Line 31/7/17

[nicburch]

From a position at Essex Farm on the canal looking east, how far ahead was the British line on 31st July? where exactly did it cross the canal to join with French on the left? 

[Howard]

You did not mention the year but TrenchMapper may help you. Search for just Essex in Advanced Search and choose Essex Farm from the list. When there, right click and centre the map, the right click again and choose Maps at Centre. There are many of different dates.

Howard

[WhiteStarLine]

13 hours ago, nicburch said:

on the canal looking east, how far ahead was the British line on 31st July

Hi @nicburch, around 3,700 yards, according to Haig's personal set of 1917 maps:

Name: Haig Artillery map H6. Ypres front 31st July 1917
Sheet: 28
Scale: 1:20,000
One map in 21 tiles reassembled after scanning. Ypres front 31st July 1917. Whole front from coast South to Armentieres. Belgian, 1st French, 5th and 2nd Armies Artillery dispositions. Printed 31/07/1917

13 hours ago, nicburch said:

where exactly did it cross the canal to join with French on the left

Click to enlarge the image below.  It is around 2,315 yards on a bearing of 355 degrees from Essex Farm. Add another 60 yards if you wish to include the north south trench that parallels the canal.

 Forum member Howard personally unwrapped and scanned these enormous set of maps and another forum member arranged written permission from the current Lady Haig to allow them to be used in TrenchMapper.

Cheers, Bill

[WhiteStarLine]

Looking at the Official History Maps for this day, I realise I based the above answer on the original line on 31st July.  Since the OP could refer to a number of stages documented in Sketches 10 - 17 of the OH, I'll let my previous answer stand but suggest 6,750 yards as a guide to the Essex Farm to frontline distance at the night position following the 1:30 - 6pm counter-attacks.

Zooming out on the Haig map shown in the previous post shows all of these lines.

The other minor point is that the place where the lines crossed the canal is just south of Boesinghe but the OH map shows that the French First Army was responsible for the lines roughly starting at Het Sas.  This is a very short distance north of Boesinghe.

 

[nicburch]

many thanks all