SOMME BRITISH Sector - Serre - Hébuterne 

  • by Pierre Grande Guerre
  • •
  • 01 Apr, 2019
  • •

Years of visit: 2005, 2007, 2011

North of Beaumont Hamel and Redan Ridge, sites of terrible fighting: ; the Heidenkopf height and a side road of the D 919, the infamous narrow country road between Serre and Hébuterne, the Serre Road.On this page we focus on the Heidenkopf area; on the next page we concentrate on the Sheffield Memorial Park close to the Serre Road.
In 1915 the road between Hébuterne and Serre ...
.. with Touvent Farm as a centre point, ...
... was scattered with German trenches.

On 7 June 1915 the French launched an offensive at Touvent Farm.

The German troops counter-attacked four times during the period from 10 June till 13 June 1915.

Before we visit sites near the Serre Road, we will visit first the modest height of the Heidenkopf .

View from the D 919 eastward to the Heidenkopf right.

From Redan Ridge we approach the height of the stronghold of the "Heidenkopf", as the Germans called it.

British Trench Map
View from the Heidenkopf northward.

Left, the Serre Nécropole Nationale; centre, the French Memorial Chapel; right, Serre Road Cemetery No. 1.

Serre Road Cemetery No. 1.
The Nécropole Nationale de Serre - Hébuterne.
The French Memorial Chapel.

Under the arches hang two plaques. One is in memory of Maitre Joseph de la Rue. "Père" Joseph was Chaplain of the 243rd and 233rd Infantry Regiments. He has been awarded with the French "Légion d'Honneur", the "Medaille Militaire", and the "Croix de Guerre"!

The other plaque is a very rare occurance along the front: a small and modest German plaque, commemorating the fallen soldiers of the 1st. Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment. (In 2011 unfortunately vandals have this plague!)

View from the Memorial Chapel to the renovated ... 

... Nécropole Nationale de Serre - Hébuterne.

The Nécropole Nationale de Serre - Hébuterne contains the remains of 843 French soldiers. 240 Soldiers of them are buried in a mass grave, who were killed in action during fighting at the Serre Road front line, at Serre - Hébuterne from 10-13 June 1915.  
Some photos of the old 2005 situation before the very necessary renovation.
Serre Road No. 1 Cemetery from the French Cemetery.

Serre Road Cemetery No.1 was begun in May 1917 and these graves can now be found in Plot I, Rows A to G. The rest of the cemetery was added after the Armistice, when graves were brought in from the nearby battlefields and from nearby smaller cemeteries.There are now 2.426 casualties of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 1.728 of the graves are unidentified but special memorials commemorate 10 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials commemorate 3 men who were buried in Albert German Cemetery, 7 men who were buried in Beaucourt British Cemetery and 2 men who were buried in Puisieux Churchyard, whose graves were destroyed by shell fire. Most of the graves date from 1916. The cemetery was designed by N. A. Rew. 

Source of all descriptions of the British cemeteries: Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Summer 1915 - The British take over the Serre front sector

In the same summer of 1915 British troops took over this Serre front sector from the French, and since it has been bombarded many times until and during the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

The British 48th Division were holding the line here during the Battle of the Somme. 

During the summer of 1916 until the end of February 1917, the village of Serre remained in German hands.

In February 1917 the Germans left their lines at Serre to retreat on the Hindenburg Line.

March 1917: British troops, like the Manchesters, occupied these left trenches. Most of the Hébuterne sector remained in British possession until the Day of Armistice, 11 November 1918. 

We cross the D 919 road to the east side to continue for some 250 m. along the road and along the edge of the Heidenkopf to a modest memorial "left" of the Serre Road Cemetery No. 2.

In 2003, during an archeological excavation on the Heidenkopf for a documentary of Channel 5 Television, the Team of Trench Detectives unearthed the human remains of 3 soldiers; two later identified, Württemberger soldiers of the 121 R.I.R. and one still unidentified, British soldier of the Royal Lancaster Regiment.

Some metres to the right stands an unreadable memorial for a fallen British soldier. I can only still read the phrase: "GOD BURIED HIM".

This Crucifix stands left and next to the Serre Road Cemetery No. 2.

Serre Road Cemetery No.2. In the spring of 1917 the battlefields of the Somme and Ancre were cleared by V Corps and a number of new cemeteries were made, three of which are now named from the Serre Road. Serre Road Cemetery No.2 was begun in May 1917 and by the end of the war it contained approximately 475 graves but it was greatly enlarged after the Armistice by the addition of further graves from the surrounding area, including graves from smaller cemeteries.There are now 7.127 Commonwealth burials of the First World War in the cemetery, mostly dating from 1916. Of these, 4.944 are unidentified. The cemetery, which was not completed until 1934, was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.
Via the D 919 we continue north via the Serre Road to Hébuterne.
Hébuterne left at the horizon, Serre Road right.
A victorious "Poilu"- statue in Hébuterne village.

From Hébuterne we return to Serre in the next Photo Impression for a visit to the impressive Sheffield Memorial Park near the Serre Road. 

 Continue to the next chapter: "Sheffield Memorial Park Serre"

AISNE - Chemin des Dames

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 29 Nov, 2019

De Vanceboro Bridge Bomaanslag

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 14 Nov, 2019

Inleiding: Franz Von Papen & Werner Horn; schaker en pion

Onlangs stuitte ik in een oud boek (1) van 1919 op een opmerkelijk verhaal over een Duitse Luitenant, die in begin februari 1915 een half geslaagde bomaanslag pleegt op een spoorbrug over een grensrivier tussen de Verenigde Staten en Canada. Ook al staat de bekentenis van de dader, Werner Horn, deels in het boek te lezen, de naam van zijn opdrachtgever zal Horn blijven verzwijgen. Na wat verder zoeken vond ik ook de naam van Horn’s opdrachtgever, Franz von Papen, een van de aangeklaagden van het latere Neurenberg Proces in 1946.

In een Grote Oorlog als de Eerste Wereldoorlog  is Horn’s aanslag op de brug uiteraard slechts een bescheiden wapenfeit. Toch vermoed ik dat dit relatief onbekende verhaal, dat de geschiedenis is ingegaan als de “ Vanceboro International Bridge Bombing ”, nog interessante kanten kent. Het is onder andere een spionageverhaal over hoe in een groter plan een sluwe schaker zijn naïeve pion offert.  

Beknopte situatieschets Canada en de Verenigde Staten in 1915

ALSACE-LORRAINE - The Gap of Charmes - La Trouée de Charmes

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 01 Oct, 2019

This trip we start at the Léomont near Vitrimont and we will with some exceptions concentrate on the Battle of Lorraine of August-September 1914 in the area, called, the “Trouée de Charmes”, the Gap of Charmes.

After the Léomont battlefield we continue our explorations to Friscati hill and its Nécropole Nationale. Next we pay a visit to the battlefield of la Tombe to go on to the Château de Lunéville. There we cross the Vezouze to move on southward to the Bayon Nécropole Nationale. At Bayon we cross the Moselle to pass Charmes for the panorama over the battlefield from the Haut du Mont. North-west of Charmes we will visit the British Military Cemetery containing 1918 war victims. From Charmes we go northward to the battlefield of the First French Victory of the Great War, the Battle of Rozelieures of 25 August 1914. North of Rozelieures we will visit the village of Gerbéviller. From there we make a jump northward to visit the ruins of Fort de Manonviller to finish with an interesting French Dressing Station bunker, west of Domjevin.

LORRAINE - Avricourt - Leintrey - Reillon - Domèvre - Parux

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 18 Sept, 2019
Though we depart from Badonviller in the Northern Vosges , we make a jump northward to the east of Lunéville and Manonviller. We start at Avricourt on the border of Alsace and Lorraine. From the Avricourt Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof we explore the southern Lorraine battlefields ; the mine craters of Leintrey , the Franco- German war cemetery and Côte 303 at Reillon , and some German bunkers near Gondrexon , Montreux , and Parux.

LORRAINE - Montreux - German Front Walk 

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 13 Sept, 2019
We depart from Raon-l’Etape to drive northward via Badonviller to Montreux to visit the  "Circuit du Front Allemand 14-18", the  Montreux German Front Walk 14-18,  with its trenches , breastworks , and at least twenty bunkers.

LORRAINE - The Battle of Morhange - 1914

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 08 Sept, 2019
North-east of Nancy, east of Pont-à-Mousson, and south-east of Metz we visit the battlefields of the Battle of Morhange of 14 until 20 August 1914. We follow mainly topographically the route of the French advance eastward over the Franco-German border of 1871-1918.
During this visit, we try to focus on the day that the momentum of the battle switched from the French side to the advantage of the Bavarian side: the day of 20 August 1914, when the Bavarians rapidly re-conquered the territory around Morhange , being also the day of the start of their rather successful “Schlacht in Lothringen”.
We will visit beautiful landscapes of the "Parc Naturel Régional de Lorraine", memorials, ossuaries, and cemeteries. Sometimes we will divert to other periods of the Great War, honouring Russian and Romanian soldiers, who died in this sector. We start our route at the border village of Manhoué, and via Frémery, Oron, Chicourt, Morhange, Riche, Conthil, Lidrezing, Dieuze, Vergaville, Bidestroff, Cutting, Bisping we will finish in Nomeny and Mailly-sur-Seille, where the Germans halted their advance on 20 August 1914, and where they constructed from 1915 some interesting bunkers.

LORRAINE - Lanfroicourt – Nomeny - Monument du Grand Couronné 

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 05 Sept, 2019
South of Manhoué we start this trip at Lanfroicourt along the French side of the Franco-German 1871-1918 border, marked by the meandering Seille river. We visit some French bunkers  in Lanfroicourt, near Array-et-Han and in Moivrons. From there we go northward to the outskirts of Nomeny and the hamlet of Brionne to visit the ( second ) memorial, commemorating the events in Nomeny of 20 August 1914. We continue westward to finish at the Monument du Grand Couronné at the Côte de Géneviève, a former French artillery base, which offers several panoramic views over the battlefield.

LORRAINE - Bouxières-sous-Froidmont - Verny - Feste Wagner

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 28 Aug, 2019
North of Pont-à-Mousson and south of Metz, we explore the relics of German bunkers and fortifications along the Franco-German 1871-1918 border. We start at Bouxières-sous-Froidmont to visit the nearby height of the Froidmont on the front line. This time we will show only a part of the Froidmont, focusing on its military significance.  From the Froidmont we continue via Longeville-lès-Cheminot and Sillegny to the “Forêt Domaniale de Sillegny” to explore some artillery ammunition bunkers. Next we continue to Marieulles for its three interesting bunkers and to Vezon for its line of ammunition depot bunkers. From Vezon we continue to the “Deutscher Kriegsgräberstätte Fey – Buch”. From Fey we go eastward, passing 6 bunkers near Coin-lès-Cuvry to finish our trip at the top construction of the “Feste Wagner” or “Fort Verny”, north of Verny.

VOSGES - Mutzig - Fort de Mutzig - Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 25 Aug, 2019

From Badonviller or the Col du Donon we continue north-eastward for a visit to an extraordinarily well restored sample of German fortifications:  the Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II, or Fort de Mutzig,  lying on a height, some 8 km. away from the 1871-1918 Franco-German Border.

VOSGES - Ste. Marie-aux-Mines - Tête du Violu / Bernhardstein

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 23 Aug, 2019
We concentrate on the German side of the front around "Markirch", Sainte Marie-aux-Mines, the so-called "Leber" front sector . We first pay a visit to the Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof, and next to the southern side of the Col de Ste. Marie for the many interesting bunkers of the German positions at the Bernhardstein, at the north-eastern slopes of the Tête du Violu. On the next photo page about the Haut de Faîte we will continue with a visit to the northern side of the pass and the "Leber" sector.
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