With the British Army in Flanders & France

For anyone who might find it of interest, which is all of you, on Wednesday 11th November a friend of mine is leading an online virtual tour of the war memorials around the Whitehall area of London.  It should be very interesting, only costs a few quid (she needs the money, bless her), and you can find full details here.  It also gives me an excuse… Continue reading →

TheBigNote has reached a bit of a milestone today.  When I unleashed this website on an unsuspecting public back in late 2010 I reckoned there might be a few people out there who would find it of interest.  It certainly never crossed my mind that one day – today – we would reach a pretty impressive 400,000 views!  Not bad for a little Great War website, if I say so myself, and all down to you lot, so I thank you all – those who choose to comment and those who don’t alike – hugely for your support.  And also those who have fallen by the wayside on the journey.  The above photo shows Hollandscheshur Farm, site of three of the nineteen mines exploded by the British in the early morning of 7th June 1917 as the Battle of Messines began, the picture taken from the German front line trenches, which pretty much followed the lines of ploughing in the foreground, curving round to the right of the farm, the British front line following the row of trees beyond the green field on the right.  Imagine the view from here as three huge explosions shattered the crest of the nearby ridge no more than five hundred yards away.  It must have seemed like Armageddon.  Mont Kemmel rises in the centre of the picture, with the low-lying hills beyond just visible on the horizon to the right.  These hills were the Germans’ objective in the spring of 1918, and are a bit of a clue as to where we are heading on our next tour.