Wandering the First World War battlefields in Northern France

Hello bloggers, we have not forgotten you, just had a lack of WIFI access at recent campsites.

Welcome to the followers in the leafy eastern and south eastern suburbs of Melbourne, we know who you are! We are looking forward to your comments.

No photos today, WIFI is too ropey to upload them

We are today in Thiepval, northern France in the areas that were fought over many times in the great war (now known as WWI) The British and French memorial here to those British soldiers who died in the war but have no known grave is quite impressive and can be seen from many kms away. There is even one gentleman with the same surname as Gary and from the same area of Yorkshire as Gary’s ancestors, so some family history research to be done there!   All that gentleman’s three brothers served in the great war and one brother died as well.

We are staying at Cappy, much too small to find on a map but right on the Somme river not far from Amiens and quite a pleasant little place.  We heard a cuckoo bird in the evening.

Everywhere you drive around this area there are British, French, German or even Russian graveyards of soldiers of WWI or WWII. We were driving along a relatively minor road yesterday looking for a supermarket when we stumbled onto a second world war graveyard. Apparently at Valleroy in WWII the Germans had a camp for local French officials that were not co-operating with the occupying army. This was later converted to a prisoner of war camp to hold Russian repeat offenders, ie Russian POWs who were causing trouble in other camps or who had tried to escape elsewhere. I guess it’s a long way from Russia as well, being in northern France.

49 of the prisoners did not survive that camp and are buried by the side of the road in a very peaceful graveyard which is well kept today.  All the cemeteries are very well presented, till you realise that each cross means the death of a soldier, in some cases more than one per cross. Many of the cemeteries are in fields surrounded by modern day farms.