Western Front WW I

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FOWChallenge-Tribute

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During my 2017 visit to

The Western Front Battlefields

in France and Belgium…

I came across the

Lochnagar Crater Memorial.

 

THe crater was created by detonating 27,000 tons

of explosives under the

German Front Line

Surrounding the crater are tributes and memorials

to many men and women who served…

on the Western Front during

the Great War.


The boardwalk around the crater is created by 4 inch planks. 

At either end of these planks a small tribute

can be placed to commemorate one’s relatives.

   

I placed/paid for this tribute to my Grandfather

who served all along the Western Front

after being part of the gun crew

which fired the First Allied Shot of World War I

from Point Nepean at the mouth of

Port Phillip Bay,

Victoria. 

The time was 1245, August 5th, 1914…   

a mere 2-3 hours after War had been declared in London

at 11 PM the previous night…August 4.

Lest We Forget.

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Fandango’s One Word Challenge:  Tribute

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Word-of-Day-Challenge-Barrage

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barrage
noun
“his forces launched an artillery barrage on the city”

Obviously not a photo which I have taken,

however, one which has been in my possession

for a long time, because…

…it depicts my Grandfather in his role,

during World War I,

near Ypres.

Records show he was active along

the entire Western Front and therefore

the catalyst behind my visit to Arras in 2017.

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Word of the Day Challenge: Barrage

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WeeklyPrompts-Photo-Challenge-Supernatural

 

Not the first time I have posted this photo…

however, even though I have created the ‘extras’, in this image,

I’m sure there are spirits of the fallen, lost and missing

standing guard over these cemeteries.

 

This is at the Thiepval Memorial for the missing

on the Somme Battlefields (1914-1918).

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Weekly Prompt Photo Challenge: Supernatural

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Word-of-Day-Challenge-Verdant

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Canola crops… 

all sport a verdant green undergrowth.


One of the shrubs in our garden.

On a more sombre note, on the far side of this field,

just before Pheasant Woods

was the site of mass grave in which

nearly 200 Australian soldiers were buried

after the Battle of Fromelles in July 1916. 

It was indeed difficult to believe that

these Bullecourt fields were the sight of…

some bloody battles during World War I. 

If my memory serves me well it is this field

where Australian/allied soldiers were ordered to advance

from the right, the lower ground,

to the German Army on the left, the higher ground. 

They were ordered to walk ‘bolt up right’

into the might of the German military,

and not take any precautions for their own safety. 

It was not until many waves of soldiers had been killed

that the British Officers said it would be okay for

soldiers to advance and try to protect their own lives as well. 

It still brings tears to my eyes when I look at these scenes

and think about what happened there so long ago.

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Word of the Day Challenge: Verdant