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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Saint Quentin and surrounding areas.


Robuk88

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Hi Troops,

I am visiting the Somme in August and planning on heading to Saint Quentin. I did visit in 2018 but i couldn't find much was a battlefield newbie. However i've visited Albert and the surrounding battlefields several times since and branching further out decided to visit Saint Quention. Researching i am struggling to find the following places and unsure if anyone can send me a link to locate them pinpoint a location on a map? It would be much appreciated. If anyone has suggestions to visit around there that would also be much appreciated.

  • West of the town, Manchester Hill and memorials and traces of the Hindenburg Line at Fayet
  • South of St-Quentin, Hindenburg Line bunkers at Moy

    Cheers
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1 minute ago, charlie2 said:

Manchester Hill, marked with the blue square.

Charlie

6EFB76AD-20A6-4881-A459-B92C25D9169C.jpeg

Thank you Charlie perfect i appreciate that.

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  • Admin

There’s certainly some concrete near Joncourt communal cemetery, you can see it from the back. 

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20 minutes ago, Michelle Young said:

There’s certainly some concrete near Joncourt communal cemetery, you can see it from the back. 

Thank you Michelle. I will visit and take a look. Would that be part of the Hindenburg line?

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Robuk88

It would be worth checking out this thread.

 

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  • Admin

Yes I think so.
My interest in Moy is more 1914, with the cavalry charge at Moy -Cerisy. 

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19 minutes ago, Alan24 said:

Robuk88

It would be worth checking out this thread.

 

Thank you very much Alan. That's a great find and certainly will help when visiting.

Rob

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In the thread mentioned above by Alan24 you will find a good map of Manchester Hill.

On the western fringes of Joncourt you can find several of the forward pill boxes/bunkers of the Siegfriedstellung/Hindenburg line, some hidden by bushes.. If you look up the hill to the east of the village, the higher ground was part of the Beaurevoir Line, the row of bunkers still here were the ones attacked by  2nd Manchesters with Wilfrid Owen, if I remember right here won his MC here.

Fayet was on the British front line until March 1918. Little remains, although in Fig Wood, south of the village, can still be found the remains of Isigny Alley and Ivry  Alley trenches, although recent expansion of the commercial centre has reduced this wood.

Peter

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I also found the Helen McPhail and Philip Guest Wilfred Owen  Battleground Europe useful when visiting the area, and this book

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Retreat-Rearguard-Somme-1918-Fifth/dp/1781592675

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Plenty of Wilfred Owen related locations in the GE image above. In the top right hand corner the track leading south from Fayet (partly lined with houses now) is the location of the poem 'Spring Offensive' (Some say God caught them even before they fell..). The top right hand corner of the red box 'A29' just touches the old railway embankment where I believe Owen survived a near miss from a shell, his CO subsequently recognising that he was confused and suffering from shell shock, and sending him back.

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