Frank van den Bergh

As members will know Guild member Frank van den Bergh passed away suddenly on the 8th October 2011. His friend and colleage Wybo Boersma has written the following tribute to Frank:

Frank van den Bergh 1957 - 2011.

Frank was born in Haarlem in 1957. After high school he studied at the University of Nijmegen history focusing on military history. This was a course that fitted his personality and interests like a glove! He graduated Cum Laude.

In 1991 he joined the ‘National Liberation Museum 1944-1945’ in Groesbeek - a job that was just made for Frank. He looked after the museums archives and library, and was also a focal point for all the questions and enquries people put to the museum. His broad interest in military history was reflected in the numerous articles he wrote on various topics such as battles, military clothing and armaments.

His knowledge was not confined to the Second World War. All matters military throughout the ages were of interest to him. His thirst for knowledge was insatiable. War games also became a passion for him. His interest, in particular, with the American and British Airborne Forces was reflected in his involvement in the ‘Air Despatchers’, obtaining a parachute wing, and his membership of the Society of Friends of the Airborne Museum Hartenstein.

In 2009, Frank joined the International Guild of Battlefield Guides. He attended several of the Guild meetings where he had an opinion on almost every subject and was free with his often outspoken opinions! The highlight of his time with the Guild was the Battlefield tour to South Africa in 2010. Frank was working hard to get his Guild badge. However owing to his illness earlier this year he was unfortunately not able to complete this work.

Frank died suddenly on Saturday, October 8^th 2011 and the world is a lesser place without him.

Frank Van Den Burgh

Guild Members will be pleased to see that Frank Van Den Burgh continues to make good progress following his stroke - Wybo Boersma has sent this photo of Frank taken during the 2011 Commemoration of the Battle of Arnhem at the Air Despatch Memorial Oosterbeek.

It's great to see him out and about again!

Redcap Remembrance 2011

On Tuesday 20 September Dudley Giles, the Deputy Provost Marshal (Army) who retires from the Army next March after 32 years service, (but better known to us as Badge No 26!) will be setting off from Brackley, Northamptonshire on a solo cycle ride around the United Kingdom on what is a personal pilgrimage to the graves and especial places of remembrance of the 22 members of the Royal Military Police (RMP) who have died on operations during his Army service. This pilgrimage will take him to all four constituent parts of the United Kingdom (as well as the Isle of Man) and will finish in Colchester, Essex on 21 October at which time he is likely to have completed in excess of 2000 miles of cycling. And he’ll be spending one night in Bovington, the location of this year’s GBG AGM weekend.

Dudley is undertaking the ride to give meaning and substance to the phrase ‘We Will Remember Them’ and will be meeting members of the families of the fallen as he cycles around the country. He will also be joined on various stages of the route by other serving members of the RMP – both regular and territorial army – who will cycle with him for short distances and, at each place of remembrance, he will lead short ceremonies of remembrance attended by serving and retired members of RMP. The ride is primarily a pilgrimage but it is also being used as a vehicle for a number of fund-raising activities which are being undertaken by RMP personnel world-wide to boost funds for their benevolent fund.

You can follow Dudley’s progress on his blog www.redcapremembrance2011.wordpress.com

Naseby Visitor Centre - Planning Permission granted

The Daventry District Council Planning Committee met on Wednesday, 20 July 2011, to consider the application for outline permission to build a ‘Living History’ Visitor Centre just to the south of the registered battlefield. The recommendation of the planning officer was that it should be turned down on the grounds that the setting of the battlefield would be adversely affected and that greenfield development was contrary to planning policy.

Lord Naseby advocated the Battlefield Project’s view that the structure would be concealed from sight from the battlefield itself and that the value of this heritage asset would be enhanced. The question of sustainability was had been answered by the submission of a business plan based upon the Feasibility Study completed in 2009 which concluded the centre will be economically viable. Lord Naseby was supported by Cllr Chris Millar, who is both Leader of the District Council and represents a constituency including Naseby on the County Council. The importance of the battle was recognised by all speakers and the contribution to the economic and heritage well-being of the county and the country was cited as a basis for setting aside the view of the planning officer. The application was approved by eleven votes to one.

Work will now start on the detailed planning of the building, its content and the thirty-six acre site pledged to the charity by a small group of supporters. The raising of funds to discharge their loans and transfer control of the land to the Project is an immediate priority.

Guild Day at the National Army Museum 9th July 2011

John Greenacre answering questions







Answering general questions from the audience at the close of the event




Mike Sheil showing the Loos football

The Guild has received the following e-mail from a member of the audience:

"I would like to say thank you for a very enjoyable and informative day, an excellent program, and as they say everything tells a story. I again would like to say thank you to Major and Mrs Holt for all the assistance they have given me through their books, which I advised them at the time, also to all your members during the day I spoke too.

I especially enjoyed Dr John Greenacre and Major Mike Peters Airborne Battlefields, which I felt was very apt after just coming back from taking a group of 12 people around Arnham covering Market Garden. It was a shame I did not have some of the facts that they stated between them, but I have for my next group when I do Normandy later in the year.

Michael St Maur Sheil, the battlefield through a lens was very poignant, to think what had occured in those actual fields, I felt the pictures was still showing the electricity of those, that was there. My next group is around the Somme area, which again, I was covering the tale of the football, but I can now say I have touched the football."

MB Canterbury

Who is this Man?

Can anyone tell me who this gentleman might be? His uniform is that of the 8th (King's Royal Irish) Hussars and the picture was painted sometime after 1902 and probably before 1914.

If you know who he might be please let the Guild Secretary know.

Richard Holmes Memorial Service Sandhurst 8th June 2011

Flanders Area Tours - Possible Disruptions

A little while ago a lorry crashed through the barrier on the N37 where it crosses the A19 (the road that runs North/South from Ypres to Zonnebeke) and a large section of the road is now ‘MISSING’. Cones have been put round the damage with ‘new’ road markings to re-direct the traffic. However in the dark it may be difficult to see, so caution should be shown. See the sketch Sketch map above

The Memorial Museum, Passchensaele 1917 at Zonnebeke is undergoing considerable work and has a lot of large earth moving vehicles on site in the car parking area.

The N365 running from Ploegsteert to Mesen is undergoing extensive road-works and is reduced to one lane controlled by traffic lights.

Any tour of the Ypres Salient is likely to be disrupted at some stage by these 'works'.

Traffic Access Plan for ANZAC Day 25th April 2011

Those members attending the ANZAC Day Ceremony on Easter Monday 25th April at Villers-Bretonneux should be aware of the traffic access plan for the event.


To view the plan, please click here

Please be aware that the file may take a few seconds to download, particularly if you have a slow internet connection, as it is a large file. It should automatically open on your computer when you click the link above, if not you may need to download a pdf reader such as Adobe Reader, if you do not already have this on your computer, it can be downloaded for free by clicking here

Rod Bedford represents Guild at the Annual Service at Wellington Quarry, Arras - 9 April 2011

Guild Member Rod Bedford represented the Guild at the Annual Service of Remembrance at the Memorial Wall, Wellington Quarry, Arras on the 9th April 2011.

2011 is the 94th anniversary of the start of the 1917 Battle of Arras.

Guild Chairman meets the Great Great Grandaughter of the Menin Gate's Architect

On February 11th the Guild Chairman Tony Coutts-Britton met with Lucy McCrae, Great Great Grandaughter of Sir Reginald Blomfield, the Gate's architect.

A Service of Re-Dedication for the Memorials to the 46th (North Midlands) Division at Bellenglise on the Hindenburg Line 12-13 March 2011

The Memorials to the 46th (North Midlands) Division: at Vermelles to commemorate the Division's attack on the Hohenzollern Reboubt in October 1915; and the small plaque on the wall of Gommecourt New British Cemetery to commemorate the attack on 1st July 1916 are well known.

Students of "the Last 100 Hundred Days" and readers of Bill Mitchinson's Pen & Sword BGE book on the Hindenburg Line - Riqueval may also know of the Division's' memorial on the high ground above Bellenglise to commemorate the Breaking of the Hindenburg Line in September 1918, and be aware of the iconic photograph of Brigadier JV Campbell VC addressing 137 (Staffordshire) Brigade standing on the bank of the St Quentin Canal. On a visit in July last year, a group of the Staffordshire Regiment Association noted the neglected state of that memorial, and thanks to a generous benefactor, the memorial has now been refurbished under the supervision of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

A Service of Re-Dedication, led by the Bishop of Stafford will take place on Sunday 13th March, at which representatives and Standards of the South and North Staffordshire Regiments (137 Brigade) will attend, and it is hoped of 138 (Lincoln and Leicesters) and 139 (Foresters) Brigades.

The obelisk is on the N 44 St Quentin - Cambrai road, about 10 km north of St Quentin.

On Saturday 12 March Guild member John Cotterill will be guiding a free battlefield tour of the breaking of the Hindenburg Line between 10.30am and 1.30 pm. The RV is the Bridge at Riqueval. The tour will be by coach and car convoy which anyone is welcome to join.

New Members of the Guild

The Guild welcomes three new members:

Matthew Christmas joins from Winchester. His interests are the Role of the Cadet Movement, World War 1, World War 2, the Anglo-Zulu War and Medieval and Early Modern Warfare.

Tony Clodd joins from Manningtree. His interests are World War 1 in particular Ypres and the Somme

Neil MacKenzie joins from Purley. His interests are World War 1.

JOHN GRODZINSKI AWARDED HIS DOCTORAL DIPLOMA

Guild member John Godzinski was recently awarded his Doctoral Diploma at the Royal Military College of Canada. The picture shows John being presented with the Diploma by the College Commandant, Commodore William Truelove (on the right).

THE WAR OF 1812: MYTHS AND REALITIES CALL FOR PAPERS

2012 will be the bicentenntial of the beginning of the War of 1812-14. Once described as the 'forgotten' war, there are already indications that there will be widespread commemoration ceremonies across North America, mostly sponsored and organized by national, state and provincial governments, by tourist organizations, and by local historical societies. We have therefore decided that it would be an appropriate time to hold an international conference that revisits the scholarly literature and scholarly debates over the causes, conflicts and consequences of the War as well as the way in which the War has been remembered and commemorated in Britain, Canada and the United States over the past two centuries. As the Conference title indicates, we are particularly interested in papers that challenge existing interpretations and offer new approaches. It is our intention to produce a volume of essays selected from those given at the Conference.

The conference will be held at the University of London from 12-14 July 2012. These dates were chosen to overlap with the annual conference of the Transatlantic Studies Association, which will be held in Cork from 9-12 July 2012 so that scholars who wish to do so can attend both.

Further details on the Transatlantic Studies Association can be found on its website at www.transatlanticstudies.com. The conference on 'The War of 1812: Myths and Realities' will be held in partnership with the Institute for the Study of the Americas at the University of London, Canterbury Christ Church University, and the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. If you are interested in proposing a paper, please send along a paragraph describing your proposal and a short c.v. to either Phillip Buckner (phillipbuckner@hotmail.com) or to Tony McCulloch (tony.mcculloch@canterbury.ac.uk) no later than 12 July 2011.

Please be warned that given the current funding crisis in higher education in the United Kingdom it is highly unlikely that we will be able to give financial assistance to any of the contributors.

Memoirs of the First World War

My name is Ivor Hodgson and I am writing to you regarding the Memoirs of my father, Herbert Hodgson which have been published by Martlet Books this year under the title ' Impressions of War'

My fathers memoirs cover his growing up amidst the poverty and social injustices in London during the early part of the 1900's. They move on to his training as a printer which eventually led to him meeting T.E. Lawrence and printing the very first subscribers edition of Lawrence's masterpiece, 'The Seven Pillars Of Wisdom' . This led to him moving to Wales where due to the expertise he displayed at the world renowned Gregynog Press in Montgomeryshire he achieved the distinction of being described as 'one of the finest printers of the twentieth century'. But the main point of this email, and one which I hope will be of interest to you and your members, concerns my fathers vivid and moving account of his experiences in the trenches during WWI. He was one of the many who answered when Kitchener called in 1914 and despite being injured twice, sent home, patched up and returned to the trenches, he somehow survived the horrors and was demobbed in 1918. One 'small' incident which happened to him was in April 1918. Whilst going 'over the top' for the second time, he stumbled into a shell hole and 'found' a mud encrusted bible there.

After being advised by an officer that he might as well keep it adding, 'it might bring you luck', he took that advice and eventually bought the book back to England. The identity of the original owner of the bible remained a secret until Geoffrey Hodgson (no relation), the publisher of my fathers memoirs, decided to search the web in the summer of 2010. Eventually he was able to prove that the Army serial number written across the top pages of the books belonged to a New Zealand soldier named Richard Cook who lost it a few weeks before he was wounded, and subsequently died, in the Battle of Messines in October 1917. When my father found it the following April it was also in the continuing same battle at Messines. When this story broke it became very big news in New Zealand with widespread media coverage. On October 8th this year which was the 93rd anniversary of Richard Cook's death, an emotional meeting took place at his graveside in the Etaples Military Cemetery in France. Two descendants of the fallen soldier with their partners met up with my elder brother Bernard and I plus my wife, son and grandson along with other members of our families and Geoffrey Hodgson. My brother, as the present custodian of the bible bought the book along to show the descendants and have some photographs taken. The story was covered and filmed by Meridian TV and also a New Zealand TV company. The film was shown on TV that evening in both countries. Another brother is, along with Geoff Hodgson, taking the bible over to New Zealand next March where we have donated it to a Army Museum in Wellington where it can be seen and its story can be enjoyed by present and future generations. Whilst we were on our Battle Fields tour in October and visiting High Wood, another place where my father fought, we encountered a coach full of British children from Cambridgeshire and their guide.

When they learnt of our story they all gathered around my brother and I and we let them touch the bible and spent some time answering their questions relating to the story. It was so rewarding to be able to find children who were so genuinely interested in learning all they could about the story and the battles. One of them even bought a copy of my fathers book for her own father who apparently reads anything relating to WWI. In addition, the children's Battlefield guide asked me for a copy of the poem I have written entitled 'The Bible In The Mud' . This tries to put the story into verse.. I was honoured and felt very privileged as I handed him a copy. He hoped to use it the following week when he was taking another party on a poetry tour around the Messines Battlefields. Naturally this led me to thinking perhaps you and your members might be interested in learning more of my fathers experiences in that terrible conflict. So to that end perhaps you would care to follow the guide I recommend below. Http://www.martlet-books.co.uk or www.martlet-books.co.uk When you get this up click onto IMPRESSIONS OF WAR Then follow ALL the links for the full and varied story.

By following all the links you will be able to not only read a very comprehensive account of my fathers life story you will also be able to see two video interviews broadcast by by Meridian TV – one of my brother Bernard and his daughter plus the Bible and secondly the video Meridian took of the graveside ceremony on October 8th 2010. Plus there is also a very short Movie clip which I shot and has been edited by Geoff Hodgson.

Lastly if you look for the section headed WHERE HERBERT HODGSON FOUND THE BIBLE and then scroll down and look for a line starting CLICK HERE FOR POEM WRITTEN BY IVOR HODGSON etc you will see my contribution in memory of two brave soldiers. I apologise for the length of this letter but as you have probably gathered by now I am very proud and passionate about my fathers story and in passing it on I hope others can also enjoy reading it.

Thank you

Yours sincerely

Ivor Hodgson

Help Requested

I wonder if you might assist with my research? I am investigating a former searchlight position and listening post in my village of Daws Heath in the county of Essex in the borough of Castle Point.

The site is almost adjacent to an arterial road (A127) which takes one straight into the East End of London. Later on in WW2 as the German Bomber and fighter crews sought to avoid the heavily defended Thames Estuary and Thames Mouth they began to come slightly more in land before heading up to bomb the East End. I am attempting to identify the purpose of the large concrete block that stands at the entrance/exit point of what would have been the troop hut/listening post.

You will note the steps around the base. Do you think it could have been a generator mounting position? I am further confused by the fact I was always led to believe the searchlight was a fixed position lamp (therefore not on tracks). If this was the case where would it have been mounted and how? Clearly if this was also a listening post basically manned full-time they would require power not only for the lamp but also for the wireless set? I presume further there may have been another location where an aerial was mounted?

I have established contact with and interviewed a local man whose father actually worked there. He confirms the existence of the position and advises it was manned by Home Guard Officers almost continually both for listening and searching. Any help you can give would be very well received, particularly any photographic impressions of what the site may have looked like with its accompanying searchlight. It has been made clear it was a large static light, not truck mounted.

Please reply directly to Richard Burgess at richard751burgess@btinternet.com