steve140968 Posted 15 January , 2006 Author Share Posted 15 January , 2006 Thanks guys , i wish i could go tommorow !!! The sunken road at Beaumont Hamel seems to crop up alot . Can someone please shed some light on the history of the sunken road and what can you expect to see nowadays ? Regards , Steve . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Hartley Posted 15 January , 2006 Share Posted 15 January , 2006 Steve What you will see is a sunken road. Sunken roads are all over the place. There's another "down the way" near Trones Wood that rarely gets a mention - unless you've got an interest in 30th Division units. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle bill Posted 15 January , 2006 Share Posted 15 January , 2006 emotionally speaking my first ' last post ' in Ypres had me close to tears. Visiting my wife's great grandfather at Bailleul and realizing that I was the first ' family' member to do so. Standing at Bonté Redoubt on a hot july 1st afternoon just as my great uncle had in 1916. Half past five in the morning, placing flowers at Alec's grave in a grey, mist laden Serre Road Number 2 on july 1st. The day he died. Bois Brulé for trenches, dugouts and wire. ( St Mihiel salient ) Walking up the slope to the Mort Homme from the German lines for atmosphere. Les Eparges for spectacular. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salientguide Posted 15 January , 2006 Share Posted 15 January , 2006 Thanks guys , i wish i could go tommorow !!! The sunken road at Beaumont Hamel seems to crop up alot . Can someone please shed some light on the history of the sunken road and what can you expect to see nowadays ? Regards , Steve . Steve the Sunken Road at Beaumont Hamel is particularly famous as it was in No mans land the morning of 1st July 1916. It was sheltered from the enemy by the high bank and occupied prior to zero hour by means of a tunnel. The reason it and its occupants are famous is because they were filmed there by the offical cameraman Geoffrey Malins shortly before going over the top. It is a truely haunting piece of film seeing these young men knowing that most never made it more than a few yards over that bank barely minutes after they were filmed.One can stand in exactly the same spot. On the ridge over the otherside of the road is Hawthorn crater wnich Malins also filmed being detonated. The accompanying few seconds of a battalion of the Middlesex attacking is recognised as probably the only authentic recording of the attack anywhere on the front that day. My most moving experiemce my very first visit to a CWGC cemetery in Flandres Brandhoek outside Ypres. A misty morning with very little visibility, no intrusion from the modern waorld and it seemed as if the war was still just there across the fields, most moving and like most hooked from that moment on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whkay Posted 15 January , 2006 Share Posted 15 January , 2006 Go and stand by the entrance to Mansel Copse cemetery, alone if possible, after reading the words on the stone inscription. Brought a tear to my eye I don't mind telling you.. Then there's the Welsh memorial seat at the back of Dantzig Alley cemetery. Look out over the back, from left to right, you get a fantastic panaramic view of part of the advance from 1st July. My only advice would be take plenty of photographs, you'll regret it later if you dont.. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Miller Posted 15 January , 2006 Share Posted 15 January , 2006 On a glorious summer's day, I found the Chemin des Dames to be truly spectacular. One can only look down the slopes to the Aisne in incredulity that anyone tried to attack uphill, and in some cases, succeeded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Carter Posted 16 January , 2006 Share Posted 16 January , 2006 Walking from the south-eastern corner of High Wood down the track which was known as 'Wood Lane'. For some reason, I always seem to walk it at some point during a weekend visit to the Somme. The 1st Birmingham Pals were decimated thereabouts on the evening of 22 July 1916 when along with the Royal West Kents they attacked from the Longueval/Martinpuich Road to the German positions in Wood Lane. Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_Blanchard Posted 16 January , 2006 Share Posted 16 January , 2006 Fully in agreement with Jon's posting on the Aisne. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve140968 Posted 16 January , 2006 Author Share Posted 16 January , 2006 Thanks guys . Salient guide , regarding the 'few seconds of footage ' you mention showing a battalion of the Middlesex , do you know which battalion was filmed ? Also is it possible to access this footage ? Regards , Steve . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMoorhouse Posted 17 January , 2006 Share Posted 17 January , 2006 What about the No.1 'humbling experience' that brought a tear to your eye !!! Some years ago I was taken into an old British/Commonwealth tunnel - the soldiers who expanded it had scrawled their names/regimental numbers on its walls. One man had drawn a picture of his girlfriend (matching the tatoo on his arm) on the wall. He was burried in the cemetery nearby. It is sad that she would never have known that in the depths of the earth he was still thinking of her. Sadder still that he never made it home. Brendon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fraser Thomson Posted 18 January , 2006 Share Posted 18 January , 2006 Saddest for me was the exit at the WW1 museum, in Ieper. They had a wall of old photogrphic prints from soldiers who never came back to pick them up. Their faces still haunt me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirrel Posted 18 January , 2006 Share Posted 18 January , 2006 Le Trou Aid Post near Armentieres and St Symphorien Mons are two of the most striking cemeteries I have visited. On my first visit to Talbot House Poperinghe I could smell Woodbines cigarettes but nobody else in the group could. Not smelt it again on a subsequent visit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 18 January , 2006 Admin Share Posted 18 January , 2006 Every visit to the Western Front is special to me, but one of the most rewarding events was finding the exact spot where Captain Francis Cresswell, adjutant of the 1st Norfolks, died on 24th August 1914. My father, a great friend and I spent about half a day following the events of that day and finally narrowed down the place using the war diaries and accounts. It was amazing when Dick placed a wreath in his memory, at the right place. Sadly, we were unable to top it off with a visit to his grave, as he is buried miles from where he died, and lies in Auberchicourt British cemetery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIRKY Posted 18 January , 2006 Share Posted 18 January , 2006 Ulster Tower, Caterpillar Valley and Tommies bar. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
withcall Posted 18 January , 2006 Share Posted 18 January , 2006 Two in particular stand out: (i) Walking up a series of tracks from the rebuilt village of Craonne up the hill towards the Chemin des Dames in the baking heat and finding a series of semi-collapsed French dugouts which went back God-knows how far under the main road into the blackness. The floor was littered with old pots and drinking canteens, just as if the residents had just stepped out for a while. (ii) Having been invited to the 80th anniversary commemoration of the battle of Fromelles, we parked up overnight at what is now the battlefield park, but was then just a jumble of blockhouses and rough grass. We slept (or tried to) in the car, but it was a pretty spooky night, and not difficult to imagine some kind of 'Menin Gate At Midnight' scene with spirts of dead soldiers wandering across the battlefield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petroc Posted 18 January , 2006 Share Posted 18 January , 2006 As a Devonian, Devonshire Cemetery, or more to the point the atmosphere that surrounds it and the adjacent copse, must be very, very near the top; but Ramparts Cemetery at Ypres is so close to it, and the old Lee Enfield we found on the lip of the Hawthorn Ridge crater the other year adds a special poignancy to that place too.....as for the other 'Great War', how about the 'Para's' cemetery at Ranville in Normandy, or the main CWGC site at Bayeux? I mention WW2 if only because, of all the moving places dotted along the old Western Front, surely the most chiling and emotional is the Mur des Fusilades at Arras? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uxbull Posted 18 January , 2006 Share Posted 18 January , 2006 Done a lot of the 'usual' stuff round Ypres. However many times I go there I am never ceased to be moved/amazed. Originally being from Worcester I have always been interested in Gheluvelt. One day I was really pleased to find the monument down a side street in Gheluvelt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Miller Posted 18 January , 2006 Share Posted 18 January , 2006 regarding the 'few seconds of footage ' you mention showing a battalion of the Middlesex , do you know which battalion was filmed ? Also is it possible to access this footage ? Regards , Steve . The battalion was the 16th Middlesex. The footage is contained in the double video 'The Battles of the Somme and Ancre.' And probably several other videos here and there. I have to endorse the view of Squirrel - Le Trou Aid Post Cem is just amazing, an oasis in the middle of acres of uninspiring countryside. Jon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbie Posted 18 January , 2006 Share Posted 18 January , 2006 Fromelles. Polygon Wood Definitely Polygon Wood. Robbie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerrymurland Posted 19 January , 2006 Share Posted 19 January , 2006 Standing on Orange Hill, Monchy Le Preux and looking over the ground that the Northamptonshire Yeomanry, 10th Hussars et al charged over to reach the village under heavy shellfire. For me, with two relatives involved, it is a place of awe and wonder. Jerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerrymurland Posted 19 January , 2006 Share Posted 19 January , 2006 Ah, forgot Anzac Cove on Gallipoli, but wrong front! Jerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve140968 Posted 19 January , 2006 Author Share Posted 19 January , 2006 Thankyou very much everyone . There is enough suggestions there to last a lifetimes visiting . It's so refreshing to see how passionate you all are about your favourites , different places mean different things to different people , that what makes it so interesting !!! Going off at a tangent from the original question , WHICH places have given you a real sense of unease even to the point of not wishing to return . I wonder if any places from the original question crop up this time . Regards , Steve . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petroc Posted 19 January , 2006 Share Posted 19 January , 2006 Boy, what an interesting follow-up question! I think anywhere with a natural eeriness, or even just a silence, about it can feel odd to our fragile human sensitivities. For me, I'd have to say 'woods', and in particular Bourlon Wood, the copses around RE Grave, Ploegesteert Wood and, if only looking in from the finges, the ever-ominous High Wood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirrel Posted 20 January , 2006 Share Posted 20 January , 2006 Ever - ominous, eerie and malevolantly evil feeling at High Wood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pooter Posted 21 January , 2006 Share Posted 21 January , 2006 First plave ever visited was Sanctuary Wood on a misty May morning. Last Post at the Menin gate never fails to move me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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