Travels on the Somme Part Twelve – La Boisselle

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La Boisselle, 2015.  It’s difficult to imagine the carnage here a hundred years ago.  But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.  Let’s backtrack a couple of minutes. Continue reading

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An Aussie in Flanders

DAD ARTHUR BREEDEN - German plane canvas 1917 outer side

A strip of camouflaged canvas from a downed German plane. Continue reading

Posted in Memorabilia, Ypres (Ieper) | 4 Comments

Travels on the Somme Part Eleven – Bapaume Post Military Cemetery

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Bapaume Post Military Cemetery is sited about a mile north east of Albert, immediately alongside the main road to Bapaume, some eleven miles away. Continue reading

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Twenty Minutes After

123005A few years back now, I showed you a couple of pieces of artwork by Lieutenant Hugh Mossom Boyd of the Royal Engineers that I was kindly allowed to scan and publish, and I thought you might like to see another unpublished piece he painted whilst serving in Flanders in the summer of 1917. Continue reading

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Travels on the Somme Part Ten – Albert

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The rolling plains of Picardy. Continue reading

Posted in Albert, Demarcation Stones, French War Memorials, The Somme | 15 Comments

The Easter Rising – One Hundred Years On

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One hundred years ago, on Easter Monday 1916, Patrick Pearse and his Irish Volunteers, alongside James Connolly and the Irish Citizen Army, occupied a number of important buildings in the city of Dublin, beginning what became known as the Easter Rising.  If you take a stroll around Dublin today there is still evidence of the Rising to be seen if you know where to look.  I’ve visited the city a couple of times in recent years, and if you’re interested in seeing some of the photos I took whilst there, I suggest you start with the General Post Office, one of the most important rebel sites during the fighting, from where you can embark on a ten part web tour of many of the important places in the city associated with the Rising.

The photo above shows the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, now the Irish Museum of Modern Art, headquarters of Sir John Maxwell, the British Commander-in-Chief during the Rising.  There was heavy fighting in this area a hundred years ago, most notably at the South Dublin Union not far out of shot to the right of this photo, easily within range of a British machine gun sited on the roof of the hospital.

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French Flanders: The Nursery Part Fifteen – Houplines Communal Cemetery Extension

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The final stop on our tour of the Nursery is Houplines Communal Cemetery Extension. Continue reading

Posted in French Flanders, The Nursery: Bois Grenier to Houplines | 9 Comments