Jump to content

History of Seven Valleys


sueyh
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • 3 weeks later...

I don't think there was much World War I activity int he immediate area, though Frevent is only a little way north of Doullens where the document handing over Supreme Command of all Allied forces to France's Marshal Foch was signed on 26 March 1918.

During World War II of course the area was occupied by the Germans after May 1940.  Factories were put to work for the German war effort, so were bombed by the Allies (the Wintenberger factory at Frevent for example). Places with important railway junctions or river crossings were also Allied targets, especially around the time of the Normany landings, to slow down the movement of German troops and ammunition.

There are some Commonwealth war graves in a town cemetery to the east of Frevent; can't remember if it was actually Frevent cemetery, or if it was Sericourt (I was heading from Frevent to Sericourt when I found it). Nor can I remember in which world war the dead had served. 

The Germans also set up mobile ramps to launch V1 flying bombs in many places in the countryside. I don't have maps to hand to remind me of the names, but the little Emhisarc museum at Crecy (S of Hesdin) has a good model of one that was somewhere to the north of the village - so not very far from Hesdin.

Angela
www.northernfrance-within90minutesofcalais.co.uk

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Indeed, WB...

The Chinese were members of the Labour Corps, recruited in far-flung places (South Africa was another source) not to fight but to do the manual work of loading and unloading stores and ammunition at docks and railheads during WWI.  They were on a contract and paid some minute sum of money.  And when they got to the end of their contracts and said "Thanks very much, we'd like to go home now", they were not released and had to stay on.  They were kept in compounds, which they only left to go out to work.  The Chinese did lots of fighting among themselves, and a number of murders.  I think of the 700 that are buried at Nolette (it's 9km SE of Le Crotoy, so rather far from the Seven Valleys), many were the victims of a flu epidemic.
Most of the local French at the time had never seen a yellow face, nor a black one, so they must have looked at these incomers as if they were from the moon.

I visited the cemetery one day in April when, by coincidence, a Chinese delegation from Paris had just been on their annual visit to lay vast wreaths - actually not "lay", but stand up on large easels - for the Feast of Qingming (sort of Chinese Day of the Dead).

If you search on www.cwgc.org for the cemetery, there will be a bit of extra information and a photograph.  Not sure if you have to type in "Nolette" (the hamlet where the graveyard is) or "Noyelles" which is the larger village nearby.  Sorry I can't check for you, but am on s-l-o-w dialup here this evening in rural Vendee;  I can only do proper surfing when I am in my friendly local cybercentre!

Angela
www.northernfrance-within90minutesofcalais.co.uk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I have a copy of Rose E B Coombs book Before Endeavours Fade (BEF) . She worked at The Imperial War Museum for 36 years and pretty much devoted her life to documenting WW1 and made hundreds of visits to the battlefields many as a guide to ex-servicemen.

There is not a great deal about Hesdin/Frevent .She says 'Hesdin was a British town from 1916 onwards. Various branches of the Staff were quartered here and there were also hospitals. It was also the RFC headquarters'. She added it was a pleasant leave centre.She also says Frevent was used considerably by the British but not how.

There is also mention of St Etienne-au-Mont Communal Cemetery which has a Commonwealth War Graves Section with 168 graves: 160 men of the Chinese Labour Corps, 3 Chinese merchant seamen from HMT Montilla and 5 men of the South African Native Labour Corps The Chinese Memorial was erected by fellow workers in 1919.

The book was first published in 1976 and has been updated is useful for some WW1 Western Front sites of interest despite having a slightly dated feel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now here's a sobering bit of research.  Using the previous link to the war memorials I looked up my tiny dot of a hamlet (not big enough to be called a village) and the reading is truly terrible.  9 dead in the Franco-prussian wars and at Galipoli, 37 in WW1 with just 28 distinct surnames, families losing 2 or 3 sons each, and 6 more in WWII and indo-china.  Now at the time of WWI there were fewer than 50 houses (43 if memory serves) which means that nearly every family and nearly every household lost someone, and of course that is the dead, there is no mention of wounded, often serious and mutilating wounds too which severly limited life expectancy, terrible times that must never be repeated.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...