Lets start this off by admitting I have a bit of a backlog here. Wireless internet or "WE FE" as people in France seem to refer to it, is in my experience crappy at best in hotel's. Coupled with growing exhaustion from a prolonged trip I really wasn't able to reliably get posts up like I would have preferred to.
I'm now back in Canada and will roll out the remainder of images from the last few days of the battlefield tour over the next week. Hopefully someone is still reading.
Picking up where I left off, after our sunny Vimy day the group experienced a cool but not so rainy morning as we explored the 100 Days battles that led to the end of the Great War.
This leg of the trip marked the return of LCMSDS director Terry Copp who led the majority of discussions. I wasn't really happy with my images of the boss so you will see him in another post. Or if you have super vision you might be able to spot him leading a discussion on the banks of the Canal du Nord.
Our day began at Monchy-le-Preux with a discussion of the breakout from Arras in 1918. Our next stop was on the banks of the Canal du Nord as we explored the difficulties related to the entire Canadian Corps crossing of the then unfinished canal, and subsequent battle for the high ground at Burlon Wood.
I gave a presentation on photography during the Great War at the Burlon and suprised the group by taking a photo with my Kodak No. 2-A folding cartridge primo camera from 1917. There is a image below of some students checking out how difficult it is to make a frame with the cameras viewfinder.
Our investigation of the Great War came to an end with a visit to Villers Bretonneux Military Cemetery and the battle of Amiens. After that it was onto Dieppe for some more sunshine and the switch to the Second World War.
The day ended on a bit of a chilly note from some people. When someone jokingly commented that it was tradition for at least one person to go swimming in the cool waters off Dieppe a few brave students took up the challenge. Close to midnight they went for a frigid dip, and asked me to come along to take a few photos.
