Fattyowls Posted 8 June , 2021 Author Share Posted 8 June , 2021 Got it. Vlamertinghe. The gates are in memory of Clement, the Mitford sisters' uncle who was killed at 2nd Ypres in 1915. An excellent post Michelle, how are we going to follow that? Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 8 June , 2021 Admin Share Posted 8 June , 2021 Well done. The full photo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dickaren Posted 9 June , 2021 Share Posted 9 June , 2021 23 hours ago, Fattyowls said: Got it. Vlamertinghe. The gates are in memory of Clement, the Mitford sisters' uncle who was killed at 2nd Ypres in 1915. An excellent post Michelle, how are we going to follow that? Pete. Well done Pete, Good detective work. Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 9 June , 2021 Author Share Posted 9 June , 2021 2 hours ago, dickaren said: Good detective work I've got a particularly good batch of coffee beans in at the moment; the Rwandan dark roast ones should take the credit. I was convinced that you or your namesake would beat me to it so I had to concentrate for a change. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marilyne Posted 14 June , 2021 Share Posted 14 June , 2021 On 08/06/2021 at 21:56, Fattyowls said: Got it. Vlamertinghe. The gates are in memory of Clement, the Mitford sisters' uncle who was killed at 2nd Ypres in 1915. An excellent post Michelle, how are we going to follow that? Pete. wow... great detective work... I'll pass there tomorrow for good measure... I actually read the Mitford sisters mysteries by Jessica Fellowes... not bad. M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marilyne Posted 15 June , 2021 Share Posted 15 June , 2021 Greetings from the Salient! Happy to see the Brothers in Arms Memorial has finally been finished Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 24 June , 2021 Admin Share Posted 24 June , 2021 Where is this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 24 June , 2021 Author Share Posted 24 June , 2021 I was just about to post one of mine with some arch questions but this one is really interesting. The low wall on the left suggests something running alongside the cemetery and it looks flat enough for the Lys valley. In other words I haven't a clue. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 25 June , 2021 Admin Share Posted 25 June , 2021 Post yours as well Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knotty Posted 25 June , 2021 Share Posted 25 June , 2021 I’ve looked through all of my pictures and the best I can come up with makes me think it is Desplanque Farm Cemetery, near the village of La Chapelle-d'Armentieres, you have to go up a constantly wet farm track, even in summer, to get to it IIRC. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 25 June , 2021 Admin Share Posted 25 June , 2021 You are indeed correct John. I took that photo in April 2011, the weather was glorious each day (except on the day I took this one) but we had thunder and torrential rain each night. https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/63400/DESPLANQUE FARM CEMETERY, LA CHAPELLE-D'ARMENTIERES/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knotty Posted 25 June , 2021 Share Posted 25 June , 2021 Hi Michelle I glad I spotted that one, been there a couple of time, October 2010, it was raining very hard, and August 2013, it was very hot with local thunderstorms, but I remember being told by someone (CWGC?) that the cemetery was regularly flooded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 25 June , 2021 Author Share Posted 25 June , 2021 Good spot John and interesting cemetery; I was in the right ball park but mistook the lorry on the A26 as a building. Easily done. Like Michelle I have a abiding interest in the forgotten front but I've never really visited the section between Desplanque Farm and Ploegsteert, I have tended to focus on the area to the south. Another walk to be undertaken 'when all of this is over'. Pete. P.S. I will make another cup of industrial strength coffee (dark roast Sumatran) to propel me towards something close to full consciousness and post a photo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 25 June , 2021 Author Share Posted 25 June , 2021 I can't claim to have achieved full consciousness all day but I would invite chums to consider the attached photo, and answer the following fiendish conundrum: 1. Roughly how high above mean sea level am I? 2. What geological phenomenon links what is behind me to two of the names given to the location, both of which are a source of confusion? Extra points will be awarded for working out (I've always wanted to say that). Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 27 June , 2021 Admin Share Posted 27 June , 2021 I think you could be 62 metres above sea level. Other than that, I have no idea..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 27 June , 2021 Author Share Posted 27 June , 2021 3 hours ago, Michelle Young said: I think you could be 62 metres above sea level. Other than that, I have no idea..... Correct, and from it you have the modern name for the location. However I can't think of a more confusing place for having multiple names on the Western Front, even the height above sea level is questionable. Two of the names together with what is physically behind me give you a type of rock. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sly Posted 28 June , 2021 Share Posted 28 June , 2021 Hi to all, Where is it ? Sly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Forge Posted 28 June , 2021 Share Posted 28 June , 2021 On 25/06/2021 at 20:15, Fattyowls said: 2. What geological phenomenon links what is behind me to two of the names given to the location, both of which are a source of confusion? Extra points will be awarded for working out (I've always wanted to say that). Pete. Hi Pete, interesting questions, and Michelle's already nailed the location as Hill 62. Hill 62 was more commonly named Mount Sorrel, and was linked to Hill 61 (aka Torr Top) by Observatory Ridge, but I'm not sure whether that constitutes a geological phenomenon! Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 28 June , 2021 Author Share Posted 28 June , 2021 You are very warm Richard. Think of what now sits on what is now known as Hill 62, behind me as I took the photo, consider the original Mountsorrel's major export and drop the second 'r' from the first word of the third name. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Forge Posted 28 June , 2021 Share Posted 28 June , 2021 Hi Pete (@Fattyowls) - Aha - thanks for the additional clues! We must be talking about granite . . . the Canadian memorial is made of it, so I guess Mount Sorrel was a granite mine - and Dartmoor's Tors are granite. Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marilyne Posted 28 June , 2021 Share Posted 28 June , 2021 Special pic... taken by my friend Onno ... Me in tour guiding mode...; the tour went very well... the 135th Division had the honor of being the only group to lay a wreath on the 17th June, and our spokesman said the exhortation... very honored indeed... and the stops I arranged for the guys were very much appreciated... Guess where the pic was taken?? EEEEAAAASYYYY..... M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 28 June , 2021 Author Share Posted 28 June , 2021 12 hours ago, Old Forge said: Hi Pete (@Fattyowls) - Aha - thanks for the additional clues! We must be talking about granite . . . the Canadian memorial is made of it, so I guess Mount Sorrel was a granite mine - and Dartmoor's Tors are granite. Richard Spot on Richard. The memorial is a notably whitish granite from Quebec, granite tors are the characteristic of the moors of Devon and Cornwall and Mountsorrel was the nearest source of hard roadstone to London (or at least it was 40 years ago when I was doing geology just down the road in Leicester). Strictly speaking Tor Top was Torr Top and was named after a street in a village east of Manchester if memory serves. When I was checking this and the other names before posting I found that there is very little agreement on which humps are which, other than to say that Mountsorrel is one of the ones in the distance and not the vantage point as the memorial suggests. Just to confuse things further the Germans refer to a hill with two crests 60 m above sea level. My personal favourite is based on Aurel Sercu's explanation from a few years back on the forum. It is part of Aurel's manor after all. I'd very much like to walk the whole area to get a feel for it one day soon, perhaps fortified by some fresh waffles. Pete. P.S. So now we have where is Sly's concrete bunker and which bit of the salient is Marilyne explaining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Forge Posted 28 June , 2021 Share Posted 28 June , 2021 16 minutes ago, Fattyowls said: P.S. So now we have where is Sly's concrete bunker and which bit of the salient is Marilyne explaining. Glad to get (mostly) there in the end Pete, thanks for the guidance and for your final explanation - I hadn't realised it was so complicated! Too late to tackle the two new puzzlers, will look tomorrow! Cheers, Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 29 June , 2021 Author Share Posted 29 June , 2021 On 28/06/2021 at 06:07, Sly said: Hi to all, Where is it ? Hi to you too Sly, hope all is well in Picardie. My first reaction on seeing your photograph was Col. Driant's command post in the Bois de Caures at Verdun but I don't think it is. The trees and what looks like a sharp slope beyond remind me of the Argonne forest. I seem to remember a bunker named after Kronprinz Willhelm (Abri de Kronprinz or something like that) near Varennes so I'm going to guess it is that one. Pete. On 28/06/2021 at 18:12, Marilyne said: Guess where the pic was taken?? EEEEAAAASYYYY I wondered about the Crest Farm Canadian memorial but I don't think it's right. There is something familiar about that long wall......... Glad the tour went well (but I knew that it would), it's just very rare to see you without bear. And with a ponytail. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sly Posted 30 June , 2021 Share Posted 30 June , 2021 Quote Hi to you too Sly, hope all is well in Picardie. My first reaction on seeing your photograph was Col. Driant's command post in the Bois de Caures at Verdun but I don't think it is. The trees and what looks like a sharp slope beyond remind me of the Argonne forest. I seem to remember a bunker named after Kronprinz Willhelm (Abri de Kronprinz or something like that) near Varennes so I'm going to guess it is that one. Hi Pete, I am impressed, well spotted. They are known as the "Abri du Kronprinz", well built and design. Interesting spot to visit, as the whole area of the "Haute Chevauchée" forest is. 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