Up to Mametz

[Karl Murphy]

I have booked the weekdays of 12th to 16th May off work and intend to travel over to France to visit the sites along the Somme where my Grandfather fought in 1916 with the 1st South Staffordshire Regiment.

As I will be travelling alone and on Shanks Mare I am looking at making the town of Albert my base and taking it from there. From what I can see it’s conveniently close to the village of Mametz, which the 1SSR helped to capture on 1 July 1916. If needs be I could I think walk to it.

However does anyone know what accommodation is like in Albert? – I just need something very basic- a B&B is ample.

Also for going further a field (High Wood will be a top priority) are their tours from Albert or would I have to make my way to another location?

BTW I’m a complete novice re visiting the Western Front sites so I’m going to keep it simple first time out. If it goes to plan (well mostly) then hopefully I’ll be back for more in future years.

I will possibly try and fit in at least one visit to a site of specifically Irish interest if time and distance allow. However this time out anyway it’s the ground over which my grandfather fought that I want to cover as much as possible.

Any help greatly appreciated.

[59165]

Hi Karl,

do a search for Albert,Hotel,bar etc.& there are a few threads covering this.

For me in your position,I would look to booking a bnb in the countryside around the areas you want to visit.There are plenty & most have very good revues.

Most if not all have English & a lot have owners that are well clued up on the area as per WW1 history.

Have fun,

Dave.

ps.

Some will even lend/hire you a bike!

[Chris_Baker]

Hello Karl

You might find my page on Somme accommodation useful: http://www.1914-1918.net/sacredground/accomm_somme.html

The small hotels in Albert are all pretty decent. Mametz is a good walk from Albert. If you are car-less, you might think about hiring a bike. I am sure you plan to take in Dantzig Alley cemetery, where a good number of 1st Battalion men killed on 1 July lie.

[59165]

Nice one Chris.I'd lost the adress!

Look here Karl...

Les Alouettes

Address: 10 Rue Du Mantier, 80360 Hardecourt Aux Bois

Phone: 322 85 14 56

Fax: 322 85 14 56

Email: lesalouettes2003@lesalouettes.net

Vic and Diane Piuk

I have stayed there & can recommend it 100% for cleanliness etc.

Vic does tours & has a grand library of specialist books etc for the area.

Ask them if they found their cat.

Dave.

[Clive Maier]

My uncle Oscar lies in Dantzig Alley at Mametz. When my son and I went to see him, we walked up there from Albert. It was in February and the weather was so bad that trains back from Albert were long delayed later in the day. The roads and the cemetery were deserted. Once there we were hit by a violent hailstorm. The way back was in the teeth of a gale that you could lay against without falling. At times I could barely force one foot past the other. One hill was climbed only by setting tiny targets every few metres. I have never been so close to collapse.

It was something like that when Oscar slogged through Mametz on the way to Delville Wood and death. Another unit going to the wood on the same relief records that the rain and bombardment was so severe that the last mile took 11 hours.

I am so glad we did not glide up there in a warm car.

[Karl Murphy]

Thanks guys that's a great start!

Hopefully in the next few weeks I can start putting some concrete plan together as at the moment nothing other than the days I have available and my general desination are fixed.

Clive:

That's some dedication by yourself and your son. Fair play to you.

IIRC the 1SSR fought there on that date so is there a connection to the battalion?

[Clive Maier]

Karl,

Oscar was a trooper with the West Kent Yeomanry and was drafted to the 13th Middlesex (73 Brigade). The battalion was in Delville Wood, facing the same German counterattack as the 1st South Staffords (72 Brigade). The wood was so viciously contested around that time that most of those who fell with Oscar have no known grave. I conjecture that Oscar got out injured but alive, and died on the way back to Mametz. He is the only one of his battalion killed in that action to be buried in Dantzig Alley.

[Chris_Baker]

So that's the 31 August 1916 counter attack, Clive? Another factor in taking so much time to get up to the brewery salient was the state of the ground, which was choked with dead.

[Clive Maier]

Yes Chris The place was appalling, even by Somme standards. Lyn Macdonald's Somme includes an account given by a driver who went up to the wood regularly from Mametz. Jolting up there in the dark, he was tortured by by the thought of driving over bodies, not all of them dead. He tells of towing back ambulances that had been hit. One night he was traumatised into speechlessness when got back to Mametz and found five of his rescued dead and the lorry floor awash with blood. This was probably how Oscar died. The driver was Cpl Flowers. He made the trip time and again, terrified and horrified every time. He was a total hero.

[Paul Reed]

Hi Karl - as mentioned above, my friends Vic & Diane Piuk run a great place at Hardicourt. You will have an excellent time there, and breakfast is one of the best I've had on the battlefields for a long while.

You might also find my Somme site of some use:

http://www.somme-1916.com/

[AlanCurragh]

Can highly recommend Vic and Diane Piuk as well - www.lesalouettes.net - we've just spent two night there and had a great time. You do need to not mind cats though...

Alan

[Karl Murphy]

OK I've come back from the Travel Agents and booked a flight to CDG Airport on 13 May returning on 20 May.

€150.00 there and back again.

If anyone is likely to be over there on those dates let me know and we could meet up.

Havn't decided on a place to stay but I need somewhere central as I don't drive.

[Karl Murphy]

Pretty well decided to stay in either Amiens or Albert. I have read up on the pros and cons of both on the Site here.

Albert is closer to where I need to go but sounds a bit isolated and something of a one horse town. I don't mind that too much mind as this is a strictly 'business' trip on a no frills budget!

Amiens sounds really nice but its a bit far away though I hope I am right in relying on a train service still running from there to Albert?

Also I reckon there must be a bigger selection of BBS or 2** available in Amiens.

I take it its possible to arrive in either place and find somewhere to say on spec in mid May?

So key question is are there any battlefield Tours run by local tour companies to the key sites and if so do they run from both centres or at all?

If anyone has any info on any of the above I'd be very grateful.

[salientguide]

Karl stayed in Amiens at the Novotel 2 years ago. Nice city great cathedral and eating area by the river, although found the food rather noveau cuisine for my taste (ie not enough of it!). We had a coach but even then it was a bit of a trek to Albert and on into the Somme.In your case if no transport I think Albert would be better where you might be able to arrange a daily taxi to drop you off and pick you up? But I would probably say try and stay on the battlefield itself, Avril Williams Oceanvillas is very good as well as others recommended . They have the advantage of meeting like minded explorers and the propriotors are usually very helpful with good local advice. Probably nicer than being stuck out on your own in a hotel or b&b elsewhere. Otherwise most of your days will be spent commuting to and fro, and you will still have to get from at least Albert every day, rather than on the battlefield. The idea of bike hire around the area is a good one. Also search the web on Somme battlefield tours or similar that will come up with a number of operators who may be able to help you out. PM me if you have any specific queries. And enjoy your first visit, beware it can be quite emotional as well as very enjoyable..SG

[Chris_Baker]

Just wait, Karl, until you are standing on that track (the right hand end of the 1SSR start point on 1 July), looking down towards Mametz. It will be quite a moment, I assure you! Then through the village and up to Dantzig Alley. Your grandfather's chums and a good many of his men are in the plot nearest the road.

One other 1SSR thing I've done which was very rewarding was to get start a "14 July" walk at Flatiron Copse, going up through the woods and Bazentin le Petit and out through the "field of waving corn" to High Wood.

Then finally too look at the feld that was the Brewery Salient, by the water tower at Delville Wood.

You'll love it. Have a fantastic trip.

[sunflower]

Hi Karl

I am sure you will enjoy your trip.

A good website is the Somme Tourist Board one which has near enough every kind of info you will need including where to stay.

If you want something right on the front line, I would personally recommend Avril Williams, 'Ocean Villas'.

www.oceanvillas-tearooms.com/Avril/

Somme Tourist Board

www.somme-battlefields.com

Sunflower

[Karl Murphy]

OK got back home last night at 11.55 - feet in bits +blisters but it was some week!

Stayed in Amiens at the Hotel Spatial a ** which was €265.00 for the week incl breakfast. Pretty basic but it did the trick.

Got the train up from there to Albert to walk the sites I wanted to see.

Can honestly say if 100% is perfection I got 95% and planned in advance no more then the times of my flight out and back.

Still a bit wrecked but will attempt to write up my experiences at the weekend.

[Bernard_Lewis]

Look forward to that.

Bernard

[Karl Murphy]

Right here's Day One:

Tuesday 13 May 2008:

Set the alarm for 3 O’clock in the morning – just awoke on time before it went off. Got up and did not have any breakfast as it was too early so just went over one last time all I was taking – one valise with seven changes of shirts, socks etc. Took one extra pair of jeans, one pair of trousers and one tie. Also took another pair of shoes to change into at the days end. Also shoulder bag with my documentation on the sites I wanted to go to and my tickets. Kept my Passport and money about my person at all times though.

Taxi arrived on time @ 4 am sharp and made it to Dublin airport for around 4.25 or so.

As soon as I arrived I checked in my luggage and then just waited around for the flight – realised pretty soon I had arrived way too early so just mulled around until the newsagents there opened – bought a newspaper + coffee and sat down to pass the time.

Eventually about 6.15 or so made my way to the departure area and joined the rest of the awaiting passengers.

Flight was for 7.00 am and we took off pretty well on time. Most event free flight ever – but at least I was given a seat by the window.

We made Paris CDG in 1 hour 20 minutes to land in glorious weather. Went through passport control fine – our bags were there when we arrived in the collection hall and I got mine within a couple of minutes.

CDG has an attached train station so after taking the shuttle train to there I queued up to purchase a ticket for the TGV (very fast train) to take me to Amiens. It took about half an hours waiting to get to the top but the very nice Black girl thanked me for speaking some French and her English was excellent.

Cost of the ticket to Amiens was €44.50 incl shuttle bus fare from Haute Picardie Station (situated out in the middle of the Picardy countryside).

Then I made my way to the right platform to await the Lille -Europe train, which was due within the hour. Slight confusion arose then as the timetable read that the two Lille -Europe trains were due in on the same platform at the same time on the same platform heading north! Never did get my head around that but the platform staff assured me that I was boarding the right train for HP-TGV when it arrived – and so it proved.

Journey only took about 40 minutes as the train fairly bombed along and it was very smooth on the tracks.

The young couple in front of me had two huge dogs ‘mastiffs’ I think they are called which attracted a lot of interest but they were fairly docile.

Once we arrived it was pretty well straight on to the bus and off we went with a lady bus driver. IIRC it took about 30 minutes or so to reach Amiens. Once there though the bus stopped down a side street and everyone got off.

This was something of a problem for me as I was a bit disorientated as to where in Amiens I was exactly.

Slowly made my way down the street and asked in a Café the way to the Cathedral to which I elicited a fairly verbose but not very understandable reply from the owner (his directions were not too bad as it turned out).

After about half an hour or more of stopping and starting and trying to get my bearings I turned a corner and there was Amiens train station – which is kind of hard to miss once you are standing in front of it!

Can’t understand why we were not dropped off there, as it is a much better place to which to get your bearings from.

However once there I went the Information counter and the lady there told me there were Hotels right across the road. By this stage tiredness and hunger were taking their toll as I had been on the go since 3 that morning and with no food too.

Came across two Australian girls biking who were outside a Hotel down a side street so I decided to try there.

By this stage (around 3.15pm) I had decided that the first place that was cheap and looked safe enough was going to do because I was not going a step further if possible.

Luckily enough it was – the guy behind the counter looked decent enough and spoke English + he used to work in Dublin some years before. He offered me €40.00 a night incl breakfast with a possible change to a better room at the back after two nights.

The room was OK. Double bed, clean sheets, telly but situated at the front of the hotel over the entrance and while it had a washstand and bidet the toilet was down the corridor... but hey I’m a guy on my own and its just for a week so what the hell.

Once established in my room I lay down for an hour or so and decided to head down to where the Cathedral is and check it out. Amiens Cathedral is the largest Gothic Cathedral in the World and it is an impressive site. I took a few pictures of the outside in the late afternoon sun but did not go in there and then.

I went back to my Hotel, had a wash and headed out to find somewhere to eat. There are certainly plenty of fine restaurants in Amiens but I wasn’t there to sample the culinary delights – if anything my aim right through was to keep costs to a minimum so I eventually ended up near my hotel in the local Kebab house which serves what our American cousins would call a short order grill. That was to be my regular haunt for the next week as while not very variable the food was prepared in front of you and cheap enough + you could get a beer or two with your meal no probs. It seemed to have a regular clientele of locals also esp. for take-aways -which is always a good sign.

Well by this stage of the evening I was done in so I went back to my hotel room and watched the telly for a while before bedding down for the night.

Seeing as I arrived in Amiens on spec and wasn’t even too sure before arrival if that was where I would stay I was satisfied enough with the ways things panned out.

[ianw]

The train to the inaugural opening of the Thiepval visitor centre stopped at Haute-Picardie. I like Amiens but can't help thinking you would have been better placed at Arras, Albert or even Peronne for the Somme battlefields - though I admit that the food in Amiens is certainly better than Albert.

Those of us with cars are really a bit spoilt. I do want to take my bike next time and get off road.

Glad you enjoyed the trip though.

[Karl Murphy]

Spent an afternoon in Arras during the trip and hindsight being a wonderful thing I think it's a better place. Struck me as a more vibrant city than Amiens and also it's situated right on the Arras battlefield sites etc.

[Karl Murphy]

Day Two:

Wednesday 14 May

Got up about 7 and headed down for breakfast. Basic fare really, cornflakes, tea or coffee, croissant + two other types of bread on the plate with cherry and apricot jam + Orange juice. IIRC there was also cheese and ham available but I never had any.

After that I got ready and headed out to catch the train to Albert. Turned out to be cheaper than I thought @ €11.40 return. The journey only takes about 25 minutes and there is only one stop at Corbie along the way.

Once there one immediately notices the famous cathedral of Albert with the Golden Virgin on top. I went in and spent about 20 minutes or so inside before heading up the road and came across the Tourist Office. It was closed though as it only opens at 9 am so I headed up the town to check it out. Not really a lot to see so around 20 past nine I headed back down and inquired which way was it to Mametz. The man behind the counter gave me the directions and as it is a bit out from town I inquired how much a taxi would be – he rang a cab company and was quoted a price of €25.00 so I told him no thanks I’d walk it.

So off I went down the Peronne Road IIRC on a really hot (by Irish standards!) morning along a pretty busy road which once you leave the town has no pavement so it’s a case of either walk along the side of the road or in the grass. The traffic was heavier than I expected and speeds along so it is dangerous if you don’t watch out. I hailed one passing bicyclist on the way just to check for directions and he was an Englishman who lives over there and was big into the King’s Liverpool Regiment – we talked for a few minutes and he went on his way.

On I went anyway until I reached the turn off on the left for Mametz Village and I headed up towards it.

First thing that struck me is that it’s uphill to Mametz from the main road and the direction of the British attack on 1 July 1916. Now I know I probably read about this loads of time in advance but its only when you walk it yourself you realise what’s involved. Also noticed the very open nature of the ground before the village which when you factor in the German machine guns, barbed wire and their artillery means that this would have been one tough nut to crack on that day.

The village is a lot smaller than I thought and very quite. I made my way up through it and stopped along the way to photograph some poppies growing in the grass before a shrine to Our Lady – nice little touch. Paused too to remember my grandfather being sent in with the bombers to clear the southern end of the village house by house of any remaining Germans. Which I suppose must have been about there though obviously there is nothing left now of the village of 1916.

At the other end of the village on the Montauban road I asked the gentleman in the last house was this the way to Dantzig Alley Cemetery but he didn’t really understand at first but eventually got the gist of what I was looking for – Oui it was OK. Must say the thing that struck me the most was the bloody great guard dogs he had locked in a cage in the garden – they absolutely howled and barked with rage and anger that I was in front of their abode! Thinks me ‘it’s lucky the owner is cutting the grass with a lawnmower’ - otherwise they would probably have been roaming free and with no fence it didn’t bear thinking about if these two canine charmers had made a bee line in my direction!

So on I trudged to Dantzig Alley Cemetery which is IRRC about a kilometre or so beyond Mametz on the left hand side. It wasn’t quite as big as expected but it still has a fair number of graves in. Once through the gate I started looking for the burials of soldiers from the 1st South Staffordshire Regiment in which my grandfather served in the War. Didn’t take long to find some mind and I took a few photographs of those. Luckily I came across one of my grandfather’s fellow officers who died that day: Lt Warwick Hall, commanding ‘D’ Company, who had his right arm blown off and died from his wounds. My grandfather was rather lucky this day as he was in the thick of it and of the 21 Officers who went over the top that morning five were killed in action and another five wounded. Some 230 men from the ranks of the 1SSR were also casualties.

It’s pretty deserted out there with not a sinner about but as I was leaving I met two English gentlemen there to follow up on the Devonshires who are buried here and were hit hard as they launched their attack. Exchanged a few pleasantries with them and made my way back towards Mametz. Stopped along the way to winkle out some pieces of chalk for mementoes from a roadside bank and stuck my hand right into an anthill – but no harm done – got the chalk and went on my way.

Of course as soon as I reached the village those bloody dogs went berserk once again and thank my lucky stars the owner was still doing the lawn and they still behind bars.

Gingerly made my way past there and back on down through the village to the church where I realised I was becoming very thirsty and somewhat dehydrated. Of course I forgot to buy a bottle of water to bring with me and was rightly stuck now. I did notice a man and a boy come out of a house near the Church and as they left I approached the woman of the house and asked for some ‘Eu’ ( I must admit after explaining to her that my ‘grandper’ had fought in Mametz in Le Premier Guerre Mondiale’) – she just about took in what I was on about as she understood less English than I do French. At least she corrected my pronunciation as they say Mametz without the ‘z’ so it sounds like ‘Mamay’. Anyway this very nice lady went back into her house and came back with a bottle of ice cold water for me for which I thanked her and went on my way.

I decided to head back out in another direction to the east and see how Mametz looked from that approach – again the same effect though I think the ground was not so steep from this angle. Moving back down the slope Fricourt could be seen in the distance and I took some more photos before going back down to the main road for the long walk back to Albert – at least I would never be in Mametz again but it was worth the journey.

I had gone about a mile down the road under a now very hot sun and who pulls up but the two men who I had met in the Cemetery – ‘would you like a lift anywhere?’ – ‘well if your going to Albert I wouldn’t mind one’ – so in I got.

Back in Albert in minutes so instead a couple of hours of hard slog. We stopped at a roadside Bar and my two companions decided that I should have a drink and a bite to eat. I settled for a beer but they stuck to mineral water! It was a full half litre glass too.

Oh my two new friends were Robin and Richard from Devon who also bought me a large ham and cheese roll and then offered me a lift out to the Lochnagar Crater, at La Boiselle. This baby came into existence on 1 July 1916 when the British tunnelers had blown 60,000 lbs of explosives beneath the Germans. Once there it is certainly an impressive sight but for reason I had formed the impression it was full of water – actually its empty and grass covered now. Took some more photos and afterwards was given a lift back to Albert + a concessionary ticket for the War Museum in the town. All I can say if your reading this guys a Big Thanks for being so kind!

So headed off to the WWI museum situated in the tunnels beneath Albert and spent a couple of hours there. They have a good collection of artefacts and uniforms that you view as you make your way along the tunnels – certainly lived up to expectations anyway.

Afterwards caught the train back to Amiens and after a bite to eat took it easy for the rest of the evening.

[Chris_Baker]

Just to add to Karl's account for anyone who has not been there. A view of Dantzig Alley cemetery. The casualties of 1st South Staffords and the rest of 91st Brigade are buried at the top of the slope.

Photo taken May 2008

[ianw]

Karl - I'm glad that you met up with some sympathetic characters that gave you feet a bit of relief! This is the sort of thing that often seems to happen on the battlefields but you put yourself out there and did some donkey work to get to those special places - I admire that. Well done to you.

[Bernard_Lewis]

Enjoyed that. Keep it coming.

Bernard