Crucifix from Doingt-Flamicourt to be returned

[BillyH]

Nice article here from the BBC News website :

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-65201597

BillyH.

[BillyH]

Just out of interest, this story has now been further researched here :

https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/303932-percy-l-hooson/#comment-3203018

BillyH.

[tootrock]

All the newspaper reports mention the fact that the crucifix was returned 107 years after it was removed during the battle of the Somme. This must be incorrect, in that the area was not fought over until late 1918. The earliest burial of the 418 in the Doingt Communal Cemetery Extension was in September 1918. Or is this another Doingt?

Martin

[WhiteStarLine]

24 minutes ago, tootrock said:

battle of the Somme.

It is the correct Doignt and I only happen to know the details because my grandfather fought in both of the 1918 battles of that name.  He was in Doingt during the second and we followed a tipoff to find the partial remains of some trenches around Doignt.  From the Australian point of view, the capture of Peronne - Mont St Quentin is probably the best known and it was while resting in Doignt that my grandfather noted that "a body is only a body".

Rightly, everyone knows the Battle of the Somme 1916.  In 1918 there was the First Battles of the Somme 1918 and the Second Battles of the Somme 1918.  The authoritative source is

Quote

A Record of the Battles and Engagements of the British Armies in France and Flanders 1914 - 1918

"