WorldWarWanderer Posted 27 January , 2021 Share Posted 27 January , 2021 (edited) Mister Fattyowls invited me to post some pictures here. i'm not a photographer, i'm just a ... well... a camera phone owner living and walking in Flanders fields. I don't make many photos. When i do it's because i see something that's directly visually linked with the war, but mostly i make photos when the landscape and the direction i'm looking in look "authentic" and make me feel like people in in the beginning of the 20th century would've been looking at an almost identical landscape. Many of the photos i make are not directly from the frontline, but rather from the Hinterland (German side). the place where i live is surrounded by traces of the logistical operations the Germans had in place behind the front (the trams, the depots, the canals in Roulers, Hooglede, Kortemark ...). many of those landscapes strongly summon the "great war atmosphere". although i'm not sure this is the right place for them, as people visiting the salient usually don't stray that far. This one is from a small road connecting Passendale and Poelkapelle (jan 17th 2021). There had been a lot of farming activity in the whole area the previous weeks and i saw "obussen" by the side of almost every field. Edited 27 January , 2021 by WorldWarWanderer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilbo139 Posted 27 January , 2021 Share Posted 27 January , 2021 Well I’m glad you started this thread up again...I’ve been missing it........would that photo be in the region of Varlet Farm ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WorldWarWanderer Posted 27 January , 2021 Share Posted 27 January , 2021 10 minutes ago, gilbo139 said: Well I’m glad you started this thread up again...I’ve been missing it........would that photo be in the region of Varlet Farm ? That's about right. Varlet farm is about 1.6km (1mile) to the SE of this point. it's just north of the little stream. (50.9108333 2.9613889) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 27 January , 2021 Author Share Posted 27 January , 2021 20 minutes ago, WorldWarWanderer said: This one is from a small road connecting Passendale and Poelkapelle An excellent first photo, much appreciated, and thanks for the coordinates too. It's an area I'm not very familiar with which I need to do something about as my grandfather was supplying shells to the guns firing on Poelkapelle in October 1917 and may have transported the one in the pictures. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilbo139 Posted 27 January , 2021 Share Posted 27 January , 2021 I’ve got fond memories of walking that area......I used to stay with Charlotte and would be out early morning before my friends were up, one New Year I walked from the farm to Tyne Cot through Marshbottom, lots of barbed wire stakes being used by the farmers ...... keep the photos coming , regards Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilbo139 Posted 27 January , 2021 Share Posted 27 January , 2021 2 minutes ago, Fattyowls said: An excellent first photo, much appreciated, and thanks for the coordinates too. It's an area I'm not very familiar with which I need to do something about as my grandfather was supplying shells to the guns firing on Poelkapelle in October 1917 and may have transported the one in the pictures. Pete. No , it was more likely one of these... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WorldWarWanderer Posted 27 January , 2021 Share Posted 27 January , 2021 19/12/2020; 500m (0.3miles) east of Varlet farm. (50°54'27.0"N 2°59'36.0"E) just setting the tone here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilbo139 Posted 27 January , 2021 Share Posted 27 January , 2021 A very poignant photo , quite moving....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horrocks Posted 27 January , 2021 Share Posted 27 January , 2021 (edited) Horse, or perhaps horse and mule. Poignant. Edited 27 January , 2021 by horrocks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WorldWarWanderer Posted 27 January , 2021 Share Posted 27 January , 2021 1 minute ago, horrocks said: Horse, or perhaps horse and mule. Poignant. That's what i thought too. However i don't think they are war era remains. My knowledge of osteoarcheology is non-existant though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horrocks Posted 27 January , 2021 Share Posted 27 January , 2021 4 minutes ago, WorldWarWanderer said: That's what i thought too. However i don't think they are war era remains. My knowledge of osteoarcheology is non-existant though. Of course not, the use of working horses certainly outlived the war. It is a jarring image though, either way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horrocks Posted 27 January , 2021 Share Posted 27 January , 2021 In a similar vein, I chanced upon this a few years ago, its poignancy in the location, the entrance to Mametz Wood, below Wood Support. It would have been very close to here that Robert Graves chanced upon the corpse of a German when, according to his account, he went into the wood to collect greatcoats for his men. 'Today I found in Mametz Wood A certain cure for lust of blood: Where, propped against a shattered trunk, In a great mess of things unclean, Sat a dead Boche; he scowled and stunk With clothes and face a sodden green, Big-bellied, spectacled, crop-haired, Dribbling black blood from nose and beard.' Robert Graves, 'A Dead Boche'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 27 January , 2021 Author Share Posted 27 January , 2021 The equine remains are particularly poignant for me because my grandmother remembered my grandfather talking about the suffering of the horses. As a driver in the 57th Division Ammunition column it affected him badly. Certainly the picture of the old iron by the roadside increases the statistical likelyhood of one of them being transported by the man who forms my avatar; that is some collection. Thanks for all of these, Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassenach Posted 27 January , 2021 Share Posted 27 January , 2021 Many of us who are unable to be there at the moment will appreciate seeing these photos. I would love to see anything from the general area of Sanctuary Wood/Hooge/Shrewsbury Forest if you happen to be in that area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WorldWarWanderer Posted 27 January , 2021 Share Posted 27 January , 2021 1 minute ago, sassenach said: Many of us who are unable to be there at the moment will appreciate seeing these photos. I would love to see anything from the general area of Sanctuary Wood/Hooge/Shrewsbury Forest if you happen to be in that area. you are in luck. on sunday i will walk from Ieper to Roulers. Passing sanctuary wood, on to polygon wood, up to Zonnebeke, on to Passchendaele and than along the old railroad to the front to roulers (away from the frontline). I'll make sure you can enjoy it too. and, just to show you how close it al still is around here: right in front of my house (i see it everytime i look outside) is an old tramstation that was used by the Germans to transport materials to the front. allegedly a lot of gas was sent from here. i say allegedly because i only heard someone talk about it, but have never found any proof. i'll post a photo of the tramstation later. i'll have to dig deep in my folders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassenach Posted 27 January , 2021 Share Posted 27 January , 2021 Thanks. I will get my maps out and remind myself of the route. I am very envious; hope you get good weather. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WorldWarWanderer Posted 27 January , 2021 Share Posted 27 January , 2021 So this is the tramstation i was talking about. after a long fight with local government they decided to not demolish it and do necessary repairs. still not fully finished (new roof and woodwork is done though). i'm curious what interesting details you guys can find in this photo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WorldWarWanderer Posted 28 January , 2021 Share Posted 28 January , 2021 Continuing my "wish you were here instead of covid" photo round: (19/12/2020) Westrozebeke is behind me, and i'm about 1.8km (1.15miles) behind the straight line connecting the churches of Passchendaele and Poelkapelle. i'm looking to the southwest and on the horizon you can see the dark shadow of the Kemmelberg. I can't see Ypres as the infamous higher grounds are in the way, but i know it's there about in the middle between me and the Kemmelberg. These places are most beautiful when the clouds fight to keep the sun away. 50°55'12.0"N 2°59'17.0"E Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 28 January , 2021 Author Share Posted 28 January , 2021 Considering you don't think of yourself as a photographer JW that is very good. Thanks again for the coordinates too, that helps me place the landscape using Google Earth. Apart from the aesthetics of the sky I like the way it shows how the ridge protected the German rear areas. In all the time I've been visiting the area I think I've only ever once or twice looked at it from this direction. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WorldWarWanderer Posted 29 January , 2021 Share Posted 29 January , 2021 (edited) here we go again: i'm in the middle between Poelkapelle and Passchendaele. about 250m (0.15miles) behind the straight line connecting those two villages. the visible horizon here is the high point. behind that it's down down down and open views from Zonnebeke to Langemark. the small group of trees to the right where the road leads to is where i found the animal remains i posted a few days ago. even though i'm on "high" ground, you can see how bad this soil is at draining water. it looks like it was pouring it down just a few minutes before taking this photo. in reality it hadn't been raining for hours. and the days before we only had some light rains for a few hours a day. on the left, between the field and the road, you see a "beek". it should be easily draining the standing water in the field right before me, but those puddles float on top of the mud like fat on soup. remember this is the higher ground. Imagine what it's like down there over the ridge When crossing fields like this, you notice how unpredictable it is: sometimes you walk in the water and the soil under it is no problem. it stays hard and easy to cross. but other times you walk over some mud that looks like it's almost dried up and you sink in it up to your ankles. when i encounter this now it's a reason for a curse, a laugh and a funny story. but it's easy to imagine how dangerous and life threatening it was a century ago. 50°54'34.0"N 2°59'41.0"E Edited 29 January , 2021 by WorldWarWanderer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassenach Posted 29 January , 2021 Share Posted 29 January , 2021 (edited) This is great stuff. Keep it coming, please! On the Holts' map of the Salient, it looks like the beek is Lentebosbeek, or possibly Paddebeek? Edited 29 January , 2021 by sassenach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WorldWarWanderer Posted 29 January , 2021 Share Posted 29 January , 2021 another one, why not... This is a less obvious place. it's further away from the salient and thus deeper in what was the German Hinterland. These places are a lot less visited by the schoolkids and the buses and their lunches, cameras and guides (for the record: i'm not ridiculing them, i embrace them, encourage them and respect them. Remembrance is but the sum total of individual memories). I instantly fell in love with this spot. it's in the middle between three nowhere hamlets. so it's triple nowhere. it doesn't even have a real road. if you forget the modern day farming infrastructure on the horizon this place really feels like it hasn't changed in centuries. there are no souvenir shops, big plaques or war themed hotels here, but the sides of the fields are still lined with dug up iron, which is picked up by DOVO and the next week the story is repeated. these areas further back are where civilians suffered, where everything was commandeered and where the logistics of war ran 24 hours a day. 50°59'40.0"N 3°01'31.0"E Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WorldWarWanderer Posted 29 January , 2021 Share Posted 29 January , 2021 41 minutes ago, sassenach said: This is great stuff. Keep it coming, please! On the Holts' map of the Salient, it looks like the beek is Lentebosbeek, or possibly Paddebeek? The Paddebeek runs where the blue line is. The beek i meant is the one i circled red. it's not named because it's a actually a ditch and i misspoke and called it a beek. the Flemish words "gracht", "beek", "sloot" and "geul" are often used interchangeably but topographically and geologically speaking they are indeed very different concepts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilbo139 Posted 29 January , 2021 Share Posted 29 January , 2021 1 hour ago, WorldWarWanderer said: here we go again: i'm in the middle between Poelkapelle and Passchendaele. about 250m (0.15miles) behind the straight line connecting those two villages. the visible horizon here is the high point. behind that it's down down down and open views from Zonnebeke to Langemark. the small group of trees to the right where the road leads to is where i found the animal remains i posted a few days ago. even though i'm on "high" ground, you can see how bad this soil is at draining water. it looks like it was pouring it down just a few minutes before taking this photo. in reality it hadn't been raining for hours. and the days before we only had some light rains for a few hours a day. on the left, between the field and the road, you see a "beek". it should be easily draining the standing water in the field right before me, but those puddles float on top of the mud like fat on soup. remember this is the higher ground. Imagine what it's like down there over the ridge When crossing fields like this, you notice how unpredictable it is: sometimes you walk in the water and the soil under it is no problem. it stays hard and easy to cross. but other times you walk over some mud that looks like it's almost dried up and you sink in it up to your ankles. when i encounter this now it's a reason for a curse, a laugh and a funny story. but it's easy to imagine how dangerous and life threatening it was a century ago. 50°54'34.0"N 2°59'41.0"E What’s the opposite of being homesick......because I’m feeling it.....I haven’t walked those roads for a good few years now....I think my old lodgings would be somewhere on the right of the horizon....great stuff !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteStarLine Posted 29 January , 2021 Share Posted 29 January , 2021 1 minute ago, WorldWarWanderer said: The Paddebeek runs where the blue line is. And a rather dangerous place to be if you chose the wrong date! Great photographs too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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