The Author
| western front travels |
| photo gallery |
| walking in the footsteps of my grandfather |
| the australian ww1 reenactment team |
This site is dedicated to my Grandfather, who disappeared after returning from WWI. He fought for my freedom which I know does not come without cost. I am eternally grateful for his efforts and what he stood for. I love you Grandad, good on ya mate. FOR KING & COUNTRY. R.I.P. Albert Alfred Curry.
Walking in the footsteps
I wanted to visit these places in France and Belgium because major events to my family took place here between 1916-1918. I was able to locate all positions on the battlefield with the techniques I used from my family Unit War Diaries. I walked the Somme battlefields with Yves Fohlen/ Johan Vandewalle in April /May 2008 and was the first to come up with using trench map coordinates from my families unit war diaries to locate where they were positioned on the Western Front Battlefields.
These are some of the trench map coordinates that had special meaning to my family and a brief description of why is given. Don't forget to look at my Photo Gallery to see the results of my families battlefield locations given below.
(Curry Brothers) Photo Gallery 11
50-51st Battery positions, 13th Field Artillery Brigade 5th Division
Fromelles H.34.a.2.3. H.E.Curry was almost hit by artillery at this location
Gillemount T.25.d.65.50. A.A.Curry froze in the Somme winter of 1916
Potijze I.3.d.30.05. First battery location at the 3rd Battle of Ypres
Nonne Bosshen J.8.c.75.93. H.E.Curry had a photo of a bunker near here.
Messines (Hill 63) U.13.a.80.80. A.A.Curry was hit by the recoil of his own gun.
Bonnay I.28.a.02.58. H.E.Curry artillery unit was gassed in this area.
Bellicourt G.8.d.80.20. H.E.Curry kept a postcard of the St Quentin Tunnel
Most Artillery battery positions where hidden in a sunken road or on the back slope of a hill. They needed to dig in and hide the guns position using camouflage. Quiet often nearby was a steep protection hill and a water supply. They also had to conceal flash burns in front of the guns after firing otherwise they could give their position away to enemy aircraft. The wagon lines and H.Q. positions were placed further back. Ammunition was normally brought up to the guns during the night by horse or light rail
(Marchment Brothers) Photo Gallery 12
14th Machine Gun Company positions, 5th Division
Fleurbaix N.6.b.8.9. Company held this position at Fromelles for 3 months.
Bullecourt C.11.a. Company fired from here 110,000 rounds 3.5.1917.
Menin Road J.7.a.75.60. Machine gun position during the battle of Menin Road.
Glencorse Wood J.14.b.2.8. S.H.Marchment was killed near this position 26.9.1917.
Belgium Battery D.23.d.4.5. Camp stayed at after the battle of Polygon Wood.
Messines Ridge O.29.c.50.70. Company held position near Gappard for two weeks.
Messines Ridge O.23.a.20.63. Company held position near White Chateau for a month.
Villers-Bretonneux O.30.d. Held off attack 26.4.1918 Inflicted many casualties.
The machine gun companies held major observation positions on top of the hills during most engagements. The distance of no mans land was roughly 2000 yards between the trenches of the allies and the enemy. The company held 16 machine guns and spread them everywhere to give them the best line of sight and angle. During a battle they also set up as a barrage or S.O.S battery that could turn onto any target when requested.
One other thing I also did was to travel on route marches. These were normally back roads well behind the front line. I tried to jump from the same village to village as grandfather's unit war diaries had pointed out. Sometimes they stayed at a billet near a farm or set up on the side of the road called bivouacs. Training camps and main railway stations were also reported in the files. Commonwealth War Grave Cemeteries are sometimes located at these locations. Most of the old roads and villages are still there in the same position. It just gave me a final picture of how far the horse carriages and soldiers had to travel behind the front line.