@DrillHalls elsewhere The Vosges and Alsace in occupation and wartime: thebluelinefrontier.com ~~~ A few snaps on www.mightygwyn.eu ~~~ https://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3mnhur4quuc2wI need to contact the owner of the Forest of Dean FHT forum. One of the threads contains identifying information about living people & it must be removed. I have tried several times to use the contact form on the forum but had no response. Can anyone help, please, by private message if preferred.04 Jun 2026 14:51 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3mnhur4quuc2whttps://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3m2cqg5gxjs2fI hope this is a simple question. If a British solder served in the British army in 1914-18 and then volunteered at the start of the Second World War, did he keep the same service number?03 Oct 2025 18:51 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3m2cqg5gxjs2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3lpuohtv63c2lHello Can anyone help me with the meaning of "lace" in field names in Cheshire tithe maps, please? For example: Top Horse Lace Bottom Horse Lace Far Horse Lace Near House Lace Lane House Lace Any insights would be welcome.23 May 2025 22:27 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3lpuohtv63c2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3lonr7zj5722bI'm looking at my dad's photo album from his time as a young volunteer with the RAF, including PAI Force. Could anyone help me with a couple of abbreviations, please? HMT (in HMT Duchess of Bedford) ERS (in ERS Habbaniyah 1943 - I know what RAF Habbaniya was) Insights appreciated - thanks.08 May 2025 11:03 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3lonr7zj5722bhttps://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3lnaqaciey222Le Lammele (or Lamala) is a génoise-style cake made for Easter in Alsace. A custom originating in the 16c, bakers & home cooks made them to use up the eggs which had accumulated during Lent. Traditionally the Lammele is eaten for breakfast on Easter Day. I make one each year. This Easter's Lammele:20 Apr 2025 13:15 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3lnaqaciey222https://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3llvk3nmhgs2x4th April, 1915. Gaston, a French soldier fighting in Alsace, sends a postcard describing his Good Friday. To my darling Since yesterday evening we are again resting in the charming village of Rodern and as today is the feast of Easter we have complete rest, so I can’t let this day pass... /103 Apr 2025 09:01 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3llvk3nmhgs2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3lkdkb7g65c2vI'm looking for a recommendation of a straightforward family tree template, please. I don't want to go back further than four generations (possibly five). I just want to explain our family to a younger member by setting out what I already know. If I drew up a tree manually it would turn out a mess!14 Mar 2025 11:51 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3lkdkb7g65c2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3ljdsqbwh6s2mFor St David’s Day: the shawl. This is my many-great-great grandmother Sarah's shawl. She was born ~1840 & lived near Corwen.01 Mar 2025 20:57 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3ljdsqbwh6s2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3ljbuzcorpc27Bore da! Dydd Gŵyl Dewi hapus! Llynnau Mymbyr, Yr Wyddfa [Snowdon] taken from near Capel Curig, Cymru01 Mar 2025 02:33 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3ljbuzcorpc27https://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3lhir4zmtw22oOn 6th February 1945 German troops were withdrawing from the Munster (Alsace) area under pressure from French troops. The stone Lion erected in May 1916 by the 23rd Royal Bavarian Infantry Regiment for their fallen comrades still bears the marks of the shoot out.06 Feb 2025 09:21 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3lhir4zmtw22ohttps://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3lh77hgdbm22yEighty years ago, the battle for Jebsheim, Alsace, had concluded. Ils sont réunis dans la mort Unissons-nous dans la paix Sie sind im tode vereint lässt Uns auch im frieden einig sein They are together in death Let us unite in peace https://thebluelinefrontier.com/2015/11/11/three-armies-one-battle-one-cross-le-croix-du-moulin-jebsheim-a-post-for-remembrance/02 Feb 2025 14:11 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3lh77hgdbm22yhttps://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3lf3cb45hxk2iI designate January 6th as National Block Up Your Hoover With Pine Needles Day.06 Jan 2025 14:00 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3lf3cb45hxk2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3lekzpd2nec2oPoised to fall. One single wild pear remains on the tree. 2024 begins to close.31 Dec 2024 02:45 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3lekzpd2nec2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3le34vensv22mAs the Nine Lessons and Carols comes to an end with Charles Wesley's wonderful hymn, I am reminded of the time when a very small girl called Gwyneth, sitting next to Daddy in the chapel choir while Mum was playing the organ, asked very clearly and audibly... "Daddy, what's a virgin's womb?"24 Dec 2024 18:59 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3le34vensv22mhttps://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3lcupa7yuzs2sThis is Get To Know The Neighbours Fortnight [GTKTN] in which people are seen trawling their local roads trying to match a front door with that pictured in the “We have delivered your parcel” photo, then knocking on the door of a complete stranger asking hesitantly for what is rightfully theirs.09 Dec 2024 12:13 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3lcupa7yuzs2shttps://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3lbcpxcjjks2bOur snow, such as there was, has melted. Do have a fabulous [cycling and snowy] week in the Vosges! https://thebluelinefrontier.com/2014/01/14/winter-tourism-and-some-inventive-transport-before-the-great-war-have-a-fabulous-week-in-the-vosges/ A vélo-ski - one of the inventive means of transport, though how widely used it was I have no idea. Card posted 1910. (My card.)19 Nov 2024 15:13 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbcpxcjjks2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3lbcoab62pc2eHello to new followers. Here's more detail about me. I've been regularly exploring the lovely Vosges region - the only mountain Front on French soil between 1914 and 1918 - for ~30 years, enjoying finding unexpected sites and lesser known places with vestiges and traces of the men’s presence.19 Nov 2024 14:42 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbcoab62pc2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3laojxats522cThat horse picture is doing the rounds. (The one with soldiers standing in the shape of a horse's head.) Can someone please point me to the analysis refuting the story which invariably accompanies it? @lucybetteridgedyson.com ?11 Nov 2024 14:33 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3laojxats522chttps://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3lam7csqo7k27Would it be possible to encourage new users who have left another place to include something in their biographies to say who they were? I'm gratified to have suddenly acquired many new followers but I'm afraid I have no idea whether I've known them elsewhere. I do like to be friendly. :)10 Nov 2024 16:17 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3lam7csqo7k27https://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3lajp5ngc5c2cAt this time of year, it seems as though Nature has placed gifts on the gravestones of the dead soldiers. At la nécropole nationale française du Wettstein, fly agarics and other fungi are nature’s jewels for the soldiers.09 Nov 2024 16:22 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3lajp5ngc5c2chttps://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3l4vxwqnfw522Something nice. Despite everyone saying that they have seen fewer bees this year, we have just poured into jars the best honey harvest we've had for several years: forty six 454g jars from one hive. The northern honey bees have had a successful year. Thankfully we don't have bears in Cheshire.24 Sep 2024 15:51 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3l4vxwqnfw522https://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3l3awfvk5uo27On 5th September 1914 the Battle of the Marne began. 🧵 On 12th September 2014 we visited Vitry-le-François. In the Collégiale, pensive visitors were silenced by the exhibition commemorating Vitry ville-hôpital: an intense, shocking archive of photographs & documents ... /103 Sep 2024 13:32 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3l3awfvk5uo27https://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3l2mlfhcw3w2lCasualties from la Chipotte [previous post] also lie in Ménil-sur-Belvitte, a large 1917 nécropole nationale s. of Baccarat. Opposite the cemetery, peacefully surrounded by pastures with the characteristic Vosgienne cows, is a memorial privately erected in 1927 by l’Abbé Collé, the village curé. /126 Aug 2024 11:22 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3l2mlfhcw3w2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3l2kehvmk252iThe battle for control of the Col de la Chipotte (Vosges) began on 25th August 1914. The French soldiers called it le Trou d'Enfer (the Hell Hole). It's yet another of the ghastly, violent battles which an Anglocentric view of the Great War overlooks. https://thebluelinefrontier.com/2014/08/25/le-col-de-la-chipotte-25th-august-1914-le-trou-denfer-the-hell-hole/25 Aug 2024 14:13 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3l2kehvmk252ihttps://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3kz5ofw77nu2uI've been on holiday 😎 and because there is so much horrible stuff around I thought I would share something nice: the evening view from our stop-over on our way up to Skye. There was an otter swimming there first thing the next morning but I don't have the kit to take good quality wildlife photos.07 Aug 2024 19:41 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3kz5ofw77nu2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3kqpqyovcqs2rSnow returned to the Vosges this week. It was the same in 2016, when we found ourselves unexpectedly back in winter with 30cm snow. I was on crutches with a torn meniscus but I was determined to travel. So have some April snow in a view which would have been known to the soldiers in the high Vosges.22 Apr 2024 11:28 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3kqpqyovcqs2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3kmm2o6uapx2lDydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus!01 Mar 2024 02:30 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3kmm2o6uapx2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3klkvr5kxc32sOur first frogspawn of 2024 surfaced today (16th February). The previous earliest was 23rd February in 2008. Extract, for context. 2012 12th March 2013 6th April 2014 16th March 2015 16th March 2016 15th March 2020 24th February 2021 11th March 2022 15th March 2023 28th February 2024 16th February16 Feb 2024 22:04 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3klkvr5kxc32shttps://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3kkmoknmhlc2iOur frogs have surfaced. In the years I've been monitoring our pond, the earliest we have had frogspawn is February 23rd. It will be interesting to see the date when the frogspawn appears this year. I suppose as it's mild (13° here up north) they may have awakened early.04 Feb 2024 21:35 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3kkmoknmhlc2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/mightygwyn.bsky.social/post/3kjxqdgyodt2eJüdisches Museum Berlin. 'Shalakhet' [Fallen Leaves] by Menashe Kadishman in the Memory Void, which reflects the unimaginable loss of Jews murdered in Europe & attempts to express what cannot be expressed. The Voids are bleak, cold, cavernous, concrete spaces from which there is seemingly no escape.27 Jan 2024 13:41 +0000at://did:plc:xlab4aydnvimto53j2lgee57/app.bsky.feed.post/3kjxqdgyodt2e