4thGordons Posted 20 December , 2007 Author Share Posted 20 December , 2007 Our front line after the first snow. I must say I am heartily glad I was only out there taking pictures rather than living in it. Local TV (PBS public broadcasting) did a 15 minute section on the project the other day - has generated some nice responses. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Compo Posted 21 December , 2007 Share Posted 21 December , 2007 Terrific project Chris, the snowy pictures were really instructive for me. I am also a transplanted Brit but I had almost forgotten snow existed as I have been living in Florida that long and found that my mental picture was missing the realism of what it must have been like in that rotten European weather. May I put forward a suggestion. I did an evolution in the ROTC at school which has stayed with me all my life. Quite simple it was put together by our (real and experienced) RSM consisting of going "over the top" and walking in line about 100 yards immagining the machine guns mowing you down in droves but pushing on until reaching a predetermined line. We were being fired on with unaimed 303 blanks from 50 yards on and I was hit by at least 6 cardboard wads in the chest and legs. It took the John Wayne out of me for good, it actually took courage to get up and walk and convinced me of the total futility of the frontal charge. Not bad lessons, I became anti war ever since. You might have some future politicians there and the lesson, in my opinion, would be more than worthwhile. I know safety issues will arise from being on the receiving end of blank ammo fire but maybe the immagination, and sound effects? would substitute. Regards Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief_Chum Posted 21 December , 2007 Share Posted 21 December , 2007 We built our trenches for film and television work. They are built using the manuals of the time and we have over ten acres altogether; British and German. Communications trenches, assembly trenches, etc and sections for different periods of the war too... ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief_Chum Posted 21 December , 2007 Share Posted 21 December , 2007 German Front line and a dugout built for the Wilfred Owen/Paxman programme using a 15th Century cellar, an old pig shelter and a pond liner with 4" of water... A primitive trench built for the Channel 5 'VC Heroes' programme featuring Jacky Smythe, VC and the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs... Canadians at St Julian, April 1915... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief_Chum Posted 21 December , 2007 Share Posted 21 December , 2007 British trenches... No Man's Land with the polystyrene Thiepval Chateau on the horizon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief_Chum Posted 21 December , 2007 Share Posted 21 December , 2007 Sikhs... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief_Chum Posted 21 December , 2007 Share Posted 21 December , 2007 The Rusting Jungle - our German trench overgrown with poppies... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J T Gray Posted 21 December , 2007 Share Posted 21 December , 2007 You should offer educational tours, Taff - cheaper than going to France to see dips in the fields! Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejcmartin Posted 21 December , 2007 Share Posted 21 December , 2007 Taff, Although not St. Bruno, your photos bring back such happy memories.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief_Chum Posted 21 December , 2007 Share Posted 21 December , 2007 Hi Adrian, Funnily enough education is on the cards. Although it is important to take school pupils to France and Flanders there is nowhere that trenches can be viewed exactly as they would have looked ninety years ago and the local education authorities are very keen to organise educational tours which we may well be able to do in 2008. Hi Ed, Great to hear from you! Following the success of the Khaki Chums' ANZAC Tour last year we are thinking about a Canuck Tour for 2008. It's still very much in the planning stage but I will let you know what we finally decide. Cheers, Taff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 21 December , 2007 Share Posted 21 December , 2007 A complete replica trench system was built in Blackpool during WW1 to show people what the real thing was like (minus rats, fleas, cockroaches, minnewerfers etc). A tram made up to look like a tank would deliver visitors. This was a commercial (profit making) venture and not educational As such in retrospect it seems a bit ghoulish to have been making money in this way given that people were actualy fighting and dieing in real trenches at the time. The whole thing fell into disuse in peace time (when many just wanted to forget about the trenches). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 22 December , 2007 Share Posted 22 December , 2007 Chris - I've looked at some of the pictures from your open day with the trenches now several times, and I've got to ask - does the Scottish soldier who features prominently in several photographs know that the two ammunition pouches on his set of 1908 webbing are the wrong way round? The left pouch is on the right side and the right pouch is on the left side, resulting in the two short one-inch wide straps which should be at the rear (to fasten to the two small buckles on the base of the small pack when worn on the back, to stop it flapping up and down) being noticably at the front... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4thGordons Posted 22 December , 2007 Author Share Posted 22 December , 2007 Chris - I've looked at some of the pictures from your open day with the trenches now several times, and I've got to ask - does the Scottish soldier who features prominently in several photographs know that the two ammunition pouches on his set of 1908 webbing are the wrong way round? The left pouch is on the right side and the right pouch is on the left side, resulting in the two short one-inch wide straps which should be at the rear (to fasten to the two small buckles on the base of the small pack when worn on the back, to stop it flapping up and down) being noticably at the front... Yes embarassingly "he" does .... it was a long and hectic morning and "he" was dressing in a hurry!.... actually "he" had had it all to bits the night before and threw it all in the back of the car...unassembled I had a word with (ahem) "him"! it is recorded thus on far far too many pictures I'm afraid..... he feels very foolish and wondered how long it would take on here.... mea culpa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 22 December , 2007 Share Posted 22 December , 2007 Yes embarassingly "he" does .... it was a long and hectic morning and "he" was dressing in a hurry!.... actually "he" had had it all to bits the night before and threw it all in the back of the car...unassembled I had a word with (ahem) "him"! it is recorded thus on far far too many pictures I'm afraid..... he feels very foolish and wondered how long it would take on here.... mea culpa. Oh dear, I wondered if it might be a bit close to home with a user name like 4th Gordons... It happens to the best of us I'm afraid - I recall vividly when I was one of the specialist extras in the production of the BBC documentary "The Somme - From Defeat to Victory", and I was telling a newly joined member of our group how puttees should be put on correctly - when my group leader pointed out that both mine were on clockwise (the left one should, of course, be put on anti-clockwise!). In my defence, I had done it at 5am in a poorly lit tent as soon as I had woken up... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief_Chum Posted 23 December , 2007 Share Posted 23 December , 2007 "In my defence, I had done it at 5am in a poorly lit tent as soon as I had woken up..." That's no defence at all Pte Upton. No defence at all! Happy Christmas, Taff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief_Chum Posted 23 December , 2007 Share Posted 23 December , 2007 .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 23 December , 2007 Share Posted 23 December , 2007 "In my defence, I had done it at 5am in a poorly lit tent as soon as I had woken up..." That's no defence at all Pte Upton. No defence at all! Happy Christmas, Taff Yes, but hopefully in the New Year I should emerge as the fledgling "wart" Second Lieutenant Upton of the MGC, bwa ha ha! I sorted myself out with a pair of original brown leather ankle boots earlier in the year via a new member of the GWS (his too wide feet were my gain!), and had them resoled soon after, so they should last another 90 years. My Dad finally dug out a pair of old brown leather laces for me to use on them the other day, so I was able to try them on properly for the first time - much nicer than standard ammunition boots. I'm still missing a soft cap at the moment - I ended up with one of Dickie Knights excellent officer Gor'blimey's, but it was made for someone with a head 4cm smaller than mine (I wear a 56/57cm normally!). I'm also on the look out for enough MGC buttons to do up my cuff rank tunic (4 big, 6 medium, 2 small cap ones too if they exist), so I can put the leather buttons that it currently has on another tunic I'm doing up as a trench-ready shoulder rank tunic with reinforced cuffs, leather patches on the elbows, etc. Also trying to find a copy of "Handy Tips for Young Officers" (I think that's correct) if you know where I can get a copy A seemingly complete divergance, but at least then only the RSM can come up to me with a puttee done wrongly and say "Sir, you are incorrectly dressed on parade"! Merry Christmas! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejcmartin Posted 28 December , 2007 Share Posted 28 December , 2007 Taff, I hope your "America's" tour includes the "Far East of the Western World", Newfoundland. July 1 is Memorial Day and Canada rolled into one. Lots to see and do. I could help organize some tours around the area as well. Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejcmartin Posted 29 December , 2007 Share Posted 29 December , 2007 As I spend the better part of a day digging out from a snowstorm, I have to wonder, were the Canadians, and Newfoundlanders, well regarded for their trench digging abilities? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapperxv Posted 31 December , 2007 Share Posted 31 December , 2007 Yes, but hopefully in the New Year I should emerge as the fledgling "wart" Second Lieutenant Upton of the MGC, bwa ha ha! I sorted myself out with a pair of original brown leather ankle boots earlier in the year via a new member of the GWS (his too wide feet were my gain!), and had them resoled soon after, so they should last another 90 years. My Dad finally dug out a pair of old brown leather laces for me to use on them the other day, so I was able to try them on properly for the first time - much nicer than standard ammunition boots. I'm still missing a soft cap at the moment - I ended up with one of Dickie Knights excellent officer Gor'blimey's, but it was made for someone with a head 4cm smaller than mine (I wear a 56/57cm normally!). I'm also on the look out for enough MGC buttons to do up my cuff rank tunic (4 big, 6 medium, 2 small cap ones too if they exist), so I can put the leather buttons that it currently has on another tunic I'm doing up as a trench-ready shoulder rank tunic with reinforced cuffs, leather patches on the elbows, etc. Also trying to find a copy of "Handy Tips for Young Officers" (I think that's correct) if you know where I can get a copy A seemingly complete divergance, but at least then only the RSM can come up to me with a puttee done wrongly and say "Sir, you are incorrectly dressed on parade"! Merry Christmas! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montbrehain Posted 31 December , 2007 Share Posted 31 December , 2007 SNAPPER XV ? Vic is that you ??? "MO" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 31 December , 2007 Share Posted 31 December , 2007 SNAPPER XV ? Vic is that you ??? "MO" A curious set of posts... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4thGordons Posted 8 February , 2008 Author Share Posted 8 February , 2008 A curious set of posts... Indeed Just a bit of an update: I had been taking groups of local school children around this several times a week until the weather really closed in (we have had some real cold now). Last week we had @ 14 inches of snow (I didn't get pictures for the simple reason I was busy trying to dig myself out of the house!) then 3 inches of rain - the effect on our trenches has been dramatic! Massive maintenance will be required when things thaw. I took a couple of groups around today (there was a special event at the college which menat a number of local schools were visiting) and stood for about 30 minutes in ankle deep freezing water! (I thought it was solidly frozen and so clambered down - the resulting sinkage produced a veritable barrage of camera phone flashes from the students!) Posted a few pictures below. The amount of subsidence and collapse is quite instructive - I have doubled the sandbag order for later in the spring. The "duckboards" (modified pallets) actually proved quite effective - although slippery when muddy and wet! Transcribing War diaries there are constant mentions of trench repair fatigues so in theory I knew all this - but watching it happen really brings the lesson home. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejcmartin Posted 8 February , 2008 Share Posted 8 February , 2008 At that is just due to the weather. How about throwing a few shells in there to mess things up a bit more? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truthergw Posted 8 February , 2008 Share Posted 8 February , 2008 Now, if you can only convince the football and ice hockey coaches that filling sandbags is very good for their respective team members .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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