This view from the Canadian Memorial on Hill 62 looks north west across what was once the British forward area, towards the spires of Ieper (Ypres) on the horizon. From these low yet commanding ridges to the east and south east of the city, the Germans could see virtually any movement the British made during daylight hours, as this photograph clearly shows.
Our last stop, Le Touquet Railway Crossing Cemetery, is the furthest east of the six cemeteries on this tour. Here, we are only a few hundred yards away from where the front lines ran for much of the war.
Caterpillar Crater, 13th January 2013.
I recently came across this plan of the Casualty Clearing Station at Lillers in France, some fifteen miles behind the front lines, and thought it worth sharing. The lists at the bottom suggest that by late 1917 there had been a huge increase in casualties from illness and self-inflicted wounds, and you will also note a whole row of tents reserved for those requiring dental treatment. Army rations had much to answer for.
Happy Christmas all. See you in 2013.
Just a minute’s drive east of Motor Car Corner Cemetery we find Tancrez Farm Cemetery, the fifth stop on our tour.
As is invariably the case, thanks to the CWGC, the route to Motor Car Corner Cemetery is clearly signposted, as are the two other cemeteries we have yet to visit on this tour.
Just a couple of hundred yards east of Gunner’s Farm Military Cemetery, on the opposite side of the road, lies the third cemetery on our tour – Calvaire (Essex) Military Cemetery. Begun late in November 1914 by men of the Essex Regiment (a single grave of a Royal Lancaster Regiment man, now situated near the rear of the cemetery, had been here since late October), the cemetery was used on a regular basis until September 1915. Thereafter it was used only sporadically, most notably in June and July 1916 when a number of men from the Queen’s (Royal West Surrey) and the Queen’s Own (West Kent) Regiments were buried here, until the final burial was made in January 1917.
