Western Front and European Trip 2024

[IzzyMoto]

So after much planning and numerous delays we finally made it from home in Tunisia, through Italy and into France and to the Western Front, in particular the area around Soissons where the Germans launched their 1918 Spring Offensive in an attempt to end the war before the Americans arrived in force.

This area holds personal emotions for me as my great uncle served here with the Sherwood Foresters and was KIA in this battle with his body never recovered. He is commemorated on the memorial in Soissons along with over 4000  other British and Commonwealth troops who were lost during that battle and have no known grave.

This is the wifes first proper battlefield trip so should be an interesting experience for her. Before we set off I told her to beware of things either on the surface or partially buried and painted bright colours, mainly orange or red along with any markers painted also. She got so excited when we stopped near the destroyed village of Craonne and walked around the wooded area of the California Plateau when she spotted a bright orange blob painted on the grass at the base of a tree, after approaching with caution, me being ex forces, so didn't want her to get too close incase there was a UXO there she was rather disappointed to find that the bomb disposal team had already been and removed the item. So know every where we ride she is looking in the undergrowth at the edge of the road for red or orange paint. 

We have also visited the CWGC cemetary at La Ville aux Bois which is close to where the 2nd Devonshire regiment made their last stand against the advancing german stormtroopers, and were almost to a man wiped out with very few survivors who were taken as POW's.

[TEWKS]

A deeper and more meaningful trip more worthy than my comment but man, I love seeing those old K bikes still running around!  And your great uncle, he isn’t in a grave, he’s traveling everywhere you are!  

[IzzyMoto]

5 hours ago, TEWKS said:

A deeper and more meaningful trip more worthy than my comment but man, I love seeing those old K bikes still running around!  And your great uncle, he isn’t in a grave, he’s traveling everywhere you are!  

Thanks for that.

The bike is a 1994 K1100LT that I bought in 2017 after it had been stored for nearly 10 years, I recommissioned her, which took 3 years to do as I stripped all the bodywork off, wheels, forks etc and exactly 3years to the date from taking delivery I took her for the MOT and she passed with no advisories. She had 60000 miles on her then, she now has nearly 90000 and still runs like a dream.

Our trip lasted 16 days and we covered nearly 3000 miles from home in Tunisia, through Italy into France then into Germany, Switzerland and Italy before returning home to Tunisia.

 

Your comment regarding my great uncle may have an element of truth within it as there were some very strange and spooky events began once we started to visit the areas around where he was prior to been KIA.

[IzzyMoto]

So after nearly 3 weeks riding around areas of the Western Front along with certain other must visit places we have finally got back home to Tunisia. Then began the task of sorting through over 1500 photographs and videos, mostly taken by "she who shall be obeyed" I've finally got them down to a manageable amount and seperated into their locations to put on here.

The first batch were taken at the Vauxbuin French National Cemetary plus the German cemetary and the CWGC British cemetary.

[IzzyMoto]

More pictures taken at the Vauxbuin Cemetary including the two ossuaries of France and Germany which contain the bones of the many soldiers of each nation that paid the ultimate sacrifice and could not be fully indentified so were palced in the mass graves and their names recorded either on a plaque adjacent to the mass grave as per the Germena way or in a register as per the french way. Also the black granite block at the enterance to the German section of the cemetary shows that there are over 9000 soldiers buried within the cemetary not including those within the ossuaries. This brings home the losses that both sides suffered in the area that this cemetary covers.

[IzzyMoto]

More photo's from our Western Front tour. These were taken at the French National Monument Chars des D'Assault (Tank Regiments). The monument was built to honour the tanks crews who were killed in the areas around the monument and have no known grave.

The tank in the first and last photos is a replica of the Schneider tank used in the area in 1917 to 1918. The more modern tank in the third picture is a replica of a post WW2 tank used by the French.

The modern tank is located just as you enter the parking area for the memorial with the muzzle facing the entrance. This was a rather big shock to my wife as we pulled in of the main road for her to see the muzzle of the tank pointing straight at us as we pulled in, I won't repeat on here what she said but needless to say she was rather shocked.

[IzzyMoto]

After our ten days in Aisnes area we departed and headed towards Reims and the disused race circuit at Reims-Gueux which is located on public with the buildings and grandstands still there and are accessible. A look on both google and google earth and you can still actually drive around the roads that formed the original circuit, keeping to the speed limits of course because the police take serious objection to anyone trying to be a Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton wanna be.

[IzzyMoto]

Here are some more photographs taken during our tour around the Aisnes area of the Western Front.

These are of the Soissons Memorial to the British and Commonwealth soldiers lost during the German Spring Offensive of May 1918. This offensive was basically the Germans last throw of the dice to "win" the war before the arrival of American troops in significant numbers along the Western Front. All those listed on this memorial have no known grave, there are over 4000 names on this memorial one of whom is my great uncle who served with the 1st battalion Sherwood Foresters.