100 years ago today

[Erickn]

Bailleul

Image before the shelling

[soldon]

Operation Georgette - the German Army had taken a lot of causalities and gained little. At the bottom of the salient the German soldiers buried their dead at Salome, April 1918, amongst the dead are three officers. A large assembly of soldiers are gathered to pay their respects, curiously on the left of the photo a small group of 5 allied soldiers stand. My question, would they be the burial detail ? or there's a whole row of graves ( I count 12 ) would allied soldiers be buried together with the German soldiers ? the site is away from the front. I've always believed where possible, soldiers of different nationalities were buried apart ! am I right ?

[Erickn]

Hi Soldon,

Good image. My guess I would think the Allied Soldiers are part of the burial detail, POW labor. 12 graves is a lot of work.

Operation Georgette, (originally named "George") 7-29 April 1918-German offensive on the Lys, aka the Forth Battle of Ypres or forth Battle of Flanders.

Image of Royal Artillery officers observing the front.
google images

[Wilhelm]

Time was getting short for von Richthofen. But he made the best of it 100 years ago today. He shot another double.

Victory # 79 April 20, 1918, S. W. of Bois de Hamel; Sopwith Camel 1; Major R. R. Barker, killed.


Victory # 80 April 20, 1918, N. E. of Villers-Bretonneux; Sopwith Camel 1; Second Lieutenant D. E. Lewis, made prisoner.

[Erickn]

Last known image of MvR's 425/17 and suiting up for flight.

[soldon]

Hundred Years Ago Today - Operation Georgette after 12days fighting the German Imperial effort was twisting northwards, away from the key communications lines towards the hills south of Ypres. German ambitions had been scaled down with time. Feldpost card showing Sturmtrupp fighting with hand-grenades.

[Erickn]

Wilhelm, what happened!

[Erickn]

?

[Wilhelm]

A sad day in military history 100 years ago. The Red Baron, Rittmeister Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richhohfen was shot down and killed. He had 80 combat victories. He had cheated Death many times as a cavalryman and pilot. He was flying near Vaux sur-Somme, over Mortancourt Ridge. While dogfighting English planes the wind pushed them over the English lines. He was very low. For most of the rest of the 20th century the credit went to Captain Arthur "Roy" Brown flying a Sopwith Camel. But the single .303 round that pierced his heart was fired from the ground. Most likely by 1 of 2 ANZAC Machine gunners. Dying, Manferd still landed his red Fokker in one piece. His last words included "kaput". He was given a funeral with full military honors by his enemies. This was filmed and can be seen today. Much has been written about this. It is very interesting to read. His plane was picked apart. Some of the pieces have found their way to museums. His remains were moved several times. He now rests in Wiesbaden. Continue to rest in peace Manfred. A true hero.

[Erickn]

A sad day indeed and a huge blow to German moral! Lothar learned of his brother's death while in the hospital recuperating from his crash of 13 March. Ernst Udet read it in the paper while on leave.

Manfred was tired, suffered depression and had frequent headaches thought to be related to his head wound he received back in the summer of 1917. Today he broke some of his own rules; alone behind enemy lines while flying to low. Maybe target affixation? When his flight suit was removed he was discovered to be wearing baby blue pajamas underneath.

[Brian L.]

Souvenirs from Richthofen's plane in The Canadian Military Institute

In 1920, Captain Arthur Roy Brown, D.S.C. presented the seat and fabric to the Canadian Military Institute. (After Brown obtained the fabric from the Fokker Triplane, his squadron mates ripped out the the cross center, signed their names to a white linen panel, and fixed it to the cross center. The names are still visible today).

The curved aluminum/plywood seat had a red linen covering. Only fabric scraps around the seat edges remain today. The holes in the seat's center are not bullet holes, but are mounting holes which joined the seat to the aircraft's internal frame.

Brown also had the wingtip and gave it to his friend, then-Lieutenant-Colonel William "Billy" Bishop, V.C., D.S.O., M.C., D.F.C. In 1968, Bishop's son Arthur presented the wingtip to the Royal Canadian Military Institute.

[otter76]

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[Erickn]

Good stuff fellas. 100 years ago today members of No. 3 Squadron were busy disassembling Manfred's machine. Here are a few additional images of that day.
Roy Brown with Manfred's deadly duo.
IWM/Google Images

[Erickn]

100 years ago today, Australian Flying Corps No.3 Squadron bury their well respected former adversary.
IWM/google image

[tompress]

The famous German medal-maker Karl Goetz has deisgned and issued commemorative medal to the death of Manfred von Richthofen. A curiosity: on the first version there was wrong date of his death (April 12th instead of 21st) and incorrect number of his air victories (89 instead of 80). Later both data were corrected, so the first issue is much scarcer now. Here you can see both types in silver (the medal was issued laso in bronze).

regrds
Tomasz