#mametz

[thisdayinwwi]

Sep 1916 During the Battle of the Somme, war photographer Ernest Brooks takes this photo, IWM Q 870, of a captured German machine gun post near Mametz.

August 1916-08 

Colourisations by Hugh

[thedeadofflandersfields]

Have you forgotten yet?... For the world's events have rumbled on since those gagged days, Like traffic checked while at the crossing of city-ways: And the haunted gap in your mind has filled with thoughts that flow Like clouds in the lit heaven of life; and you're a man reprieved to go, Taking your peaceful share of Time, with joy to spare. But the past is just the same--and War's a bloody game... Have you forgotten yet?... Look down, and swear by the slain of the War that you'll never forget. Do you remember the dark months you held the sector at Mametz-- The nights you watched and wired and dug and piled sandbags on parapets? Do you remember the rats; and the stench Of corpses rotting in front of the front-line trench-- And dawn coming, dirty-white, and chill with a hopeless rain? Do you ever stop and ask, 'Is it all going to happen again?' Do you remember that hour of din before the attack-- And the anger, the blind compassion that seized and shook you then As you peered at the doomed and haggard faces of your men? Do you remember the stretcher-cases lurching back With dying eyes and lolling heads--those ashen-grey Masks of the lads who once were keen and kind and gay? Have you forgotten yet?... Look up, and swear by the green of the spring that you'll never forget.

Siegfried Sassoon, Aftermath, 1919

[theworldofwars]

Taking up water pipes to the trenches on a light railway. Note 4.5-inch howitzer under camouflage screen, near Mametz, July 1916.

[overland-defender]

05/05/2019 - Day 2 (Part 1)

Day 2 is the first full day of the trip and starts at a nice 9.30am. The groups meet at a local supermarket to stock up on lunch essentials, mainly consisting of bread and cheese (when in France).

The iternary today is the following;

Various cemeteries 

Sausage Valley

Lochnagar Crater 

Mametz Wood

Delville Wood 

High Wood 

Caterpillar Valley

German Bunkers

Multiple frontline positions

Instead of talking about every detail of travelling from point to point i’d like to share the facts we learnt at each important location.

Sausage Valley The name given by British soldiers during the first world war to a valley south of of La Boisselle in the Somme. Named because the Germans would fly an observation balloon that looked like a "sausage", at the head of the valley. To the north of La Boisselle a valley was therefore logically known as Mash Valley.

Lochnagar Crater The Crater was created by a large mine that was at the time believed to be  placed beneath the German front line on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, The British named the mine after ‘Lochnagar Street’, a British trench where the Tunnelling Companies of the Royal Engineers dug a shaft down about 90 feet deep into the chalk. Then excavated some 300 yards towards the German lines to place 60,000 lbs of ammonal explosive in two large underground chambers. The aim was to destroy a strongpoint called Swabian Heights south of the village of La Boisselle.

Mametz Wood Was the objective of the 38th Division (Welsh), to attack over a ridge, focussing on the German positions in the wood at a lower level, This occured between 7th July and 12th July 1916. On 7th the first wave of men proceeded with the expecatation to take the wood in a matter of hours. However, strong fortification and machine guns decimated over 400 soldiers before they’d even reached the wood.

Further attacks were attempted and by the 12th of July 1916 it was estimated 4,000 men were killed or wounded from the Welsh division attempting to clear the woods which in the end was the result. Our next stop will be Deville woods where we will have lunch and visit the cemetary and South African memorial.

[poor-bloody-infantry]

Australians, rugged up against the snowy conditions, crossing a foot bridge over an old trench at Mametz, in France, in January 1917.

[zipzappa]

Mametz, France – Rue de l’Eglise Before the Bombardment – Postcard Early 20th Century

[mtwws-orvkns]

Mapping The World With §ound§ in Mametz - Pas-de-Calais

Église St-Vaast  Une seule cloche "Cette cloche a été fondue le 14 juillet 1862 et bénite solennellement sous l’administration de Messieurs Chartier Prosper maire de la commune de Mametz département du Pas de Calais et Scat Jean-Baptiste Adjoint. Monsieur l’abbé Delton, Amable Jean-Baptiste desservant la paroisse de ladite commune. Elle a reçu les noms de Félicie Marie Florentine de ses parrain et Marraine Monsieur Prisse Albert Florian Joseph attaché au Ministère des Finances et Madame Chartier Prosper née Félicie Rosamonde Lahure."

Remerciements : Madame Hélène Mithieux

[mtwws-orvkns]

Visit Original Link

Mapping The World With §ound§ in Mametz - Pas-de-Calais église St-Vaast  Une seule cloche - Le Glas "Cette cloche a été fondue le 14 juillet 1862 et bénite solennellement sous l’administration de Messieurs Chartier Prosper maire de la commune de Mametz département du Pas de Calais et Scat Jean-Baptiste Adjoint. Monsieur l’abbé Delton, Amable Jean-Baptiste desservant la paroisse de ladite commune. Elle a reçu les noms de Félicie Marie Florentine de ses parrain et Marraine Monsieur Prisse Albert Florian Joseph attaché au Ministère des Finances et Madame Chartier Prosper née Félicie Rosamonde Lahure."

Remerciements : Madame Hélène Mithieux