German Cemetery Bazentin le Petit

[KIRKY]

21 minutes ago, Ken Lees said:

Here is the photo - IWM-Q100808

 

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205343931

Is that it the one with the gate?

Tony

[Ken Lees]

33 minutes ago, KIRKY said:

Is that it the one with the gate?

Tony

Yes, it is

 

 

Edited 4 June , 2020 by Ken Lees

[ZIL]

Thanks for the correction AOK4...classified as elderly by HMG....really enjoyed the journey...have passed the location numerous times..next time will be with enlightened knowledge.

Zil

[Ken Lees]

Looking at the two cemetery photos on this thread, the suggested location could well be correct. If we were to stand on the road directly in front of the gate, Bazentin Wood will be away to the left, behind the cemetery site which correlates with the ruined wood in the photo. The IWM photo appears to be later. Is that a building in the centre of the photo in the background?

[nigelcave]

18 hours ago, Don Regiano said:

 

and, if I remember correctly, ths lesser known crucifix in Bazentin is located in the trees just outside your red circle:

 

 

That's the ?Wallace Cross? which was rededicated in 1996 - absolutely tipping it down with rain. I provided the 'religious service' bit - one very wet and bedraggled cleric. Actually a good turnout, some in traditional dress and including the ambassador of Monaco, because it was also tied into the Lamark (spelling?) commemorations. I don't think they unveiled that strange sculpture that day as I seem to remember it being round before then.

 

The WFA, IIRC, financed the engraving of the stone; the cross had disappeared years before and was recovered  from someone's back garden - in the years prior to 1996 all that existed was the slab into which the cross fitted. Away from all books and a quarter of a century or so again. I think possibly it was an aunt - memory very hazy - who had it erected as close as possible (and convenient) to where he fell. I am pretty sure he is in that useful WFA booklet which was produced when the association set about restoring serious private memorials or contacted people/organisations who were connected who would take on the task. Some time since I have stopped to have a proper look (must do that sometime when I am on the Somme, from next week), but I seem to recall it si far from being in the pristine state it was in 1996.

[Don Regiano]

11 minutes ago, nigelcave said:

That's the ?Wallace Cross? which was rededicated in 1996 - absolutely tipping it down with rain. I provided the 'religious service' bit - one very wet and bedraggled cleric. Actually a good turnout, some in traditional dress and including the ambassador of Monaco, because it was also tied into the Lamark (spelling?) commemorations. I don't think they unveiled that strange sculpture that day as I seem to remember it being round before then.

 

The WFA, IIRC, financed the engraving of the stone; the cross had disappeared years before and was recovered  from someone's back garden - in the years prior to 1996 all that existed was the slab into which the cross fitted. Away from all books and a quarter of a century or so again. I think possibly it was an aunt - memory very hazy - who had it erected as close as possible (and convenient) to where he fell. I am pretty sure he is in that useful WFA booklet which was produced when the association set about restoring serious private memorials or contacted people/organisations who were connected who would take on the task. Some time since I have stopped to have a proper look (must do that sometime when I am on the Somme, from next week), but I seem to recall it si far from being in the pristine state it was in 1996.

 

Thanks for the info Nigel.  I always wondered what it was about.  Does that mean that this one is in addition to the memorial located at the junction of the track up from the Windmill and the sunken lane from Bazentin to the western edge of |High Wood?:

 

 

[nigelcave]

Whoops! That's the Wallace Memorial - that's what happens when you don't look closely at a photograph!! Good to see the plaque is still there, tho' in need of a wash and brush up. The one that I misidentified is the famous one at the junction with the B-le-G rad, Crucifix Corner. It is a junction of the B-le-P to Longueval road, the B-le-G road and then tracks heading u to, e.g. the famous Windmill. The little stand of trees/bushes amongst which it can 'get lost' seems to have been there for as long as I can remember, i.e. about forty years, when I first saw it and yet never seem to get much taller or more dense. I assume someone keeps them clipped back.

 

Anyhow, next time I shall stop and think, though I have said/thought that a few times ....

 

Still, the Wallace Cross is a fine memorial and it was a good piece of restoration; somone must be giving the woodwork some regular preservative treatment.

[Tom Tulloch-Marshall]

The CWGC file on the Wallace Memorial is here -

CWGC/8/1/4/1/3/4   "File of correspondence concerning the private memorial erected by the family commemorating Captain Houston Stewart Hamilton Wallace near Bazentin-le-Petit, France. Main topics include: approach by the casualty's aunt Miss Beatrice Heap enquiring if the Commission would be prepared to maintain in perpeuity the replacement cavalry she had erected to replace the original one near which he was killed; correspondence establishing the local commune's ownership of the land on which it stood, and their resolution authorising the Commission to maintain the cavalry for a period of 20 years from 1/1/1925; estimates for the work involved in restoring the cavalry, its base, steps and returfing of the area along with annual maintenance cost; financial approval from Miss Heap and acknowledgement of receipt of her cheque for the agreed total; much later correspondence in the 1980s with the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment concerning the by-then dilapidated condition of the memorial which had lost its cross and deliberation about demolishing what remained, as the casualty is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial."   "Includes: handwritten letters from the casualty's aunt Miss Beatrice Heap concerning the possibility of the Commission being prepared to maintain in perpeuity the replacement cavalry she had erected to replace the original one near which he was killed; internal correspondence establishing the local commune's ownership of the land on which it stood, and their resolution authorising the Commission to maintain the cavalry for a period of 20 years from 1/1/1925; estimates for the work involved in restoring the cavalry, its base, steps and returfing of the area along with annual maintenance cost; financial approval from Miss Heap and acknowledgement of receipt of her cheque for the agreed total; an exchange of correspondence in the 1980s with the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment concerning the by-then dilapidated condition of the memorial which had lost its cross (including a photograph of the inscription on its base) and deliberation about demolishing what remained, as the casualty is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial."   I had a look at it not too many years ago when there was "local talk" of a project to renovate the memorial again. Nothing came of that though. Tom

[Don Regiano]

2 hours ago, nigelcave said:

Whoops! That's the Wallace Memorial - that's what happens when you don't look closely at a photograph!! Good to see the plaque is still there, tho' in need of a wash and brush up. The one that I misidentified is the famous one at the junction with the B-le-G rad, Crucifix Corner. It is a junction of the B-le-P to Longueval road, the B-le-G road and then tracks heading u to, e.g. the famous Windmill. The little stand of trees/bushes amongst which it can 'get lost' seems to have been there for as long as I can remember, i.e. about forty years, when I first saw it and yet never seem to get much taller or more dense. I assume someone keeps them clipped back.

 

Anyhow, next time I shall stop and think, though I have said/thought that a few times ....

 

Still, the Wallace Cross is a fine memorial and it was a good piece of restoration; somone must be giving the woodwork some regular preservative treatment.

 

OK Nigel.  I think your clarification means we are almost there!  The Wallace memorial is next to the old sunken road from Bazentin-le-Petit to High Wood.  Yes, the famous calvary is at Crucifix Corner, as you say, at the junction of the road to B-le-G.  But the photo I posted (I've just had another look to double-check) is on the right hand side of the main road through B-le-P down from the church.  I remember taking photos of them both on the same day.  They do look similar with their being shrouded by the trees - but this might help:

 

Crucifix Corner:

 

 

 

B-le-P main road

 

 

Edited 4 June , 2020 by Don Regiano

[nigelcave]

We have wandered a bit - I shall be on the Somme for a few weeks from Sunday pm, so during that time I shall go have a look see; this is the problem with anno domini, a selective memory (or what's left of it).

 

Someone really has been working on the famous crucifix at the B-le-G junction, tho' it probably has been like that for several years. It used to be an exercise in peering through the undergrowth. Whoever has done the tidy up and, almost more importantly, kept up the ground maintenance: congratulations!

[Don Regiano]

3 hours ago, nigelcave said:

We have wandered a bit - I shall be on the Somme for a few weeks from Sunday pm, so during that time I shall go have a look see; this is the problem with anno domini, a selective memory (or what's left of it).

 

I very much have the same problem Nigel!  I had put the photo in my original post (#17) as I was pretty sure it was located adjacent to where the discussion on the German Cemetery had led.  I'm pretty sure that is where I found it and it is different to the calvaire at Crucifix Corner.  However, although I've been past it many times since I took the photo, I have never stopped.

 

Enjoy your visit to the Somme.  We can't wait to get back, we managed to return from there on the first day of the lockdown.  Having been stopped by the gendarmes when we were joining the A1 at Bapaume, they allowed us to continue our journey to the tunnel.  Otherwise we would have been in isolation over there I guess.

 

Reg

[KIRKY]

1 hour ago, Don Regiano said:

 

I very much have the same problem Nigel!  I had put the photo in my original post (#17) as I was pretty sure it was located adjacent to where the discussion on the German Cemetery had led.  I'm pretty sure that is where I found it and it is different to the calvaire at Crucifix Corner.  However, although I've been past it many times since I took the photo, I have never stopped.

 

Enjoy your visit to the Somme.  We can't wait to get back, we managed to return from there on the first day of the lockdown.  Having been stopped by the gendarmes when we were joining the A1 at Bapaume, they allowed us to continue our journey to the tunnel.  Otherwise we would have been in isolation over there I guess.

 

Reg

Being isolated on Somme? Can think of worse things!!

Tony

[Don Regiano]

22 hours ago, KIRKY said:

Being isolated on Somme? Can think of worse things!!

Tony

 

I agree Tony, I wouldn't have minded being stuck there.  However, we did have to get back for appointments and it was the end of our scheduled 3 week stay.  I'm still wondering what that other crucifix in Bazentin-le-Petit is about.  I don't recall seeing any inscription.  I just wondered if it was to do with the cemetery or with someone who fell nearby - or neither.

 

Reg

Edited 6 June , 2020 by Don Regiano

[AOK4]

56 minutes ago, Don Regiano said:

 

I agree Tony, I wouldn't have minded being stuck there.  However, we did have to get back for appointments and it was the end of our scheduled 3 week stay.  I'm still wondering what that other crucifix in Bazentin-le-Petit is about.  I don't recall seeing any inscription.  I just wondered if it was to do with the cemetery or with someone who fell nearby - or neither.

 

Reg

 

Crucifixes (and or small chapels) are (were) quite common on crossroads etc in France and Belgium. They did't need anything special to be placed although in the old days there sometimes was.

 

Jan

[Don Regiano]

1 hour ago, AOK4 said:

 

Crucifixes (and or small chapels) are (were) quite common on crossroads etc in France and Belgium. They did't need anything special to be placed although in the old days there sometimes was.

 

Jan

 

OK Jan.  Thanks.  I just wondered if there was any significance, bearing in mind its location.  I was thinking about the calvaire on the Guillemont road just outside Hardecourt-aux-Bois and, if you turn left there, there is a memorial at the side of a field to the left which, I think, was for a fallen French soldier and, of course, Maltz Horn Farm further along in the direction of Trones Wood.

 

Reg

[KIRKY]

22 hours ago, Don Regiano said:

 

I agree Tony, I wouldn't have minded being stuck there.  However, we did have to get back for appointments and it was the end of our scheduled 3 week stay.  I'm still wondering what that other crucifix in Bazentin-le-Petit is about.  I don't recall seeing any inscription.  I just wondered if it was to do with the cemetery or with someone who fell nearby - or neither.

 

Reg

Must have been there around same time we left on 10th March after 8 days on the Somme.

tony

[Don Regiano]

11 hours ago, KIRKY said:

Must have been there around same time we left on 10th March after 8 days on the Somme.

tony

 

Yes, but didn't do much battlefield stuff this time.  Just a few photos to the east of Guillemont and a ten minute stop to scour the scene to the south of Guillemont.  Oh, yes, and our usual pilgrimage to High Wood but that's less than 10 minutes' drive away.

[chaz]

Coincidentally, the 8th was our last day of the week we were there. Not be en able to get back to the house since.

early March seems a favourite time for GWF members

[Sakr al Amn]

On 07/06/2020 at 20:41, Don Regiano said:

 

Yes, but didn't do much battlefield stuff this time.  Just a few photos to the east of Guillemont and a ten minute stop to scour the scene to the south of Guillemont.  Oh, yes, and our usual pilgrimage to High Wood but that's less than 10 minutes' drive away.

Hi and sorry this is a bit off topic, but I was wondering whether Clark's Trench near High Wood was named after the company commander of C Company 1st Northamptons (a Capt Clark)? I believe they with another company from the battalion and two companies of the 2nd Royal Sussex took this trench from the the Germans on the night of 16 August 1916. Does anybody know whether Capt Clark survived the war?