16. Brothers in Arms

Polygon Wood

Discovered yesterday that there was a Saturday morning working bee on the Brothers in Arms Memorial from 0800.  Prompt start for me and a morning spent carting concrete blocks for the base of the very large structure. I arrived first and Johan arrived at 0820 with a load of mortar and stayed long enough to task me with carting base blocks with the hand cart (one tyre almost flat) for the right hand arm of the cross then disappeared for nearly an hour for further supplies.  When I finished, four more arrived and I teamed up with Scott the Aussie and using my Disco and a trailer on site carted blocks forty eight at a time around the site.  We couldn't get to the other side as there were, what I thought were ditches.  On enquiring I discovered that they are remaining, undisturbed German trenches for the front line of Polygon Wood - amazing.  They are still deep enough in places for my head to be below the top.  By the finishing time, midday I was stuffed.

Original WW1 German trenches on site

Tyne Cott

Roman and Fyfe take Irksome 

The must see of the Somme is Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery & Memorial to the Missing.  The whole facility is only for those lost in the local Ypres Salient, all twelve thousand of them!

A fascinating feature of this place is that it includes two machine gun pillboxes, named by the Tommies  Indigo and Irksome, a tongue-in-cheek understatement if there ever was one. The Blockhouse, now clad with white marble forms the main memorial with the Cross of Sacrifice on top.

Within the Wall of Sacrifice is a bay for all the Kiwis lost with no known grave.

This bay is actually curved but my pan flattened it.

On the way home we drove through the Menin Gate, an hour before the Buglers sound the Last Post. The crowds were already forming.