If there is one place in northern France that was closely associated with the work of 42 Squadron RAF in 1918, it was Merville. This small town on the north bank of the River Lys has featured many times in posts and photographs on this blog (for a collection, click here). But there are a couple of previously unseen photos that are undated and unmarked. Possibly they were taken in December 1918 on a joyride. Although not explicitly identified, the photos are unmistakably of the town. Given the association, it’s easy to imagine Greg wanting to take a last look at Merville from the air. Especially when he wasn’t being shot at.
Here are the photographs, with their present day counterparts from Google maps:
West Merville
In the 1918 image, the long shadows from just west of south indicate that the photograph dates from a winter’s day.
Pont de Pierre
In the middle of the bottom of the photograph is a bridge: the Pont de Pierre. Avid readers of this blog might remember that we have met this bridge before. 213 Siege Battery of the Royal Artillery, firing under Greg’s direction, severely damaged it on 19 July 1918:
How is it that the bridge is intact in the photo? Well, assuming that the supposition that this is a winter’s photograph is correct, there are two possibilities.
First, the bridge was repaired. This might have been by the Germans before they left Merville. Or it might have been by the British after they liberated Merville on 19 August 1918. I think this is quite likely. This is because the Pont de Pierre carries the main road on the north bank of the River Lys west out of Merville towards Haverskerque, St Venant and Aire-sur-la-Lys. So making it passable would have been a priority.
The second possibility is that the photograph dates from an earlier winter: perhaps 1917-18. But this seems unlikely, as before Operation Georgette in April 1918 the German line was some miles to the east. So the damage to Merville would have been unlikely to have been so great at that stage.
Central Merville
The 1918 image has the hallmarks of another winter’s day photograph, with long shadows from just west of south.
Merville Church
Merville’s church, in the centre left of the 1918 photograph, is in ruins. A ground level view is in this post:
In the Google maps view, a new, post-war, church is visible some 330 yds (300 m) southeast, to the lower right of the photograph. The original site provided space for a new town hall and a car park.
A Postscript, and a Puzzle
The above two Merville photographs appear in one of Greg’s photograph albums next to another one of ruined streets:
Again there is no caption, and no location information. So where is it? Well, it doesn’t look like Merville. There are too many streets and too many buildings (ruined ones, but recognisably former buildings). Merville at the time was quite small:
At the time of writing, I don’t know the location of this photograph. Any information will be very welcome.