SOMME BRITISH Sector - Contalmaison
duda-wsm • 31 March 2019
Years of visit: 2005, 2007, 2011
At the outskirts of Contalmaison, the Second Phase of the Battle of the Somme, a visit to the Scottish Memorial Cairn, Bell´s Redoubt,
the Manchester Regiment Memorial, and Death Valley.
This Cairn at the outskirts of Contalmaison forms the Memorial to McCrea’s Battalion, named after Lt. Col. Sir George McCrae. His Battalion captured on 1 July the German stronghold in the ruins of Contalmaison, named the Scots Redoubt.
There are 4 bronze plagues attached to the Cairn.
This one is telling about the heroic deeds of the 34th Division, with its chequerboard insignia.
This panel tells about details about the design, in cooperation with the inhabitants of Contalmaison, and the unveiling of the memorial in 2004.
This plague commemorates the sacrifices of the “Heart of the Midlothian Football Club”.
And a plague commemorating the heroic acts of the Edinburgh and Manchester Regiments.
The Second Phase of the Battle of the Somme
Fricourt and Contalmaison formed a few of the centre points of the Second Phase of the Battle of the Somme 1916. The Second Phase from 2 July until 13 July concentrated on the line Ovillers- Fricourt - Montauban.
After the disappointments of the first day Haig was still desperately seeking for a change of tactics and succes.
On 2 July the Germans tried to counterattack the British at Montauban, but it was not successful.
Rawlinson’s 38th Division conquered the village of Mametz on 3 July. They explored Death Valley and Mametz Wood and concluded it being empty. But a day later, the 4th of July, the Germans already fortified Mametz Wood intensely. On 6 July General Gough’s 5th Army captured La Boiselle, but nearby Orvillers stayed in German possession.
It took General Rawlinson's 23rd Division another 9 days, until 10 July, before the British would capture Contalmaison. On the 8th of July the 1st Worcester Regiment of the 23rd Divison reached the road near the church, but they had to retreat under heavy German fire. On 10 July the 23rd Division, the Green Howards 8th Regiment, and the 11th West Yorkshire, renewed the attacks at the village. Although the Germans counter attacked fiercely, they were forced to withdraw from Contalmaison.
We leave Contalmaison by the C4, leading to Mametz Village. Not far away from Acid Drop Copse, north of Dead Valley, and west of Mametz Wood, this spot along the C4, just outside the village of Contalmaison, called "Bell's Redoubt".
2nd Lieutenant, Donald S. Bell, VC,
9th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment
On July 5 at 6 P.M. 2 battalions entered the battle.
The objective of 2nd Lieutenant, Donald S. Bell, and his
9th Battalion was to capture a position known as the "Horse Shoe Trench". It was on high ground in a slight curve nearby Mametz Wood.
Despite the fact that several of the officers, who were leading the troops, had become casualties, great progress was made.
Horse Shoe Trench was taken and 146 prisoners and two machine guns were captured.
A German machine gun began to enfilade the 9th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment.
On his own initiative, 2nd Lieutenant Donald Bell, supported by Corporal Colwill and Private Batey, tried to destroy the gun position.
Bell surprised the occupants and destroyed the machine gun position by shooting the gunner.
He then threw Mill´s bombs (hand grenade's) into the nearby trench, killing over 50 men of the enemy.
This very brave act saved many lives and ensured the success of the attack.
Lt. Bell's citation for the Victoria Cross was published on 9 September 1916.
Some five days after the incident for which 2nd Lieutenant Donald Bell was awarded the Victoria Cross, after he performed a similar act, west of Contalmaison,
which costed him his life!
Some 200 meters further on, on the left, near the former location of Acid Drop Copse, we visit the memorial for the Manchester Regiment at the local civilian cemetery.
Again: the silent witness of a left shell is lying somewhere on the cemetery ground.
The cemetery overlooks Death Valley into the direction of Fricourt and Mametz village, ...
... and Mametz Wood. Along the road from Contalmaison to Mametz, I made this panorama view eastward of Death Valley and Mametz Wood.
We continue to Mametz Wood and its memorials.
Continue
to the next chapter: " Mametz Wood
"
Inleiding: Franz Von Papen & Werner Horn; schaker en pion Onlangs stuitte ik in een oud boek (1) van 1919 op een opmerkelijk verhaal over een Duitse Luitenant, die in begin februari 1915 een half geslaagde bomaanslag pleegt op een spoorbrug over een grensrivier tussen de Verenigde Staten en Canada. Ook al staat de bekentenis van de dader, Werner Horn, deels in het boek te lezen, de naam van zijn opdrachtgever zal Horn blijven verzwijgen. Na wat verder zoeken vond ik ook de naam van Horn’s opdrachtgever, Franz von Papen, een van de aangeklaagden van het latere Neurenberg Proces in 1946. In een Grote Oorlog als de Eerste Wereldoorlog is Horn’s aanslag op de brug uiteraard slechts een bescheiden wapenfeit. Toch vermoed ik dat dit relatief onbekende verhaal, dat de geschiedenis is ingegaan als de “ Vanceboro International Bridge Bombing ”, nog interessante kanten kent. Het is onder andere een spionageverhaal over hoe in een groter plan een sluwe schaker zijn naïeve pion offert. Beknopte situatieschets Canada en de Verenigde Staten in 1915
This trip we start at the Léomont near Vitrimont and we will with some exceptions concentrate on the Battle of Lorraine of August-September 1914 in the area, called, the “Trouée de Charmes”, the Gap of Charmes. After the Léomont battlefield we continue our explorations to Friscati hill and its Nécropole Nationale. Next we pay a visit to the battlefield of la Tombe to go on to the Château de Lunéville. There we cross the Vezouze to move on southward to the Bayon Nécropole Nationale. At Bayon we cross the Moselle to pass Charmes for the panorama over the battlefield from the Haut du Mont. North-west of Charmes we will visit the British Military Cemetery containing 1918 war victims. From Charmes we go northward to the battlefield of the First French Victory of the Great War, the Battle of Rozelieures of 25 August 1914. North of Rozelieures we will visit the village of Gerbéviller. From there we make a jump northward to visit the ruins of Fort de Manonviller to finish with an interesting French Dressing Station bunker, west of Domjevin.
Though we depart from Badonviller in the Northern Vosges , we make a jump northward to the east of Lunéville and Manonviller . We start at Avricourt on the border of Alsace and Lorraine. From the Avricourt Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof we explore the southern Lorraine battlefields ; the mine craters of Leintrey , the Franco- German war cemetery and Côte 303 at Reillon , and some German bunkers near Gondrexon , Montreux , and Parux .
We depart from Raon-l’Etape to drive northward via Badonviller to Montreux to visit the " Circuit du Front Allemand 14-18", the Montreux German Front Walk 14-18, with its trenches , breastworks , and at least twenty bunkers.
North-east of Nancy, east of Pont-à-Mousson, and south-east of Metz we visit the battlefields of the Battle of Morhange of 14 until 20 August 1914. We follow mainly topographically the route of the French advance eastward over the Franco-German border of 1871-1918. During this visit, we try to focus on the day that the momentum of the battle switched from the French side to the advantage of the Bavarian side: the day of 20 August 1914, when the Bavarians rapidly re-conquered the territory around Morhange , being also the day of the start of their rather successful “Schlacht in Lothringen”. We will visit beautiful landscapes of the "Parc Naturel Régional de Lorraine", memorials, ossuaries, and cemeteries. Sometimes we will divert to other periods of the Great War, honouring Russian and Romanian soldiers, who died in this sector. We start our route at the border village of Manhoué, and via Frémery, Oron, Chicourt, Morhange, Riche, Conthil, Lidrezing, Dieuze, Vergaville, Bidestroff, Cutting, Bisping we will finish in Nomeny and Mailly-sur-Seille, where the Germans halted their advance on 20 August 1914, and where they constructed from 1915 some interesting bunkers.
South of Manhoué we start this trip at Lanfroicourt along the French side of the Franco-German 1871-1918 border, marked by the meandering Seille river. We visit some French bunkers in Lanfroicourt, near Array-et-Han and in Moivrons. From there we go northward to the outskirts of Nomeny and the hamlet of Brionne to visit the ( second ) memorial, commemorating the events in Nomeny of 20 August 1914. We continue westward to finish at the Monument du Grand Couronné at the Côte de Géneviève, a former French artillery base, which offers several panoramic views over the battlefield.
North of Pont-à-Mousson and south of Metz, we explore the relics of German bunkers and fortifications along the Franco-German 1871-1918 border. We start at Bouxières-sous-Froidmont to visit the nearby height of the Froidmont on the front line. This time we will show only a part of the Froidmont, focusing on its military significance. From the Froidmont we continue via Longeville-lès-Cheminot and Sillegny to the “Forêt Domaniale de Sillegny” to explore some artillery ammunition bunkers. Next we continue to Marieulles for its three interesting bunkers and to Vezon for its line of ammunition depot bunkers. From Vezon we continue to the “Deutscher Kriegsgräberstätte Fey – Buch”. From Fey we go eastward, passing 6 bunkers near Coin-lès-Cuvry to finish our trip at the top construction of the “Feste Wagner” or “Fort Verny”, north of Verny.
From Badonviller or the Col du Donon we continue north-eastward for a visit to an extraordinarily well restored sample of German fortifications: the Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II, or Fort de Mutzig, lying on a height, some 8 km. away from the 1871-1918 Franco-German Border.
We concentrate on the German side of the front around "Markirch", Sainte Marie-aux-Mines, the so-called "Leber" front sector . We first pay a visit to the Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof, and next to the southern side of the Col de Ste. Marie for the many interesting bunkers of the German positions at the Bernhardstein, at the north-eastern slopes of the Tête du Violu. On the next photo page about the Haut de Faîte we will continue with a visit to the northern side of the pass and the "Leber" sector.