2020 15 minutes ago, Marilyne said: he's ready Never doubted it for a second. Good to see he's fully equipped for all eventualities. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knotty Posted 7 July , 2020 Share Posted 7 July , 2020 3 minutes ago, Fattyowls said: Never doubted it for a second. Good to see he's fully equipped for all eventualities. Pete. Fig Rolls and an overhead cable in shot detector?😁 Enjoy your excursion M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Tulloch-Marshall Posted 7 July , 2020 Share Posted 7 July , 2020 Quarry Cemetery Montauban, this afternoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marilyne Posted 7 July , 2020 Share Posted 7 July , 2020 1 hour ago, Knotty said: Fig Rolls rather something more liquid in case I stumble upon the owner of two black labradors with the ability to lick me to death should we meet... He'll recognise himself M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 7 July , 2020 Author Share Posted 7 July , 2020 1 hour ago, Tom Tulloch-Marshall said: Quarry Cemetery Montauban, this afternoon Yet another one that I wasn't aware of, which is bad because I thought I knew that area relatively well. Now I can see it in several photos that I have; I think it is what you call hiding in plain sight. Thanks Tom; the weather looks very pleasant in complete contrast to out here on the coast. Today it has rained incessantly and is currently that fine rain that soaks you through. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Tulloch-Marshall Posted 7 July , 2020 Share Posted 7 July , 2020 47 minutes ago, Fattyowls said: Yet another one that I wasn't aware of, which is bad because I thought I knew that area relatively well. Now I can see it in several photos that I have; I think it is what you call hiding in plain sight. Thanks Tom; the weather looks very pleasant in complete contrast to out here on the coast. Hello Pete - Quarry at Montauban is a favourite of mine - the friends I'm staying with are just a couple of kms over the horizon just right of the cemetery in the view above. The view below is early 1920's looking in the other direction. My photo today was taken from about where I've put the red cross below. Architecturally its also an interesting site. Originally the flat frontage which was actually built was a far more imposing full width semi-circular wall coming out towards the roadway - with an entrance in the centre. The original design also called for a War Stone against the wall to the left as you stand at the entrance and face towards the Cross of Sacrifice, - it was never installed, and I've never found anything in the CWGC archives to explain why the original design was altered so radically. Unfortunately the great piles of farmer's c**p which now interrupt the whole view of the frontage from the road now appear to be a permanent weed covered "feature". No need for it as there is a huge compacted chalk area on the other side of the track to the fields. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 8 July , 2020 Author Share Posted 8 July , 2020 14 hours ago, Tom Tulloch-Marshall said: Quarry at Montauban is a favourite of mine This is brilliant Tom; I've had a virtual explore of the area using a mixture of greatwar360.com, various photos of mine and some I found on the forum which has been an eye opener. This one is an old favourite of mine, posted by Tim (@8055Bell) who I know has a special interest in the Triangle Point area. I looked again at Tim's photo and there is the cemetery; I'd never noticed it before, and I've looked at the photo many times. I think my eye is always drawn to the horizon and the woods. Martin Middlebrook recommends the viewpoint in his his Somme guide and I've worked out a route to walk the whole are on my next visit. I'm starting to realise how much I follow convention and these these places are on the road not taken. These posts are changing my view all the time. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marilyne Posted 8 July , 2020 Share Posted 8 July , 2020 On 02/07/2020 at 10:40, Knotty said: Hi M My pics of the mural are 5 years old, so hopefully it is still there. John it is !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marilyne Posted 8 July , 2020 Share Posted 8 July , 2020 as Pete @Fattyowlsstarted this, I one him one pic... ever since we spend a day crater-hopping in Flanders, I've been paying closer attention at epitaphs on single graves. Some are just the usual bible quotes that every third parent chose for their son and daughter, other are pure family greetings, and then sometimes, there's this one phrase that just says it all and holds you in its grasp. This is one. Bellicourt Cemetery. no comment needed ... M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 8 July , 2020 Author Share Posted 8 July , 2020 A wonderful find Marilyne. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Tulloch-Marshall Posted 9 July , 2020 Share Posted 9 July , 2020 Guards Cemetery Lesboeufs today Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 9 July , 2020 Author Share Posted 9 July , 2020 Looks lovely there Tom; it's one I have wanted to visit for a while as my friend JP has one of hers in there if I remember correctly, I like to visit them as a small thank you for all her help over the years. She should call herself Helpjpl really . I have interests around Gueudecourt too so a circuitous route out to the Le Transloy area might be fruitful. As we have discussed I've wanted to go to the Guards Memorial since my plumber friend Ant described the loneliness of the place having visited it with the Irish Guards before pipework became his calling. Just out of interest do you know the story with the flat stones? Pete. P.S. While we are on the subject of my planned perambulations I need to walk across this area instead of admiring it from Caterpillar Valley where this view is from. Quarry is out there somewhere. Bernafay Wood to the left and Mametz Wood to the right I think, and the aircraft factory at Meulte is the bit of white just below the right horizon in the distance. The real Caterpillar Valley is over in that area too if memory serves. An almost successful panoramic by my low standards as the potatoes mean you can't see the join...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 9 July , 2020 Admin Share Posted 9 July , 2020 Pete, the flat stones are the pathway, rather more overgrown than it used to be when Jacques was in sole charge of this cemetery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 9 July , 2020 Author Share Posted 9 July , 2020 5 minutes ago, Michelle Young said: Pete, the flat stones are the pathway, rather more overgrown than it used to be when Jacques was in sole charge of this cemetery. Thanks Michelle; I thought at first it was something akin to Mill Road but then realised that the stones were just stones. I like the flowers and grasses growing through the cracks but it isn't really a pathway now. A gardening dilemma. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted 9 July , 2020 Share Posted 9 July , 2020 With the latest batches of photos, I going to have to find somewhere else next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Tulloch-Marshall Posted 9 July , 2020 Share Posted 9 July , 2020 3 hours ago, Fattyowls said: I thought at first it was something akin to Mill Road but then realised that the stones were just stones. I like the flowers and grasses growing through the cracks but it isn't really a pathway now. A gardening dilemma. Pete - It has been a feature of Guards at LB for a very long time now that the central pathway has had very striking growth in the cracks in-between the slabs. Particularly striking as they are in your line of sight as you climb the steps into the cemetery. There was a solitary gardener there today. He was very keen to have a chat and was clearly impressed with my command of the French language ☺ I'd also posted some photos of AIF Burial Ground today - but they seen to have wandered off somewhere ... Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 9 July , 2020 Author Share Posted 9 July , 2020 Tom, I'm always interested in what the CWGC gardeners do; I've taken a lot of inspiration from them over the years. I've tried a bit of letting stuff grow between the cracks at Owls Towers but all I get is dandelions and couch grass; yet another reason to visit Lesboeufs. Marilyne has posted a cracking photo of Etaples and is shows a tall purpley blue plant which I first saw in a bed outside one of the hotels off the square in Arras. I probably need to link to the plant identification thread that started up in Skindles. Both you and Marilyne are doing our exploring for us at the moment and I for one am v. grateful. Pete. P.S. I was trying to work out some routes to see all the places that I have discovered just from this thread. Since I am determined to do most of it on foot I am going to have to get back into shape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Tulloch-Marshall Posted 10 July , 2020 Share Posted 10 July , 2020 AIF Grass Lane. Lots of work going on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horrocks Posted 10 July , 2020 Share Posted 10 July , 2020 (edited) Quarry Cemetery, Montauban, 2013 A particularly beautiful cemetery, the walls built of knapped flintstone topped and framed by soft red brick, giving it the look of an English country churchyard. The several German graves apparently date from the period of the reoccupation of the area in 1918, when the Germans used the cemetery for a number of their own dead, Edited 10 July , 2020 by horrocks 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