Get the beer in…

Posted on November 25, 2015 by Magicfingers

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Right, the time has come.  Getting Flanders withdrawal symptoms.  It’s been a while now.  Baldrick, are you ready for an adventure or two?  Maybe Nieppe and Langemark this time.  But when?  I know.  How about this weekend?

Good man.  Sorted.

Posted in Miscellaneous | 3 Comments

Travels on the Somme Part Six – Auchonvillers War Memorial

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Magicfingers

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The British first arrived on the Somme in the summer of 1915, taking over from the French who had held this sector since the start of trench warfare in the latter months of the previous year.  The village of Auchonvillers, ‘Ocean Villas’ as it was referred to, was just behind the British lines, and by the end of 1916 had been virtually destroyed. Continue reading →

Posted in French War Memorials, The Somme | 4 Comments

Remember

Posted on November 11, 2015 by Magicfingers

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Tree stump in the Hawthorn Ridge Mine Crater on the Somme, earlier this year.  My personal memorial.

Never Forget.

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Travels on the Somme Part Five – The Battlefield of Beaumont-Hamel: Hawthorn Ridge, the Sunken Lane & Beaumont-Hamel British Cemetery

Posted on November 8, 2015 by Magicfingers

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The battlefield of Beaumont-Hamel.  Taken from what was No Man’s Land on 1st July 1916, this view looks east towards the village, the church spire visible in the distance.  The German front line once traversed this picture from left to right in front of the wood on the left, crossing the road and then following the hedge line up the slope you can see on the right. Continue reading →

Posted in The Somme | 18 Comments

Farewell

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Magicfingers

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Goodbye to the old soldier.  My Dad.  11th September 1918 – 22nd October 2015.

Posted in Miscellaneous | 13 Comments

Travels on the Somme Part Four – Beaumont-Hamel Village

Posted on October 12, 2015 by Magicfingers

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Having traversed the Redan Ridge (last post), we make a brief stop in the village of Beaumont-Hamel.  Everywhere on the Somme you find the ubiquitous green CWGC signposts that point the way to the hundreds of British military cemeteries that litter the landscape. Continue reading →

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Travels on the Somme Part Three – Serre & the Redan Ridge

Posted on September 29, 2015 by Magicfingers

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Our next stop finds us at Serre, the northern extent of the main British offensive in July 1916 (there was a subsidiary attack a little further north at Gommecourt).  In this field the men of the Pals Battalions fell in their hundreds as they tried and failed to breach the German defenses on the morning of 1st July 1916. Continue reading →

Posted in The Somme | 6 Comments