Braquemont

[David26]

It took me a while to pin this place down which featured so much in the diaries of 11th (Northern) Division in the summer of 1918 so I thought I'd record it here in case it helps others.

 

WO95/1794, the war diary of the Adjutant and QM General for the division, records that the divisional HQ was located at a place called Bracquemont between 15 April and 26 August 1918.  Other entries in other war diaries occasionally also refer to this place but sometimes spell it as Braquemont.

 

 

(Image courtesy of The National Archives).

 

Searches on modern maps returned only one village of either spelling but that was in Seine Maritime a few miles east of Dieppe.  That was clearly not the right place.  The diaries refer to a host of other places on the Western Front such as Mazingarbe, Philospohe, Hersin and Noeux-les-Mines.  They did though find a Rue de Braquemont in Noeux-les-Mines which appeared to be the current rue nationale.  

 

Thanks to the excellent maps available from McMaster University, a speculative look around the area of Noeux-les-Mines found that what is now a seemingly unnamed suburb of that village was the old village of Braquemont. 

 

 

(Image courtesy of McMaster University).  Sadly what the map doesn't show is where the school was - that was the scene of many courts martial held by the division that summer.  Should a pal happen to be passing through this place at some point and spot an old schoolhouse it would be super were you able to post a photo of it here.

 

David.

 

[mebu]

Almost certainly the Ecole St Exupery, next to the church. Marked in red on the map. From limited google earth view, looks like much may be the original building.

 

Peter

 

Edited 26 November , 2020 by mebu

[battle of loos]

good morning,

 

as soon as we are freer in our movements (France) I will go and take a picture of the school.
living nearby.

Kind regards

Michel

[David26]

Peter, Michel,

 

that's fantastic - and really kind.  

 

And I've just spotted that on your map, Peter, the village is spelled Bracquemont.  No wonder there were both variations in the unit war diaries!

 

    David.

Edited 26 November , 2020 by David26
Adding comment.

[battle of loos]

good morning,

 

here is the picture on the School and the Church in Bracquemont :

 

 

regards

 

michel

[David26]

4 hours ago, battle of loos said:

good morning,

 

here is the picture on the School and the Church in Bracquemont :

 

 

regards

 

michel

Michel,

 

That's fantastic.  Really nice photos.  Thank you so much.  

 

David.

[Martin Bennitt]

On 26/11/2020 at 20:07, David26 said:

Peter, Michel,

 

that's fantastic - and really kind.  

 

And I've just spotted that on your map, Peter, the village is spelled Bracquemont.  No wonder there were both variations in the unit war diaries!

 

    David.

 

In fact on that map it's spelled Bracquement, with an e, while on the McMaster map it's Braquement, without a c. So that's four possibilities!

 

Cheers Martin B

[battle of loos]

On 26/11/2020 at 10:41, mebu said:

Presque certainement l'Ecole St Exupéry, à côté de l'église. Marqué en rouge sur la carte. Du point de vue limité de Google Earth, on dirait que beaucoup de choses peuvent être le bâtiment d'origine.

 

Peter

 

good morning,

 

Here's an overlay of your map with a current satellite view :

 

 

Kind regards

 

Michel

[David26]

Thank you Michel, that's really excellent.  (And thank you also Martin). 

 

As Martin has said, both original maps spell the place name with a suffix of -ment, rather than -mont which is what appears in the British war diaries. I'm tempted to suggest that the maps are more likely to be accurate, but, as someone who lives locally, I just wondered if you might have any insights as to the correct spelling? 

 

David.

[battle of loos]

Good morning

the name "Braquemont" comes from a coal mining engineer:
Adrien Aubé from Bracquemont

sorry it's in French:
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrien_Aub%C3%A9_de_Bracquemont

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fosse_n%C2%B0_1_-_1_bis_des_mines_de_N%C5%93ux

its been given to this mining town like so many others.

as to its spelling, it varies from the time and nationality of the person writing it.

Kind regards

Michel

[David26]

Thank you so much Michel.  I am very grateful for that and shall use Bracquemont as the correct spelling.

 

And please never apologise for posting links or items about France or French people that are in French - it is only appropriate that they should be in French.  (Sadly my web browser has decided to forcibly translate these pages into pigeon English for me and I am struggling to work out how to turn off Microsoft's 'web translate' so that I can properly appreciate the articles).

 

Best regards,

 

  David.

[Anthony Ward]

Very interesting thanks David and Michel - adds more to the history

[Anthony Ward]

On 26/11/2020 at 10:03, David26 said:

It took me a while to pin this place down which featured so much in the diaries of 11th (Northern) Division in the summer of 1918 so I thought I'd record it here in case it helps others.

 

WO95/1794, the war diary of the Adjutant and QM General for the division, records that the divisional HQ was located at a place called Bracquemont between 15 April and 26 August 1918.  Other entries in other war diaries occasionally also refer to this place but sometimes spell it as Braquemont.

 

 

(Image courtesy of The National Archives).

 

Searches on modern maps returned only one village of either spelling but that was in Seine Maritime a few miles east of Dieppe.  That was clearly not the right place.  The diaries refer to a host of other places on the Western Front such as Mazingarbe, Philospohe, Hersin and Noeux-les-Mines.  They did though find a Rue de Braquemont in Noeux-les-Mines which appeared to be the current rue nationale.  

 

Thanks to the excellent maps available from McMaster University, a speculative look around the area of Noeux-les-Mines found that what is now a seemingly unnamed suburb of that village was the old village of Braquemont. 

 

 

(Image courtesy of McMaster University).  Sadly what the map doesn't show is where the school was - that was the scene of many courts martial held by the division that summer.  Should a pal happen to be passing through this place at some point and spot an old schoolhouse it would be super were you able to post a photo of it here.

 

David.

 

Hi David

Just arrived here on my journey with the 58th - Thanks

Anthony

 

[David26]

5 hours ago, Anthony Ward said:

Hi David

Just arrived here on my journey with the 58th - Thanks

Anthony

 

Anthony,

That's splendid.  I hope you have an excellent visit.

Thanks for letting us know,

David.

[Anthony Ward]

Hi David

Am reviewing the June 1917 diary at the moment and on 1 June i think I find the Brigade in Berthen, Dunkirk, France arriving there about 20 May. I cannot find them leaving there by the end of the June diary. From your research is that a correct reading?

Both you and Wikipaedia tell me the 11th Div were in the Messines area and the diary mentions WYTSCHAETE which i find close to Messines which bears out the Messines link. I was surprised that the diarist never mentioned the 'mine explosion'

I can only conclude that Berthen is not where I think it is?

Looking forward to your hearing thoughts

Best wishes Anthony

PS I cannot trace diaries for July to Sept 1917 - can you confirm that is the case?

 

 

 

[David26]

Hi Anthony,

sadly, yes, the war diaries for most of the artillery units that were serving in the Ypres salient are missing for that period.

Regarding Berthen, I'll send you a bit more information by email hopefully later today, but in short, I believe that the war diary is probably referring to the one just north west of Bailleul rather than the one near Dunkirk.

David.

[Anthony Ward]

hi David -

That is where I had it but seems so far from Messines & Wytchaete which is where the battles occurred?

 

Thanks again

Anthony