Trench Lincs 21st September 2025
- trenchlincs
- 4 hours ago
- 22 min read
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Good Morning and Buon Giorno,
Today’s Trench Lincs has been sent from Italy where my wife and I are enjoying some quiet time away following the very busy August that we had with children and grandchildren. With Robert and his family safely back at home in Australia, and the UK grandchildren back at school, now was a good time to get away!
As you might expect, I will keep an eye out for Italian memorials as we travel but I hope to pay a visit to Pompeii at some point and will keep you all updated next week.
The breakfast buffet is calling, Ciao! and have a great week.
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FORTHCOMING EVENTS.
Next Lecture - Lincoln Branch Western Front Association – Monday 20th October - 7.00pm for 7.30pm start - Royal Naval Association Club, Coulson Road, Lincoln, LN6 7BG.
October 20th - Tim Lynch presents "The Enemy Within: Germans in Britain, 1914-1918".
More details to follow.
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The East Midlands (Nottingham) WFA Branch meets again on Friday 10th October at 7.30pm at St. Peter’s Church Hall, Church Street, Ruddington, Nottingham, NG11 6HA. All welcome.
The speaker on this night will be Spencer Vignes who will talk about “The Life and Death of Leigh Roose, Sportsman and Soldier.”
Leigh Richmond Roose - The Story of Football's First Playboy Click the link to learn more about this talk.
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Next Meeting – Spalding & South Lincs Branch WFA – Thursday, 25th September – Spalding Baptist Church, Swan Street, Spalding, PE11 1BT - Doors open 7.00pm for 7.30pm.
Talk Title – For King & Country at Loos
‘Deeply regret to inform you that 2/Lt C F B Hodgins 2/Wiltshire Regt is reported killed Sept 25/26. Lord Kitchener desires to express his sympathy. Secretary War Office.’ – Telegram from the War Office dated 29 September 1915.
This is the true and previously untold story of one man’s war on the Western Front during the First World War. As a young man, still in his teens, Charlie Hodgins answered the call to ‘do his bit’ for King and Country. Like so many others, he was never to return. He was killed on 25 September 1915, on the opening day of the Battle of Loos. According to an officer in his battalion, he died 'leading his men with great gallantry, and even when wounded, tried to rise and take them on'. Drawing on the many letters, photographs and telegrams Charlie sent home, along with newspaper articles, war archives and other personal accounts, historian Peter Jacobs has pieced together the final moments of Charlie’s short life. This is a compelling and poignant tale of personal courage and one family’s loss. But it also tells of the tragedy and suffering experienced by a generation of men during the First World War.
The Speaker – Peter Jacobs
PETER JACOBS served in the Royal Air Force for thirty-seven years as an air defence navigator on the F4 Phantom and Tornado F3, after which he completed staff tours at HQ 11 Group, HQ Strike Command, the Ministry of Defence, and the RAF College Cranwell. He has written twenty-three books on military and aviation subjects, and as well as being a keen military historian, he is an active speaker and cemetery tour guide with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
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The Leadenham Military History Group’s next meeting will be on Tuesday 23rd September, at Leadenham Village Hall with a start time of 7.30pm. The evening will consist of two elements.
Show and Tell – ‘RAF Ballon Command’ – A selection of items from a recently unearthed treasure trove – by Tim Willbond.
Presentation – ‘The Deadly Canary’ – Resistance in Denmark 1940-45 – by Tim Sisson.
As a German Protectorate, Denmark had a particular status. This talk will look at a different approach to underground resistance.
Last year, the Leadenham Military History Group staged a most successful and entertaining Trafalgar Dinner. By popular request, the dinner is being held once again on Saturday 25th October in Leadenham village hall.
Tim Sisson writes; ‘Following last year's success, we will again hold our Trafalgar Dinner this year on Saturday, 25th October, at Leadenham Village Hall - 7 for 7.30pm.
Tickets just £26 per person which includes a three course meal, with coffee, prepared by our very own Mike Willgoose, former landlord of the George Hotel. Licenced bar - carriages 11 pm.
This is intended to be an informal occasion for members to get to know one another better in a social context; you are very welcome, indeed encouraged, to bring partners, and it will not be a stuffy formal dinner - far from it. Smart casual dress, no dinner suits required.
Fair warning - sea shanties may (will) be sung, you don't have to join in if you are tone deaf, but why not have a go!
If you want to bring a group, we can accommodate tables of four, six, eight, ten or twelve - but don't dally, as numbers are limited by space. At the other end of the scale, you are very welcome to come alone or as part of a couple, when you will be seated with others.
You can book a table by emailing me on milhistory@btinternet.com, or call me on 07967 352218.
This year we will ask for payment in advance which can be made direct to the following account:
Account name: Timothy C Willbond LHS 2024
Account number: 0047 0593
Sort code: 30 13 52
If you make a payment into this account, please put the code TR25, followed by your surname, as the reference.
We look forward to welcoming you again for an enjoyable evening.
Once again, I have reserved a table for myself and currently have Peter Garland, Steve Williams, James Handley and Robin Sayer booked in. We have room to add another three – if you would like to join our party, please send your £26 as detailed above and let me know.
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The next presentation in the Friends of Lincoln Tank 2025 season of talks will be held on Thursday 30th October when Peter Jacobs will present for ‘King and Country’. – See the Spalding and South Lincs notice above.
The venue as usual is the Royal Naval Club, Coulson Road, Lincoln, LN6 7BG. 7pm for a 7.30pm start. Everyone welcome.
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Another group who meet at the Royal Naval Club, Coulson Road, Lincoln, LN6 7BG are the Lincs Aviation Society.
I now have great pleasure in advertising their forthcoming events, which take place on the third Thursday of each month - entry is £2 for members and £3 for visitors.
The next speaker event will be held on Thursday 16th October when the seas will replace the skies and Dave Drury will present – “The Loss of HM Submarine Thetis.”
HM Submarine Thetis
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Shirlee Cottam collared me at the WFA meeting last Monday and asked me to advertise the following event.
TUESDAY 21st October at Scunthorpe Museum at 1.30pm (FREE entry, voluntary donations welcome) there will be a talk entitled:
'Mud, Men and Machines - Lincolnshire's WWI Story from Winterton to the Western Front.'
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Tim Chamberlin has kindly sent us the link to the Lochnagar Crater autumn newsletter from the Somme and a link to the membership form should you wish to become a Friend of the association that maintains this gigantic mine crater – see the Bickersteth article below.
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In conjunction with Robin Sayer, we are organising an outing for October, on Wednesday 22nd. The outing is open to everyone, but you will need to make up your own travel groups.
Robin writes for us; ‘As discussed a couple of weeks ago please find a bit more detail on a trip to Eden Camp, Malton, North Yorkshire. Proposed date is now WEDNESDAY 22nd October.
Eden Camp is a family owned and run business that started over 30 years ago.
Originally a prisoner of war camp, it was built on an agricultural plot on the outskirts of Malton in early 1942 by a small contingent of army personnel who had travelled down from Castle Douglas, in Scotland.
Their task was to construct a barbed wire enclosure and erect tents to form a temporary camp to house Italian prisoners of war captured by Allied forces in North Africa. The camp’s location on Eden Road earned it the name ‘Eden Camp’ and its first residents, 250 Italian prisoners, were escorted from Oldham and marched through Malton to their new home. Once settled, they began work on constructing a larger and more permanent camp. At its peak, Eden Camp was supplemented by a large area of tented accommodation and could house around 1,200 prisoners at any one time. The Italian prisoners gave way to German POW’s in the summer of 1944, with the successful Allied invasion of Normandy. The German prisoners, like the Italians before them, were put to work locally in agriculture and they lived in the huts at Eden camp until 1948, when they were finally released, three years after the war had ended.
In 1985, local businessman Stan Johnson discovered that POW Work Camp 83 was still generally intact and thirty-five of the original huts were in roughly the same condition as when the last of 1,200 inmates left for the ‘Fatherland’ in 1948. Mr Johnson brought the site and initially invested £750,000 to create, within the original camp, the world first Modern Theme Museum.
The huts have been re-equipped to tell the story of the People's War, the social history of life from 1939 to 1945. So many simple display exhibits in cabinets are dull affairs, but not Eden Camp. Realistic tableaux, with moving figures, authentic sounds and smells have been created to “transport you back in time.”
Each hut covers a different aspect of the war, starting with the rise of the Nazi Party, Hitler and the outbreak of the War. Other topics include: Rationing, ‘Save It’ Campaigns, Evacuees, Propaganda, Home Guard, Home Front, The Blitz, Air Raid, and Gas Precautions, Animals at War, The Land Army, The Street at War, Women at War, Timber Girls, The Munition Factories, The Observer Corps, The Auxiliary Fire Service, The Green Howards, The WRVS, The Red Cross, Civil Defence Corps, The Rescue Services, The Bevan Boys, and of course WW2 Army, Navy, Royal Air Force, WW1, The Falklands War etc.
During the winter months of 2012 and 2022 significant refurbishment works have been undertaken around the site - a new Blitz experience in Hut 5, a re-modelled front entrance and new exhibition spaces including a huge Heritage Exhibition Hall which provides an undercover display of a growing collection of unique and rare military vehicles and equipment. including 2 CVRT variants Swingfire (anti-tank missile) and Striker (Javelin anti-aircraft Missile) [both of which I qualified as a Warrant Officer instructor, says Robin]
Eden camp is a museum with a difference. It is historical, educational, exciting and good day out allow at least 3 to 4 hours to visit.
Eden camp has a well-stocked cafe and of course a gift shop, parking is free.
Admission is £19 on the day or £17 if booked on line.
EDEN CAMP, Malton, YO17 6RT.
World War 2 Museum Yorkshire: Eden Camp Modern History Museum Click the link to view the web site.
We aim to meet at the camp from around 10.30am, so please let me know if you are able to make a car load and attend this special day out. [Melvin Dobbs and party have signed up so far - Ed]
For those of you who want to set off a little earlier, Robin and I will be visiting Malton church yard at 9.30am – anyone is welcome to join us.
Lying in Malton church yard is my ancestor Sapper Maurice D’Hooghe. Maurice worked for the Ordnance Survey prior to 1914 and therefore, it is no surprise that he was enlisted into a mapping company of the Royal Engineers.
Although he was not a front line fighting soldier, Maurice was not immune to the perils of war and as he surveyed the front, he was badly affected by gas, evacuated back to the UK, he did not recover and died of the effects of the gas in 1919.
You can read more about Maurice [And my other ancestors who served in the 14-18 war by clicking on my web site using the link below – Ed]
Maurice Wright D'Hooghe - Jonathan D'Hooghe
I look forward to hearing from you and I hope we get a good turn out on the day. (Weds 22nd October)
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Mark Graham kindly alerted me to this forthcoming talk in Lincoln on 6th October which many of you may find of interest.
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Tidying up the loose ends from last week, Andrew Thornton was quick off the mark and notes; ‘Here is some information relating to Chum Morris, whose Old Contemptibles' Association Memorial Plaque is mentioned in your latest newsletter. [14/9 – Ed]
I have included the Nominal Roll for the Lincoln Branch, published in The Old Contemptible of April 1968, for your reference.’
I replied to Andrew saying that we think of life in the 1970s to have been simpler than life today as vandalism and theft at Metheringham was something I would not have expected in 1977.
Andrew replied; ‘The theft of Old Contemptibles' Association Memorial Plaques has been going on for decades - originally for their perceived scrap value but now more targeted for sale via auction or to collectors...
Lincoln Branch suffered quite a few thefts of plaques from the graves of their Chums, and on The Old Contemptibles' Association Scrap Book blog you will find reports of these thefts dating from 1962.’
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I received a very nice email from Chris Easton and again, I am delighted that reading TL has prompted Chris to contact me. He comments; ‘Thanks for another fascinating read Jonathan. I've visited the site at Pozieres a couple of times on Leger Battlefield Tours, where tanks were first deployed. There are the ruins of a windmill there, which was destroyed during the action.
It's a sorry state of affairs that the owner of your relative's medals not only won't sell them back to you, but has been unpleasant when contacted. To me that shows ignorance about the sentiment and meaning behind the medals, and I would have thought that most people would be interested to at least gain some insight into the recipient. We were left some medals and the death plaque of my elderly neighbour's father, who was killed at Mametz Wood in 1916. We have presented these (on loan) to his regimental museum in York (East Yorks Regiment) to be kept with his mates' medals and stories etc. - we felt that this will help to keep the memory of his experience and sacrifice alive for future researchers etc.’
I totally agree with Chris’ sentiments.
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Last week, in various ways, we mentioned three Victoria Cross winners, Charles Sharpe of the Lincolnshire Regiment, Tom Dresser and Clement Robertson, the first VC winner of the Tank Corps.
As you all know by now, my good friend, Arthur Wood, has spent many years visiting the last resting place of many Victoria Cross Winners and he has kindly sent in these three photos of their headstones. Robertson was killed in action and has a CWGC headstone, whilst Sharpe and Dresser survived the war and have private headstones.
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I am sure that a good number of TL readers, like me, will still have a holiday to look forward to this autumn. Therefore, I have a book to recommend to you all.
The Bickersteth Diaries (ISBN 0 85052 546 2) has languished on a bookshelf for many a year, and somehow, I have never got round to reading it, until now. And wow! What a read it is.
The Bickersteth family, who I admit I did not know about until reading the book, have served the country through the generations in both the military and the church.
The head of the family at the time of the Great War was Samuel Bickersteth who was Canon of Canterbury and Chaplain to King George V in 1918. [See photo of family tree below – Ed]. He and his wife, Ella, produced six sons, Monier, Geoffrey, Julian, Burgon, Morris (KIA 1st July 1916) and Ralph.
Several of the boys were prolific diarists and also wrote regularly to their mother. John Bickersteth KCVO (died 2018), sometime Bishop of Bath and Wells and Clerk of the Closet to the late Queen Elizabeth, is the youngest son of the eldest son of Samuel – Monier, and he edited and published his father’s and his uncle’s diaries in this book which came out in 1995.
The brothers, all public school educated, are superb writers and write in great detail of their time on the Western Front either as soldiers or chaplains. Julian, chaplain to 56th (London) Division won the MC for his service and was at Gommecourt on 1st July 1916 when the 56th Division and the 46th (North Midland) Division carried out their disastrous diversionary attack, which many of you know, is a topic of one of my talks.
On this day, the fifth son, Morris is killed at Serre with the 15th West Yorkshires [The battalion that would go on to liberate Ronse where Nadine lives, in November 1918- Ed], and the diaries of both Julian and Burgon record that on 29th June, just two days before, how three of the brothers managed to meet up for what proved to be a ‘Last Supper’ with Morris.
The book is emotional, heart-warming, tragic and realistic in equal measures. It gives you a personal narrative for example, of being in Billets at Fonquevillers, before the Gommecourt attack, in a way that a battalion or brigade history cannot. One of the aspects that we will never understand is the smell of the trenches in France and Flanders, and therefore, when you read first hand accounts by educated men, it gives you a glimpse into their lives, and especially portrays how God and their faith played such a huge role in seeing the brothers and their comrades around them through the dark days at the front.
Burgon writes regarding the smell; “One of the worst parts of this war is the smells. Directly one gets near the firing line, the same old smells assail one’s nostrils. How to describe them I don’t know. There is the sour smell of billets occupied for months past by troops French and English – it is the smell of decayed bully beef, sweaty clothes, latrines and disinfectants. Then there is the awful smell of the trenches after an engagement, the smell of gunpowder, and dead bodies and blood. It is a stench I shall never forget. One talks of not being able to get scenes and sounds out of one’s mind. The same is true of smells.”
Burgon’s description of the fighting on 6th July in the follow up attack at La Boiselle, the site of the Lochnagar mine explosion is worth reading. He wrote on 7th July to his mother; “The papers have now told you about the offensive between Hebuterne and Fricourt [Shows how quickly British papers arrived at the front – Ed], so there can be no harm in mentioning it. Morris attacked at Serre, Julian at Gommecourt – I have had absolutely no news of them, nor do I expect to have for some days. We are further south - I will not say exactly where – so far we have taken no active part, though yesterday afternoon I had one of the most wonderful experiences of my life. From some commanding ground I watched the attack on La Boiselle, and the bombardment of Thiepval. The whole thing was an open panorama in front of one, as clear as an old fashioned battle picture. We watched the waves of infantry advancing. Never have I seen such a sight – villages a mere heap of bricks surmounted by a sheet of smoke and flames.
I am very fit, and only hope Julian and Morris are too.”
Burgon’s letter crossed with his mother’s letter to him in which she writes; “All yesterday, we were so wondering how our darling son (Morris) was killed and hoping he had not suffered long hours before he died, so that this morning we were thankful to God for the following letter from Major Hartley in temporary command of the 15th West Yorks. It is dated 3rd July 1916.”
“I am deeply sorry to have to inform you of the death of your son who was killed (instantly) yesterday whilst gallantly leading B Company to the attack. Though I have only recently joined the battalion, I quickly realised how he had endeared himself to everyone.”
The description of the fighting at La Boiselle on 6th July 1916 is very poignant, because lying dead across the battlefield, would have been many of the men of the 10th Lincolns (Grimsby Chums) who attacked here alongside the Tyneside Irish and Scottish battalions of the Northumberland Fusiliers five days earlier.
Julian records in detail, how as chaplain of the 56th (London) Division he spent the last night with a condemned soldier of the London Scottish who was to be shot the next morning for desertion. It is a very moving account as to how he prepares the man to face the firing squad, and then the meticulous detail of the soldier's burial, A burial that is just as important to Julian as if he was burying a hero killed in action. [I had to read this section twice to really take it all in - Ed]
I could go on and on about the book, but I will finish by saying, that if you are interested in the experiences of men who served on the Western Front, then this is a book that you must read. If you have been a regular battlefield visitor, I can assure you that you are likely to read about a location that you have visited, and this book will help you to view that location in another light, and through the eyes of men who were actually there. It really is a Must Read.
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Whilst on the subject of books, Felicity Sayers dropped me a line to tip us off about a new book of very local interest. Felicity comments; ‘Another great TL as ever! [Thank you – Ed]
My friend Graham Conway has just published his latest book on Ruskington war memorials, 1st and 2nd World War, and I wondered if you or Mike might like to see it? [I am sure many TL readers will find this of interest – Ed]
The link for Amazon Books follows. Graham Conway lives in Ruskington.
Ruskington War Memorials.
https://amzn.eu/d/gEMavEl Click on this link to view or buy the book.’
Thank you Felicity.
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Now from books to films. Last Sunday my wife and I went to the cinema to watch the Grand Finale of Downton Abbey. If you have watched Downton from the very start and followed the travails of Lord Grantham and his family, you will find this film a wonderful ending to the series of tv programmes and three full length films.
Sir Julian Fellowes, the writer, is very good with historical accuracy and the finale is set in 1930 as times change for the family and their gilded way of life. There is a very good scene at the beginning of the film of a High Society London Ball and there is a good collection of miniature medals on display on proud chests, both WWI and South Africa.
Downton Abbey – the Grand Finale is a must watch if you have followed the characters and the story from the start, but my main point in this piece, is a trailer to a forthcoming film that I saw before the main event.
The Choral is set in a northern mill town during WWI, and the trailer looked excellent as it depicted the young men of this town going off to war and later, the surviving lads in their Hospital Blues.
The official web site states; A Choral Society’s male members enlist in WWI, leaving the demanding Dr. Guthrie to recruit teenagers. Together, they enjoy the experience of singing while the young boys grapple with their impending conscription into the army.’
You can watch the official trailer here the choral film - Search
With an excellent cast, including Ralph Fiennes, this must be worth a visit to the cinema in the coming weeks. Here is a still from the film when three of the boys visit the photographic studio prior to setting off for France.
[In cinemas from November 7th - Ed]
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I always keep an eye out as you know, on the colourised photograph web sites, not just Colour by CJS, and this last week I spotted an excellent example of an official IWM photograph being brought to life.
What appealed to me was the notion of the advancement of technology during the Great War. A ‘new modern tank’ alongside an ‘old horse drawn’ ambulance, and yet the tank is ditched and the horse plods on as ever. Nothing depicts the old saying, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!’ more than this excellent photograph.
The official caption reads; ‘; ‘Second Battle of Arras.
(Photo taken 13 September 1918)
A horse drawn ambulance of the 2/3rd London Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps and a MK IV (female) tank "Lucretia II" Nº6012 L48 of 11 Section, 'C' Company, 12th Battalion abandoned after gas attacks of 24th August 1918, at the crossroads at Croisilles, Pas-de-Calais.
The 7th Division attacked Croisilles in March 1917 and took it on 2nd April. It was lost on 21st March 1918 and recaptured by the 56th (London) Division on the following 28th August, after heavy fighting.
(Photo source - © Imperial War Museum Q 7080)
Colourised by Doug.
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This week’s offering from Colour by CJS features a young man from a well-known Derbyshire family, George Smedley.
Second Lieutenant George Futvoye Marsden Smedley.
George was born in Matlock, Derbyshire in 1897, and later educated at Harrow where he was remembered as a fine sportsman. He captained both the football and cricket XI’s, but 'bagged a pair' when batting in the annual match at Lords versus Eton. [That is a duck in both innings - Ed]
When George left school in the summer of 1915 he immediately enlisted and was granted a commission with 3rd Battalion, The Rifle Brigade.
George deployed to France in July 1916, joined his regiment and fought in the Battle of the Somme. During the afternoon of 18th August he led his platoon in an attack near the village of Guillemont where they were tasked with the capture of an enemy strong point and he and his men crossed No Man’s Land behind a creeping barrage.
The garrison in the strong point were determined to hold their position and fierce hand to hand fighting took place.
It was reported that George had charged a machine gun which was holding up the Company and "after shooting one of the men he was shot by a German Officer and fell on the parapet of the German trench."
George’s body was never identified and today, he is commemorated on the Thiepval memorial.
George Marsden Smedley was just 19 years old.
Postscript
After the war his parents erected a memorial on the spot where he was last seen. Seldom visited, it is "a corner of a foreign field that is forever England".
The family inscription reads:
'IN MEMORY OF GEORGE FUTVOYE MARSDEN-SMEDLEY OF LEA GREEN, MATLOCK, DERBYSHIRE, 2/LT 3RD RIFLE BRIGADE AGE 19 WHO FELL IN AN ATTACK ON GUILLEMONT ON AUGUST 18TH 1916 IN THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME, AND LIES NEAR HERE IN AN UNKNOWN GRAVE. LIVELY AND PLEASANT IN LIFE / IN DEATH - SERENE AND UNAFRAID MOST BLESSED IN REMEMBRANCE.'
Steve and Karl Williams and myself visited this memorial a couple of years ago whilst walking on the Somme. It was partially hidden in a field of Maize, but we found it in the end.
Did you know that it was the Smedley family that built Riber castle near Matlock in the 1860’s. During the 1960’s I was taken there as a child as the grounds housed a zoo, but a quick online search suggests that the zoo closed in 2000 and the derelict castle was to be refurbished into a block of up-market apartments. Does anyone know if this has happened?
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I return now to this week’s memorials which start in Lincolnshire and then head to Malta and to Prague in the Czech Republic.
Alwyn Killingsworth comments; ‘Thank you for this week's very full edition of TL especially for the coverage of the "tanks" on the 15th Sept and at The White Hart.
This last weekend was "Open Churches Weekend" in the Horncastle and Wold Diocese. I made the effort to visit Horsington Church, lying just outside Horncastle on the Thimbleby to Bucknall Road. I have never been able to gain access before. Attached are a couple of photos of the memorial and Roll of Honour sited inside. These may be of interest to TL readers.’
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Whilst in the Horncastle area, I visited an old mate for a chinwag and a spot of lunch last Monday. Most folk know that the residents of Horncastle opted for a War Memorial Cottage Hospital as a functional and fitting tribute to the men of Horncastle who did not return from the Great War. However, walking into Horncastle town centre, I noticed that St. Mary’s church was open and so I duly popped in for a look around.
I spied two memorial plaques, a Great War wooden tablet with a later addition for the 1939-45 conflict, and a small wooden shield for the Lincolnshire branch of the Korean War veterans. Both were worthy of my short visit.
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As reported last week, Melvin Dobbs has been in Malta and he kindly sent a second batch of photos for us. Melvin notes; ‘Please find photos of the WWII All Nations Air Crew memorial in Valetta, the capital of Malta.’
Melvin continues; ‘As I am interested in Free Masonry, I was taken with this headstone erected in 1923 by the local Free Masons for one of their brothers, James Mayall of the Royal Engineers who passed away in 1884.
I also include from Pieta Military Cemetery, stones for two 6th Battalion Lincolnshire lads who died of wounds, I believe, suffered at Gallipoli.’
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John Pritchard writes; ‘Shirley and I have been away for a few days to Prague (50th wedding anniversary) - [Many congratulations again John and Shirley – Ed] - which was very enjoyable visiting various "tourist sites" with the castle and cathedral being the main attraction. During a "road train" tour we passed a couple of war memorials, one to the Jewish community that were deported to the death camps, and the other was for the Czech and Polish airmen who fought in the "Battle of Britain" conflict.
The picture of the plaque – contains a list of names of Czech personnel lost during WWII which I thought would be of interest.
The Winged Lion is specifically dedicated to 2,513 Czechs and Slovaks who fought as pilots and aircrew with the British during World War Two. A special fund called the Winged Lion Memorial Appeal Fund which was supported by expats in Czechia and Slovakia raised the money and the monument was officially unveiled by Sir Nicholas Soames (grandson of Winston Churchill) in 2014.
There was also a museum to the Czech Resistance movement (museum of three resistance movements) who helped allied forces to escape carried out special missions to disrupt the German army and war effort.’
The Resistance Museum.
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Bill Pinfold is an avid and successful researcher and this last week he has come across an on-line archive of photographs from the Great War that I was not aware of.
Bill writes; ‘A friend has introduced me to the image collection at the Albert Kahn museum site, which comprises photos, many in colour, taken towards the end of the War and in the tidy-up years afterwards. Are you already aware of this collection?
Not the easiest site to navigate, but the effort is worth it for the remarkable images.
As you might expect, I filtered on First World War and Railways and there are some fascinating shots (the results sometimes include B&W film too).
For example, take a look at the British tank in Peronne towards the bottom of this page.
Another way to pass a few hours.’
I clicked on the link as Bill suggested and scrolled down to the tank in Peronne. As might be expected with such an archive, you cannot click and save the photos, you have to pay! However, just to give you an idea of what a treasure trove this site is, I took a photo of the photo that Bill refers to. Hope they don’t mind?
Thank you Bill for the tip off. I am sure it is a collection that I will return to regularly.
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IN MEMORIAM - The Lincolnshire Regiment 21st September.
1914
7784 Private J Samuels, 1st Battalion. Buried in Braine Communal Cemetery, France.
1915
9702 Private George Ernest Lusby, 1st Battalion, aged 22. Buried in Brandenhoek Military Cemetery, Belgium.
15754 Private Walter Fowler, 6th Battalion. Remembered on the Helles Memorial, Gallipoli.
1916
14950 Private H Pogmore, 6th Battalion. Buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, France.
UK.
1917
46246 Private T Cooper, Base Depot. Buried in The Huts Cemetery, Belgium.
18187 Private J W Reeson, 10th Battalion, Buried in Jeancourt Communal Cemetery Extension, France
1918
50334 Private A Hill, 7th Battalion. Buried in Varennes Military Cemetery, France.
Second Lieutenant John Thomas Manterfield, attached MGC, aged 40. Buried in Unicorn Cemetery, France.
52157 Private Fred Mockett, 7th Battalion, aged 19. Buried in Thilloy Road Cemetery, France.
44039 Private C Densley, 7th Battalion. Buried in Five Points Cemetery, France.
28181 Private Arthur James Hewson, 7th Battalion, aged 42. Buried in Terlincthun British Cemetery, France.
44055 Private Herbert Mitchell, 7th Battalion, aged 31. – Ditto. –
1920
4794407 Lance Sergeant Harold Herbert Clark, Depot, aged 26. Buried in Boston Cemetery, UK.
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.
Until next week
All best wishes
Jonathan
© Jonathan D’Hooghe
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