Aurel Sercu Posted 17 April , 2005 Share Posted 17 April , 2005 Today the inauguration took place of a complex of 4 bunkers (shelters, dressing station) on the Letteberg. The Letteberg is a secondary hill top near the Kemmelberg (Kemmel Hill), southwest of Ypres. Below a photo, and a link to an article on a Flemish website (The Great War in Flanders fields). The text is in Dutch, but there are plenty of photos. http://www.wo1.be/ned/evenementen/erbij/20...l1704/body1.htm Aurel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mebu Posted 18 April , 2005 Share Posted 18 April , 2005 Hello Aurel, thanks for photo and link, looks interesting. Signs of arms damage from the west look intriguing....it is nice to see some local official recognition and opening ceremony, more than we could have got our local politicians to do had it been here!. Something else on my list of to-be-visited. Peter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurel Sercu Posted 18 April , 2005 Author Share Posted 18 April , 2005 Peter, Two weeks ago I discovered another bunker in my village (the northern part, Zuidschote). It had been completely forgotten, wasn't even in an inventory that is being drawn up now. (Im' ashemed to say I had passed along it a hundred times before without noticing it, though it's less than 20 meters from the road !) With a nice inscription : 265ème d'Artillerie ???ème Batterie La Gauloise ???re [= month] MDCCCCXVII [1917] French, no doubt, dating from 2 to 5 months after the beginning of Third Ypres. Is there anything more you can say about this ? Should you wish more photos and approximate measurements, let me know off Forum. And I have a few nice pictures of another bunker in Zuidschote. Interested ? Aurel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyHollinger Posted 18 April , 2005 Share Posted 18 April , 2005 Good site, cool pictures ... was that Briskof marching along? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zijde26 Posted 18 April , 2005 Share Posted 18 April , 2005 To Aurel, There does exist a book, " Traces de la Grande Guerre " edited and photographed by J.S. Cartier. The whole book is full of potographs of (up until now) remainings of ww1. Gilbert Deraedt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurel Sercu Posted 18 April , 2005 Author Share Posted 18 April , 2005 Thanks, Gilbert. Never heard of the book, but I hope they have it in the Ypres Documentation Centre. I wonder if the bunker (and others) will be found in it. Any idea when it was published ? (I'm asking because - as you may have seen in another thread - I am trying to find photos and precise location of French Cemeteries that after the Armistice were moved to St Charles de Potijze. Apart from a handful French Cemteries in Boezinge of which I have photos myself, unsuccessfully so far...) Aurel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 18 April , 2005 Share Posted 18 April , 2005 ... was that Briskof marching along? Almost certain that it was. I think you might have seen another forum member with him? (Was that you, Patrick?) Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mebu Posted 19 April , 2005 Share Posted 19 April , 2005 Hello again Aurel, looks like another interesting one, not often you see such an inscription. "Traces of the Great War" was a private publication, Jean and Anna Cartier managed to get the Ministere des Ancients Combattants et Victimes de Guerre, with a company named Marval to print it, it is a book of larger than A4, very high quality photos (Jean is a professional photographer) it is in both french and English text. As it wasn't published normally but in limited numbers it may be hard to find a copy. There are photos of the bunkers you would expect to see, plus Klerken Windmill, International Corner, Pervijze Op, etc. It was intended as an appreciation of the traces to be seen, I'm afraid there is nothing new in the book. Regards, Peter. PS is the red cross on the Letterburg bunker original? it looks quite well preserved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zijde26 Posted 19 April , 2005 Share Posted 19 April , 2005 To Aurel, - some further information as far as it concerns that book Title : “ Traces de la Grande Guerre “. Although a French title, the text of this book is bilingual, French/English. Subtitle : Les vestiges oubliés de la Mer du Nord à la Suisse Printed in 1994 The book comprises black/white photographs (also the bunkers). These photographs are taken between 1985 and 1993 ISBN : 9782862341477 - as far as it concerns the St Charles de Potyze cemetery, I would like to mention that the book ' De Vergeten Winter ', written by Aleks Deseyne, comprises a whole part on that St Charles de Potyze cemetery. Gilbert Deraedt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurel Sercu Posted 19 April , 2005 Author Share Posted 19 April , 2005 Gilbert and Peter, Thanks. Hope I will find it tomorrow in the Ypres IFFM Documentation centre. As to the red cross... (Which appears to be genuine indeed.) Quoting from today's paper. (In which Franky Bostyn, whose organisation ABAF excavated the bunkers) was quoted) : - The 4 Lettenberg bunkers gave access to an underground complex, with a command post (not accessible now). - Built by British tunnellers - To make them accessible the mountain slope was reduced to the 1917 level (450 m³ of earth removed) - The red cross indicates that it must have been an aid post. In the Battle of the Kemmelberg (April 1918) German troops captured the Lettenburg command post and made it an aid post. We know that because the medical objects we found were of German origin. Aurel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desmond7 Posted 19 April , 2005 Share Posted 19 April , 2005 Aurel - hope all is good - nice to see the pic. Just for info you might like to know there is a an area called Kemmel Hill/or Kemmel Park in the village of Randalstown, Co. Antrim. Ex-soldier's cottages/houses were built their in aftermath of WW1! The place was obviously well remembered .. perhaps not for the best of reasons. Best wishes from Des Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Jones Posted 26 April , 2005 Share Posted 26 April , 2005 Here's one of them in 2003. I believe the small arms damage is from the British recapture later in 1918. Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkristof Posted 26 April , 2005 Share Posted 26 April , 2005 Almost certain that it was. I think you might have seen another forum member with him? (Was that you, Patrick?) Dave. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> yes it was... we showed the visitors a bit of the living in dug outs- bunkers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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