pferguson | May 30, 2023
The Artillery Barrage Light gauge railways delivered ammunition to the frontline. Prior to the attack on 1 July 1916 a seven-day barrage fired 1.5 million shells. Of these it is estimated 1/3 of them were duds. The Canadian Expeditionary Force’s battalions took part in the Battle of the Somme but much later than the events […]
Category: Snapshots of the Great War |
No Comments »
Tags: Artillery, Barrage, Battle of the Somme, Bombardment, Iron harvest, Ordnance, Railways
pferguson | April 30, 2023
The Commanders The Somme was where the British and French armies met occupying a 25-mile front mostly to the north of the River Somme. The battle of 1 July 1916, was the largest operation of the Great War and started with 500,000 men, mostly volunteers of the Pals battalions. The Pals did not have the […]
Category: Snapshots of the Great War |
No Comments »
Tags: Battle of the Somme, British Army, Command, Douglas Haig, French Army, Henry Rawlinson, Joseph Joffre, Leadership, Pals Battalions, Tactics
pferguson | May 29, 2022
A War Horse Story In 2006 while on tour with an English friend across the landscapes of the Western Front, we happened upon the horse memorial at Chipilly. Time was of the essence, our host and driver wanted to show us as much as possible, I managed to ask for a quick stop to roll […]
Category: Art, Snapshots of the Great War |
No Comments »
Tags: 1st Canadian Pioneer Battalion, 58th (London) Division Memorial, Canadian Forestry Corps, Chilliwack, Chipilly (France), Handspring Puppet Company, Henri Gauquie, In Flanders Fields Museum, John Tams, Michael Morpurgo, National Army Museum, Only Remembered, Royal National Theatre (London), Sculpture, Soldiers Settlement Board, Thomas Prentiss Wicks, War Horse
pferguson | April 30, 2022
Mother…Film… It takes a while…the penny drops…the pictures produce the synapses (the passing of messages to communicate). Having returned to 2005 I find my file of images for the 9.2 inch dazzle painted “gun” at the Imperial War Museum. Surely, at the time, I will do something with these? And surely I did…mind 17 years […]
Category: Snapshots of the Great War |
No Comments »
Tags: Aeroscope Camera, Clarendon Film Company, Edward Tong, Film History, Garrick Film Company, Gaumont Film Company, Geoffrey Malins, Hawthorn Ridge, How I Filmed the War, Howitzer, Imperial War Museum, John McDowell, Kinematograph Manufacturers Association, Medal of the Order of the British Empire, Mother, The Battle of the Somme, The British and Colonial Film Company
pferguson | February 27, 2022
1915 and the 16th Canadian Infantry Battalion Distinguished Service Order Major Gilbert Godson-Godson DSO London Gazette: 22 June 1915 Awarded on the occasion of His Majesty’s Birthday. No citation. Occupation: City of Vancouver. Department Head. Prior service: Second Boer War (Corps of Guides and South African Constabulary. Awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal and Mentioned in […]
Category: Remember Them Well, Snapshots of the Great War |
No Comments »
Tags: 16th Battalion CEF (Canadian Scottish), 1915, Alfred William Minchin, Bernard Charles Lunn, Cecil Mack Merritt, Frank Morison, Gerald Coussmaker Heath, Gilbert Godson-Godson, Honours and Awards, John Dougall, John William Bizley, La Quinque Rue Orchard, Robert Gilmour Edwards Leckie, St. Julien (Belgium), Victor Alexander MacLean