YPRES SALIENT - Clapham Junction - Cryer's Farm Dressing  Station - Capt. Brodie Memorial - Polygon Wood -  Zonnebeke

  • by Pierre Grande Guerre
  • •
  • 14 Mar, 2019
  • •

Years of visit: 2005, 2006, 2016

We start our trip at the Clapham Junction, Geluveld, on the N8 / Menin Road. After visiting the obelisks of Clapham Junction we will go northward via a narrow, nameless road to the Cryer’s Farm Dressing Station. From there we will visit the Capt. Brodie Memorial in the “Nonnebossen”. We will finish this trip with a visit to the Black Watch Corner and the Polygon Wood. We will focus on the days of the First Battle of Ypres.  
Geluveld, along the Menin Road, north side of the road: Clapham Junction.
Memorial for the Gloucestershire Regiment. 
Clapham Junction, south side of the road: the Memorial of the 18th Division.
Some 100 metres away from here, ....
... to the east was the front line of 1915.
A harvest of explosives along the N 8.
On the northern side of the road, left of the Gloucestershire Regt. Obelisk, we take a narrow road north-eastward.
We pass the Cryer's Farm Dressing Station, located in a private garden.
We continue northward to the Nonnebossen. We enter the wood via the Fonteinweg, on the second road, at the T-junction, we turn right to the Paddestoelendreef.

The Flemish call it nowadays the "Nonnebossen". The British called it not "Nun's Woods", but "Nonnebosschen", according to the Dutch spelling of the period.  

The “Battle of the Nonnebosschen” – 11 November 1914
During the First Battle of Ypres (18 October – 11 November 1914) Glencourse Wood, the Nonnebossen and Polygon Wood formed the centre points of the Battle. On 11 November 1914 in particular the battle culminated in the “Battle of the Nonnebosschen”.

On 11 November, from 6.30 hrs. until 9.00 hrs., the Germans started an artillery bombardment on the positions of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, the Scots Guards and the Black Watch.

Under cover of the bombardment troops of the Prussian Guards Division of General Winckler attacked the British troops in and around the woods.
The German infantry soon got lost in the woods. As they emerged from the back of the woods the guns of the 41 Brigade Royal Field Artillery, sited 1000 m. west of the Nonnebossen-wood, opened fire on the Germans at a range of 300-400 m. The effect was devastating and the German attack stalled.
At 15.00 hrs. the 2nd. Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Regiment destroyed the remnants of the Prussian Guards Division. The line between the Menin Road and the Polygon Wood was re-established.
Along the Paddestoelendreef stands the private memorial for Captain Ewen James Brodie of the
1st. Battalion of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders.

Captain E. J. Brodie - 1st. Battalion Cameron Highlanders - Killed in action: 11 November 1914

In the morning of 11 November 1914, the Cameron Highlanders were heavily shelled.
The Prussian Guards, in great strength, broke through the British lines. Captain Brodie gathered together all the men he could find at the brigade headquarters in Glencourse Wood, now part of the “Nonnebossen”. Brigadier General FitzClarence, VC, who was killed the next day, ordered him to organise the defence. With the aid of orderlies, grooms, and telephonists, Brodie succeeded in driving the enemy back. Brodie fell in the ensuing counterattack. Trying to hold on to the edge of the wood Captain Brodie said "For God's sake men, don't retire"! At that moment he was hit in the stomach by a sniper's bullet, fell forward and died instantly.
 
From the Nonnebossen we continue eastward to the Black Watch Corner of the Polygon Wood.
In 2014 this memorial, a statue of a soldier of the Black Watch, has been inaugurated.  
The statue shows in detail the uniform and equipment of the Scottish soldier. 
There are bronze panels on the base of the statue.
With a quotation of Lyn McDonald ...
... the site offers a bronze information panel with a concise story about the events of 11 November 1914, and ...
... a detailed map of the situation of the Battle of the Nonnebosschen.
In 2005 we entered the Polygon Wood at Black Watch Corner to search for the relics of some German 1915 bunkers.
The relics of these German bunkers are on the front line of 1915.
During the war the Polygon Wood has always been an objective of battle; 6 times in 4 years! 
In the south-western area of the Polygon Wood, we found these two 1918 Model, New Zealand bunkers. 
With a roof at 1.20 m., they are just high enough to crawl inside.
Some 80 yards away, hidden in the dense wood, this other New Zealand-style bunker...
... and of course the narrow and low interior.
We return to our car to drive a short distance northward around the Polygon Wood. 
 
We park our car near the Polygon Wood Cemetery.

Polygon Wood Cemetery

Polygon Wood was cleared by Commonwealth troops at the end of October 1914, given up on 3 May 1915, taken again at the end of September 1917 by Australian troops, evacuated in the Battles of the Lys, and finally retaken by the 9th (Scottish) Division on 28 September 1918.

POLYGON WOOD CEMETERY is an irregular front-line cemetery made between August 1917 and April 1918, and used again in September 1918.

The cemetery contains 107 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, 19 of them unidentified. 60 of those buried here served with the New Zealand forces. There is also one German grave within the cemetery.

A walled avenue leads from Polygon Wood Cemetery, past the Cross of Sacrifice, to the BUTTES NEW BRITISH CEMETERY. This burial ground was made after the Armistice when a large number of burials (almost all of 1917, but in a few instances of 1914, 1916 and 1918) were brought in from the battlefields of Zonnebeke.

The BUTTES NEW BRITISH CEMETERY (NEW ZEALAND) MEMORIAL, which stands in Buttes New British Cemetery, commemorates 378 officers and men of the New Zealand Division who died in the Polygon Wood sector between September 1917 and May 1918, and who have no known grave.

Source: Commonwealth War Graves Commission: http://www.cwgc.org
Rather amazing, but not quite extraordinary on a Commonwealth cemetery:  the German grave of Gefreiter Hans Bogner of the 2nd batallion of the 27. Bayerische Infanterie Regiment, fallen on 28 September 1918. Block 1, Row B, Grave 5. 
Again: During the war the Polygon Wood has always been an objective of battle; 6 times in 4 years!

German period photos of Polygon Wood - 1917

The Battle of Polygon Wood - 26 September - 3 October 1917

To give you an impression of Polygon Wood during the war years, I show you four German period photos. These photos were made during the Battle of Polygoon Wood on 26 September - 3 October 1917.

The Battle of Polygon Wood took place during the second phase of the Third Battle of Ypres, in the area from the Menin Road to Polygon Wood and thence north, to the area beyond St. Juliaan.

The first two photos above show the landscape from the German lines.

The next two photos below show photos of tired and wounded soldiers, and German Prisoners of War returning after a fight.

Additional information on the period photos: the author, Eddy Lambrecht, Belgium
From the Polygon Wood Cemetery we cross the road to visit the Buttes New British Cemetery. The mound, or the "Butte" of Polygon Wood, of the Buttes New British Cemetery.
View from the mound over the Buttes New British Cemetery in the direction of the wood.

Buttes New British Cemetery

A walled avenue leads from Polygon Wood Cemetery, past the Cross of Sacrifice, to the BUTTES NEW BRITISH CEMETERY. This burial ground was made after the Armistice when a large number of burials (almost all of 1917, but in a few instances of 1914, 1916 and 1918) were brought in from the battlefields of Zonnebeke.

There are now 2,108 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in Buttes New British Cemetery. 1,677 of the burials are unidentified but special memorials are erected to 35 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. On the Butte itself is the Battle Memorial of the 5th Australian Division, who captured it on 26 September 1917.

Both cemeteries and the memorial were designed by Charles Holden.

Source: Commonwealth War Graves Commission: www.cwgc.org


The Battle Memorial of the 5th Australian Division.

The Butte, the mound, is on top of an extended German underground complex of tunnels and dug-outs.
My late wife Chris (+ 08-05-2018) is searching for the grave of Lt. Col. Scott.
The grave of the rather young Lt. Col. Scott, killed in action in the wood at the age of 27.
Lt. Col. Allan Humphrey Scott

Lt. Col. Allan Humphrey Scott won a Distinguished Service Order at Lone Pine, Gallipoli, when he was a Major and commanding officer of the 4th Battalion from August 1915 to January 1916.

In September 1917 Lt. Col. Scott commanded the 56th Battalion of the A.I.F., which advanced through the Butte in the second wave on 26 September 1917. During the night of 30 September they were relieved by a British Battalion, but Scott remained to brief the incoming commander. On 1 October Scott was shot through the head by a German sniper. The same bullet also struck and killed Lt. Col. D.R. Turnbull, C.O. of the 20th Manchesters.

Sources: Major & Mrs. Holt: “Battlefield Guide to the Ypres Salient” ,  (http://www.guide-books.co.uk/)

                    Australian War Memorial (www.awm.gov.au )

From the cemetery we enter the wood again.

We walk to the German bunker, nicknamed "Scott's Bunker".
Lt. Col. Scott's 56th Battalion of the 5th Australian Division captured the bunker on 26 September 1917. A few days later the bunker received its nickname, honouring the commander of the 56th Battalion.
Inside "Scott's Bunker" from the entrance to the right ....
... and to the left.
During the Battle of Broodseinde, which started on 4 October 1917 and which included the Polygon Wood and the area around it, ...
... the 8th Leicesters used the bunker as their Command Post.
With this last photo of Scott's Bunker, we have come to the end of this photo impression.
We leave the Polygon Wood, and we continue southward to the region of Hill 60.
 
 Continue to the next chapter:  "Zillebeke - Hill 60 - Hollebeke - Lankhof Farm"

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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