Another link Wednesday, July 25th, 2007
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Now That Swantje has added our first German posting, it might perhaps be the time to introduce a website for those that read Dutch/Flemish. Many contributors on this forum live in the locality of our excavation and thus may be able to visit site:
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http://forumeerstewereldoorlog.nl
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Rain, mud, more rain Monday, July 23rd, 2007
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Non-UK readers may not realise just how wet it has been over here this week. A quick google search on Upton-on-Severn or Tewkesbury should give you the general idea. Please god(s) let it stop raining before the project starts, otherwise it will look like the classic pictures of the Salient in 1917. Fingers crossed for a few days of no rain and a drying wind.
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Links Wednesday, July 18th, 2007
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Thanks are due to Dr Dan Todman who has linked us to his Trench Fever site. You can return the favour by visiting his excellent blog here
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http://trenchfever.wordpress.com
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Dan is at Queen Mary College, London and has written a number of key First War texts. He was also involved in the BBC Radio 4 programme on the “forgotten victory” of 1918 in a series entitled “Things we forgot to remember”.
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Around the Media Wednesday, July 18th, 2007
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Richard gave an interview on Garrison Radio this lunchtime with the lovely Josette. It broadcasts to all major British Army garrisons in UK and as well as talking about our work here he also talked about the Plugstreet Project and our aspirations for the dig, as well as our view of the war (nobody mention futility, or lions and donkeys, okay?).
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http://www.army.mod.uk/GarrisonRadio
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They have been great supporters of our work.
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Meanwhile in the Kaiser’s Bunker…
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Actually the site www.kaisersbunker.com isn’t quite as frivolous as it looks as it’s got spottery detail on all manner of stuff but you know the real reason to go there is because of the pictures of the dachshund in a spiky helmet.
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It’s not all futility, you know (again, don’t get me started on futility).
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I was alerted to this excellent site by my chum Lucy on her blog http://livesbythewoods.blogspot.com
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Anniversaries, or not… Monday, July 16th, 2007
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Last week there was a terrific hoo-hah in the UK media about the 90th Anniversary of the opening of the Third Battle of Ypres or Passchendaele as it is commonly remembered. There was a ceremony with attendant Royals, the full ceremonial thing and our last veterans on parade. The tone was “90 years to the day”, except it wasn’t. The battle began on 31st July 1917 but I am told that by then the respective Royal families will have gone on holiday so the anniversary was shifted.
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In a sense it doesn’t really matter so long as the events and the fallen are commemorated but the inaccuracy was very poor. I also heard the usual stuff about poor command and control and futility. One of the key things we have seen from the very inception of this project is that Messines was a model of preparation and of execution. Old General Plumer might look like Colonel Blimp but he knew his stuff and the troops were well prepared for the battle, which is why they did incredibly well. And that, my best beloved, is why the battle is forgotten – it doesn’t fit the popular paradigm of the First World War.
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Breaking News…TV Coverage Friday, July 13th, 2007
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Thanks to many people (especially Mat),
We now have confirmation that the Film and TV office in Australia has agrees to provide funding to film the excavations at Messines for TV broadcast. We hope to use this as the basis of a documentary for screening in Australia on the archaeological work. Obviously the storyboard of the programme will develop depending on what the excavations uncover. Still – very exciting news!
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Our in-house film crew will also be on-site to document the excavations for our own records.
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Amazing Trench Map evidence Monday, July 9th, 2007
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This morning Richard posted a copy of a trench map kindly scanned for us by Michael Molkentin. It shows our area of digging with the gains and consolidations made by the Anzac troops as the advanced across No Man’s Land toward and through the German lines. The Germans (Bavarians) were pretty disordered following the blowing of the mines.
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The map appears to be on the front page now but if it vanishes again, as it did earlier, go to the July menu in the bar on the right hand side of the screen to find and open it. The map is quite remarkable and well worth your perusal.
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More crucial links Monday, June 4th, 2007
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One other crucial link for anyone interested in the project is this one:
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www.no-mans-land.info
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Richard and I, as well as many of the team are members of NML. A visit to the website will give you some idea of the range of projects we are involved in. NML members will be providing the backbone of the team at Plug Street.
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Readers may also have seen our work on “Finding the Fallen” on Discovery Channel, which looked at Great War soldiers stories through Battlefield Archaeology. The series was rebroadcast on UK Channel 5 as “Trench Detectives”.
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