France - Rancourt

I wanted to visit a French and a German cemetery, so we went to the nearby town of Rancourt. Here there is one of the largest French Cemeteries from WWI, and there is also a small British cemetery as well as a large German one.

The French headstones are in the shape of a cross, and they are back to back here. There are about 4000 soldiers buried in this cemetery, plus 7000 more in four ossuaries - about 11,000 in total. Compared with the Commonwealth cemeteries, it doesn't look as well tended. The grass is quite long, and clippings from previous mowings have been left on the lawn. The garden beds are bare - only a few bushes, whereas the Commonwealth cemeteries are filled with flowers.

Caelli sitting in the shade

Three of the four ossuaries - the gardens on the corners with yellow flowers

Crosses back to back

Back to back with a non-Christian (or a non-believer)

Not all the headstones are crosses

A Muslim soldier?

Two more in the background, with crosses behind them

"Unknown soldier"

There is also a chapel here, which was built by the mother of one of the soldiers in honour of her son. This has eventually been taken over by the government.

The stone on the right tells about the ossuaries

Across the road is a very small Commonwealth cemetery with 83 soldiers (and two guys from CWGC working there). You can see both the French cemetery and the German cemetery from here.

The crosses from the French cemetery visible on the other side of the road

And the German cemetery is in the trees on the opposite side

The German crosses are made from dark stone, and have multiple names on both front and back, so between four and six soldiers to a grave. There are no flower beds here; only grass.

Literally: German soldiers' cemetery

Visible on the right - the French chapel, and on the left - the cross from the CWGC cemetery

The second soldier is unknown

"Krieg" means war; "Freiwilliger" means volunteer

Half a dozen flat stones (we have no idea why)

This one is intriguing. Is "French" the name of a soldier?

The Jewish soldiers have a different headstone

These headstones are mossy green because they are under trees

No names, but the numbers indicate that there are three soldiers here

Two unknow soldiers here, but only the named soldier has a number

Up the back there are two ossuaries, each displaying five unmarked crosses of a different brown stone, and in between, a little chapel (?) which we couldn't enter. There were also seven or eight panels of names of soldiers in the ossuaries.

"Here rest German soldiers"

Caelli is standing next to the panels of names

One of the panels

On the way home, we popped in to the CWGC cemetery in the village of Doingt (pronounced Dwa; the "a" sound as in apple), which is about 3km from our BnB. It's another "extension" cemetery - it's tacked onto the back of the local cemetery. This one was lovely.

A wheat crop on the right

And you can see the local cemetery behind

Checking the register and signing the guestbook

France - Buissy

We left Hallines, headed for our second BnB in Buire-Courcelles, about 120 km away as the crow flies. A goodly way, though, given that I'm driving very slowly, we are avoiding huge freeways with tolls, and the nature of driving in France. Speed limit through towns and villages here is 50 km/h. At the end of the village, the limit jumps up to 90 km/h......often for about 50 metres. Then 70 km/h for another 50 metres, then you're in the next village and you're down to 50 km/h again. Sometimes you get the end-of-village-speed-limit sign on top of the beginning-of-next-village-speed-limit sign! Consequently, without using freeways, it's difficult to travel swiftly, which is okay with us as we like to look around a bit.

It was just before 1pm when we saw the huge ruined towers on a nearby ridge. We quickly decided that here would be a good place for lunch.

View over surrounding countryside

Our picnic lunch, with a nice backdrop

The abbey at Mont-St-Eloi was at its greatest strength around the 13th century. After the French Revolution in 1792, the abbots were executed, the furniture was sold and most of the abbey was demolished. The Allies were using the remaining towers as watchtowers in the war, so the Germans bombed them in 1918 and destroyed the tops.

The local church (we were actually looking for toilets)

It was by now very hot and extremely humid, so a quick change of attire was needed. Then back on the road, headed for Buissy and the Queant Road Cemetery, where we would find Tom Bell Hogg.

Surrounded by wheat fields on all sides

Some other notable headstones:

One for you, Dad

A headstone without a cross, presumably by choice

Partially identified, but no names

A soldier and a sailor

More soldiers "believed to be buried in this cemetery"

Lovely, stripey snail

Two plaques and several headstones on the sides of the cemetery, memorialising some soldiers who were initially buried in German cemeteries, but whose graves were lost or destroyed.

Onwards once more. As we were driving through Bapaume, Caelli recognised the turn-off to the tiny, hidden Australian cemetery, so we paid a little visit to say hello to another Creswick son, whom we first found in 2013.

Allan Leslie Whitfield

A German buried in the middle of the Aussies. The shape of the headstone is different

"An unknown German warrior"

And an Arabic soldier

Driving through Peronne I saw a sign for an Australian Memorial, so we made a quick stop. This tribute to the Australian Second Division was because they took Peronne back from the Germans on the 2nd of September, 1918. A critical defensive position, Mont-St-Quentin was considered impregnable, and the Australians' success was described as "the greatest military achievement of the war".

Our accommodation for the next three nights is the Moulin de Binard, an old mill. Parts of it date from the 16th century, but much of it was destroyed in the war, and no-one is quite certain of anything. There is no mill wheel remaining. Four double rooms, a donkey, a goose, half a dozen peacocks, a couple of dozen chooks, a dog and several cats were part of the attraction of this BnB.

Our room is top floor, right hand window

The river Cologne runs past the bottom of the garden

Our other window at the top in the ivy. Look at those stormclouds!

View from the ivy window

View from the ivy window 15 minutes later!