Bertincourt - Then and now

[Olham 164]

Since I have started an early campaign with Jasta 2 in 1916, I was interested in the town,

which gave one of the first Jasta airfields it's name - Bertincourt.

 

First I found this old postcard of the junction and the monument.

Then I went into Google StreetView, to search for this junction - how would it look today?

 

I was quite surprised - the buildings are still the same; not much has changed.

There are less chimneys now, due to modern heating; but you recognise the original

houses from the postcard.

 

 

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

 

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

 

Nice detective work, Olham!

 

[77Scout 3]

Wow. I am utterly amazed that a place could remain so unchanged after all those years. Thanks for posting!

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

That is actually quite eerie. It honestly has remained nearly unchanged for all those years, much like my inability to learn from my mistakes.

 

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[von Baur 54]

"If it ain't broke...". Of course Lou's reaction is not too surprising considering that here in the USA there's a tendancy to replace rather than repair. Not picking on you personally, sir, just noting a general attitude that doesn't set well. Let's face it, lots of people here trade in their cars (which they bought brand new) before they've finished paying them off. And everything is disposable, from razor blades to diapers. It's no wonder our landfills are full and our bank accounts empty .

 

 

The truly amazing thing is that so much of it survived two world wars. Very fortunate people, the locals. And another great job by Olham.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

von Baur, I've practiced "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," for most of my life. Unfortunately, as you have so rightly pointed out, our society seems to be all about change and very little about tradition or honoring the past. Don't misunderstand, things should change when it's for the better. Far too often though change appears to be simply for it's own sake.

 

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[angles1100 0]

Ok now thats impressive .

 

thanks Olham

 

cheers

[Olham 164]

Thank you all, chaps!

 

Lou, my own experience is, that I learn even more from mistakes, when I repeat them. Constant learning so to say!

von Baur, that "replace, when broken" mentality has grown here in Europe too.

Before WW2, mostly all broken things got repaired. After the war, Germany was under a big influence from America.

Like always, the beaten admires and learns from the victor. Many good things came with that surely; young people

in the 50s discovered Swing and Jazz; American products came to our shops which we had never known - I still

remember my first tetrapac of "Sunkist", a kind of orange lemonade.

I bet, the Americans were also rather repairing than exchanging thing before the war. But then, with the rise to being

the world leader of currencies, and with all the wealth the war had created (wars often seem to generate wealth for

the winners), America's lush life began, and with it this new thinking.

And with the american cars came the American idea of banking. A credit was easy to get. Two credits - no problem.

Pay cards like American Express - buy today, pay tomorrow - before the war the people would have said: I cannot

spend what I haven't earned. They wouldn't have called that "easy credit", they would have called it "running into debts".

 

Here in Europe we also bought new stuff and threw the old away. Alone the replacement and dumping of mobile

phones (which we call "handy") shows that. Only now, that China will not sell their rare earths anymore, we begin

to realise what we have thrown onto the dumping grounds.

I guess we have to change our whole behaviour quite a lot, and we are already in the uncomfortable part of that change.

Not only the americans.

 

But back to the conservation of Bertincourt - on the country the people are still more conservative - in France, in England,

and even in Germany. Things do not change as rapidly as in the cities. And they may be right with it.

Edited May 3, 2012 by Olham

[Pips 5]

Truly amazing photo's.

[Javito1986 14]

These photos creep me out a bit. Look st the people in the old photo, and the old car in the background. They're not around anymore, but everything else is. One day we're all going to die and the world will just keep trucking without us, like it always has

[Olham 164]

I had exactly the same thoughts, Javito!

[Shiloh 12]

Thanks for posting that Olham!

 

I really like to see this kind of stuff. Urban sprawl here in America has often wipes-out the look of things but there are still some pockets of authentic historical looking towns, particularly in more rural areas. I currently live in a small New England town that was settled in the 1700's and saw it's peak in the 19th century. Most of the original homes/businesses near downtown still exist and many in their old forms. I've seen postcards that show dirt roads and horses but mostly it retains it's old look - that's what I like the most about it.

 

The town has reinvented itself around tourism, a strong local artisan push and other forms of business yet retains the flavor it's enjoyed for centuries.

[Olham 164]

Often the old houses and bridges become tourist attractions.

But these street lamps must be standing there along the "Rue de la Pannerie", which leads

into Cheméry-sur-Bar, since the old days of first gas lights.

I "visited" the old town in Google Streetview. The Germans had an airfield here, which was

home for Jastas 41, 47, 49, 50 and 60 for some time during the war.

And so I came to these lamps. They must be post-war, but still quite old - from the 20s or 30s

I guess. Still I find it quite touching to see they still exist after all that time.

 

 

[shredward 12]

And the cool thing is that this is not a one-off. You can go to almost any town in rural France, half close your eyes, and it is as if you had just stepped out of the Tardis and emerged 60, 80, or 150 years ago. Unless the town was absolutely obliterated because it happened to be in the Front Line at Verdun or the Somme, it will usually look pretty much as it did a century ago

Cheers,

Shredward

[von Baur 54]

These photos creep me out a bit. Look st the people in the old photo, and the old car in the background. They're not around anymore, but everything else is. One day we're all going to die and the world will just keep trucking without us, like it always has

 

 

That's very true, Javito. The most extreme examples being the Pyramids and other ultra-ancient structures. I heard a saying once that, while not intended to make exactly that point, still sums it up rather nicely. It goes something like this: "When you get to feeling that you're very important, stick your hand in a bucket of water and remove it as quickly as you can. The hole that's left will show how much The World will miss you when you're gone." We all end, but everyone and everything else goes on.

 

 

Olham, what really upsets me is the way that people don't even wait for things to break down any more before they replace them.I don't know what the standard is now, but a few years ago auto manufacturers were offering insanely long warranties...something like four or five or more years, I don't remember, but only for the original owner. It was a gimmick. They knew they'd rarely have to stand behind them because people rarely kept their cars for more than three years. Personally, I fix what I can, I find new uses for things that I've finally replaced, and about the only time I throw anything away is if it's absolutely broken beyond any repair. Heck, my 'new' (to me..it's probably more than ten years old) lawn mower is running with the seat and one front wheel of my old one.

 

 

 

Just an aside on the ancient structures. I don't often watch the shows about ancient aliens but I happened to catch part of one the other night while waiting for the show I wanted to watch. They were talking about the 'fact' that if the Pyramids were filled with a particular gas, due to its shape and its being made of stone, it would generate a microwave beam that would shoot out into space and could supply power to an alien spacecraft. It was mentioned that this procedure can't be duplicated even with our technology today, which proves that it was an alien technology to begin with that is still far superior to ours. The 'expert' finished by saying, "Why else would they have built these things out of stone and in that shape?"

 

Maybe because that's the best building materials they had, and it's the most stable shape to build?

[Olham 164]

von Baur, I have recently seen some programs like yours about the pyramids - they are usually American programs,

bought by our private channels. They are on after 22 h, and they are always into something sensational.

 

How an alien attack could be survived by the human race, for example.

Now, why do we seriously think about something like that, when we may not even be able to survive our own deeds?

 

Another example for such "sensational" programs is "History Channel".

First I quite liked the show about Udet and Guynemer having their famous duell.

I had never known about it before. But since I get a bit deeper into WW1 aviation, I see it is overdone; they make the

aircraft appear as sharp and fast as F 18s in some parts.

And then they present a story here as facts, which was only ever told by Ernst Udet.

Guynemer never reported about the event. So it may not have happened at all, or not like Udet told it - who knows?

I also wonder, if Udet could have flown an Albatros D.III - in the summer of 1917 they should have had the D.V.

It's quite thin for a channel calling themselves "History Channel".

 

As for the pyramids: not everything great or big must be made by Aliens - the human race CAN do big things.

But we are as lazy as the animals, and we have mostly to get forced to do them.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

We have met the aliens, and they are us.

 

.

[von Baur 54]

Yes, Olham, I've lost quite a lot of faith in the History Channel lately.

 

Lou, your post brought to mind the "Twilight Zone" epsiode that starred Agnes Morehead, later to become known as Endora on "Bewitched". And starred may not be the right word, as it was really a one-woman show. She played an older woman, alone in her house way out in the boondocks (American slang for 'miles from nowhere'), when her home was invaded by tiny aliens, played by terribly unconvincing toys only an inch or so tall. She did her best to fend them off but their superior technology eventually won out and she was killed by the creatures. Not a word was spoken throughout the episode until after she'd been slain, at which point the aliens finally said something like, "Mission control, we're getting out of here. And mark this planet as too dangerous to return to. The inhabitants are gigantic. We only barely managed to survive." And then they zeroed in on the spaceship and it had American markings.

 

Rod Serling at his best.

 

 

Holy crap, if this gets any more off-topic we'll be discussing ballet and Mongolian cuisine.

 

 

GREAT PICTURES, OLHAM!!!

[Olham 164]

Mongolian cuisine? Hey, I try anything once! Damn, makes me realise: I'm hungry! (rushes off to kitchen...)

[Maeran 20]

I remember seeing a Mongolian restaurant in Portsmouth once. I didn't try it however.

 

 

 

Anyway, back to scarcely changed scenes.

 

Personally I find such continuity reassuring, not worrying. Not quite everything a man does is doomed to disappear in a generation. Those houses were built by men, and the local councillors once decided how the memorial should look.

 

I'm reminded of a profitable afternoon spent researching my great-grandfather. After an afternoon of pouring through about 6 year's worth of documents from the 1920's I stepped out into town with a real connection with the past. There was where the corn exchange was - now a bank, but the same building. And didn't the tram go down that way? And that's where Kings tailors was. They had a sale going on for nearly as long as modern discount furniture stores.

 

 

Such connections are really quite magical.

Edited May 7, 2012 by Maeran