EAC's WW1 Expedition

[Macca]

Just a few photos from the trip.

A quick stop over on the way to the hotel.

A local forest inhabitant. Notice the croissant's warming under his arm's...

Tyne Cot cemetery.

Menen Gate last post ceremony.

Preserved trench's on the Somme battlefield.

Thiepval memorial.

If I only remember one thing, it would be this "If all the French soldiers only killed in WW1 marched past the Arc de triomphe 4 a breast, it would take 89 days for them to pass by" Makes you think doesn't it.

 

[hard top]

Good pics Macca and yes, it does make you think about it.........and they did it all over again 22 years later.........

W1 Ended
11:00 November 11, 1918

WW2 Ended
September 2, 1945

Duration of WW1
4 years, 3 months and 14 days

Duration of WW2
6 years and 1 day

Casualties in WW1

Germany 1,800,000
Soviet Union 1,700,000
France 1,385,000
Austria 1,200,000
Great Britain 947,000
Japan 800,000
Romania 750,000
Serbia 708,000
Italy 460,000
Turkey 325,000
Belgium 267,000
Greece 230,000
USA 137,000
Portugal 100,000
Canada 69,000
Bulgaria 88,000
Montenegro 50,000
TOTAL 11,016,000

Casualties in WW2

Soviet Union 25,568,000
China 11,324,000
Germany 7,060,000
Poland 6,850,000
Japan 1,806,000
Yugoslavia 1,700,000
Romania 985,000
France 810,000
Greece 520,000
USA 495,000
Austria 480,000
Italy 410,000
Great Britain 388,000
Holland 250,000
Belgium 85,000
Finland 79,000
Canada 42,000
India 36,000
Australia 29,000
Albania 28,000
Spain 22,000
Bulgaria 21,000
New Zealand 12,000
Norway 10,000
South Africa 9,000
Luxembourg 5,000
Denmark 4,000
TOTAL 59,028,000

 

[Macca]

That's a hell of a lot of people Mike.

 

[hard top]

I have always been interested in the history of WW1 & WW2.

My dads mother was born in 1906 and was 8 years old at the time the 'Great War' started.
She passed away at the ripe old age of 103 in 2009.

My mums dad was a desert rat during WW2 and he survived to get back to 'good old blighty'.

But as they say, don't mention the war..........

My first trip to Libya......sat with a bunch of lads at Tripoli airport at 03.00 hrs waiting for the flight out to the desert at 06.00 hrs.
Only two of us not sleeping, myself and an older German chap.
He asked me if I had been to Libya before and I replied, no but my Grandfather had and had driven up and down the coastal road quite a few times in his tank.........end of conversation..........

On a flight to Frankfurt....big fat German bloke sat next to me, pushing me out of my seat with his bulk, so I was not in a good mood.
He asked me if I flew to Germany often, I replied, not as often as my Grandfather used to (very old joke).......end of conversation......

 

[GazHyde]

Nice piccies and a great experience!

Very humbling.

 

[EnthuZiaZT]

Hi Everyone :-h

We've finally recouped the energy to show you the pics from an amazing Expedition to Ypres & the Somme.

Very hard to grasp the scale of the enormous loss of life, hardship and endurance suffered by lads, one even as young as 14!!

Cemetries round virtually every corner, some like Tyne Cott (nicknamed by the English, because the bunkers looked like Tyneside Cottages) and Thiepval Memorial, with over 73,000 names of the men whose bodies they couldn't even find!!

Inbetween the many sobering moments and deep reverance for the fallen of WW1, from the time we met up at the Premier Inn at Ashford to our return to Angleterre, we laughed 'til our sides ached, from beginning to end, with Marymac praying to Mecca at the filling station, comparing the length of lens extensions??? and the leg splaying demo in the bar ) We can honestly say that we haven't laughed so much for years, it was surely a cruise that will be remembered for a very long time, ^^ well at least until we go again next year!! :-bd

We took endless pics, so will post them in four parts.

Chapter One, The Hotels - Premier Inn, Ashford.

Queuing for 'The Chunnel'

Driving down to the Train

Bazza (Zedster4) entering the Double Decker Euroshuttle.

Line up for a quick break on the Autoroute for Lunch

The Novotel Hotel, Nr Lens, France situated between Ypres and The Somme.

The back view of the hotel, see our windows behind (Don't look too closely, as the curtains are open!!!

Legs 11, LOUNGING!! in the bar at the Hotel

Shu-anne and Marymac chilling out.

The BMW EAC gang from Angleterre had a reserved table in a niche in the dining room to deaden
the noise and reduce the disturbance to the other guests!! :-$

Will post Chapter two, 'Compiégne - The Signing of the Armistice' in a couple of days. :-bd

Mike and Sandy

 

[reddyzeddygo]

Some of our pics from a truly memorable cruise:

Re-fuelling stop on way to the Hotel:



At the Armistice Memorial in the clearing at Compeigne:


Our lunch arrives:

Sandy plugs in the Satnav:


Leaving Compeigne:



Tyne Cot Cemetery:



German Cemetery:



Canadian Memorial:


Lunch at the 'Hooge Crater' museum:


Xmas Truce Site:


Hill 60 Crater:


EAC Expeditionary Force in Ypres:


Lochnagar Crater Memorial:


Shrapnel hunting:


Newfoundland Memorial:


Scottish Memorial ('The Kilted Warrior'):


Preserved trenches:


En route back to Calais:

Lunch stop in Boulogne:

 

[EnthuZiaZT]

Hello Folks
Are you sitting comfortably, then I shall begin!!!
Chapter Two. The Signing of the Armistice at Compiégne


The actual Railway carriage was blow up by Hitler as a act of revenge, after forcing the French to sign a surrender in
the same carriage in 1940, during which he insisted sitting where the French General sat in 1918.

Mike & Shaun playing on the TOM TOMS


The day was taking a heavy Toll


Boots all spit and polished!!


The actual site of Fochs Carriage where the Armistice was signed.


My extension's longer than yours!!!


Anyone know where the restaurant is??


Guess what's on the me&u!! Definitely not beef! These guys weren't after Basil brush, they were deer hunting!


The Reddyzeds cruising through a French Ville!



The Hilarous Night of the Round Table at The Buffalo Grill and not a horse in sight!!


A real knees up at the Buff Gr!!!!


An exhausting, but satisfying cruise through the French Countyside, the second enjoyable day!
M & S

 

[TR4man]

Really interested to read this and to see the photos.

We did the WW1 tour a couple of years ago (a group of Triumph TRs and Morgans) and stayed at Poelkappelle



Over the late May Bank holiday this year we are going to the Spa Classic but stopping off at Compeigne and then taking in the old racing circuit at Reims before heading up to Spa.

Erm.... we are not going in the Zed though

Regards

Peter

 

[EnthuZiaZT]

Hi Guys
Here's The Third Chapter Tyne Cott Cemetery, Ypres & Passendale.

Unexploded shells on the roadside, casually lobed out as the Farmers turn the corners with their tractors and collected once a week by disposal units



Tyne Cott Cemetery, near the Battle of Passendale, named after the German Bunkers which the English soldiers said looked like Tyneside Cottages,
A vast lose of life,12,000 graves and 140,000 lost in that area alone.




A German cementery, apparently visited by Hitler, dark and foreboding, the gravestones laid flat on the ground, sometimes over two or three bodies.



Lunch at The Hooge Crater (one of several craters formed by mining under the Germans and blowing them to smitherines)


The shell cases, known as Trench Art, intricately decorated by the Soldiers inbetween action, lined the walls of the café.


The Reddyzeds, virtually frozen to the spot of The Christmas Truce, where German & English Soldiers played Football & sang Carols to the annoyance of their Officers.


A Chelsea Wreath to commerate the Football game.


You can clearly read the notes made by one of the Soldiers at the time.


Hill 60, a crater, still with German bodies interred, mined and dug by combined English & Australian Mining Regiments



The EAC in Ypres, The Cathedral was completely annihilated by German bombing, but rebuilt as the original.


Played every night at 8pm, the last post is performed under the Menin Gate at Ypres.


The Menin Gate, engraved with the names of 55,000 Soldiers with no known graves.


A sobering, thought provoking, bitterly cold day, so how those poor soldiers must have felt is beyond imagination, as we didn't have to endure the soul destoying mud and endless bombing that they did.

Mike & Sandy.

 

[TaffZee]

Great Pictures and comments, it puts everything in perspective. Thanks for sharing.