Archive for Battlefield Guide
World War I – The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Posted by: | CommentsThroughout The Great War, the death over the fields of Flanders was on an horrendous scale with numerous bodies never identified or retrieved. On 11th November 1920, simultaneously ceremonies took place in both London and Paris to unveil tombs of unknown soldiers.
The tomb of the unknown soldier came to symbolize the loss endured by the families of soldiers who fell and whose bodies were never identified or brought back. The unknown French soldier lies in the Arc de Triomphe in Paris while the unknown British soldier lies entombed in Westminster Abbey amongst kings and statesmen.
The idea was first contemplated by a clergyman called Reverend David Railton. In 1916 in France, he had seen a cross with the words “An Unknown British Soldier” written on it. Four years later in 1920, Railton contacted the Dean of Westminster saying it would be appropriate to have a nationally recognised grave for an unidentified soldier.
Four British servicemen were exhumed from Aisne, the Somme, Arras and Ypres and taken to a chapel at St Pol, near Arras. Every body was draped in a Union flag and one was picked out by Brigadier General L J Wyatt. Wyatt had no idea from where the bodies were removed from or their rank. The idea was that the unknown soldier could possibly have been anyone from a Private right up to a Colonel, a colonial labourer to the child of an Earl.
The soldiers coffin was transported to London and was delivered to Westminster Abbey in a horse drawn gun carriage. The cortege was accompanied by King George V and individuals from the Royal family. At Westminster Abbey, it was flanked by a guard of 100 winners of the Victoria Cross.
The casket was positioned and covered with soil taken from the battlefields of World War I. It was capped with a slab of black marble from Belgium and it is the only tombstone in Westminster Abbey which it is unacceptable to step on.
Ever since then, plenty of other nations have dedicated similar tombs including Argentina, Australia, Canada, Germany, Iraq, Japan, Russia, Ukraine and the United States.
A Full Day In The Region Close to Ypres
Posted by: | CommentsBrandhoek Cemetery is where Captain Noel Chavasse was laid to rest. Captain Chavasse is one of just three men to have been accorded Britain’s top award for bravery, the Victoria Cross. Furthermore, he has also been accorded the Military Cross. I am at present reading a book titled “In Foreign Fields” by Dan Collins and it is written about soldiers who’ve been accorded medals in Afghanistan and Iraq. When you understand exactly what a soldier needed to undertake in order to be granted an MC, it forces you to understand what a brave man Captain Chavasse was especially when he was a member of the Royal Medical Corps and never fired a shot for the duration of the war.
My next stop was near to the village of Passchendaele at the largest sized British Military Cemetery at Tynecot. Over 12,000 soldiers are buried here. From the cemetery, you can easily look out for several miles in all directions over fields and it seems tough to imagine the carnage which had been there 90 years ago. The visitors centre provides a historical past of the region as the names of a few of the fallen and missing are sent out calmly over audio speakers.
From Tynecot, I began to head back in direction of Ypres stopping at Hill 61 (Sanctuary Wood) on the way back. There is a little museum and some preserved trenches here. All through my trip, the weather was not kind and even if it was nothing like as lousy as conditions might have been throughout The Great War, the bottom of the trenches still looked quite awful. It cost a couple of Euros to get in and this was the first time I began to find out the impact of the notorious mud.
My next planned stop was the Hooge Crater. As previously in the day, I had a hard time trying to locate it although I saw a little independent museum called the Hooge Crater Museum which in fact had a compelling variety of artefacts such as a British Ambulance and a Victoria Cross.
My sightseeing for the day wasn’t complete as I still had to take a look at the renowned Cloth Hall which was almost ruined (since totally reconstructed) as well as the Last Post ceremony and that is carried out at 8pm each evening at the Menin Gate. I always find the Last Post incredibly haunting and moving to listen to. Soon after it was finished, 2 wreaths were laid by young British troops and was followed by a recital from Laurence Binyon’s “For The Fallen”
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Article on the Video ‘Beneath Hill 60′
Posted by: | CommentsThis years motion picture ‘Beneath Hill 60′ conveys the real account of a team of troopers with the 1st Australian Tunnellers led by Captain Oliver Woodward CMG MC and two bars. In the dvd, Woodward is portrayed by Brendan Cowell. He had been a miner and metallurgist from New South Wales and had not joined up like numerous other adult men in the area had done. He was deemed to be necessary to stay home to support the war effort and consequently, he had been sent several white feathers. It had been frequent at the time for folks to give white feathers to people whom they believed to be cowards.
Hill 60 is located in the southern area of the Ypres Salient and it wasn’t a natural feature. The hill was made with soil dug away to make a nearby railway cutting. Quite a few significant actions happened at Hill 60 in both World War I and World War II. During one night in 1915, 4 Victoria Crosses were granted as a German attack was successfully fought off.
The dvd highlights the events at the start of the Battle of Messines in 1917. 19 mines with almost 500,000 kgs of explosives were fired before the start of the assault. The storyline revolves around the exploits of Woodward and his men showing precisely what the tunneller companies were required to experience, a part of war that receives minimal coverage.
Woodward is put in command of a company and leads by example for the duration of the build up for the assault around Ypres. The action begins in the small hours of the morning when Woodward sets off the mine his soldiers have spent the previous weeks putting in place and defending.
Right after the war, Woodward goes back to Australia to wed his young sweetheart who had begged him not to join the army.
‘Beneath Hill 60′ is the ideal film which conveys the story of one of the most scary tasks of the Western Front. The tunnellers on both sides had to work in awful conditions understanding the enemy may perhaps be simply metres away preparing to either blow up their tunnel or break in and begin firing.
Donald Bell’s Victoria Cross raises £210,000
Posted by: | CommentsThe only VC awarded to a professional footballer during the First World War has been sold for £210,000. Donald Simpson Bell, from Harrogate, became the first player to join the British Army following the declaration of war in 1914.
He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions during the Battle of the Somme in July 1916. The medal, which has been displayed at the Green Howards Museum in Richmond, was sold by Spink on November 25 2010.
Donald Bell was born in Harrogate in 1890 and attended the local Grammar School and Westminster College in London. He was a passionate football player and played for Crystal Palace as an amateur whilst in London. Bell took up a teaching career in 1911 and returned to Yorkshire after gaining a post at Starbeck School but he continued as an amateur footballer, playing with Newcastle United.
He signed as a professional player with Bradford Park Avenue and made his debut for the club in 1913. He was a key member of the team which helped win promotion from the second-division for Bradford. Bell joined up following the outbreak of the Great War in 1914. He is considered to have been the first professional footballer to volunteer. Initially he served as a Private with the 9th Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment (The Green Howards) but he quickly gained promotion and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the regiment in 1915.
During the Battle of The Somme, Bell’s battalion was ordered to capture an enemy position that was known as Horseshoe Trench near La Boiselle.
He attacked a German machine gun position, running through open ground and then shooting the gunner and blowing up the position with Mills bombs. It was this action that led to him being recommended for a medal. Bell would never know that he’d been awarded the the Victoria Cross for his actions as five days later he was killed, following an attack on another German position at Contalmaison. His Victoria Cross was presented to his widow by King George V in a private ceremony in the ballroom of Buckingham Palace on the 13 December 1916.
In July 2000, a permanent memorial was unveiled at the spot where he fell which is still known locally as Bell’s Redoubt. The memorial is sponsored by the Professional Footballers’ Association in memory of ‘The First English Professional Footballer to enlist in 1914 and the only Professional Footballer to be awarded the Victoria Cross.’ His medal was auctioned at the Spink saleroom, in London, on November 25 2010 and fetched a price of £210,000.
Source: BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/york/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_9227000/9227719.stm)
Donald Bell’s Victoria Cross raises £210,000
Posted by: | CommentsThe only VC awarded to a professional footballer during the First World War has been sold for £210,000. Donald Simpson Bell, from Harrogate, became the first player to join the British Army following the declaration of war in 1914.
He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions during the Battle of the Somme in July 1916. The medal, which has been displayed at the Green Howards Museum in Richmond, was sold by Spink on November 25 2010.
Donald Bell was born in Harrogate in 1890 and attended the local Grammar School and Westminster College in London. He was a passionate football player and played for Crystal Palace as an amateur whilst in London. Bell took up a teaching career in 1911 and returned to Yorkshire after gaining a post at Starbeck School but he continued as an amateur footballer, playing with Newcastle United.
He signed as a professional player with Bradford Park Avenue and made his debut for the club in 1913. He was a key member of the team which helped win promotion from the second-division for Bradford. Bell joined up following the outbreak of the Great War in 1914. He is considered to have been the first professional footballer to volunteer. Initially he served as a Private with the 9th Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment (The Green Howards) but he quickly gained promotion and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the regiment in 1915.
During the Battle of The Somme, Bell’s battalion was ordered to capture an enemy position that was known as Horseshoe Trench near La Boiselle.
He attacked a German machine gun position, running through open ground and then shooting the gunner and blowing up the position with Mills bombs. It was this action that led to him being recommended for a medal. Bell would never know that he’d been awarded the the Victoria Cross for his actions as five days later he was killed, following an attack on another German position at Contalmaison. His Victoria Cross was presented to his widow by King George V in a private ceremony in the ballroom of Buckingham Palace on the 13 December 1916.
In July 2000, a permanent memorial was unveiled at the spot where he fell which is still known locally as Bell’s Redoubt. The memorial is sponsored by the Professional Footballers’ Association in memory of ‘The First English Professional Footballer to enlist in 1914 and the only Professional Footballer to be awarded the Victoria Cross.’ His medal was auctioned at the Spink saleroom, in London, on November 25 2010 and fetched a price of £210,000.
Source: BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/york/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_9227000/9227719.stm)