We did however find some really interesting things out on our travels. Just right of Caudry we cycled into a small hamlet called Audencourt where Hal took part in the battle for Le Cateau (although the diary mentions this more as a skirmish).
One positive aspect of the weather was that it mirrored the conditions that Hal experienced. "a lot of mud on the cartridge cases caused a lot of jams. we fired about 2000 at infantry massing to attack". Judging from the ground the Germans must have been only a few hundred yard away when Hal withdrew.
In this battle Hal lost 3 men, who we believe now lie in one of the many "unkown" graves in Caudry Cemetary which we visited on our route. Sadly he does not detail their names so we cant be certain. (There are three "Unknown soilder" graves in the cemerary when we visited- see pic below)
Owing to the conditions (and the main road) we took a slightly different route from Hal heading south west. He might have got lost at this point but we saw no reason to follow his wanderings and headed straight to his RV with the rest of his brigade.
Our stay for the night was in a beautiful spot and we would highly recomend a visit if you are passing through the area (http://www.domainedevadencourt.com/)
In this battle Hal lost 3 men, who we believe now lie in one of the many "unkown" graves in Caudry Cemetary which we visited on our route. Sadly he does not detail their names so we cant be certain. (There are three "Unknown soilder" graves in the cemerary when we visited- see pic below)
Owing to the conditions (and the main road) we took a slightly different route from Hal heading south west. He might have got lost at this point but we saw no reason to follow his wanderings and headed straight to his RV with the rest of his brigade.
Our stay for the night was in a beautiful spot and we would highly recomend a visit if you are passing through the area (http://www.domainedevadencourt.com/)
(James admiring our "B&B". We also explained to the owners why we were doing our bike ride and all about the Diary we were following. They explained that this wa snot the first time they had met people on a similar journey. A young girl turned up at their front door one day with a book of letters. These letters were from her great grandfather in WW1 who had written to his family evrey two weeks to say where he was and that he was ok. The last letter they received he was injured but ok and staying in Chateau Vandencourt and at the end of the letter sent in the August of 1916 he hints that the germans are close by. In September 1916 the Germans took over the area and destroyed the Chateau and this man was killed in the park infront of the house. Chilling but amazing that she had tracked all this down).
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