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Post by prospectroad on Sept 24, 2011 6:13:42 GMT
Hi, I thought I'd share some photos from our recent tour of Belgium and France (I took over 700 in 4 days so I won't bore you with all of them). The first is the rebuilt Cloth Hall in Ypres square (from the hotel window) Cheers Pete ;D Attachments:
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Post by prospectroad on Sept 24, 2011 6:16:26 GMT
Dozinghem cemetery, the graveyard of many Salford men including James Joseph Ryan of Irlam and Frederick Edge of George Street, Salford. Attachments:
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Post by prospectroad on Sept 24, 2011 6:18:20 GMT
Talbot House (or TOC H as it was more familiarly known) in Poperinghe; a place of shelter and respite provided by the Reverend 'Tubby' Clayton. Attachments:
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Post by prospectroad on Sept 24, 2011 6:20:05 GMT
Tyne Cott, the largest CWGC cemetery in the world, lies on the slopes leading up to the village of Passchendaele. Many of the men who died in the battle of Passchendaele in 1917 are buried or commemorated here. Attachments:
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Post by prospectroad on Sept 24, 2011 6:21:41 GMT
A view of Tyne Cott from the entrance to the cemetery (the previous photo was from the rear) Attachments:
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Post by prospectroad on Sept 24, 2011 6:24:18 GMT
The fields of Passchendaele, once more transformed into farmland but in October and November of 1917 these fields gave true meaning to the 'mud of Flanders'. Over a third of the casualties in the battle of Passchendaele are believed to have drowned! Attachments:
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Post by prospectroad on Sept 24, 2011 6:29:07 GMT
The recently excavated and preserved (rather artificially in concrete) Yorkshire Trench near Boezinghe. We visited this trench because it was in the vicinity of Bard Cottage where George Edward Taplin of Salford (born Cadishead) was buried. George features in our book "A District at War". We had no idea that when we arrived at the trench we would find that it had been dug by 173rd Tunnelling Company, the unit to which George belonged. It is certain that he worked on these trenches and likely that he died here. Bard Cottage Cemetery is only a few hundred yards away. Attachments:
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Post by prospectroad on Sept 24, 2011 6:31:00 GMT
Loos Memorial where my great grandmother's brother, Sergeant Charles Roberts of the Manchester Regiment (born and resided Cadishead), is commemorated (his body was never recovered). Attachments:
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Post by prospectroad on Sept 24, 2011 6:39:22 GMT
Although a bland farming scene to many, this photo means a lot to me. It was taken from the position of the British frontline trenches looking towards the German lines. The pathway, the Chemin de Loos, was the approximate path that a raiding party took through no man's land on 18th May 1918. My great great uncle Charles Roberts was killed during the raid in the vicinity of the famyard in the background and his friend, Peter Barrow (also of Cadishead) won the DCM on the same day. In walking along the path I found a piece of a picket post and barbed wire in the area that would have been no man's land. There was also a live grenade which I left well alone. The raiding party would have moved past near this post (my wife was thrilled when I brought home lots of rusty iron!) Attachments:
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Post by prospectroad on Sept 24, 2011 6:42:57 GMT
A live grenade of an unusual design. We visited the battlefields after the crops had been harvested and the fields turned over so there was a lot to see. As well as the stuff that I described in the previous post I found a spent .303 bullet, a button, a shrapnel ball, a shell and many smaller fragments of shell. It is a common site to see munitions stacked up on the side of fields awaiting collection (the 'Iron Harvest'). Attachments:
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Post by prospectroad on Sept 24, 2011 6:44:44 GMT
Following on from the previous photo of a live grenade, I wasn't sure that it was a grenade until I saw a similar grenade in the sanctuary wood museum (shown in the centre of the attached). Attachments:
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Post by prospectroad on Sept 24, 2011 6:46:04 GMT
What appears to be the remains of a WW2 Bren gun carrier lying in a paddock next to the entrance to Cambrin Military Cemetery. Attachments:
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Post by prospectroad on Sept 24, 2011 6:48:31 GMT
The Menin Gate Memorial. Most Allied soldiers serving in the Ypres Salient would have passed along the Menin Road, which is why it was chosen as the site for this fitting and most beautifiul of memorials. Attachments:
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Post by prospectroad on Sept 24, 2011 6:50:55 GMT
The Last Post. Since the 1920's the Ypres Fire Brigade have played the last post at 8pm each evening. This was only interrupted by the German occupation during WW2 but on the very same day that the Germans left, the Fire Brigade started the tradition again. Attachments:
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Post by prospectroad on Sept 24, 2011 6:52:43 GMT
Me in the preserved trenches at Sanctuary Wood (I'm glad I wasn't there 94 years ago). Attachments:
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