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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

I intended to share this on 25th August. Le Trou d'enfer, the Hell Hole. Le Col de la Chipotte, 1914. thebluelinefrontier.com/2014/08/25/l...

Le Col de la Chipotte, oblong stone memorial (1919) to Chasseurs, stone military figure in front as part of the monument. Surrounded by trees. Empty road passes it with single woman contemplating the memorial, her bicycle lying on the verge close by.

Photo of memorial taken in September 2012, road adjacent. Text on memorial is:
Aux Chasseurs de la 86e Brigade
Morts pour la Patrie
Août Septembre 1914

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

I 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.

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

I 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?

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

Hello 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.

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

I'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.

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 20/04/2025

Le 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:

Lammele- a sponge cake baked in the shape of a lamb, decorated with ribbons, accompanied by two German ornaments: Easter rabbits wearing bows.

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

4th 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... /1

Postcard sent 1915 showing the ruins of a row of houses in Aspach in Alsace after bombardment. The River Doller runs by the houses.

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

I'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!

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

For St David’s Day: the shawl. This is my many-great-great grandmother Sarah's shawl. She was born ~1840 & lived near Corwen.

Red, gild and multi-coloured paisley patterned 19c Welsh shawl

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

Bore da! Dydd Gŵyl Dewi hapus! Llynnau Mymbyr, Yr Wyddfa [Snowdon] taken from near Capel Curig, Cymru

Miniature daffodils emerging through snow.

Dusk, sun setting behind Yr Wyddfa [Snowdon], Llynnau Mymbyr [lake] in foreground, very still, with reflected light

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

On 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.

Cimetière militaire Munster, Alsace. Stone Lion memorial erected in May 1916 by the 23rd Royal Bavarian Infantry Regiment for their fallen comrades, hillside & trees in background.

Cimetière militaire Munster, Alsace. Stone Lion memorial showing striations of bullets

Cimetière militaire Munster, Alsace. Stone Lion memorial showing holes made by bullets

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

Eighty 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 thebluelinefrontier.com/2015/11/11/t...

Simple metal bridge bearing the text La Croix du Moulin, crossing a small mill race stream on the site of the former mill at Jebsheim. Fields and the distant Vosges in the background

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

I designate January 6th as National Block Up Your Hoover With Pine Needles Day.

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

Poised to fall. One single wild pear remains on the tree. 2024 begins to close.

A single pear poised to fall from a tree which still has a few autumn leaves. I've used it to symbolise the end of the year 2024.

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

As 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?"

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

This 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.

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

Our snow, such as there was, has melted. Do have a fabulous [cycling and snowy] week in the Vosges! thebluelinefrontier.com/2014/01/14/w... 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.)

A vélo-ski - a two wheeled bicycle on skis. Officer getting around in the Vosges, snow, 1910

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

Hello 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.

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 11/11/2024

That 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 ?

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 10/11/2024

Would 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. :)

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 09/11/2024

At 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.

French military cemetery, numerous headstones in soft focus, red fly agaric in front of graves

French military cemetery, headstone, two red fly agarics in front of grave

French military cemetery, surrounded by forest trees, numerous headstones, red fly agarics in front of graves

French military cemetery, numerous headstones, red fly agarics under tree by graves

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 24/09/2024

Something 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.

Honey bee busily extracting nectar from a bright yellow flower, pollen clinging to its legs.

Detail from Ukrainian stamp depicting a beehive in a tree, the beekeeper perched on a swing next to it smoking his pipe to calm the bees, and a bear unsuccessfully attempting to climb the tree to get the honey.

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 03/09/2024

On 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 ... /1

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 26/08/2024

Casualties 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. /1

Ménil-sur-Belvitte French military cemetery, lawn, large stone cross mounted on white tablet background, bushes with red rose hips in foreground

Ménil-sur-Belvitte French military cemetery, lawn, crosses, memorial topped by Jeanne d'Arc at rear of view

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 25/08/2024

The 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. thebluelinefrontier.com/2014/08/25/l...

Cimetière Militaire de la Chipotte, Saint-Benoît-la-Chipotte, Vosges. Rows of French graves in sun. French flag in far distance.

Cimetière Militaire de la Chipotte, Saint-Benoît-la-Chipotte, Vosges. Chasseurs Memorial consisting of large stone plinth with soldier holding gun.

Old postcard showing trenches dug for graves, soldiers resting nearby. It predates Cimetière Militaire de la Chipotte, Saint-Benoît-la-Chipotte, Vosges. Text says that French and German soldiers were placed in the gaves side by side.

Old postcard. Cimetière Militaire de la Chipotte, Saint-Benoît-la-Chipotte, Vosges. Chasseurs Memorial consisting of large stone plinth with soldier holding gun. Woman standing gazing at memorial, her bicycle laid on the grass.

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 07/08/2024

I'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.

Seaside, sunset, tranquil sea, yachts, Scottish coast

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 22/04/2024

Snow 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.

Vosges mountains, snow covered peaks and forest, milder climate scene in foreground,

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 16/02/2024

Our 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 February

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 04/02/2024

Our 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.

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 27/01/2024

Jüdisches 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.

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 23/12/2023

A selection of seasonal images taken from the stunningly beautiful engraved windows of the church of St Nicholas, Moreton, Dorset. The engraver was Sir Laurence Whistler. Alpha and the spiral stars are in the galaxy window. The house depicted in a snowstorm is Moreton House.

Church window. Engraved letter A for Alpha,

Church window. Engraved stars in a spiral.

Church window. Engraved heavenly stars in a spiral. Letter O for Omega.

Church window. Engraved image of a large country house in a snowstorm, representing one of the four seasons. All windows engraved by Sir Laurence Whistler

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 12/11/2023

In the village of Spicheren, by the border of France & Germany nr Saarbrücken, stands a small chapel. It is a former bunker from the 1939-45 War converted into a simple sanctuary. The spaces through which guns were fired are covered by stained glass. It is called La Chapelle de la réconciliation.

Chapel with steep roof built on former Second World War bunker,

Stained glass window covering firing holes

Chapel interior, whitewashed walls, three pews, altar. Very simple.

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 08/11/2023

This is la nécropole nationale du Col de Wettstein, Haut-Rhin, where over three thousand French casualties of le Linge (1915) are buried. /1

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Reposted by mightygwyn

Nick Stone @typejunky.bsky.social · 18/10/2023

I'm currently running an offer on any of the Vanishing Points prints if anyone is interested, basically half-price. Use code gwpjp-109 up to 11th November. Twitter becoming a cess pit has basically killed my sales, can't shift anything via Insta. www.invisibleworks.co.uk/vanishing-po...

invisibleworks.co.uk

Vanishing Points | Invisible Works

Vanishing Points – Landscapes from the Western Front by Nick Stone

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 31/10/2023

Is it possible to thread one's posts here if the cotent is too long to post in one post or you want to add extra photos?

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 31/10/2023

Col de la Schlucht & Sentier des Roches, October 2022. Relieved I didn't have to do the precipitous part in a long frock. Part of the path runs along the 1871 boundary between France and Elsaß-Lothringen. The bornes frontières [stones marking the frontier] are still there.

Woodland, sunny, golden leaves on trees, bronze leaves on floor.

Small cream fungi growing from tree trunk

Early postcard, fenced viewpoint, two men, woman in long skirt, looking along valley

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 31/10/2023

Greetings! Discovering Bluesky! I'm Gwyneth known to some as @DrillHalls on Twitter & Dragon on GWF. Interests: The Vosges and Alsace in occupation and wartime: thebluelinefrontier.com ~~~ A few snaps on www.mightygwyn.eu ~~~ The Drill Halls project: www.drillhalls.org [currently dormant] ~~~

thebluelinefrontier.com

The Blue Line - the Vosges frontier 1871 to 1914

The frontier separating Alsace from France before the Great War

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