Off to the Somme Battle Fields
- Thread starter Norm
- Start date
How was it Norm ?
Did everything go as planned and did you see what you wanted to,did you have a guide there or did you just read up beforehand and have a map ?
Where did you stay,and how did you get there ?
Did you see any of the "Iron harvest" or bring back a souvenir from the battlefiels (from a dealer)
Did you take any photos,are you allowed to put non LOTSW photos up,I hope so because I love seeing other peoples photos from around the world and on their travels,
I ask all this because its something I always wanted to do,and about three weeks ago I went to Bruges in Belgium and did a full twelve hour day tour,including trenches,Tyne Cot cemetery and the Menin Gate,we spent all day in Passchendaele and Ypres and it has been life affecting,
I so much want to now go to France and to the Somme battlefields,
Well done you for doing the trip,from my own experience I know how moving it is.
Pete.
Did everything go as planned and did you see what you wanted to,did you have a guide there or did you just read up beforehand and have a map ?
Where did you stay,and how did you get there ?
Did you see any of the "Iron harvest" or bring back a souvenir from the battlefiels (from a dealer)
Did you take any photos,are you allowed to put non LOTSW photos up,I hope so because I love seeing other peoples photos from around the world and on their travels,
I ask all this because its something I always wanted to do,and about three weeks ago I went to Bruges in Belgium and did a full twelve hour day tour,including trenches,Tyne Cot cemetery and the Menin Gate,we spent all day in Passchendaele and Ypres and it has been life affecting,
I so much want to now go to France and to the Somme battlefields,
Well done you for doing the trip,from my own experience I know how moving it is.
Pete.
WesleyRocks
Dedicated Member
Be safe Norm, see you when you return!!
Sorry for being so long in replying
It has been one of the most moving experiences of my life. I drove to Albert where the famous Basilica is: the leaning statue of the Virgin Mary on the tower is one of the most well known photographs it was bombed by the Germans as they realised it would be used as an observation tower. I spent the next 4 days cycling round the Somme battlefields visiting Thiepval , Deville Wood, Mametz Wood , Beaumont Hamel, Newfoundland Park just to name a few. I remember walking into Mametz Wood and realising the tears were trickling down my face, the atmosphere was unbelievable.
Newfoundland park is about 30 acres of front line preserved all the shell holes and some trenches are there, the Newfoundland regiment amongst others went into battle out of 801 officers and men only 68 survived unscathed, and that was only one small area.
I did bring back a bit of barbed wire I found and I also nearly dropped my bike on a shell that a farmer had ploughed up and left on the verge. I had stopped to check on the map where I was, dropped my bike on the verge looked down and a shell about eighteen inches long was lying about 2 inches from my front wheel ! I took a picture of it . In one of the places I went they had preserved part of one of the trees and you could see the shell holes and shrapnel damage I brought a tiny bit of that back as well.
After my stay in Albert I droved to Ypres and stayed there for 3 days. I too visited Tyne Cot and the Menin Gate, the last cemetry I visited was called Essex Farm and the youngest British soldier to be killed is there, his name was Valentine Strudwick he was aged 15 and was killed on the 14th Jan 1916 ( just a boy for heavens sake).
I also visited two German cemeteries very different but just as moving, the loss of so many lives is just quite staggering. I could go on for hours I did take some pictures but am going to show my ignorance and confess I have know idea how to download them
It has been one of the most moving experiences of my life. I drove to Albert where the famous Basilica is: the leaning statue of the Virgin Mary on the tower is one of the most well known photographs it was bombed by the Germans as they realised it would be used as an observation tower. I spent the next 4 days cycling round the Somme battlefields visiting Thiepval , Deville Wood, Mametz Wood , Beaumont Hamel, Newfoundland Park just to name a few. I remember walking into Mametz Wood and realising the tears were trickling down my face, the atmosphere was unbelievable.
Newfoundland park is about 30 acres of front line preserved all the shell holes and some trenches are there, the Newfoundland regiment amongst others went into battle out of 801 officers and men only 68 survived unscathed, and that was only one small area.
I did bring back a bit of barbed wire I found and I also nearly dropped my bike on a shell that a farmer had ploughed up and left on the verge. I had stopped to check on the map where I was, dropped my bike on the verge looked down and a shell about eighteen inches long was lying about 2 inches from my front wheel ! I took a picture of it . In one of the places I went they had preserved part of one of the trees and you could see the shell holes and shrapnel damage I brought a tiny bit of that back as well.
After my stay in Albert I droved to Ypres and stayed there for 3 days. I too visited Tyne Cot and the Menin Gate, the last cemetry I visited was called Essex Farm and the youngest British soldier to be killed is there, his name was Valentine Strudwick he was aged 15 and was killed on the 14th Jan 1916 ( just a boy for heavens sake).
I also visited two German cemeteries very different but just as moving, the loss of so many lives is just quite staggering. I could go on for hours I did take some pictures but am going to show my ignorance and confess I have know idea how to download them
brendalovescompo
Dedicated Member
Very moving Norm! volunteers anyone who could talk Norm through download. !! Would love to see pictures. Just looked up the aerial view of the battlefield. Wonderful preservation of the Great War. 15 year old boy, a man taken from us too early, God Bless Him.
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War Horse
Just to finish off an amazing experience I am going to see War Horse in London tomorrow, I have been told its incredible so I am really looking forward to it, incidentally I understand a marvellous horse called Warrior made it right through the ww1 and when he eventually died had his obituary in the Times.
Just to finish off an amazing experience I am going to see War Horse in London tomorrow, I have been told its incredible so I am really looking forward to it, incidentally I understand a marvellous horse called Warrior made it right through the ww1 and when he eventually died had his obituary in the Times.
Sorry for the delay in replying,have been very busy this week,and am just making a quick visit to reply,
What an interesting and moving post,thankyou,its exactly how I felt,and feel having been to Passchendaele and Ypres,it stays with you for the rest of your life.
It sounds like you had a fascinating and emotional trip,I went with a guide on a bus,but how wonderful to cycle around those places,you mention all the places I would love to go to one day.
I know exactly how you felt when you went to Mametz wood,I felt the same at a few places,especially one called the Pool of Peace,it was in beautiful woodland with lush green grass,and there was a serene perfectly round pool,and all you could hear were the birds singing,and it was the German front line trenches,and the trees would have been stumps,and the grass mud,and the British tunnelled underneath the trenches and laid explosives so large it rattled the glass in London,over time the trees and grass grew back and the crater filled with water,and there are still 700 poor souls in the crater,according to the guide,and you sit there,and it is beautiful now,and how can it not move you and bring you to tears,I don't think the feelings will ever leave me,to see the same skies and breathe the same air,that sounds stupid but I bet you know what I mean.
I too walked along a trench,it was called the Trench of Death,and every so often as you walked along,there would be photos of soldiers taken exactly at that point,so you saw the same view of the trench,but with the soldiers stood there,I would love to see some of the photo's that you took,I'm not very good with that sort of thing either,I only know how to put thumbnail photos up,and I don't know how to add captions,I have a few if you would like to see them.
What a momento to find a piece of barbed wire from the battlefield,the farmers still use the same posts,called silent pickets,that held the barbed wire,now used as fence posts,I bet just looking at it just brings back all those feelings,I never saw any shells,even though we walked along the British front line at Passchendaele,even now the farmers find them in their hundreds and leave them beside the road to be picked up by the authorities,they call it the iron harvest,they have armour plating under their tractors as they are still known to go off,100 years later,I'm glad you didn't drop your bike on it !
I have a shell from the Somme,but not one like you saw,mine is polished and a poppy hammered into it as trench art,bought from a shop for me in Amiens,near the Somme,I researched all the case markings and was able to find out lots of information,have a photo of that too,my granddad,my mums dad,was at the Somme,and I have some postcards that were sent by him from the trenches,he served 2yrs and 9mths in the trenches,and was then sent home as " unfit for active service due to broken health" I don't know what that means,I think it might be shell shock as after the war he was a postman so can't have been very physically disabled,I don't know,fortunately for me he survived nearly three years in the trenches,because in 1925 they had my mum.
I,like you visited the Tyne Cot cemetery,but I didn't know about Valentine Strudwick,it was heartbreaking to read row after row aged 16,17,18,19 etc,this is what Wilfred Owen wrote of when he penned "Anthem for Doomed Youth" he himself died exactly one week before the end of the war aged just 25,his mum got the telegram informing her of his death as the bells were ringing in the village to mark the end of the war,I would like to go to Ors at the Somme,where he died and is buried.
Thank you so much for your post Norm,it has given me lots to think about,and when I go,I will stop at Albert,please look out for a new CD,its called:
Forever,The official album of the World War commemoration.
It is poems,and letters from the Great War,read by famous people,it is wonderful.
Pete x
What an interesting and moving post,thankyou,its exactly how I felt,and feel having been to Passchendaele and Ypres,it stays with you for the rest of your life.
It sounds like you had a fascinating and emotional trip,I went with a guide on a bus,but how wonderful to cycle around those places,you mention all the places I would love to go to one day.
I know exactly how you felt when you went to Mametz wood,I felt the same at a few places,especially one called the Pool of Peace,it was in beautiful woodland with lush green grass,and there was a serene perfectly round pool,and all you could hear were the birds singing,and it was the German front line trenches,and the trees would have been stumps,and the grass mud,and the British tunnelled underneath the trenches and laid explosives so large it rattled the glass in London,over time the trees and grass grew back and the crater filled with water,and there are still 700 poor souls in the crater,according to the guide,and you sit there,and it is beautiful now,and how can it not move you and bring you to tears,I don't think the feelings will ever leave me,to see the same skies and breathe the same air,that sounds stupid but I bet you know what I mean.
I too walked along a trench,it was called the Trench of Death,and every so often as you walked along,there would be photos of soldiers taken exactly at that point,so you saw the same view of the trench,but with the soldiers stood there,I would love to see some of the photo's that you took,I'm not very good with that sort of thing either,I only know how to put thumbnail photos up,and I don't know how to add captions,I have a few if you would like to see them.
What a momento to find a piece of barbed wire from the battlefield,the farmers still use the same posts,called silent pickets,that held the barbed wire,now used as fence posts,I bet just looking at it just brings back all those feelings,I never saw any shells,even though we walked along the British front line at Passchendaele,even now the farmers find them in their hundreds and leave them beside the road to be picked up by the authorities,they call it the iron harvest,they have armour plating under their tractors as they are still known to go off,100 years later,I'm glad you didn't drop your bike on it !
I have a shell from the Somme,but not one like you saw,mine is polished and a poppy hammered into it as trench art,bought from a shop for me in Amiens,near the Somme,I researched all the case markings and was able to find out lots of information,have a photo of that too,my granddad,my mums dad,was at the Somme,and I have some postcards that were sent by him from the trenches,he served 2yrs and 9mths in the trenches,and was then sent home as " unfit for active service due to broken health" I don't know what that means,I think it might be shell shock as after the war he was a postman so can't have been very physically disabled,I don't know,fortunately for me he survived nearly three years in the trenches,because in 1925 they had my mum.
I,like you visited the Tyne Cot cemetery,but I didn't know about Valentine Strudwick,it was heartbreaking to read row after row aged 16,17,18,19 etc,this is what Wilfred Owen wrote of when he penned "Anthem for Doomed Youth" he himself died exactly one week before the end of the war aged just 25,his mum got the telegram informing her of his death as the bells were ringing in the village to mark the end of the war,I would like to go to Ors at the Somme,where he died and is buried.
Thank you so much for your post Norm,it has given me lots to think about,and when I go,I will stop at Albert,please look out for a new CD,its called:
Forever,The official album of the World War commemoration.
It is poems,and letters from the Great War,read by famous people,it is wonderful.
Pete x
I am rubbish at this sort of thing,useless,I don't even know how to cut and paste something,but I too would love to see the photos,below is how I do it,I am sure there are much easier
*Does your computer or laptop have a slot for an SD card
*If so,insert your camera SD card into that slot
*Press import pictures
*tag,or name them (just write title in the line that appears)
*Press import
*The photos are now in "my pictures" on your computer
*Remove card
*Log onto forum,and onto members photos
*Press new thread
*Write title,and text below if you want
*Further down the thread,press "manage attachments"
*Press "add files"
*Press "browse"
*On the left press Pictures
*Select the photo by clicking on it
*Press "open"
*Press "upload"
*Repeat
*Press "done"
*At bottom of page press submit new thread
I hope someone comes on with an easier way,because I'm sure there is one,please try to upload your Somme photos Norm.
Pete x
I wonder if the author of War Horse,Michael Morpurgo,based the book on Warrior,I read once that he named his book Private Peaceful,after seeing that on a WorldWar 1 headstone,did you enjoy the play,I'v heard it is fantastic,after visiting the front I went to see a WW1 play called Not about Heroes at Scarborough,it was so good I saw it again at Selby.
Thanks Pete for your interesting and thoughtful reply. The War Horse was an amazing and moving experience for me, I quite forgot they were puppets, the horrendous time these poor animals had was wonderfully portrayed in the play. For me perhaps the most despicable action was the sale and slaughter of so many after the war ended. I suppose to some its being overly sentimental but to me it was the ultimate betrayal.
Yes I have read quite a bit about Wilfred Owen too and of course his poetry "Dulce et docorum est pro patri mori" :-
'It is sweet and honourable to die for ones country' I think tells it all
Thanks for the tip about the cd I will certainly look out for it and I will have a go at downloading some photos when I have a moment. TTFN
Which btw Norm,he referred in the line before it as "The old lie"
He was very much against the war,the horrors of which he was witnessing first hand,the "my friend" he refers to in the poem is supposed to directly refer to Jessie Pope,who was at the same time glorifying the war,and often made the quotation "Dulce Et Decorum Est"
The last time I visited my daughter in Liverpool I went across the Mersey on the Ferry to Birkenhead,to Wilfred Owens old house,and visited The Wilfred Owen Story,a museum dedicated to him,if you ever want to read of his fascinating life,I am currently reading a book called "Wilfred Owen an illustrated life" by Jane Potter,and it is really really good,
On the Forever CD is the best reading of Dulce Et I have ever heard,read by John Thompson from Cold Feet,Sean Bean reads Anthem For Doomed Youth,and Dan Snow reads Futility,
Its not over sentimentality about the horses at all,what a betrayal it was to them after the horrors they too endured,I bet the show was superb,it has had some amazing reviews,btw the cast of War Horse are also on the CD singing a song from the war.
Thanks for the posts,its been very interesting,and take care.
Pete x
He was very much against the war,the horrors of which he was witnessing first hand,the "my friend" he refers to in the poem is supposed to directly refer to Jessie Pope,who was at the same time glorifying the war,and often made the quotation "Dulce Et Decorum Est"
The last time I visited my daughter in Liverpool I went across the Mersey on the Ferry to Birkenhead,to Wilfred Owens old house,and visited The Wilfred Owen Story,a museum dedicated to him,if you ever want to read of his fascinating life,I am currently reading a book called "Wilfred Owen an illustrated life" by Jane Potter,and it is really really good,
On the Forever CD is the best reading of Dulce Et I have ever heard,read by John Thompson from Cold Feet,Sean Bean reads Anthem For Doomed Youth,and Dan Snow reads Futility,
Its not over sentimentality about the horses at all,what a betrayal it was to them after the horrors they too endured,I bet the show was superb,it has had some amazing reviews,btw the cast of War Horse are also on the CD singing a song from the war.
Thanks for the posts,its been very interesting,and take care.
Pete x
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