Botley War Memorial, Hampshire.

In the churchyard of All Saints Church is the War Memorial which is a tribute to the thirty three men of the parish of Botley killed serving their country during the First World War.

Alton War Memorial, Hampshire.

This 4.5 meter high granite momument in Alton Hampshire is the focal point in front of the Crown Close which has become known as the Alton War Memorial.

For the full story of the War memorial go to Lest We Forget - The story of Alton's War Memorial

Saffron Walden War Memorial.

Photographes of Saffron Walden War Memorial taken by Roger Stoakley.

Wickham War Memorial, Hampshire.

Wickham, Hampshire War memorial is located in the grounds of St. Nicolas Parish Church. The names of the fallen are recorded on the plinth, above which is an ornate carved cross.

There are 49 names of those from World War 1 and 12 from World War 2.

For a full description and details of those recorded go the excellent web site Roll of Honour.

Dersingham Church War Memorial, Dersingham, Norfolk.

Dersingham Church War Memorial in the grounds of St Nicholas Church, Dersingham, Norfolk.

Photographs taken by Roger Stoakley

For more information about St. Nicholas Church : http://www.dersingham.churchnorfolk.com/

Niagara Falls War Memorial, Canada

The Great War Memorial at Niagara Falls, Canada which is situated at Clifton Hill in Queen Victoria Park.


Photographs taken by Roger Stoakley

Roger can be contacted at: rjstoakley@btopenworld.com

Niagara-on-the-Lake War Memorial, Canada

Here are some photographs taken by my friend Roger Stoakley, of the War Memorial Clock Tower at Niagara-on-the-Lake in Canada.

It is located in the heart of downtown Niagara-on-the-Lake and commemorates the fallen in both world wars. The Cenotaph was added to the existing Clock Tower on 1st January 1970.

Roger can be contacted at: rjstoakley@btopenworld.com

Villers Bretonneux, The Australian National Memorial - Part II

Views of the surrounding countryside from the Australian National Memorial covering the ground fought over in 1918.

The view looking north towards Fouilloy & Corbie

The view looking east towards Le Hamel & Sailly-le-Sac and ultimately many miles away in the distance Pozieres.

The view from the National Memorial looking south towards Villers-Bretonneux.

To finish off the view over the cemetery west towards Amiens

Photos: Roger Stoakley at: rjstoakley@btopenworld.com

Villers Bretonneux, The Australian National Memorial - Part 1

The Australian National Memorial at Villers Bretonneux erected to commemorate all Australian soldiers who fought in France and Belgium during the First World War, to their dead, and especially to those of the dead whose graves are not known.

The 10,700 Australian servicemen actually named on the memorial died in the battlefields of the Somme, Arras, the German advance of 1918 and the Advance to Victory.

The memorial was unveiled by King George VI in July 1938.

Villers Bretonneux became famous in 1918, when the German advance on Amiens ended in the capture of the village by their tanks and infantry on 23 April. On the following day, the 4th and 5th Australian Divisions, with units of the 8th and 18th Divisions, recaptured the whole of the village and on 8 August 1918, the 2nd and 5th Australian Divisions advanced from its eastern outskirts in the Battle of Amiens.

Villers Bretonneux Military Cemetery was made after the Armistice when graves were brought in from other burial grounds in the area and from the battlefields. Plots I to XX were completed by 1920 and contain mostly Australian graves, almost all from the period March to August 1918. Plots IIIA, VIA, XIIIA and XVIA, and Rows in other Plots lettered AA, were completed by 1925, and contain a much larger proportion of unidentified graves brought from a wider area. Later still, 444 graves were brought in from Dury Hospital Military Cemetery.

Photos: Roger Stoakley at: rjstoakley@btopenworld.com

The Unnamed III- Pictures from Thiepval Cemetery, Somme.

Here are some more striking photographs taken by my friend Roger Stoakley.

These were taken at the Thiepval cemetery in the shadow of the memorial to the missing.

Roger can be contacted at: rjstoakley@btopenworld.com

The Lochnagar Mine Crater, La Boisselle, France

The Lochnagar mine crater is one of several which remain visible on the Western Front today. In the Somme area, others may be seen at Hawthorn Ridge near Beaumont Hamel and on the edge of High Wood

It is the largest British mine crater on the Western Front, this was one of several mines exploded under the German front line positions on the Somme on 1st July 1916. A charge of 60,000 lbs (26.8 tons) of Ammonal explosive was blown at 7.28am resulting in a crater 90 feet deep and 300 feet across.

Lochnagar Crater, named after the trench from where the main tunnel was started, is now owned by Englishman Richard Dunning. He saved it from being filled in 1978, and now each year on the 1st July a ceremony is held here to remember men of all sides who fell on the Somme in 1916.

Units of the 34th Division attacked the area and the nearby village of La Boisselle on 1st July. This formation contained two whole brigades of ‘Pals’ battalions – the Tyneside Irish and the Tyneside Scottish. They suffered many casualties that day – five battalions losing over 500 men each. Indeed the whole division lost 6,380 that day.

The Dairy of Lieutenant William Pitt of the 8th Battalion, on being relieved after the 1st Australian Division had captured the town of Pozieres and had endured horrendous shelling.

"Thursday July 27th 1916.

We had heard rumours of being relieved today but did not think it was right. However we were agreeably confused when at 2 o/c the 24th battalion (a company) came in to relieve us and we moved out. Thankfully it was very dark and a good night for a relief and we went straight down to the battalion cookers and got a drink of hot tea, the first for some time. We then marched to the place where we first camped. Turned in and had a good sleep and then woke up to find a good meal awaiting us. The battalion has suffered very heavily there only being about 381 of us left after collecting all stragglers. We have had a very trying time and will want a good rest to reorganize before we are fit to fight again. Our CO is nowhere to be seen, I have not seen him since we went into the line. We got our overcoats on the way here last night. We are camped just close to the original Hun line and practically alongside the huge La Boiselle crater. It is 57 feet deep and was blown by 70 tons of ammonal. Perfectly marvellous. Things must have been very lively about here the 1st week in July. We left here about 6 o/c and picked up the rest of the brigade from then on. Arrived at our bivouac about 11 o/c. On the way I met Major Dexter. Issued with blankets and I slept like a log."

Cecil Lewis, then an officer in the Royal Flying Corps, witnessed the explosion of the mine on 1st July from his aircraft high above La Boisselle:

“The whole earth heaved and flared, a tremendous and magnificent column rose up into the sky. There was an ear-splitting roar, drowning all the guns, flinging the machine sideways in the repercussing air. The earth column rose higher and higher to almost 4,000 feet."

The site is now maintained by the Friends of Lochnagar. Their website is found at:
http://www.friendsoflochnagar.co.uk/


Photos: Roger Stoakley at: rjstoakley@btopenworld.com

The Unnamed II- Additional Pictures from the Somme

In a previous post 'The Unnamed' i published some photographes taken by my friend Roger Stoakley.

Here are a few more taken on the Somme battlefield (click on the photo for a larger image).

Roger can be contacted at: rjstoakley@btopenworld.com

The Unnamed - Pictures from the Somme

A friend of mine, Roger Stoakley has just returned from visiting the Somme battlefields in France. He took some excellent, sweeping photographs of some of the cemetries.

His pictures really capture the sense of loss and they powerfully portray the feeling of vastness of the sacrifice. They are a sweeping statement to a lost generation.

Roger can be contacted at: rjstoakley@btopenworld.com

Additional Photo's on 'The Unnamed II'