Albert was the main town behind the lines for the Allies nearest to the 1916 Somme battlefields. It lies on the main D929 road that runs east to Bapaume across the Somme battlefields, and west to Amiens in the other direction (although the D929 now diverts to the south around Albert, the original road still runs through it).
We managed to jag a park right opposite the Basilica and this guy was standing there, Australians are quite prominent around Albert.
Onto the Museum Somme 1916. The Tommy outside the museum with some good looking dude.
The Somme 1916 Museum in Albert occupies what was originally the crypt beneath the basilica, used as aircraft shelters in the world war 2. Alcoves show scenes of soldiers life. Unfortunately the light in museum wasn't that conducive to photo's. But we still got a few.
Nice model of French Char Renault F17 light tank.
Some Trench art. Soldiers made this in their spare time from whatever they had lying around.
Cap badges and other stuff recovered from the battlefield.
After the museum we wandered around and took a look into the Basilica.
At the heart of the town, both then and now, is the Golden Madonna basilica. Before the war 'la Basilique' was a popular tourist attraction, with the golden figure of the Virgin Mary holding aloft the baby Jesus.
Allegedly found by a shepherd in the middle ages the statue was credited with miraculous properties and consequently received many pilgrims.
By the end of the nineteenth century Albert was so popular that Pope Leo XIII called it 'The Lourdes of the North'.
In January 1915 German shelling toppled the statue perilously to an angle horizontal to the ground.
However the statue did not fall. Superstitious legends sprang up on both allied and German sides.
The British and French believed that the war would end of the day that the tower came crashing down; and the Germans believed that whomever caused the statue to fall would inevitably lose the war; both sides therefore took care not to aim shells at the tower holding the statue.
This arrangement suited the allies since the tower provided a valuable vantage point from which to view the opposing German forces.
As it turned out the British eventually destroyed the tower during the German occupation of the town in Spring/Summer 1918. The statue itself was never discovered after the war, and a replica basilica was completed to the original design. (Wikipedia)
Ceiling Tiles
The alter(s)
After this we adjourned to a cafe across the road for a beer (wine for Jo) and a plate of cheese, cold meats etc. Quite civilised. After this little break we decided to head back to the hotel.
But as we got there we figured we'd may as well check out the little cemetery behind the hotel.
Bapaume Post Military Cemetery lies on the west side of "Tara Hill," and south-west of "Usna Hill," and at times it was called by those names.
In June 1916, the front line crossed the Bapaume road between the site of this cemetery and the village of La Boisselle. The attack on La Boisselle on 1 July was not successful, and several days passed before the village was taken. The cemetery was begun almost at once by the divisions engaged in this sector and 152 graves in Plot I, Rows B to I, were made before the end of January 1917, when the cemetery was closed.
On 26 March 1918, the cemetery, with the town of Albert, fell into German hands, but it was recovered towards the end of August. After the Armistice, graves from the battlefields east and west of the cemetery were brought in, including many of the 34th (Tyneside) Division, which attacked along the Bapaume road on 1 July 1916, and some of the 38th (Welsh) Division, which recaptured Usna Hill on 23 August 1918. (from CWGC.org)
This cemetery is typical of the hundreds of little cemeteries that litter the landscape of the Somme and Belgium.
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