Name of farm in Westouter (region Poperinghe - Ypres) ? ( near Ebro Farm / Ogden Fork)

[Vanwildemeersch Erwin]

Is there anyone who know the english war-name of the farm in the yellow circle, it was the farm where my grandfather was raised. In attachement, a map in superposition of the 2021 landscape and an airphoto in superposition, the farm is just not in the picture. Anyone that can share images of maps of the exact position ?

[WhiteStarLine]

Hi,

You have a duplicate thread with the same map and aerial photo.  I checked around 15 maps of 27.L.36.c.3.9 and none had named the farm.  I checked the only aerial of 27NE4 I have access to but it stopped just short of the farm.  This map, courtesy of IWM and WFA, gives the most detail incluidng the Wippenhoek Line which came very close to the farm.

Some members have access to unit war diaries that might have used the farm, so if any of these emerge we can try again.

Perhaps there are small remnants of the Wippenhoek Line near your grandfather's farm?

[Augustin]

Hello

I also found a map of the trenches around the farm but it is true that on no map the farm and named

Augustin

 

Edited 22 August , 2021 by Augustin

[Vanwildemeersch Erwin]

I have no idea of any remnants of the Wippenhoek line. The original farm is gone ( now = 't Akkernest  ). In the warmemories of my grandfather ( just a child in WW1 ) he has written down, he describes :

 

1. At the very beginning of the war my great-grandfather was asked by German Uhlans if he had seen english troops nearby. During this difficult conversation, the english showed up shooting, the germans fled away direction French border / Catsberg. That day Prince Van Hessen was shot

2. The farm was mostly used by 'officers' , he uses the word  ' headquarter for officers' and they camped in the adjacent field.

There was a field kitchen with a high chimney, baraks covered with round metal plates

3. On the fields of the farm, an English plane went down for an emergency landing. From Abeele Calicanes, they came with a truck to pick it up

4. One day , English soldiers shooted at a geman observation plane, they cheered when it got down. They were very disappointed when they saw the plane flying up before touching the ground. The German pilot just pretended he was shot, to get away out of this situation.

5. They could stay at the farm untill april 1918, then the french came in and they told it was better to move. He writes down, his mother still believed  Ferdinand Foch came in, sniffed the air and asked to taste her potatoes with sauce. 

6. At the attic of the farm, the officers installed a ' protestant church ' The little grainmill was the altar and they played music on a little piano

7. When they returned to the farm after the war, a statue of the madonna of Lourdes left by my great grandparent to protect their farm, was still there.   Only one hand was broken, so was the roof and the windows, but the farmbuilding was not destroyed.

8. After the war, the camp was broken up by Congolese people, one of these had a tame crow on his shoulders

Edited 22 August , 2021 by Vanwildemeersch Erwin

[Vanwildemeersch Erwin]

To all who respond, many thanks in advance !

 

[TEW]

34th Division GS diary says they attended a Corps conference at 27.L.36.c central on 21/9/1918. Ancestry WO95/2444 page 750/100.

That map ref is used till 17/10/1918 but NB. they sometimes write sheet 28!!

34 division moved from 19 corps to 10 corps 23/9/1918. 27 L.36.c is in 10 corps area (only just) in late Sept 1918.

See ancestry diary WO95/2442 page 228/442  RA HQ 34th Division. Sheet 27 L36.c.5.5. They arrived here 16/9/18 and stayed till 2/10/18.

No doubt many units attended the corps conference and had their HQs in L.36.c.central.

TEW

[Vanwildemeersch Erwin]

Thanks to the ' Wippenhoek-line' -connection, I found pictures on the website

https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/search?query=wippenhoek

The stories my grandfather told us when I was a kid, and wrote down in his memories, are coming to life... ( hooray, internet ! )

I don't have any rights to show these pictures, you can find them on the museums victoria website mentioned above , but maybe they were taken in the backyard of my grandfathers farm... ( for a better world, everyone has to share their potatoes, just like my greatgrandmother did in 1914-1918 )

 

Edited 22 August , 2021 by Vanwildemeersch Erwin

[TEW]

Seems you're OK to reproduce the images as they're free of known restrictions.

Some are captioned At an Army Camp while others are Near an Army Camp or don't even mention an Army Camp. Two have Mud Farm which may be a nick-name or perhaps a nod to the infamous version for NZ punishments.

You may find there were many camps in the Wippenhoek area utilising all the surrounding farms. I wouldn't like to say the photos here are necessarily all of the same location.

Just seen there are three camps shown in the previous map extracts EG. L.34.a. near the Railway which also features in the Victoria images.

TEW

[WhiteStarLine]

As TEW has said, the images are not copyright and are available to you under Creative Commons (very loosely - do what you want if you don't sell them!).

The images of Australians show many of them with slouch hats with the brim down.  If they were taken in 1917, then they well may be 3rd Division AIF.  A way of searching this further, which involves some work, is to identify the Sergeant John Lord candidates from this page:

https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/search?type=search&name=lord&surnameOnly=y&start=50&pageSize=50&totFound=118

Then try the Unit War Diaries for each of their units here 

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1338583

I started with John Lord in 11th Field Ambulance in 1916 (England) and 1917 (Armentieres) with no luck but there are other candidates.

 

Good luck!