Category: Battlefields

More Photos from the St. Mihiel Salient — August 2018

In the trenches of the Gobessart Woods near Aprémont-la-Forêt.

The following photos are largely from the German and French front line trenches that still snake their way through the Gobessart Woods near the D907 road in Aprémont-la-Forêt. Aprémont-la-Forêt was a scene of vicious fighting between French and German troops in the early years of the war, and later between American Doughboys and their more experienced German adversaries. 

Shining a light into a German dugout. The dugout was some 15-25 feet underground. 
Inside the dugout. The light at the other end was my stepson Lee of the Viking Age Podcast. 
Here’s what it’s like going through a dark dugout. Listen for my stepson’s “Don’t tell Mom” at the end. 🙂
Beginnings of the Saint-Mihiel Salient.

Moving through the German trenches 100 years after the war, it was moving to see just how well-preserved they still were. 

The German Front Line 

My man Lee, walking through those German trenches like a boss!
  • German Front Line Trenches in Gobessart Woods
  • Collapsed dugout entrance, now blocked off for safety.
  • Firing position made of concrete. Still solid after 100 years.
  • Dueling Photographers. My buddy Chuck and I. He was better armed than me.
  • Looking towards French lines from a German machine gun position.
Possible German machine gun storage hole in a front line position.

“In Treue Fest”

— “In Faith”
  • Entrance to a German bunker. “In Treue Fest” means “In Faith.”
  • Tangles of barbed wire left here after the war.
  • Per the French-made marker: “German firing position with observation post.”
  • Firing parapet with munitions storage, and grenade storage with slots.
  • Nature is finally making some headway against these concrete positions.
  • Entrance to a dugout.

French Trenches in the St. Mihiel Salient

  • Entering the French trenches. These were just a grenade toss away from the German trenches we had just come out of.
  • Tangles of barbed wire here, too.
French 2nd line trenches.
“The Trenches in the Apremont Forest.”

Hawthorn Ridge Crater Association – A Minor Correction and Some Videos

Hey Folks, it’s been a little bit, hasn’t it?

The last two weeks have seen the beginning of the new school year here in the US, and as always these first days are busy for teachers. This year was no exception, although it was smoother.

So, here are the videos I took during our visit to the Hawthorn Ridge Crater. They feature battlefield archeologist Mr. Colin Winn talking to us about the explosives used in the mine below, the explosion itself, and how it shaped the crater. Later videos feature Mr. Winn discussing the creation of the second crater, and of other evidence found inside the two massive blast holes.

There are also a few corrections to be made to the interview episode with Mr. Winn, and these errors have been fixed thanks to an Englishman who is very passionate about WW1 and who is connected to the Hawthorn Ridge Crater Association (HRCA).

Well, it turns out that it’s not two brothers who were part owners of the crater who weren’t speaking. This is too bad, really, from the standpoint that I had hoped through a shared historical connection we could see a family dispute ended and brothers reunited–it’d make a hell of a story!

Alas, the two ornery owners are apparently two local village council members. Word is that any village council meeting where one speaks to the other ends in an argument, which confirms to us that hey, people are the same the world over.

In other information, the Hawthorn Crater is owned by the village of Beaumont-Hamel, and the village has leased the crater to the HRCA for the next 99 years. The pathway up to the crater has been cleaned up, widened, and covered with mulch to ease foot traffic on the slope. The Association’s goals are to eventually build up the area for tourists to come and reflect, and they  hope to install panoramic information panels near the crater that will explain the history of the immediate area during the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

So, here are the videos:

2nd Video Clip

St. Mihiel German Military Cemetery

One of the points of interest during our day in St. Mihiel was the German Military Cemetery. Located in Gobessart Woods north of Apremont-la-Forét, this resting place for 6,046 German soldiers is located deep in the woods off a dirt road at the edge of a semi-industrial area. After the Great War, French authorities allowed Germany to retain military cemeteries in France, but they were to be consolidated and located in out-of-the-way areas.

The St. Mihiel German Cemetery is located in the Gobessart Woods off the D907 Road, north of Apremont-la-Forét. Over 6,000 Germans rest here. Many are from 1914 and 1915, and many as well were moved here from smaller cemeteries after the Great War.
Plaque for three Remembrance Trees planted here in 2010.
The St. Mihiel German Cemetery is a sparse but peaceful place.
Reading the metal directory listing the names of the fallen.
A monument moved here from a former cemetery in Woinville. A soldier mourns the loss of his friends.
1914-1916: Fallen Heroes of the Watch on the Meuse and Moselle.
German gravestones moved to St. Mihiel from other areas. After the war, many cemeteries were consolidated.

Belleau Wood

Entrance to Belleau Wood park.

In French the wood’s name was officially changed to “Bois de la Brigade de Marine,” although most folks still know it by it’s original name.

The memorial park area in Belleau Wood.

Captured field guns at Belleau Wood.

Bullet holes in this field gun’s shield show how close and deadly the fighting was at Belleau Wood.

A century later, shell holes and trenches remain visible in the ground.

Memorial to the US Marines who fought in Belleau Wood in June 1918.

German Cemetery at Belleau, France

Just got back from 10 days in France, and I’ve decided to actually start using this website for more posts.

Right after we landed in Paris and got our car, we headed right out for Belleau Wood. A little over an hour northeast of the City of Light, this was the first battle area we visited. It was some 95 degrees (F) out that day, but it was so moving to see the wheat fields over which the US Marines attacked in June 1918, and to walk in the wood itself.

One spot where we stopped was the German cemetery at Belleau, where some 8,000 Germans rest in peace now. Many of the dates of death center in 1918, the time of the German Kaiserschlacht offensives.