Celtic Wood - Passchedale

[spof]

Followng on from the work at Fromelles

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,308163.0.html

The Australin newspaper printed a story about Celtic Wood at Passchendale

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23786389-5016734,00.html

I know nothing about this event (and very little about Passchendale itself) so if anyone can point me to places to understand it, I'd be very grateful.

[forester]

Hello spof,

Found a book about it....

http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/?product_id=109

Phil

[liverpool annie]

Hi Glen !

Last year was the 90th anniversary of Passchendale !

Lively discussions regarding Celtic Wood available on the Forum !!

Interesting to read different points of view !! 

Annie 

[millymcb]

Hi Spof - you've given me the chance to evangelize about one of my favourite books.    It's part of a series of histories of WW1 - and in my opinion is the best of the series.   

They Called It Passchendaele: The Story of the Battle of Ypres and of the Men Who Fought in It by Lyn McDonald.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/They-Called-Passchendaele-Battle-Fought/dp/0140165096/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213049773&sr=8-1

It includes letters, diaries and eye-witness accounts of the battles, life at the front and behind the line.  It's absolutely fascinating and there are quite a few accounts which bring tears to the eye.

I can't find my copy at the moment - rather foolishly I think I lent it to someone - so can't check about Celtic Wood in particular but it does go into great detail about the various locations.


Milly

[liverpool annie]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJdh1M5PGTg

[spof]

Thank you very much Phil and Milly....can't decide between them so I've put both books onto my priority list.

And Annie, boy do you know how to pick 'em    Great song.

Glen

[liverpool annie]

Hi Glen !

I came across this looking for something else ...... but I'm always amazed at how they can find the information on so many men and there is absolutely nothing on others !! .... one of these days I hope these soldiers will all be known !

Dochy Farm New British Cemetery
Directions
From Ieper, take the Zonnebeke road. In the centre of the village, opposite the church, take the road to the left. The cemetery is two kilometres along this road on the left-hand side.
 
About the cemetery
Dochy Farm was a German strongpoint that was captured by New Zealand forces on October 4th 1917, during the Battle of Broodseinde Ridge. The jumping off line for the Australian 3rd Division then passed near the farm during their attack in the same battle. The cemetery was made after the Armistice from isolated graves brought in from the Broodseinde/Passchendaele battlefields and contains 1439 Commonwealth burials. Due to the fierce fighting in this area, it is not surprising that 958 of the graves are unidentified.
 
By standing with your back to the cemetery you are looking across much of the Broodseinde/Passchendaele battlefield, towards Tyne Cot Cemetery on the ridge in the distance. Thousands of Australians were killed or wounded in the fields in front of you.
 
Total burials: 1439
 
Australian burials: 305
 
Notable Australians buried in this cemetery
Private Edward Green, 10th Battalion, died 09/10/1917, age 25. Private Green is part of an AIF mystery. On October 9th 1917 Lieutenant Frank Scott led 85 men of the 10th Battalion to raid German positions in Celtic Wood, southeast of the village of Broodseinde. The raid was intended as a diversion to distract the Germans in that sector from the impending attack on Passchendaele to the north. The Germans were on their guard - two days earlier parties from the 11th and 12th Battalions had raided the wood, causing many casualties and taking several Germans prisoner. At dawn on the 9th, Lieutenant Scott led his small group down the slope into the wood - where they disappeared. Only 14 unwounded men returned to the Australian lines. Later research has accounted for 48 of the raiders, but the fate of the other 37 remains a mystery. No graves have ever been found and the Germans produced no records of prisoners. The German regiment facing the Australians also made no mention of the raid in their unit diary. The most likely explanation is that the German defenders took revenge on the Australians for their losses in the earlier raid and killed them all, before burying them in an unmarked grave. Private Green is one of the few members of the raid whose fate is known, although it is unknown how he came to be buried here, so far from the site of the raid. His date of death is incorrectly recorded as October 8th. Grave VII. C. 16.

http://www.diggertours.com/cems/bel/dochy.htm

[spof]

Hi Annie

Great find! Thank you.

As long as there are people like Rootschatters and the like, they will hopefully all be known.

Glen

[liverpool annie]

In Memory of
Private Edward Louis Green

2662B, 10th Bn., Australian Infantry, A.I.F.
who died age 25
on 08 October 1917
Son of Louis and Mary Anne Green, of Uraidla, South Australia.
Remembered with honour
Dochy Farm New British Cemetery

http://www.cwgc.org/search/certificate.aspx?casualty=160984