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General => Armed Forces => World War One => Topic started by: berkshire lad on Tuesday 11 December 18 19:44 GMT (UK)
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Please can any one tell me if there are any maps of France/Belgium that shows the Battle fields/Areas so that I can trace a regiments moments.
If there are any where would I find/purchase them.
Thanks
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The National Library of Scotland have a comprehensive collection & they are FOC.
https://maps.nls.uk/geo/find/#zoom=9&lat=50.0385&lon=2.9401&layers=60&b=1&point=0,0
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The detail on them is phenomenal, but they are very large files - and fascinating to study.
Nell
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There are some very good guides to the battlefields of zBelgium and The Somme area by a couple named Holt,I bought mine in France and Belgium.
Try Major and Mrs Holt.
Oak House
Woodnesborough.
Sandwich.
Kent CT 13 ONJ.U.K
Telephone/Fa x 01304614123
There are also copies of actual trench maps available and most regiments kept “diaries” of day to day events etc .
Hope you get what you want.
Viktoria.
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I agree with Victoria....They are very informative.....The two I have are Pocket Battlefield Ypres Passchendale 3rd edition and Pocket Battlefield Somme 3rd edition by Major & Mrs. Holt. I bought these on the internet when I visited the Battlefields.
Carol
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I've been poring over these WW1 maps in the last couple of days, for Wulverghem, Belgium to be exact. I was hoping to pin down the exact location my Grandfather (a Rifleman in 13th Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles) was taken prisoner during a front line night skirmish. The War Diary is very helpful as it records the exact events, names my Grandfather as "Missing from raid", and states the location as McBrides Mansions. But I can't find it on the map. I'm thinking it's one of the front line trenches on the road between Wulverghem and Messines, close to Boyle's Farm, because that's mentioned the following day, and is named on the map.
Does anyone know of other maps, or a possible way to pin this location down?
Many thanks....
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Wulvergem is just West ofMesen,South of Wijtschate.
On the minor road 814
The nearest large village is Comines-Warneton.
Ploegsteert is to the South.
Hope this is helpful.
You won’t find WWI trench names on maps of today,nor of pre WWI of course, only trench maps
Kemmelberg was a hotly defended place,being as you can imagine a slightly elevated place(heuvel means Hill,so heuvelland is hilly place.)
Viktoria.
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Can you give a date of the event as there might be something in the higher echelon diaries.
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Viktoria. Thanks for the reply. I've been to Wulverghem to visit the St Quentin war cemetery. It's actually West of Mesen/Messines. The NL of Scotland map 28.SW is the one I reviewed, excellent in it's detail, just no sign of McBrides Mansions. Virtually every other building of that time (Feb 1917) has an Anglicised name on the map.
Jim1 - Yes, the event (skirmish and capture) happened on 14th February 1917, all recorded in the war diary of 13th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles. Kortykyp Camp ( south of Wulverghem) is mentioned on 13th Feb, which is where the 13th Batt travelled from to relieve the 11th Batt RIR in the trenches. On the 15th Feb Surrey Lane (can't find on map), Boyles Farm (is on the map), and McBrides Mansions all mentioned.
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Having looked at all the relevant diaries the closest I can get is the long building above Big Bull Cottage.
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Yes sorry ,I did correct but the correction has not appeared ie East /West.
The term mansions need not be a building,one set of trenches was called Clapham Villas.
Viktoria,
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McBride Mansions was the 1st. Batt. NZEF HQ March 1917 so definitely a building.
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Jim1 - a belated thanks. I agree, the rectangular building above Big Bull Cottage looks a firm favourite for McBride's Mansions. Following your NZEF headquarters comment, I did find an entry for McBride's Mansions on Page 167 of a book by A.E. Byrne titled "Official History of the Otago Regiment, N.Z.E.F. in the Great War 1914-1918".