ArcticHound
Regular
- Location
- North of the GTA, Ontario
Great photos - thanks for sharing. I can only imagine the emotional response from actually being there and imagining the decades being stripped away. Amazing sacrifices from all sides.
Visiting the battlefields of the Great War *PIC HEAVY*
- Thread starter Nabs
- Start date
I was in France for 3 weeks last month and, in addition to a re-visit to Normandy, took a 3 day WW1 battlefield tour of the Somme and Flanders with a UK based touring company. It was very well done and worthwhile. Our travelling companions were 6 Australian couples and the guide was an ex-Brit Army type. We got to see many of these same places with some hi-lites being Albert, Villers Brettoneux, Courcellete, Tyne Cot cemetery, Thiepval, and the Ulster Tower on the Somme.
We attended the evening ceremony at the Menin Gate in Ypres and visited most other sites in the Ypres area incl Hill 60 which my great uncle used to talk about when I was a kid, Passchendaele, St Julien and the statue of the Brooding Soldier at St Julien which my uncle has visited on his way thru Belgium in WW2. Frommelles, which was the Australian Beaumont- Hamel on the western front, but on a larger scale (it also includes the newest Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery at Pheasant Wood where Australian dead are still being re-interred after a DNA ID project). We stayed 2 nights at a hotel in Hooge, Belgium where I bumped into some old and new mates from the PPCLI who were there to attend the dedication of the new regimental monument at Frezenberg 100 yrs after the battle. We took the opportunity to visit the monument at Frezenberg where I admit to studying my handkerchief very closely for a time while thinking about the many thousands who have served in the regiment over the last 100 years and the many thousands who never made it home. Our hotel at Hooge was/is situated right on the edge of the Hooge Crater and faces the inevitable Commonwealth war cemetery with many Canadian burials across the road. There is also an excellent WW1 museum and beer garden right next door to the hotel. The museum, beer garden and hotel are right astride the old front line.
After the tour we drove down to the Champagne country to spend a few days in Challons en Champagne (formerly Challons sur Marne). The Marne valley is an attractive area of the country and the heart of the Champagne industry and includes a number of battle sites, war cemeteries and monuments to the First and Second Battles of the Marne. We visited the impressive French memorial at Dormans where the German drive was stopped in 1918 and also stopped at the American memorial on the heights above Chateau Thierry. While driving thru Meaux (40km from the center of Paris) on the way to the airport we saw the high water mark of the German advance in 1914.
I admit to being biased, but the Canadian monuments at Vimy, Beaumont-Hamel, and St Julien are clearly the most striking of all, although the French monuments at Verdun and Dormans are both very powerful and somewhat more spiritual in their effect. I left a poppy from home at the feet of "Mother Canada" at Vimy and bought another one to wear on 11 Nov this year.
It was gratifying to see that all of the war monuments, war cemeteries and museums that we saw in Normandy, Picardy, Flanders and the Marne were in excellent maintenance and were being visited by others. The 100th Anniversary of WW2 and the 70th Anniversary of VE Day are big events for both the French and Belgians and it is pleasing to see their ongoing expressions of remembrance and gratitude for the sacrifices made so long ago. The efforts of the Cdn Govt to maintain and staff the sites at Juno Beach, Beaumont-Hamel and Vimy Ridge with energetic and helpful young Canadian student volunteers are commendable.
We attended the evening ceremony at the Menin Gate in Ypres and visited most other sites in the Ypres area incl Hill 60 which my great uncle used to talk about when I was a kid, Passchendaele, St Julien and the statue of the Brooding Soldier at St Julien which my uncle has visited on his way thru Belgium in WW2. Frommelles, which was the Australian Beaumont- Hamel on the western front, but on a larger scale (it also includes the newest Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery at Pheasant Wood where Australian dead are still being re-interred after a DNA ID project). We stayed 2 nights at a hotel in Hooge, Belgium where I bumped into some old and new mates from the PPCLI who were there to attend the dedication of the new regimental monument at Frezenberg 100 yrs after the battle. We took the opportunity to visit the monument at Frezenberg where I admit to studying my handkerchief very closely for a time while thinking about the many thousands who have served in the regiment over the last 100 years and the many thousands who never made it home. Our hotel at Hooge was/is situated right on the edge of the Hooge Crater and faces the inevitable Commonwealth war cemetery with many Canadian burials across the road. There is also an excellent WW1 museum and beer garden right next door to the hotel. The museum, beer garden and hotel are right astride the old front line.
After the tour we drove down to the Champagne country to spend a few days in Challons en Champagne (formerly Challons sur Marne). The Marne valley is an attractive area of the country and the heart of the Champagne industry and includes a number of battle sites, war cemeteries and monuments to the First and Second Battles of the Marne. We visited the impressive French memorial at Dormans where the German drive was stopped in 1918 and also stopped at the American memorial on the heights above Chateau Thierry. While driving thru Meaux (40km from the center of Paris) on the way to the airport we saw the high water mark of the German advance in 1914.
I admit to being biased, but the Canadian monuments at Vimy, Beaumont-Hamel, and St Julien are clearly the most striking of all, although the French monuments at Verdun and Dormans are both very powerful and somewhat more spiritual in their effect. I left a poppy from home at the feet of "Mother Canada" at Vimy and bought another one to wear on 11 Nov this year.
It was gratifying to see that all of the war monuments, war cemeteries and museums that we saw in Normandy, Picardy, Flanders and the Marne were in excellent maintenance and were being visited by others. The 100th Anniversary of WW2 and the 70th Anniversary of VE Day are big events for both the French and Belgians and it is pleasing to see their ongoing expressions of remembrance and gratitude for the sacrifices made so long ago. The efforts of the Cdn Govt to maintain and staff the sites at Juno Beach, Beaumont-Hamel and Vimy Ridge with energetic and helpful young Canadian student volunteers are commendable.
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bigjohndatsun
Regular
- Location
- Coquitlam, BC
Unreal pictures. RIP those who fought for us.
Winchester-1897
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Newmarket,Ontario
Thanks for sharing, my wife and I spent two weeks in June 2014, I think of that trip often. 
drichpearse
New member
- Location
- Toronto, ON
Thanks for sharing! Really makes me appreciate what we have here in Canada.
- Location
- Vancouver, BC
Amazing pictures, a million thanks to the author for posting. It's impossible to look at those scenes without getting a glimpse of the sheer violence that occurred over 100 years ago. I definitely agree with the posters who've recommended visits for students learning about this war (and other conflicts). With no living veterans of the first world war alive today, it's more important than ever that the war be made "real" for next generations.
I also came across this excellent photo journalism as well, some great shots to go along with this gallery.
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2018/05/the-fading-battlefields-of-world-war-i/561353/
I also came across this excellent photo journalism as well, some great shots to go along with this gallery.
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2018/05/the-fading-battlefields-of-world-war-i/561353/
