neverforget Posted 8 December , 2020 Share Posted 8 December , 2020 The Meuse heights? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 8 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 8 December , 2020 Correct, but where exactly is the Meuse (aka the Maas) running through in the photo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 8 December , 2020 Share Posted 8 December , 2020 Verdun? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 8 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 8 December , 2020 Verdun it is Mr P good river work. It's worth having a look at the original at the biggest size available, the detail is remarkable. I think it is the most illuminating panorama of the whole war, the Germans took five days to reach the highest point in the photo from way over to the left, and then the next ten months were a seesaw battle for the next couple of kilometres. In the photo this area is shown between Douaumont and Souville; you can just see the ruined smudge that is the village of Fleury on the connecting ridge between the two. The last ridge between Forts Bellville and St Michel overlook the town and the bridges across the Meuse. The viewpoint is Fort De La Chaume which was completely untouched as it was too far south of the main fighting. The absence of shell holes in the area is a testament to that. The area across the river was a moonscape by comparison. The picture was in the collection of General John Pershing and was left to the Library of Congress with his other papers by Pershing's second wife, who had been his lover in secret having painted his portrait in Paris in 1917, the year the photo was taken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Regiano Posted 8 December , 2020 Share Posted 8 December , 2020 1 hour ago, Fattyowls said: Verdun it is I know you won't believe this but when you first directed us back to the photo I was going to suggest somewhere on the Western Front between the Channel and Switzerland, possibly Verdun on the basis that it wasn't in my favourite (not) country. I feel quite pleased with myself as I know nothing about that area, in common with so much more of the Western Front. Are you not going to appease me with something on the Somme? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 9 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 9 December , 2020 44 minutes ago, Don Regiano said: Are you not going to appease me with something on the Somme? No. Look what it did for Chamberlain. I think that is a lesson from history we should all be aware of. Anyway we all need to get out more......... Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Regiano Posted 9 December , 2020 Share Posted 9 December , 2020 3 minutes ago, Fattyowls said: No. Look what it did for Chamberlain. I think that is a lesson from history we should all be aware of. Anyway we all need to get out more......... Pete. D'accord. I will see if I can find an obscure photo for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 9 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 9 December , 2020 On which subject...... Not one of mine, but I have exactly the same photo on 35mm. I found this one on Flickr, but versions can be found elsewhere..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sly Posted 9 December , 2020 Share Posted 9 December , 2020 Hi, Some photos of the area around Lille taken in the last weeks: Wicres, Verlinghem, Frelinghien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 9 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 9 December , 2020 3 hours ago, Sly said: Some photos of the area around Lille taken in the last weeks: Wicres, Verlinghem, Frelinghien Good ones Sly, the black and white really brings out the texture of the memorials. Frelinghien is one place I hope to visit when next I'm over to look for the site where one of the legendary Christmas truce football matches took place in 1914. Hope all is well with you; my friend Jack in Erquinghem-Lys has been keeping me updated on the restrictions in northern France. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marilyne Posted 18 December , 2020 Share Posted 18 December , 2020 On 09/12/2020 at 01:07, Fattyowls said: On which subject...... Not one of mine, but I have exactly the same photo on 35mm. I found this one on Flickr, but versions can be found elsewhere..... That's the remains of Douaumont Village. Give me 5 min, I'll dig out mine... M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marilyne Posted 18 December , 2020 Share Posted 18 December , 2020 here it is... weather was not so nice.. and I notice now it is a bit out of focus... Kinda hoping for at least one nice, sunny but preferably COLD day over the next two weeks ... if my work on the research paper advances as it should I might spare one day to go to the Ypres Salient for some more pics... got some new filters I need to try out. M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 18 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 18 December , 2020 4 hours ago, Marilyne said: That's the remains of Douaumont Village. Close but no cigar as the Americans say. the Verdun battlefield it is but not Douaumont. Funnily enough I found my 35mm print of the same view when looking for photos of my old workmates. They have set up a Facebook site which I have to avoid if I'm trying to get anything done, the photos from nearly fourty years ago are fascinating, but not always in a good way. My photo of this view is unsurprisingly not very good. Pete. P.S. A clue is that I think you can see the viewpoint in the Pershing photo from 1917, so this is another looking back the other way example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marilyne Posted 18 December , 2020 Share Posted 18 December , 2020 you're right... it's "Fleury-devant-Douaumont" !!! I said Douaumont because it's just next to the memorial ... M; Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 18 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 18 December , 2020 (edited) The memorial chapel that marks Douaumont village is smaller, although I can't actually remember ever having been down there. The view in both photos must be of the hills on the left bank but your photo looks to have some heavy weather coming in from the south. Christina will most likely know but the village of Fleury changed hands multiple times, 17 is the number that springs to mind, but I could be wrong. Often am. Either way the French would be coming up the slope towards the railway station behind the viewpoint which is where the museum now stands. Pete. Edited 18 December , 2020 by Fattyowls rogue indefinite article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
healdav Posted 18 December , 2020 Share Posted 18 December , 2020 6 hours ago, Marilyne said: That's the remains of Douaumont Village. Give me 5 min, I'll dig out mine... M. Fleury, actually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knotty Posted 18 December , 2020 Share Posted 18 December , 2020 Hi Pals My knowledge of the Verdun region is somewhat lacking, as is my visits there, can you confirm is the picture that of the chapel at Fleury-devant-Douaumont that was built on the site of the former church.? And I’m sure this is where they have the wooden sculpture of a Poliu guarding the village? Have I got the right area or am I still in the wrong place. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 18 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 18 December , 2020 Spot on John. This is a sort of companion to the 1917 photo I posted earlier. The high ground showing above the chapel are the hills on the left bank of the Meuse and the viewpoint of the other photo may be in picture. Interestingly (to me at least) there is a clue to my current photo in 'Who Is This?' not far from the chapel, possibly behind the trees on the extreme left. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 18 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 18 December , 2020 11 hours ago, Marilyne said: I notice now it is a bit out of focus Not noticeably at least to me. I looked at it full size and thought, wow, I can see the American monument on the Butte de Montfaucon, but it was a bit of dirt on the screen of the laptop..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knotty Posted 18 December , 2020 Share Posted 18 December , 2020 1 hour ago, Fattyowls said: Interestingly (to me at least) there is a clue to my current photo in 'Who Is This?' Fort St Michael? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 18 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 18 December , 2020 10 minutes ago, Knotty said: Fort St Michael? Right direction but closer. It's appeared in this thread before, but I'll reveal all when the WiT? is solved. I'm interested to see if my clue helps or hinders....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marilyne Posted 19 December , 2020 Share Posted 19 December , 2020 18 hours ago, Knotty said: Hcan you confirm is the picture that of the chapel at Fleury-devant-Douaumont that was built on the site of the former church.? I walked a bit around the old villages. When I was there the weather was not the best and I must have been the only idiot who thought it nice to do the 25km around the villages and the bois des Caures on foot, so I was quite alone... eery... at most villages they re-built some chapel/church and for the rest there's just overgrown ruins. Hard to imagine people have actually lived there 100 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 19 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 19 December , 2020 (edited) Village de Douaumont avant la guerre. Image from f.jwwb.nl although other versions are to be found on the electrical interweb. And a map showing the relationship of village and fort from the excellent johnsmilitaryhistory.com section on Douaumont. The original is in the George C Marshall library. Edited 19 December , 2020 by Fattyowls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripeyman Posted 19 December , 2020 Share Posted 19 December , 2020 Here is photo taken in the early 2000's. I did not take it but I am at the side of the car far left. The trip was a Camera Returns effort. Where is it ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
battle of loos Posted 19 December , 2020 Share Posted 19 December , 2020 Good evening, your photo dates back to before 1998 because in France, we went to the Euro on January 01, 1999. on the potato sales board, the price is shown in Franc. ah the 80s and 90s. The right time. Kind regards Michel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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