The other incredibly important 11th November
11th November 1914
11th November 1914
I took these photographs on my way back from the shell-exploding trip and I happen to be uploading them 100 years to the day that the most important battle of 1914 was fought, just as we describe it in today's episode of TOMMIES. So here it is: the Nun's Copse at Nonne Bossen.
We're looking from the north here, and that distinctive treeline is the one the Prussian Guard broke through. Below, the road over to the left that runs up to Westhoek, where we say Edwin Dolland was on guard.
If you look east from this road you get the view below - hard to think that this field was the site of one of the most important holding actions in the history of conflict.
The view below is from a little further up towards Westhoek, so I think this is where the guns were. Strange to think I had to work all this out from war diaries and monographs. Unless I missed it there's no marker or plaque or anything. I asked a lady who came out of her house - probably to see what I was doing - whether she knew about the battle on her doorstep. She'd not heard of it.
Looking back on it, wasn't I extraordinarily lucky to get a misty morning that day?
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