2009 Battlefield Tour of The Somme, Day 5
Wednesday 12th August 2009
We drove out to see the memorial and for a walk around the woods at Deville Wood near the village of Longueval, the scene of an horrific battle when in July 1916 the South African Brigade were ordered to take and hold the wood “whatever it takes” in the woods they were surrounded on three sides by the Germans. Of 3433 men that went in after 6 days, 3 wounded officers and 140 men walked out. Deville Wood is now the site of their national memorial to the memory of all South Africans that has died in combat, whatever the conflict.
Deville Wood Memorial, taken from the entrance to the woods.
After that we headed out towards the site of another big battle which is now a French National Cemetery at Notre Dam De Lorrette, is on a ridge where the is a good view of Vimy Ridge (The National Canadian Memorial) in the distance, the French were fighting to take this ridge at the same time the Canadians were fighting to take Vimy Ridge. Notre Dam de Lorrette now contains over 40,000 individual graves, over 10,000 more in two mass graves and the bones of more than 40,000 unknowns in a crypt under the Ossuary. While there we had a look around the church and the Ossuary itself.
Notre Dam de Lorrette, view of the Ossuary.
During the trip out there we visited the Butte De Wallencourt a large 2000 year old burial mound with a superb 360 degree view for several miles in any direction. The Germans not surprisingly were entrenched on the top and the British made several attempts over many months to take it, which they eventually did at great cost. Even today at harvest time the amount of ordnance that is ploughed up is incredible and the disturbance in the fields (chalk infill in the surrounding and predominantly clay soil) from the shelling is still very evident even after 90 years.
A tiring day ended back at the guest house at Auchonvillers for dinner, lots of red wine and plenty of Leffe (the French don’t do “Ale”)
We drove out to see the memorial and for a walk around the woods at Deville Wood near the village of Longueval, the scene of an horrific battle when in July 1916 the South African Brigade were ordered to take and hold the wood “whatever it takes” in the woods they were surrounded on three sides by the Germans. Of 3433 men that went in after 6 days, 3 wounded officers and 140 men walked out. Deville Wood is now the site of their national memorial to the memory of all South Africans that has died in combat, whatever the conflict.
Deville Wood Memorial, taken from the entrance to the woods.
After that we headed out towards the site of another big battle which is now a French National Cemetery at Notre Dam De Lorrette, is on a ridge where the is a good view of Vimy Ridge (The National Canadian Memorial) in the distance, the French were fighting to take this ridge at the same time the Canadians were fighting to take Vimy Ridge. Notre Dam de Lorrette now contains over 40,000 individual graves, over 10,000 more in two mass graves and the bones of more than 40,000 unknowns in a crypt under the Ossuary. While there we had a look around the church and the Ossuary itself.
Notre Dam de Lorrette, view of the Ossuary.
During the trip out there we visited the Butte De Wallencourt a large 2000 year old burial mound with a superb 360 degree view for several miles in any direction. The Germans not surprisingly were entrenched on the top and the British made several attempts over many months to take it, which they eventually did at great cost. Even today at harvest time the amount of ordnance that is ploughed up is incredible and the disturbance in the fields (chalk infill in the surrounding and predominantly clay soil) from the shelling is still very evident even after 90 years.
A tiring day ended back at the guest house at Auchonvillers for dinner, lots of red wine and plenty of Leffe (the French don’t do “Ale”)
posted by Whitey in Telford at
07:16
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