Day 6 - Sept 2, 2017: Boulogne/Calais to England

Day 6 - Sept 2, 2017:  Boulogne/Calais to England

Etaples Military Cemetery
We left Belgium for the French coast. We travelled to Etaples to visit the Etaples Military Cemetery. Crossing through the gates, one approaches the Cross of Sacrifice - just as you are upon it the view opens up and the vast expanse astounds you! Before us lied the graves of 11,436 men and women who died from battle or disease.



Etaples was the site of a Base Military Hospital complex.
The cemetery hold the graves of 20 women's - nurses and female volunteers of the YMCA. It also holds the graves of 121 WWII servicemen - 39 of which are unknown.

Wimereaux Communal Cemetery.
This cemetery hosts both civilian and war graves. It is best known for being the final resting place of Lt Col John McRae. The grave markers are laid flat - they could not be stood up in the sandy coastal ground.

Battery Todt Museum
This was one of four German gun bunkers used in defending the French coast in WWII. The walls and roof are 3.6 meter thick. It housed a 380mm gun that could fire shells 2 meters high weighing between 800 kgs and one tonne. It has a range of 42 kilometres - the English coastline was approximately 30 kilometres away.
It also is home to a 280 mm K5 railway gun - one of only two remaining from an original 25 produced. It has a range of 62 kilometres and is 35 meters in length. A CTrain car is 27 meters long.

Calais Miltary Cemetery

The EuroTunnel

Comments

  1. Unknown3 September 2017 at 11:42

    its hard to imagine those guns and what it must have been like to be around when they were firing. I have heard and felt a 105 mm field gun and that made a big bang with a concussion wave, those guns would probably knock you off your feet. Amazing.

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