SirFozzalot

I've been thinking for some time about travelling over to France/Belgium to visit some of the WWI war grave sites and was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of any good websites or give me any info on recommended areas to visit etc.

Thanks in advance.

Geezer

Something like this?.

Geezer

hodgy0_2

yep -- took my dad to see his uncles grave in Galipoli (Turkey) last year

very moving -- and everything immaculately maintained by the international war graves commission

cossie-nutter

iTrader: (45)

I would love to go tot France and see the graves and sites!

Check this site out for the WW1 and WW2 photos a few years on...

UK Urban Exploration Forums

tath

Ooooh it's horrible

Go to Ypres and see the Menin Gate. By God, it'll make you realise what an insignificant bugger you are.

ScoobyDriverWannabe

Dont know if you had any relations that served but you can search for them on the wargraves commision website

:: CWGC ::

It gives a few details of the cemetarys & has a few pics

Me dads been planning on doing it for years, hopefully if the NHS get their **** into gear & sort his back problems he wants to go next year.

The main one he wants to visit is Becourt Military Cemetary in France, his uncle which he was named after is buried there.

Another one of our relations is comemorated on at the Tehran War Cemetery in iran, situated in the grounds of the british embassy. Which i think will be quite difficult to visit.

Hes also said hed like to visit the menin gate as mentioned above

tanyatriangles

iTrader: (2)

Travel from Arras down to Bapaume and Albert, see High Wood, Thiepval, the Lochnagar crater, the South African monument, the Canadian monument, and some of the really tiny battlefield cemeteries that get few, if any visits each week.

Away from the main roads, watch out for odd corners here and there with the "iron harvest" left for the French Ordnance people to pick up. DON'T be tepted to take any souvenirs from there, though

Your real best bet is to visit your local central library and ask for a copy of "Battlefields of the Somme" by Martin Middlebrook.
A good read and full of places to see.


Last time I was over, one of my lads found three shrapnel *****, two empty cartridge casings, a bullet, the end of a shell and one or two what looked like finger bones
All just by 20 minutes walking a ploughed field.

jods

Arras - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Best Western in Arras city centre is fantastic - the restaurant is one of the best I have eaten in and I've eaten in a few!!!

Bestwestern.com, the World's Largest Hotel Chain.

The Canadian memorial and nearby gravestones / tunnels are a very humbling experience and definately worth visiting. Look out for the Maple Leaf carving in the tunnels.

SirFozzalot

Thanks for the info so far guys.

stilover

Saw some of the images of the grave sites on TV this weekend. I wouldn't mind going to see these for myself.

The amount of men who lost their lifes in the name of war.

tanyatriangles

iTrader: (2)

I forgot to say: the British and French war cemeteries are stunning; so well kept, and so sad to see all those graves, especially the ones that are for kids of 15-20 or so, and those that say "Known Unto God", because they couldn't identify the body.

If you want a sombre visit, try one of the German cemeteries. They are well kept, but there are few, if any flowers and the trees that shade them make them a bit melancholy. A night visit is something! Rightly, or wrongly, the French government refused to cede as much land to the Germans as they did to the allies, so that there are fewer German cemeteries, containing larger numbers of dead.

As an example, Tyne Cot, near Paschendale, (Passendaele), in Belgium, contains markers for 12,000 British dead and 30,000 names of those who have no known grave. It is the largest British cemetery on the Western Front. By comparison, the German cemetery near Arras contains the graves of 70,000 dead, many buried in mass graves, and most buried 4, or 5 to a grave plot. There are no memorials to the German missing.

ALL our missing are comemorated either in a cemetery or on one of the memorials if they have no known grave. There are 69,000 names on the memorial at Thiepval.

Finally, there are three types of British cemeteries: the battlefield, or "Pals'" cemetery, where soldiers that died in battle were buried, often hurriedly, so not in regular rows, and containg fewer graves.
Then there are the hospital cemeteries, behind the lines, containing more graves, of those who died of wounds, and lastly, the concentration cemeteries, containing hundreds, sometimes thousands of graves, of those who were brought in off the battlefield, and those who were re-buried when smaller cemeteries were closed.

There is now only one British cemetery left open in France. It's at Terlincthun near Boulogne, and still sees around five or six burials a year when bodies turn up due to ploughing, construction, drainage etc.

SirFozzalot

Found some good info here for any one else interested.

World War One Battlefields : Home Page

SirFozzalot

Well, I've decided to go for it. Going to make a trip over to the Somme area of France in the new year.

• Guide book - purchased
• Channel tunnel crossing - booked
• Hotel -booked

RyanSTI

iTrader: (1)

ive been to normandy, now thats a sight. spent around 3 days there, musems etc, really enjoyed it.

paulthejambo

I went with The Manchester Hearts Supporters Club in the summer - very well organised tour by these guys:

Red Rose Coaches

We did all the places mentioned above and I can thoroughly recommend them all.

Just some of the hundreds of pics I took that week:



This is the memorial to the players of Heart of Midlothian FC who were one of the first football teams to sign up:

















It's a very moving experience, especially if you get a tour guide who knows their stuff and bring back to life what all those people went through.

Leslie

It is a period of time that should never be forgotten. All the memorials etc. can only be a good thing both to make us remember that war is obscene and also the debt that we owe to all those who gave their lives to save our freedom in the world wars.

It is very encouraging that so many still go to visit them.

Les

tanyatriangles

iTrader: (2)

Around ten years ago, I took my two sons on a mini-tour, one of the places we visted was the Canadian Memorial Park at Auchonvillers.

Now, when you go, you can no0 longer wander the old trenches, you have to view from a path.

I asked one of the Canadian girls who were guiding, why, and she told me that in ten years, visits have climbed from less than 6000 per year to 260,000 per year

paulthejambo

Is Auchonnillers this place?



We went to so many places, all the names tend to merge and i forget which is which.

If it is then they have opened up the trenches again. We got to wander round them and even looked through a genuine look out post:

tanyatriangles

iTrader: (2)

From the pic at the top, that looks like Notre dame de Lorette, aka Vimy Ridge of evil repute

This is Auchonvillers: Google Image Result for http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/somme/images/newf/newf_caribou.jpg

paulthejambo

Yep, that name rings a bell.

I remember seeing the place in your link as an option for a potential visit but we didn't actually go.

SirFozzalot

Well, I did it!

I just thought I would share a few pics from a very moving weekend visiting the WWI battlefields of the Somme in France.

I stayed in Albert, a great starting point in easy range of so many places of interest.

Just a taster:

Lochnager crater





Ancre




Filthy scoob



Gueudecourt - Canadian/Newfoundland memorial


Thiepval


Serre Road No. 2 cemetery - Over 7,000 soldiers buried here


Iron harvest! Shell found at the side of the road!



Unicorn cemetery - over 900 soldiers here


.....including my Great Uncle!



As I said, a very moving experience. I'm so glad I made the effort to visit. There are so many cemeteries dotted all over the region and this is just one relatively small area of the WWI battlefields.

cster

Well - looks like you did a good job of it.
I have spent a few times in northern France and it is impossible not to learn all the time, whether you mean to or not.
I remember going to a war grave site with hundreds of Chinese who had gone late in WW1 as labourers and had died in the Flu epidemic (I think).
You don't see that in the history books.
Plus the sheer depth of emotion when confronted with the scale.
I can't even speak when I go to these places. I am sure it is the same with many of you.

cossie-nutter

iTrader: (45)

Cracking pictures and glad you had a good time matey!