Marilyne Posted 16 February , 2023 Share Posted 16 February , 2023 18 hours ago, Fattyowls said: Those of us who remember the days of 35mm film may recognise what has gone on here. This is a double exposure as a result of not winding the film on far enough, but where are the two places? Pete. Nice one!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 16 February , 2023 Author Share Posted 16 February , 2023 20 minutes ago, Marilyne said: Nice one!!! It took real talent and a lot of effort to be that bad. The technology of the time just gave me more opportunities to mess up....... With regard to the 'somewhere else' that Tom correctly identified the singular British connection can be found on the CWGC and the Hollywood connection is in black and white. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 16 February , 2023 Share Posted 16 February , 2023 1 minute ago, Fattyowls said: It took real talent and a lot of effort to be that bad. The technology of the time just gave me more opportunities to mess up....... Pete. I've done exactly the same thing with an entire roll of film. As you say; it takes a great deal of skill.😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 16 February , 2023 Author Share Posted 16 February , 2023 4 minutes ago, neverforget said: it takes a great deal of skill. That is hardcore Mr P. Respect. I've got a better photo of the stone somewhere as I've visited it more than once. I think it is one of the most important places on the whole Western front, for reasons I will elucedate illucidate elucydate describe when (or if) anyone works it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christina Holstein Posted 16 February , 2023 Share Posted 16 February , 2023 I've been to Pompelle but I didn't see the memorial to the decision to retreat. I wish I had. It really emphasizes the momentous nature of the decision . Christina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 16 February , 2023 Author Share Posted 16 February , 2023 Just now, Christina Holstein said: I've been to Pompelle but I didn't see the memorial to the decision to retreat. I wish I had. It really emphasizes the momentous nature of the decision . Christina You've got to the heart of the reason why I think it is so important Christina. I happened to stumble (almost literally) upon it while exploring the sleepy little town it stands on the edge of. I was on my way to Verdun with a coach party and we stopped for coffee there. Now I look at the map there is another Hollywood connection not far away, this time from WW2 and a ground breaking series. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dickaren Posted 16 February , 2023 Share Posted 16 February , 2023 While we are pondering Pete's image here are another couple from 1994 which should be easier. Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 16 February , 2023 Admin Share Posted 16 February , 2023 Second photo is Louverval cemetery, Doignies. First photo might be a communal extension. No idea which. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 16 February , 2023 Admin Share Posted 16 February , 2023 Another one to ponder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dickaren Posted 16 February , 2023 Share Posted 16 February , 2023 12 minutes ago, Michelle Young said: Second photo is Louverval cemetery, Doignies. First photo might be a communal extension. No idea which. Louverval is correct. First is not an extension. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 16 February , 2023 Author Share Posted 16 February , 2023 Just to move my double exposure on a bit; the village is linked with four men, but they are often associated with the next village up the road to the north. The four have been mentioned a lot on the forum, notably by Mr Plumb on WiT? and a little bit further up the road are two monuments that have featured in this very thread, the one photographed from the other. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 16 February , 2023 Admin Share Posted 16 February , 2023 Is your memorial at Villeret? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 16 February , 2023 Share Posted 16 February , 2023 That's got me scratching my head 🤔 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 16 February , 2023 Author Share Posted 16 February , 2023 28 minutes ago, Michelle Young said: Is your memorial at Villeret? An excellent guess Michelle, but no. These four were French. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 16 February , 2023 Author Share Posted 16 February , 2023 1 hour ago, neverforget said: That's got me scratching my head 🤔 Caporals which should help.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 16 February , 2023 Share Posted 16 February , 2023 3 minutes ago, Fattyowls said: Caporals which should help.... Souain? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 16 February , 2023 Author Share Posted 16 February , 2023 2 minutes ago, neverforget said: Souain? Is the village just up the road from.......? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 16 February , 2023 Share Posted 16 February , 2023 2 minutes ago, Fattyowls said: Is the village just up the road from.......? Verdun? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 16 February , 2023 Author Share Posted 16 February , 2023 1 minute ago, neverforget said: Verdun? Much closer than that, just to the south. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 16 February , 2023 Share Posted 16 February , 2023 Suippes French National Cemetery? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 16 February , 2023 Share Posted 16 February , 2023 (edited) Or perhaps Ferme de Suippes? (Close)(r) Edited 16 February , 2023 by neverforget Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 16 February , 2023 Author Share Posted 16 February , 2023 1 minute ago, neverforget said: Or perhaps Ferme de Suippes? Answer incoming - stand by Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 16 February , 2023 Author Share Posted 16 February , 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, neverforget said: Suippes French National Cemetery? That will do for me matey. The stone is behind the rightmost road sign and the entrance to the cemetery behind the one on the left. This is what I wrote about it on WiT? when we were still in short trousers in 2017..... It is probably close to two decades since I was last there, as it is not a place that British visitors are likely to pass. (Name dropper alert!) However I went to Verdun with Martin Middlebrook and Mike Hodgson several times in the 90's and Martin used to like to go across country rather than use the autoroute. As a consequence we would cross the Santerre plateau south of the Somme, pass Laon where General Charles Mangin said he would make his headquarters after the breakthrough on the Chemin de Dames 100 years ago and then go along the ladies road. We would stop at the beautiful Vendresse cemetery below the crest and on one occasion took in the Bois de Buttes, of immortal memory to the Devonshires. Suippes was a coffee stop on at least one trip as we crossed the dry Champagne and there was time to explore the town. The market seemed to have most of the 246 kinds of cheese that Charles de Gaulle complained of but on the north edge of the town is one of those large, sad French millitary cemeteries, which has one British grave, an ambulanceman called Gidley, killed in April 1917. At the junction close to the cemetery is a stone which I think is incredibly significant in the history of the First World War. It describes how in early September 1914 the Kaiser and his entourage had stopped at this crossroads and his generals had informed him that they had decided to retreat in the face of the French counterattack along the Marne. Although the decision may well have been taken elsewhere I think this location is where Moltke's supposed statement "Your majesty, we have lost the war" started to come true. It would take four years and incalculable suffering and misery before it came to pass but I think that little junction at Suippes is so symbolic. I still think the corner by the communal cemetery in Suippes is one of the key places anywhere. I can picture the gathering of the fantastically uniformed staffs with the gleaming breastplates and the deaths head hussar shakos as Moltke the Younger, probably showing signs of complete nervous breakdown broke the news to the Supreme Warlord that the Schliefen plan had failed and the game was up. It probably never had a chance and had been coming to pieces for a while, but this nondescript junction is symbolic of where the Germans started to lose the war. They still managed to fill up the cemetery in the background with 4,853 Frenchmen in the process, along with so many millions more. The dead include Caporal Louis Girard, one of the Souhain/Suippes four executed by his own side to encourager les autres in 1915, their story would eventually become the inspiration for Stanley Kubrick's 'Paths of Glory' in 1957. If you take the road off to the left just out of shot you will come to Souhain, then the Ferme de Navarin ossuary and memorial and a bit further on the Blanc Mont American Memorial, my favourite of all the US commemorations. Just to the west of the village is Camp de Mourmelon, where Easy Company of the 101st Airborne where resting in December 1944 before being sent to Bastogne during the battle of the Bulge, as portrayed in 'Band of Brothers'. The whole area is layer upon layer of history, not just French, but British, American, German and even Russian. It should be better known. Pete Edited 16 February , 2023 by Fattyowls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 16 February , 2023 Author Share Posted 16 February , 2023 Image snipped from Google Earth by the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 16 February , 2023 Share Posted 16 February , 2023 A most interesting read Pete. Really enjoyed that. You share your observations with such eloquence. 2 minutes ago, Fattyowls said: Image snipped from Google Earth by the way. It might just be me, but I can't seem to open that link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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