Maison Blanche, Neuville St Vaast 6/6/12 http://www.durandgroup.org.uk/ - a research group dedicated to opening up, exploring and researching WW1 battlefield tunnels. They are currently engaged in recording a site called Maison Blanche and invited him along to take a look. Knowing I would be interested he extended the invitation to me.
Tony and his business partner were staying for several days travelling to his site in Belgium for more planning meetings so I travelled separately taking the tunnel whilst they took the Ferry. I arrived on the site first to find it seemingly deserted although a generator was running and so I crossed the road to the Neuville St Vaast German cemetery. A very sombre but impressive sight, the gravestones are simple metal crosses that head off in all directions seemingly to infinity, this first impression really brings home the loss of life however I then realised that each cross has the name of two soldiers on the front, one on each horizontal arm, there are a further two on the back, meaning each cross marks 4 graves! I made my way to the entrance building and learnt that this cemetery alone contains the remains of over 44,000 soldiers.
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Returning to the car I found Tony had arrived, some Durand group members had also surfaced and we introduced ourselves, got our overalls and went over to their camp. Here Tony went over his plans for his site, the basic concept being that although there are preserved trench systems people can visit they are rather sterile places and he wants to build an accurate re-creation of the conditions at the time.
After discussing Tony’s plans for some time it was time to begin our tour of the site, various members of the Durand group were present and explained their understanding of the history of the site. Originally a quarry for building stone in the 17th/18th century it was then used as a transit depot in the First World War and would have been occupied briefly by men on their way to and from the fighting trenches and originally had a tunnel connecting to the trench systems which is now collapsed. Between the wars it was visited by tourists viewing the battlefields. Then in the Second World War it was used as a shelter once again. After the war it remained open and visited from time to time as evidenced by more modern graffiti. Unfortunately it also saw service as a dumping ground for farm waste.
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The entrance in the farmyard drops down through a brick lined curved staircase leading into the quarry workings, the quarry is not very extensive but does contain many carvings from WW1 some very well done, which the group are working on recording, they have lighting installed throughout and a variety of equipment all around the workings. Many of the carvings are regimental badges and the like but there are also a number of personal memorials. There are a few artifacts scattered around, ammunition, grenades, mess tins and what may have been a trench periscope. In one spot a “letter box” had been carved out of the quarry wall, perhaps for the distribution of mail? The main interest of the site was its graffiti, most of which was from the first war period but some obviously older (the oldest legible date being 1887) a fair bit from the 20’s and some from the second war and more modern.
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The group has also excavated some of the fighting tunnels that would have been used for the planting of mines under enemy lines and communication. Unfortunately these are on Canadian Ground and the authorities have withdrawn permission to access them.
Once out of the quarry Tony was keen to show me the Vimy ridge nearby. On the way we passed the British and French cemeteries, it was striking how colourful and pleasant the British site was in comparison the rather stark German site. A quick lunch at the Canadian memorial on the ridge then a look at the preserved trenches, these are preserved more as a memorial and are concrete lined with neatly mown grassy surroundings and contrasted with Tony’s plans for a very realistic historically accurate re-creation.
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