Mont Kemmel Part Six – French 32nd Division Memorial

See.  Evening.

Five hundred yards south of our previous stop at Godezonne Farm Cemetery…

…there’s a memorial that remembers the men of the French 32nd Division who fought at Wytschaete in 1914, Kemmel in 1918, and many places in between.  And Dunkirk in 1940.

It’s a very functional obelisk, entirely made from white cement,…

…set on a very functional pavement, surrounded by a very functional low kerb, sporting four very functional concrete posts (one visible here).

Other than the bronze plaque, there is one other feature you will have spotted,…

…which is this white marble bunch of grapes, which surely has some significance, and I am sure I knew what it was once, but for the life of me, I can no longer remember.

Still, it all looks a bit better than it did not so many years ago.

We shall finish with our September 1918 map of the area, by which time the tide of war had moved away to the east.  Along with our previous stops, the French memorial is marked in brown, with our next stop, across the fields to the east, marked in dark blue. You can get there by clicking here.

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6 Responses to Mont Kemmel Part Six – French 32nd Division Memorial

  1. Morag Sutherland says:

    Is it hops? Thinking of the general area

    • Nick Kilner says:

      That’s a good shout I’d say

      • Nick Kilner says:

        That said, do hops have berries?

        • Nick Kilner says:

          “Pinard is a French term for wine (particularly red wine), popularized as the label for the ration of wine issued to French troops during the First World War. The term became wrapped up in the public conception of the poilu (“hairy one”, the typical French foot soldier) and his beloved pinard, joined in a “cult of wine”

  2. Nick Kilner says:

    How very um… yes, rather utilitarian

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