+ Reply to Thread
Page 1 of 6 1 2 3 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 58

Thread: When I was on the Great War battlefields recently......

Click here to increase the font size Click here to reduce the font size

Hybrid View

  1. #1
    Advisory Panel
    Roger Payne's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Last On
    03-20-2024 @ 06:05 AM
    Location
    Sutton Coldfield, UK.
    Posts
    3,429
    Real Name
    Roger Payne
    Local Date
    03-28-2024
    Local Time
    11:56 AM

    When I was on the Great War battlefields recently......

    I was lucky enough to be able to go with a small party of people to look round one of the subterranean tunnel systems under the village of Bouzincourt. This little village, just north of Albert, was just behind the Britishicon lines during the fighting on the Somme. Most of the villages had tunnel systems dating back to the middle ages, many of which were used & enlarged by the Royal Engineers during the fighting. This particular system bears truly HUGE amounts of graffiti, much of it Canadianicon. This one particular chap's scratchings caught my eye, as, yes, he was a sniper in the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles. I'm not sure how well it will show up in the photo, as it was taken under rather less than ideal conditions, but hopefully it will be at least in part legible & of interest. I haven't checked as yet, but wonder if sniper Alex McRae survived?

    Incidentally, there were still ration tins & clips of 303 ammo down there. (And we were on our honour to leave them there, too!).
    Information
    Warning: This is a relatively older thread
    This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.
    Last edited by Roger Payne; 09-03-2018 at 11:39 AM.


  2. #2
    Contributing Member Gil Boyd's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Last On
    02-28-2024 @ 11:09 AM
    Location
    Home of The Parachute Regiment & 16 Air Assault Brigade
    Posts
    4,772
    Real Name
    Gil Boyd
    Local Date
    03-28-2024
    Local Time
    11:56 AM
    They are great those pieces that these lads left behind in whatever form, in the knowledge that their days were numbered, and in the hope that someone in the years to follow would find the writings on the wall.

    Sadly, if I may Roger as I work with the CWWG Commission on a weekly basis, let you know what happened to Private 117400 A MCRAE of the 2nd Canadianicon Mounted Rifles Battalion.

    He was killed on Sunday the 28th October 1917 and is buried in Grave C28 Passchendaele New Britishicon Cemetery XVI.
    If you would like a copy of his commemoration certificate I attach a link and where you can find it to print it off at the base:

    Casualty
    'Tonight my men and I have been through hell and back again, but the look on your faces when we let you out of the hall - we'd do it all again tomorrow.' Major Chris Keeble's words to Goose Green villagers on 29th May 1982 - 2 PARA

  3. The Following 7 Members Say Thank You to Gil Boyd For This Useful Post:


  4. Avoid Ads - Become a Contributing Member - Click HERE
  5. #3
    Advisory Panel
    Roger Payne's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Last On
    03-20-2024 @ 06:05 AM
    Location
    Sutton Coldfield, UK.
    Posts
    3,429
    Real Name
    Roger Payne
    Local Date
    03-28-2024
    Local Time
    11:56 AM
    Thread Starter
    Cheers for looking Gil. I use the CWGC site myself as well, but hadn't got round to trying to track him down. Another tragedy for a family somewhere, as every death was.
    Survive the Somme & fall a year later........

  6. Thank You to Roger Payne For This Useful Post:


  7. #4
    Contributing Member Gil Boyd's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Last On
    02-28-2024 @ 11:09 AM
    Location
    Home of The Parachute Regiment & 16 Air Assault Brigade
    Posts
    4,772
    Real Name
    Gil Boyd
    Local Date
    03-28-2024
    Local Time
    11:56 AM
    Roger,
    As per PM if its of interest, can probably dig out how he died.
    'Tonight my men and I have been through hell and back again, but the look on your faces when we let you out of the hall - we'd do it all again tomorrow.' Major Chris Keeble's words to Goose Green villagers on 29th May 1982 - 2 PARA

  8. Thank You to Gil Boyd For This Useful Post:


  9. #5
    Advisory Panel
    Roger Payne's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Last On
    03-20-2024 @ 06:05 AM
    Location
    Sutton Coldfield, UK.
    Posts
    3,429
    Real Name
    Roger Payne
    Local Date
    03-28-2024
    Local Time
    11:56 AM
    Thread Starter
    Grateful for anything you can get, as would the others be, I'm sure. Please post if you find out any more....
    Last edited by Roger Payne; 09-03-2018 at 01:16 PM.

  10. #6
    Contributing Member mrclark303's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Last On
    Yesterday @ 01:25 PM
    Location
    The wild west of England
    Posts
    3,401
    Real Name
    Mr Clark
    Local Date
    03-28-2024
    Local Time
    12:56 PM
    Great image Roger, it's amazing how someone's simple writing on a tunnel wall can convey so much emotion to those of us (everyone here I am sure) who care to stop our busy lives for five minutes and reflect...

    Lest we forget.

    Any additional information would be much appreciated Gil

  11. The Following 2 Members Say Thank You to mrclark303 For This Useful Post:


  12. #7
    FREE MEMBER
    NO Posting or PM's Allowed
    obijohnkenobe's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Last On
    09-10-2018 @ 10:10 PM
    Location
    Seattle suburbia
    Posts
    6
    Local Date
    03-28-2024
    Local Time
    04:56 AM
    I wonder if he was a survivor of Ypres also, as I know many Canadianicon units were cycled through there. Sad to think he wrote this more than a century ago, and that no one today knows how he actually died. I've done enough reading to know that most snipers who were detected were either countersniped, or a machine gun was trained on suspected hides and then a burst was fired, or an arty strike was called in. Or, he was just an unlucky victim of the tremendous number of random bullets floating around almost constantly, or a barrage, or perhaps he was on patrol or with his unit going over the top when he got it. WWI seemed to be the randomest of wars when it came to getting killed.

  13. #8
    Advisory Panel
    Roger Payne's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Last On
    03-20-2024 @ 06:05 AM
    Location
    Sutton Coldfield, UK.
    Posts
    3,429
    Real Name
    Roger Payne
    Local Date
    03-28-2024
    Local Time
    11:56 AM
    Thread Starter
    Here's another one that never fails to move me. Raised up on a low hill just to the south of the main Albert to Peronne road is a small CWGC cemetery called 'The Devonshires Cemetery', or sometimes, referred to after the clump of trees present there, 'Mansell Copse Cemetery'. The stone shown in the photo shows the inscription that was found written on a wooden cross after the 8th & 9th Devons' catastrophic attack on 1st July. The two battalions attacked together & were decimated. Later on, the padre & survivors buried the fallen in what had been their jumping off trench. One of the officers, Captain Duncan Martin had foreseen that unless the artillery barrage was very heavy & very precise, the attacking battalions would be at great risk from a dug in (sited in the corner of a local civilian cemetery in Mametz, known as 'The Crucifix') Germanicon machinegun that enfiladed no mans land across which they had to advance. He even made a plasticine model of the topography to show to more senior officers. His concerns were overruled, & the advance went ahead as planned. He was correct; he fell, & he is now buried in that same cemetery with many of his fellow officers, NCO's & men. The war poet, Lt William Noel Hodgson MC, who completed his best known poem 'Before Action' only three days before 1st July, also fell & is buried there. The last verse of his poem reads:

    I, that on my familiar hill
    Saw with uncomprehending eyes
    A hundred of thy sunsets spill
    Their fresh & sanguine sacrifice
    Ere the sun swings his noonday sword
    Must say good-bye to all of this;-
    By all delights that I shall miss,
    Help me to die, O Lord.



    'The Devonshires held this trench. The Devonshires hold it still.'

    I don't mind admitting I regularly shed a tear when visiting these places - these Silent Cities.
    Last edited by Roger Payne; 09-03-2018 at 07:50 PM.

  14. The Following 12 Members Say Thank You to Roger Payne For This Useful Post:


  15. #9
    Contributing Member Seaforth72's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Last On
    03-26-2024 @ 03:01 AM
    Location
    Richmond, British Columbia, CANADA
    Posts
    366
    Real Name
    Colin MacGregor Stevens, CD
    Local Date
    03-28-2024
    Local Time
    04:56 AM
    Library and Archives Canadaicon has now scanned ALL of the soldiers’ personal files and they are ONLINE and FREE to view.

    Each person’s file starts off with the document they signed when they joined. There is a link to the COMPLETE scanned version of every document in their file. Unlike US and Britishicon files the Canadian files are intact,

    https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discov...es/search.aspx

  16. The Following 3 Members Say Thank You to Seaforth72 For This Useful Post:


  17. #10
    Contributing Member CINDERS's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Last On
    03-25-2024 @ 11:01 AM
    Location
    South West Western Australia
    Posts
    7,734
    Real Name
    CINDERS
    Local Date
    03-28-2024
    Local Time
    07:56 PM
    Couple of pics of some Australianicon WWI artifacts from the AWM in Canberra that toured the country taken in Jan 2017

  18. The Following 3 Members Say Thank You to CINDERS For This Useful Post:


+ Reply to Thread
Page 1 of 6 1 2 3 ... LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. Recently acquired SA/NFR
    By SRiverrat11 in forum M1 Garand/M14/M1A Rifles
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 06-09-2013, 10:36 PM
  2. WWI Battlefields Trip
    By Simon in forum The Lee Enfield Knowledge Library Collectors Forum
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 05-03-2013, 10:30 PM
  3. battlefields?
    By chrisbrown in forum The Watering Hole OT (Off Topic) Forum
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 09-20-2011, 05:27 AM
  4. 1903 Battlefields in France
    By Jim Tarleton in forum M1903/1903A3/A4 Springfield Rifle
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 07-08-2009, 08:52 PM
  5. anybody get a cmp carbine recently?
    By goo in forum M1/M2 Carbine
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 06-24-2009, 01:36 AM

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
Raven Rocks