JP & Johnny A's Battlefield Tours

13/10/2022

Really good to see so many people paying their respects at the Menin Gate Last Post ceremony on Wednesday night.
The Menin Gate memorial records the names of more than 54,000 officers and men whose graves are not known from the 1914 to 1918 war who fought in the Ypres area.

The last post ceremony takes place every night at 20:00 hours, when the traffic is stopped at the memorial while buglers of the Last Post Association sound the Last Post.

10/07/2022

From July to October 1940, much of the fighting during World War Two in Western Europe was concentrated in the skies above the English channel, pitting the might of the Luftwaffe against the RAF.

01/07/2022

Today marks the 106th anniversary of the first day of the Battle of the Somme – a battle that left a deep mark on millions of families across the Commonwealth.

Fought between July and November 1916, the battle was one of the defining events of the First World War.

It is often remembered for the huge losses on the first day, but the Somme offensive continued for a total of 141 days.

An estimated 3.5 million men took part in the battle in 1916. By its end, well over one million had become casualties.

Some 150,000 Commonwealth servicemen lie buried in 250 military and 150 civilian cemeteries on the Somme. Six memorials to the missing commemorate by name more than 100,000 whose graves are not known.

The cemeteries and memorials built and cared for by the CWGC across the Somme, including Thiepval Anglo-French Cemetery, Thiepval Memorial, Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, and Serre Road Cemetery No.2, stand as a lasting reminder of the human cost of the fighting in this region throughout the First World War.

(In the photo Longueval Road Cemetery)

25/06/2022

Vimy Ridge yesterday afternoon.

03/05/2022

02/05/2022

Just back from a very successful and enjoyable trip to the Somme Battlefields with Johnny and great to see people starting to return.
On our way home we visited the grave of Captain Tom Rees, an Observer with the Royal Flying Corps who was buried in Villers-Plouich Communal Cemetery near where his FE.2b pusher type aircraft was brought down. He was Manfred Richtofen’s first confirmed Victory. 2nd Lieutenant Morris was the Pilot, he survived the action but died shortly after. Richtofen wrote of the engagement;

The Englishman landed close to the flying ground of one of our squadrons. I was so excited that I landed also and my eagerness was so great that I nearly smashed up my machine. The English flying machine and my own stood close together. I rushed to the English machine and saw that a lot of soldiers were running towards my enemy. When I arrived, I discovered that my assumption had been correct. I had shot the engine to pieces and both the pilot and observer were severely wounded. The observer died at once and the pilot while being transported to the nearest dressing station. I honoured the fallen enemy by placing a stone on his beautiful grave.

29/10/2021

06/10/2021

Flight Lieutenant Indra Lal Roy is believed to be the only Indian fighter ace of the First World War serving with the Royal Air Force. He claimed ten victories and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He was killed on 22nd July 1918 in a dog fight against a Fokker biplane of Jasta 29. He is buried at Estevelles Communal Cemetery, Pas-de-Calais France.

02/10/2021

As travel restrictions begin to lift, the battlefields of France once again become accessible for us to visit.

For those interested in the Air War during World War 1 the grave of Captain Albert Ball Victoria Cross, Distinguished Service Order and 2 Bars, Military Cross. 56 Squadron Royal Flying Corps

Albert Ball was born in Nottingham in 1896 into a well-off family. When war was declared he joined the 2/7th Sherwood Foresters and then in late 1915 he paid for his own flying tuition and transferred to the RFC. He was a loner but his aggressive flying earnt him results. He was the first person in the British army to receive three Distinguished Service Orders.

On 6th May 1917 he claimed his 44th and last victim, an Albatross DIII, the following day he was killed leading a patrol of eleven machines that encountered Jasta 11, the Richtofen Squadron.

Ball’s machine came out of cloud and crashed at Annoeullin, behind the German front line. Lothar Von Richtofen (brother to the Red Baron) was officially credited with shooting down Ball that day.

The German’s buried Bull with honours and he remains where he was buried in the German Cemetery at Annoeullin, not that far from the crash site.

Bull’s awards were the Victoria Cross, The Distinguished Service Order and two Bars, The Military Cross, Mentioned in Despatches and Legion d’Honour (France), Order of St George fourth Class (Russia).

A small memorial lies in the field where his plane crashed.