IMAGES FROM WW1 - Flanders and The Somme

From time to time, I go to visit the Flanders and northern French WW1 battlefields, graveyards and memorials. To be candid, I am never sure of my emotions on these occasions but I do feel these visits are in some way important - in terms of showing respect as much as anything else. A recent visit took place at the end of (a very wet April). Here are a few photographs: The grave of Noel Chavasse at Brandhoek New Military Cemetery in Belgium. Chavasse was the only winner of two VCs in WW1 (the second killed him). He was in the Medical Corps.

The second and third are images of Tyne Cot, just outside Ypres and, I believe, the largest Allied Cemetery in the world.

The fourth photograph is of the trenches which still criss-cross the landscape of Beaumont Hammel where the Essexes and the Newfoundlanders attacked well entreched German positions on the first day of the Battle of the Somme (1st July 1916). Beyond the trenches is the still remaining 'Danger Tree', only a hundred yards or so from the forward allied trenches. Few men, if any, who got past the Danger Tree that day, lived to tell the tale. At the end of the attack, the Canadian general in command was apparently criticized for his failure to gain ground. his reply was, "Dead men can't advance".

The final photograph is of the largest German cemetery - Neuville St Vaast - not far from Vimy Ridge in The Some. It contains 44,833 burials.