stripeyman Posted 19 December , 2020 Share Posted 19 December , 2020 1 hour ago, battle of loos said: 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 Yes, it shows how times and dates can be very wrong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 20 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 20 December , 2020 It reminds me of a stop off that Martin Middlebrook used to use on his charabanc trips to Verdun. It had been a WW2 airfield and still had some of the buildings set just back from a long, straight and rather busy road. There was an endearingly scruffy cafe as I remember it. Somewhere in the Champagne region I think, but I can't think where...... Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 20 December , 2020 Share Posted 20 December , 2020 26 minutes ago, Fattyowls said: It reminds me of a stop off that Martin Middlebrook used to use on his charabanc trips to Verdun. It had been a WW2 airfield and still had some of the buildings set just back from a long, straight and rather busy road. There was an endearingly scruffy cafe as I remember it. Somewhere in the Champagne region I think, but I can't think where...... Pete. The town hall without a town looks familiar- Near Chalons sur Marne (now Chalons en Champagne) which was a Luftwaffe airfield in WW2? Possibly the main road from Reims? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 20 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 20 December , 2020 The town hall without a town looks familiar- Near Chalons sur Marne (now Chalons en Champagne) which was a Luftwaffe airfield in WW2? Possibly the main road from Reims? That's the one, the control tower was still there and there were concrete bunkers out the back. I was told it was built by the French, commandeered by the Luftwaffe and may have been a forward base for Allied fighters late on. The last bit may be apocryphal or at least wildly inaccurate. And as northern France isn't exactly short of long straight roads over rolling chalk terrain we may be barking up the wrong tree. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripeyman Posted 21 December , 2020 Share Posted 21 December , 2020 7 hours ago, Fattyowls said: That's the one, the control tower was still there and there were concrete bunkers out the back. I was told it was built by the French, commandeered by the Luftwaffe and may have been a forward base for Allied fighters late on. The last bit may be apocryphal or at least wildly inaccurate. And as northern France isn't exactly short of long straight roads over rolling chalk terrain we may be barking up the wrong tree. Pete. Very much the wrong tree. A clue; the building on the left appears in old photographs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christina Holstein Posted 21 December , 2020 Share Posted 21 December , 2020 (edited) Continuing the Verdun theme a bit but not asking you to guess where it is, here's an interesting 1917 small arms position close to Fort Tavannes which is quite unlike anything else in the area. Edited 21 December , 2020 by Christina Holstein Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christina Holstein Posted 21 December , 2020 Share Posted 21 December , 2020 (edited) There's no way of getting in but poking a camera through the openings is interesting ... pity is all closed off. Edited 21 December , 2020 by Christina Holstein To change a photo for a different one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 21 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 21 December , 2020 (edited) 36 minutes ago, Christina Holstein said: not asking you to guess where it is It would be fun though, if a bit niche as they say. The photos are really interesting and beg a whole series of questions. I'm intrigued by the modern looking post on the top and how the front embrasure appears to have a very high angle. It crossed my mind that it might be to fire on aircraft but it seems a bit impractical unless they are approaching from straight on. Presumably this dates from around the time that the Pamard casement that everyone has visited on Fort Souville was installed. The 1917 reconstruction work is interesting in itself; I've always assumed that the lump of concrete that seems a bit out of place atop Fort Douaumont dates from this period. I suppose it would make sense to reconstruct defences rather than assume the Germans wouldn't attack again. Pete. Edited 21 December , 2020 by Fattyowls rogue text before quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 21 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 21 December , 2020 12 hours ago, stripeyman said: Very much the wrong tree I feared as much, but thinking about the old airfield near Rheims did bring back nice memories. I wondered if the word bintje on the sign might be a clue but it turns out to be a potato variety. I doubt if that will come up in conversation very often. Struggling with this one I fear. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mebu Posted 21 December , 2020 Share Posted 21 December , 2020 Same shot at Tavanne a while earlier. Any idea what the modern-looking post on top is? or is it behind? Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christina Holstein Posted 21 December , 2020 Share Posted 21 December , 2020 That's an interesting shot, Mebu. I've not see one from that period before - far less vegetation than today. I've no idea what the post on the top is for. It looks like one of those reflectors you see at road edges. Pete - as far as I remember, the high angled embrasure in the front was designed for small grenade throwers. It is also a Pamard Casemate, although of a different style from all the others I've seen. They are 1917 works, as is the observation post on the top of Ft. Douaumont which wasn't shell proof and had to be rebuilt several times. Christina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christina Holstein Posted 21 December , 2020 Share Posted 21 December , 2020 Here's the other sort of Pamard Casemate. Close to, it's the stuff of nightmares. Still with the machine gun mountings inside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 21 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 21 December , 2020 1 hour ago, Christina Holstein said: it's the stuff of nightmares I've photographed it more than once and that hadn't occurred to me, maybe because there were always a lot of people around. But it looks scarily otherworldly emerging from the earth like that, good photographs. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sly Posted 22 December , 2020 Share Posted 22 December , 2020 Hi, The Pamard casemate can be scary... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 22 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 22 December , 2020 3 hours ago, Sly said: The Pamard casemate can be scary... Another good addition Sly, nightmarish. You could use all of these to scare small children into eating Brussels sprouts (Vous pourriez utiliser tout cela pour effrayer les jeunes enfants en mangeant des choux de Bruxelles?). Joyeux Noël mon ami. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sly Posted 22 December , 2020 Share Posted 22 December , 2020 Hi Pete, I wish you a Joyeux Noël too ! I think you need something more scary to force children to eat Brussels sprouts... Sly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ororkep Posted 23 December , 2020 Share Posted 23 December , 2020 Someone really should make and publish a coffee table book of the best of these magnificent photo images. May all GWF members enjoy the best Xmas one can under the circumstances! Rgds Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 23 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 23 December , 2020 53 minutes ago, ororkep said: publish a coffee table book Good call Paul. It had crossed my mind (honest) to do something like that if the forum ever needed to raise a wad for mess funds. As long as we can have a chapter on how not to photograph battlefields so I can contribute some of mine. I'd even buy a coffee table..... Have a cool Yule, Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marilyne Posted 23 December , 2020 Share Posted 23 December , 2020 This is more going to be the Great War travel-agency edition of "where do I want to go next??" M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Regiano Posted 23 December , 2020 Share Posted 23 December , 2020 Careful - mind you don't fall off ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knotty Posted 23 December , 2020 Share Posted 23 December , 2020 5 hours ago, Fattyowls said: how not to photograph battlefields Or Knotty cables😇 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 23 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 23 December , 2020 49 minutes ago, Knotty said: Or Knotty cables😇 Intrusive street furniture and photographically sub-optimal cabling can be a separate chapter....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 23 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 23 December , 2020 On 19/12/2020 at 16:31, stripeyman said: 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 ? But not forgetting Mr S's where is this from somewhere in pre Euro Europe. I was thinking of long straight possibly Roman roads crossing battlefields and I wondered about the Chemin de Dames, but the distant ridge looks wrong. It could be the Albert to Baupaume road crossing the Somme, but I've travelled that and I can't think of a building like that. So is it on the D939 between Arras and Cambrai? Or somewhere else entirely? Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sly Posted 23 December , 2020 Share Posted 23 December , 2020 (edited) My guess: it's in northern France because of the red brick building and the potatoes for sale. To go further, it's looks like a straight road (old roman road maybe) I try an answer: the Vert-Galant airfield on the N25 road between Amiens and Doullens. Sly (I've just checked on google maps - it looks right) Edited 23 December , 2020 by Sly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 23 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 23 December , 2020 4 hours ago, Marilyne said: "where do I want to go next??" But until it is safe to do so this is the next best thing........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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