It's a Long Way to Tipperary

Sunday 5th May 2013

The area we were visiting was pretty small. No place was more than about 15km from another and most were much less.

Setting the SatNav for the Thiepval Memorial we set off from Ocean Villas. The memorial stands out on the landscape so it would not be hard to find, but better to play it safe…my navigational skills are infamous!

On the way, and very hard to miss, we stopped at the Ulster Tower. An impressive but strange sight in the middle of all the fields. This had been highlighted during our planning as somewhere that had a café and, although we had just finished lunch, it was such a nice day that sitting outside in the sunshine with a proper mug of tea, and some chocolate chip flapjack, seemed the right thing to do.



We had company. A couple of bikers who had come over from Northern Ireland were chilling too, along with some “locals” (their accents led me to believe they were not French), and we got chatting to the lady running the place.

Just off to the side of the cafe was a small “museum” giving the history of the Irish regiments and their role in World War One. It made very interesting reading and a change from some of the more general information that we had seen before.

A great imposing, yet unimposing, place to stop and look around.

But, onwards. Thiepval awaited and we were but a stone’s throw away.

The Thiepval Memorial

Car parked, we entered the visitor centre.

This by far contained the richest information of any of the visitor centres we had visited. The story of the war, and specifically the Somme area, was told in over twenty parts on displays as you walked around. We did.

There was a small room showing various old documentaries and films about the area. We sat down in the darkness and watched transfixed as we learned about the history of the memorial and about the local conflict.

Finally we exit the building into the bright sunshine and head for the memorial itself.



This large and impressive memorial was designed by Edwin Lutyens, the same person who designed The Cenotaph in London.

It is another of the memorials to the missing and has the names of over 72000 missing allied soldiers carved on the walls.

The plaque on the wall of the memorial does a much better job of explaining than I ever could:




Inside the memorial the various battlefields are remembered. These are a couple of the ones my grandfather had mentioned.



The sun is still shining brightly and the sky is blue with wisps of cloud.

We walk out of the back of the memorial into the cemetery.

This is split into two parts:

The French…




…and the British Commonwealth.

At the end is a memorial with the now familiar sword and cross.

We spend some time here. It is quiet, peaceful, the day is beautiful and we have nowhere else to be.

Finally we leave.

Lost in France

Up until now I have been extolling the virtues of the SatNav. It had guided us without fail to all the destinations we had asked.

Today it let us down.

I have found that the built-in POIs are usually pretty good, so when I searched for and found the Albert Ibis under the Hotels Near Me, I naturally assumed we would be directed to the Ibis Hotel in Albert.

Wrong. Fast forward about thirty minutes and we are sitting in the driveway of a farm.

My fault entirely. I trusted the SatNav when we had seen the McDonald’s (another story) a few kilometres back.

Needless to say, we found the hotel and managed to make ourselves understood (without having to raise our voices and speak slowly).

The next day we would be having more adventures before finally heading home.

To be continued….

The Sunshine of Your Smile

Sunday 5th May 2013

We wake to another fabulous morning. The sun is shining, the sky is clear and blue.

Our itinerary suggested a trip to Poperinge. This was one of the places my grandfather had mentioned as somewhere they went for a break or to be patched up. We decided, in the end, that it was probably best that we started our journey into France to make the most of the day.

Unable to park outside the hotel the night before, we left our trusty chariot in the square near the Cloth Hall.



Our initial destination would be a small village called Englebelmer. Here in an annexe to the village cemetery is a Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery containing the gravestone of my father’s uncle Jack.

More confident with driving now and with our destination punched into the SatNav (yes, one of the downloaded POIs) we set off.

The Road to Nowhere

At some point along the road we realised we were in France. We must have missed the unobtrusive sign that declared “Welcome to France”.  All the cars with French number plates were a big giveaway.

Soon we jumped on a motorway and, expertly guided by her ladyship, sailed effortlessly toward our destination only troubled when I embarrassed myself at the toll booth fumbling for change.

We had exited the motorway at Baupame and were now making our way across country, but it was not long before we pulled off the main road and turned onto the country lanes.

Driving through the countryside, not seeing a soul for miles, it certainly seemed like we had landed in the middle of nowhere.

Englebelmer

We believe my father’s uncle Jack died from his wounds in a medical facility in the area and his body was buried here at this small Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery.

My father had been before with his cousins some years ago, and as we pulled into the village he recognised the entrance to the cemetery.




Beyond the gates are the graves of the people from the village but an annexe houses the war graves.



Once again the place was impeccably well kept, stunningly so. The grass, the flowers, and the trees standing there like honour guards.

This visit was of course personal. I remember a photograph hung on the wall of my great aunt’s house of a solider in uniform. I remember being told that he had died in the war, but this was a long time ago. As we walk into the cemetery and up to the gravestone all these memories come flooding back connecting the past and present.



The day is beautiful, as is the countryside, and the only sounds we hear are the birds. It is very relaxing, and we stop for a few minutes to take in our surroundings and reflect on the moment.

Ocean Villas

It had been a good few hours since breakfast and we were feeling a bit peckish. Luckily the next item on the days itinerary was lunch at Ocean Villas. With practiced ease the destination was set.

Of course, the name of the village is Auchonvillers but was referred to by the British servicemen as Ocean Villas. Today it is home to a place run by a lady named Avril Williams where you can get a lovely cup of tea along with delicacies like ham, egg and chips. It would have been rude not to!



Our appetites sated we got back on the road to travel the few kilometres to Beaumont-Hamel, to what would be one of the most memorable places of our journey for me.

Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial

This is a memorial to the members of the Newfoundland Regiment killed during World War One.
The site is the preserved battlefield where the regiment was all but wiped out in one of the first battles of the Somme in 1916.

We park up and are greeted by one of the Canadian students who come over to work at the memorial. He tells us that all the guided tours are booked up but we can go on a self-guided tour. He then rushes off and returns with a comprehensive leaflet with a map and numbered points to follow, along with full descriptions.

We head off into the woods.



The tour directs us along the path through the trees and to our first sight of the trenches. They are now covered in grass but there is no mistaking what they are even though they are a little shallower now.

That path curves round and we are directed to the Caribou Memorial, a very impressive sight.




A walkway gently circles this memorial until you get to the top and can see out across much of the battlefield.

From here we head to the trenches.




Much of the site is enclosed with electric fencing but this stretch of the trenches has been opened as a walkway. You can see it snaking into the distance. The guide tells us that this trench would have been about two feet deeper.

We walk along and eventually rise back up to ground level where we join a path roughly bisecting the field. From here we get a view of many more trenches and what we assume are shell holes.



Walking along the path into a dip, and then rising up again, we see a cemetery, one of several on the site. A school party precedes us and we casually listen to the teacher explaining things. We are left on our own and I pay my respects before moving on to the next stop in our tour.

This memorial site has been largely preserved in its original state. Electric fences enclose much of the land.

The sign below gives a stark reminder of how well preserved the site may be.




The Germans were positioned in this ravine. This afforded them a lot of cover and protection.




We pass more monuments and another cemetery, each one looked after with the care and attention that we have come to expect for these memorials.




Finally we walk back through the avenue of trees, planted as part of the memorial.




One last tour of the trenches before finishing up back at the Caribou Memorial. The crowds had gone so I went up one more time to take a last look over the site.



The visitor centre was our final destination. Small but very good. It tells the story of the people from Newfoundland and their experience fighting during the First World War. The final piece that makes the visit complete.

A few pictures and some words really do not do this memorial justice; we spent nearly two hours walking around the site.

This memorial provided a clear picture to me. It told a story, leaving nothing to the imagination. That is the real battlefield, those are the real trenches, and those are the real gravestones.

It does not so much make you not forget, it encourages you to remember.


We walk back to the car and head off to the site that we have been seeing in the distance since we turned off the main road earlier in the day – The Thiepval Memorial.

To be continued…

Keep the Home Fires Burning

Saturday 4th May 2013

The names of the dead ring out.

Walking towards the relatively new visitor centre at the Tyne Cot Cemetery the names of the dead can be heard spoken out loud as you walk along the path to the entrance. Once inside the visitor centre the names continue at a respectful pace, an eerie reminder of where you are.

We absorbed the information the visitor centre had to offer, things to read, videos to watch. Some familiar, some new, but all relevant.

When visiting a cemetery that is the resting place for nearly 12000 soldiers and a memorial to an additional 34000 soldiers, I feel you can not truly appreciate it without knowing about all the events that led to them to be there.

Stepping out of the visitor centre we followed the path down the side of the cemetery and headed to the main entrance. Our first sight of the cemetery, the sideways view of rows and rows of gravestones.




Finally we reach the entrance.




Excuse me for stating the obvious but there are a lot of grave stones at Tyne Cot. As we enter the cemetery this becomes very obvious. The grave stones all stand together in seemingly perfect geometrical alignment, playing tricks on the eyes like an optical illusion, but this is no illusion. Each stone and each name inscribed on the walls represents a soul who lost their life in a conflict I find harder and harder to understand.





Several German bunkers sit here, relics of the conflict, guarded by trees.




We take a closer look at the grave stones. Many graves identify people by name, others do not.

Some of the graves have no name.	Some of the graves have a regiment but still no name.

The graves are maintained with such care. The grass is cut, the edges trimmed. Flowers are planted. Grave stones that are old and worn are repaired. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission does an incredible job.

The stones not only name the soldiers and regiments, they also include the emblem of the regiments.

These are some of the emblems we saw:



We approach what I now know is called the Cross of Sacrifice and turn around to once more survey the full extent of the cemetery. It is a lot to take in.





The Memorial to Missing lies beyond. A wall made up of panels inscribed with the names of missing soldiers, an imposing sight curving around the back of the cemetery.

 

We walk up the length of the wall and pay our respects. It is the least we can do, before finally departing.

The next stop is the 20^th Light Division memorial in Langemark, another place my grandfather had been.

To be continued...

Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty

Saturday 4th May 2013

Today would see our first full day in Belgium. Much was planned.

The battlefields, memorials and museums we intended to visit formed a circle from Ieper around which we would be travelling anti-clockwise.

A hearty breakfast and a couple of mugs of tea and we were set.

Hill 62 – Sanctuary Wood

Hill 62 is one of the hills around Ieper sitting next to Sanctuary Wood. As a hill it is not that impressive but it seems if you mount some artillery and a force of soldiers on it then it is another story. The elevation provides a clear view over the land towards Ieper.

This is one of the hills held by the Germans and from which Ieper and the allied forces were bombarded by artillery. In the picture below you can see in the distance the clock towers in Ieper.



The hill is now the home of the Hill 62 Memorial. A memorial to the Canadian forces that took the hill from the Germans.

We had evidence that this is one of the places my grandfather had been, and standing on the top of the hill looking around at the countryside, which before the war probably looked much the same as it does now, it is difficult to imagine the scenes witnessed by him looking out over the same view nearly one hundred years ago.

After a slow walk around the memorial, with thoughts of what had been, we headed back down the hill to the Sanctuary Wood Museum.




An interesting place with many artefacts and lots of photographs (some not for the faint hearted). Around the back they also had trenches which were unintentionally authentically presented with a thick lining of mud and water on the floor. A very impressive sight.




The cost of €10 each was a little high relative to other places but there were a lot of things to see as well as a café, although we did not stop.

In one area they had some of the well known posters from the UK aimed to help motivate people to join up, along with many examples of posters used from some of the other countries involved in the conflict.




It of course goes without saying that the Sanctuary Wood Museum/Café sported both flags and artillery.



Our next destination was thankfully one of the POIs we had downloaded to the SatNav before we came.

Punching it in we were off.

Passchendaele Memorial Museum

The journey was thankfully uneventful and with the museum having its own parking we arrived relaxed, with an air of confidence, although slightly hungry.

The Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 is a relatively new museum and very well situated with a park and water close by. Also a separate café building where hungry people can stop for a bite to eat (also perfect if you are simply a bit peckish) .



The museum is very impressive. Lots of information about the war in general and detailed information about what happened in the infamous battles around Passchendaele.

Particularly impressive is a reconstruction of an allied deep dugout. Very realistic, especially when you can’t workout how to get out!

All in all a great experience and more than worth the €5 entrance fee.

We stopped for a relaxed spot of lunch, no one was chasing us, and then on to Tyne Cot…

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Some parts of the area have remained the same and others have changed.

In Langemark there is a memorial to the 20^th Light Division, the division in which my grandfather had served.

This was of course going to be on our list of places to visit.





Once the memorial stood in open fields but now resides in the middle of an area of housing.

Yorkshire Trench and Dugouts

This was supposed to be one of the trickier places to find but again with our POIs in the SatNav we left Langemark and arrived at the Yorkshire Trench site, situated on an industrial site, with no difficulty at all.

A small site but nevertheless impressive. Only the main trench itself is accessible but information boards explain about the dugout also situated on the site.







The day was drawing to a close and with weariness borne of emotion and thought, we headed back to Ieper to once again attend the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin gate.

To be continued….