Some of you may have been wondering where I have been over the weekend. Well, I went on a very memorable visit to the battlefields of the War to end all Wars. We stayed at a town in Belgium called Kortrijk, quite nice if only marred by the fact that a French group staying in the same place at us where quite antisocial, swearing at us on the stairs and giving us dirty looks at mealtimes. Saturday we went to the Somme battlefields and cemeteries, Sunday we went to the Ypres salient and also to the Menin gate. (They play the last post there every day since the 1920's at 8:00) One very memorable moment for me to see the name of a man who's name is engraved on the Thiepval memorial (to those who have no known grave), My name is also Corcoran J Another thing; the regiment this man served in was the Lancashire Fusiliers. Lancashire is also my home county! The rest of my photos: Canadian Memorial at Vimy Ridge: Each of the trees represents one life lost by Canada in the battle for Vimy Ridge. View from inside a German pillbox at Vimy. View of Canadian lines from the German trenches. A German cemetery we went to, unfortunately the name of the place escapes me, and I wouldn't have been able to spell it anyway. One of the many tiny British cemeteries at the Somme area. The Thiepval memorial. Tyne Cot cemetery, the largest British military cemetery in the world. Two graves of VC winners. The weather at Ypres was quite authentic of the Autumn of 1917. Home! No dogs allowed at Vimy! La Voiture en L'autoroute. (Is that right?) :S!
Joe, It's Thiepval. Glad yyou enjoyed the trip, if "enjoyed" is the right word. Totally untrue. 11,954 CWGC :: Cemetery Details
Was the German Cemetery the one down the road from Vimy? If so it's Neuville-Saint-Vaast German Cemetery
Sorry WW if I got my facts wrong. I'm absolutely exhausted right now. I know 73 000 has some relevance here.
It does Joe. Thiepval Memorial has 72092 names of those who have no known grave. CWGC :: Cemetery Details Menin Gate has 54322 CWGC :: Cemetery Details Don't forget that under German occupation in WW2 the Last Post wasn't sounded but it was as soon as the Poles Liberated Ypres, the Fire Brigade Buglers were back out.
Thanks for that WW. I was so exhausted last night I was physically sick. One of the more fun points of the visit is the 10 Euro's worth of Belgian choccy. Still havent had chance to eat it yet! One unrelated question. How do I put the Euro sign in using the keyboard?
Ok Joe, didn't realise you'd literally only just got back. Did you notice at Neuville-Saint-Vaast German Cemetery that there are four burials per cross on most of them? Two on the front two on the back of the cross. I liked the way you photographed a Jewish soldiers grave. Nice dig at the Nazis there. Top Marks! As for a Euro sign, dunno.
Some info on Jefferies VC . Jeffries VC Tyne Cot Cemetery - Battle of Broodseinde Ridge - Capt Jefferies VC - Great War Forum
I did notice the multiple graves at Neuville-Saint-Vaast, though you have to realise that the French fought long and hard to rid the Germans from their country, and weren't to happy to have them buried there, so the German cemeteries are generally few in number but have more bodies in them than British cemeteries. But I take my hat off to the French citizens who hid the Jewish graves from the Nazis.
As for Jewish graves , Joe. In July 1940 an order was issued by the Germans stating that the war cemeteries were to be respected as such and any abuse of graves was to be punished. Further more, I'm sure that all German graves had a cross and the Star Of David was only put there in the 1960s or 70s. (What I meant was a dig at the Nazi lovers that appear on this forum.)
Quite correct ,Owen. The July order basically stated that all military cemeteries were (proverbially) "holy ground" and weren't to be touched no matter who was buried within (some were even maintained). As you say, the Jewish headstones are a later addition (mainly 1970's, though some weren't added until the 1980s). Until this point, the majority of German cemeteries had simple wooden crosses that had been treated in a black tar for preservation purposes with (usually) 2 names on a tin plate on each cross (though, of course, there were variants, these were the "standard" VDK markers from the 1930s to the 1960s). Without looking at the names, there'd have been no way to tell who was Jewish and who wasn't back then (not that they'd have been touched anyway!). Dave. (PS. only one Siegfried Frankenthal in the VDK list - Neuville St.Vaast (Maison Blanche) - the largest German cemetery in France and the second largest German WW1 cemetery anywhere in the world (the largest being at Menen).
Oddly though, the Germans didn't actually forbid this event under their occupation and it wasn't sounded from 20th May 1940, which was a full 8 days before they occupied the town (they entered on the night of 28th/29th). It was next played at 6pm (not 8) on 6th September 1944 with the retreating Germans less than a mile and a half away. Dave.
The townsfolk might have been scared about what if Germans wouldn't let them or something. It really was impressive though. Oh, one other bad thing (Besides the antisocial French that stayed with us) was the food we got on Saturday. It was nice, but apparently my stomach didn't like it. Oh, and guys, check out THIS for a souvenir!
