Peter Barton (historian)

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Peter Arthur Barton
Born28 March 1955
Nationality British
OccupationMilitary Historian

Author

Filmmaker

Peter Arthur Barton (born 28 March 1955) is a British military historian, author and filmmaker specialising in trench warfare during World War I. He has published extensively on military mining and aspects of battlefield archaeology on the Western Front, and led archaeological excavations that have been featured in several Time Team episodes. His work has led to the rediscovery of many tunnels, wartime panoramas and mass graves of soldiers.

Contents

Career

In 2005, Barton published Beneath Flanders Fields, a history of the British tunnellers fighting in the Ypres Salient from 1914 to 1918, for which he collaborated with Peter Doyle and Johan Vandewalle. Between 2006 and 2011, Barton rediscovered and published several panoramic perspectives of the Western Front which allow readers to view the battlefields from the Belgian coast to the British lines at the Somme. [1]

Livens Large Gallery Flame Projector Livens Large Gallery Flame Projector 2021.png
Livens Large Gallery Flame Projector

With his colleagues Simon Jones and Jeremy Banning, he has been involved in several large-scale archaeological projects on the former Western Front, including the successful dig at Zonnebeke near Ypres in January 2008 that rediscovered the Vampire dugout and the successful dig in May 2010 at Mametz on the Somme for surviving pieces of a Livens Large Gallery Flame Projector. The Zonnebeke excavation was shown on UK television as "The Lost WWI Bunker" ( Time Team Special 33, first aired on 10 November 2008), while the Mametz excavation was shown on UK television as "The Somme's Secret Weapon" (Time Team Special 42, first aired on 14 April 2011). A version of the latter documentary, entitled "Breathing Fire" was broadcast internationally in autumn 2011.

Barton designed the Tunnellers Memorial at Givenchy-lès-la-Bassée, unveiled on 19 June 2010, to commemorate the action on 26 June 1916 for which William Hackett of 254th Tunnelling Company was awarded the Victoria Cross. The memorial stands at the site of the Shaftesbury Shaft and the Red Dragon Crater. Its dimensions, 3.9 feet (120 cm) high and 2.6 feet (80 cm) wide, mirror the standard interior proportions of mine galleries constructed by the tunnelling companies in the Flanders clays. [2]

Working with the Red Cross' records at their headquarters in Geneva, Barton has examined records that have lain virtually untouched since 1918, and estimates that there could be 20 million sets of details, carefully entered on card indexes, or written into ledgers. [3] [4] Barton has also worked alongside Glasgow University Archaeology Research Division [5] to locate and explore mass graves at the Pheasant Wood site at Fromelles. [6] [7] The Australian Government commissioned him to carry out research into the identities of the casualties discovered.

La Boisselle mine crater, August 1916 La Boisselle mine crater Aug 1916 IWM Q 912.jpg
La Boisselle mine crater, August 1916

Since 2011, Barton, Jones and Banning have been involved with the La Boisselle Project of the La Boisselle Study Group, [8] a long-term archaeological, historical, technological and genealogical study of a site at Ovillers-la-Boisselle in the Somme department in Picardy in northern France. The area (known in the First World War as Îlot de La Boisselle to the French, as Granathof to the Germans and as Glory Hole to the British) still has mine craters as well as traces of trenches, shelters and tunnels related to underground warfare in this former sector of the front line. [9] Barton also wrote, produced and presented a television documentary on the archaeology of the World War I tunnels beneath La Boisselle, which was shown on UK television as "The Somme: Secret Tunnel Wars" (BBC Four, first aired on 20 May 2013). [10]

Barton also acts as co-secretary of the All Party Parliamentary War Graves and Battlefields Heritage Group. [11] The group consists of members from both Houses of Parliament and exists to support the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, to further educational programmes aimed at increasing knowledge of war heritage and battlefield sites, to support campaigners seeking to conserve and promote heritage sites, and to encourage best practice in multi-disciplinary battlefield archaeology.[ citation needed ]

Works

Related Research Articles

Zonnebeke Municipality in Flemish Community, Belgium

Zonnebeke is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the villages of Beselare, Gheluvelt, Passendale, Zandvoorde and Zonnebeke proper. On January 1, 2006, Zonnebeke had a total population of 11,758. The total area is 67.57 km2 which gives a population density of 174 inhabitants per km2.

Ovillers-la-Boisselle Commune in Hauts-de-France, France

Ovillers-la-Boisselle is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.

Lochnagar mine

The Lochnagar mine south of the village of La Boisselle in the Somme département was an underground explosive charge, secretly planted by the British during the First World War, to be ready for 1 July 1916, the first day on the Somme. The mine was dug by the Tunnelling Companies of the Royal Engineers under a German field fortification known as Schwabenhöhe.

The Ypres Salient around Ypres in Belgium was the scene of several battles and an extremely important part of the Western front during the First World War.

RE Grave, Railway Wood Commonwealth war graveyard near Ypres, France

RE Grave, Railway Wood is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) memorial and war grave located in the Ypres Salient on the Western Front. It is located on the Bellewaerde Ridge near Zillebeke, about 4 kilometres east of Ypres, and a little north of Hooge. The area of the Cambridge Road sector, halfway in between Wieltje and Hooge, was the site of intensive underground fighting in the First World War. The Liverpool Scottish Memorial, Railway Wood is located nearby.

Hooge Crater Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery

Hooge Crater Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission burial ground for the dead of the First World War located in the Ypres Salient in Belgium on the Western Front. Hooge Crater Cemetery is named after a mine crater blown nearby in 1915 and located near the centre of Hooge, opposite the "Hooge Crater Museum" and separated from it by the Menin Road. Hooge itself is a small village on the Bellewaerde Ridge, about 4 kilometres east of Ypres in the Flemish province of West Flanders.

Tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers British Army units in World War I

Royal Engineer tunnelling companies were specialist units of the Corps of Royal Engineers within the British Army, formed to dig attacking tunnels under enemy lines during the First World War.

The Vampire dugout, is a First World War underground shelter located near the Belgian village of Zonnebeke. It was created as a British brigade headquarters in early 1918 by the 171st Tunnelling Company of the Royal Engineers after the Third Battle of Ypres/Battle of Passchendaele.

Livens Large Gallery Flame Projectors were large experimental flamethrowers used by the British Army in World War I, named after their inventor, Royal Engineers officer William Howard Livens.

Sint-Elooi is a small village, about 5 km (3.1 mi) south of Ypres in the Flemish province of West Flanders in Belgium. The former municipality is now part of Ypres. Though Sint-Elooi is the Dutch and only official name, the village's French name, St. Eloi, is most commonly used in English due to its role in World War I. The village and the nearby locations of Voormezele and Hollebeke were merged into Zillebeke in 1970 and into Ypres in 1976.

177th Tunnelling Company Military unit

The 177th Tunnelling Company was one of the tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers created by the British Army during World War I. The tunnelling units were occupied in offensive and defensive mining involving the placing and maintaining of mines under enemy lines, as well as other underground work such as the construction of deep dugouts for troop accommodation, the digging of subways, saps, cable trenches and underground chambers for signals and medical services.

Hooge in World War I

In World War I, the area around Hooge on Bellewaerde Ridge, about 2.5 mi (4 km) east of Ypres in Flanders in Belgium, was one of the easternmost sectors of the Ypres Salient and was the site of much fighting between German and Allied forces.

174th Tunnelling Company Military unit

The 174th Tunnelling Company was one of the tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers created by the British Army during World War I. The tunnelling units were occupied in offensive and defensive mining involving the placing and maintaining of mines under enemy lines, as well as other underground work such as the construction of deep dugouts for troop accommodation, the digging of subways, saps, cable trenches and underground chambers for signals and medical services.

179th Tunnelling Company Military unit

The 179 Tunnelling Company was one of the tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers created by the British Army during World War I. The tunnelling units were occupied in offensive and defensive mining involving the placing and maintaining of mines under enemy lines, as well as other underground work such as the construction of deep dugouts for troop accommodation, the digging of subways, saps, cable trenches and underground chambers for signals and medical services. 179th Tunnelling Company is particularly known for its role at L'îlot de La Boisselle and for firing the Lochnagar mine during the Battle of the Somme 1916. The Lochnagar mine formed part of a series of 19 mines that were placed beneath the German lines on the British section of the Somme front to assist the start of the battle.

183rd Tunnelling Company Military unit

The 183rd Tunnelling Company was one of the tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers created by the British Army during World War I. The tunnelling units were occupied in offensive and defensive mining involving the placing and maintaining of mines under enemy lines, as well as other underground work such as the construction of deep dugouts for troop accommodation, the digging of subways, saps, cable trenches and underground chambers for signals and medical services.

185th Tunnelling Company Military unit

The 185th Tunnelling Company was one of the tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers created by the British Army during World War I. The tunnelling units were occupied in offensive and defensive mining involving the placing and maintaining of mines under enemy lines, as well as other underground work such as the construction of deep dugouts for troop accommodation, the digging of subways, saps, cable trenches and underground chambers for signals and medical services.

Mines on the first day of the Somme

The 19 mines on the first day of the Somme comprised a series of underground explosive charges, secretly planted by British tunnelling units beneath the German front lines on the Western Front during the First World War, ready to be detonated in the morning of Saturday 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme. The joint explosion of these mines ranks among the largest artificial non-nuclear explosions.

L'îlot de La Boisselle is a small, 3.12-hectare (7.7-acre) historic site in the commune of Ovillers-la-Boisselle in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France. L'îlot was heavily fought over during the First World War, when it was known as Granathof to the Germans and as Glory Hole to British soldiers. The site is private property and open to the public by appointment with Claudie LLewellyn.

References

  1. ↑ "Peter Barton | Military History". Constablerobinson.com. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  2. ↑ "Memorial Details | Tunnellers Memorial".
  3. ↑ "Piecing together the past". BBC. 13 March 2009.
  4. ↑ macrusk (16 April 2014). "Original Red Cross Records WWI, WWII Found – Military Service Records & Genealogical Research – WWII Forums". Ww2f.com. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  5. ↑ http://fffaif.org.au/2009/06/10/aubers-ridge-service/ Archived 4 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ "Page Not Found". cwgc.org.{{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  7. ↑ "War Heritage".
  8. ↑ La Boisselle Project, access date 31 October 2016
  9. ↑ La Boisselle Project, access date 31 October 2016
  10. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01skvnh, access date 31 October 2016
  11. ↑ http://www.wargravesheritage.org.uk www.wargravesheritage.org.uk
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