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Published: September 19th 2015
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France WW1 SITES 026
Poziers monument on a dreary foggy day Pozieres
Just north of Stanthorpe Qld there is a town called Pozieres.
The town adopted that name after WW1 when so many Australians experienced harrowing war and suffered casualties at the town’s namesake in the Somme France.
So when we were driving through from the town of Albert to Arras it was compelling to stop and look.
This town and its surrounding district was the scene of 3 extended and costly campaigns to regain 3 specific targets From German invaders in 1916.
There are many British cemeteries and memorials in the surrounding area including the famous Thiepval monument – the biggest monument to British war dead in the world as well as numerous cemeteries and smaller but significant monuments. These sites attract many visitors every day - mostly patriotic citizens visiting sites commemorating their respective country's involvement. Here there are many Brits.
So it’s a chance to talk a bit of Anglais.
We have been conversing with Canadians ( they had a humungous involvement in WW1 in the Somme too) Brits and Australians – amazing change after nearly 4 months without much torken Aussie slang.
It’s a
France WW1 SITES 049
Restful seat at Lochnagar Crater Site German free zone too. When we were in Croatia and Turkey most of the fellow motor home travellers were German. Here in northern France – in the former battlefields- the number plates are French, GB, Netherlands or Belgian. So at the Pozieres there is this bloke – let’s call him Gordon.
Gordon’s got no dress sense. All Gordon’s ill fitting clothes look like he bought them blindfolded from a Vinnie’s shop. He is maybe 50 something and wears an oversize jumper over a loose fitting shirt. Baggy britches don’t quite make it to the ankles and the sandals he wears with long pants confirm that Gordon is a Pomm. To top it off Gordon has a white floppy giggle hat – the sort a gardener might wear while weeding or when no on is looking. So pommy Gordon is looking at a display at the Pozieres memorial – which is all about Australian involvement.
I have spoken with a few Aussies and Brits so far today right here at this memorial site. I greet pommy Gordon with a standard “ how the devil are ya?”
And he replies in Francais.
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91 meters across and 21 meters deep the crater is called the Lochnagar Crater Hey – there is no way a Frenchman would dress like that. Not even on the way to the dunny.
Then he replies in German. Shmeetenhausen – there is no way a German would be in this neck of the woods.
Then he responds in English – and I can tell by his pronunciation that he Deutsch is probably his native tongue. So I think he is from the Netherlands or maybe northern Belgium.
But no- Gordon is German.
Blow me over with a puff of pepper.
But we discover in a short conversation that Gordon has an interest in history and he has a bit of a whinge about how the graves of German combatants are not as well maintained as those of the allies. He says how he used to give money to the German organisation that maintains the graves but he is disgusted with the way that organisation corruptly wastes money on booze and “girls” for its bureaucrats. So now he no longer donates.
Gordon is familiar with the whole region and tells us about a huge crater nearby.
The crater was formed early on
France WW1 SITES 047
91 meters across and 21 meters deep the crater is called the Lochnagar Crater 1
st July 1916 by detonation of explosives that Brits had planted in tunnels that had been dug under German positions. Gordon explains with considerable emotion, that in seconds maybe 10,000 Germans were killed. Measuring 91 meters across and 21 meters deep the crater is called the Lochnagar Crater and is the only WW1 crater available to the public. Then Gordon saddens as he recounts how Germany lost the war and so few Germans care to visit the area.
So we alter the schedule to make the next stop this huge crater. It truly is awesome.
So the British engineers scored a major tactical surprise and inflicted significant pain on the enemy in tunnelling under German lines, planting 60,000 lbs of ammonium and setting it off at 7:28 am on 1
st July 1916. . Debris from the explosion flew as high as 4,000 ft in the air. Lochnagar was the biggest of 17 mines detonated under German lines at that moment.
You would hope that simultaneous British infantry attack on German positions was as well thought and intelligently planned as the tunnelling and blow up.
But No.
Allied forces advanced as ordered in STRAIGHT LINES across open ground and got mown down.
Sadly net result was a huge and needless loss of life for the Allied forces that day.
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James Bazzo
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Keeping in touch
Hi P & V - received 6 blogs yesterday - good comments - all is well here - Kathy still looking for a job - started scoring for a Sunshine Coast lower grade team [U 17] - only 5 matches on Sundays - caught up with Jo & Peter recently [they were staying at Maleny]- Phil & Pam will call in next week. Trust you both are well James & Kathy