Please ID monument airplane

Seeflieger · 28 September 2016, 02:25 AM

Hello,
today I´d like to show you this photograph probably taken in the 1930s or later judged by the quality of the photographic paper/emulsion. I have no clue where this is, could be England, Belgium, France. I am sceptical about Germany.
Can anybody identify the monument or make an informed guess?
Thank you!
Seeflieger

Froggy · 28 September 2016, 05:14 AM

Bonjour

It was a monument for memory of Georges Guynemer at Malo les Bains
near Dunkerque

Destroyed by German troops on may1941

http://www.aerosteles.net/stelefr-malo-guynemer

the bust of guynemer could be recovered and it is part of another visible monument at Dunkerque today near a museum Rue des Chantiers de France
(look with google earth)
http://www.aerosteles.net/stelefr-dunkerque-guynemer

Cordialement
Bruno

Seeflieger · 28 September 2016, 05:40 AM

Wow!
that´s what I call a quick and substantial answer!
Thank´s a lot.
If you´d like an unmarked scan send me a PN with private mail (or can you attach files to PNs?) and I´ll be happy to mail it to you. It does not seem to have been pictured often from that perspective.
Seeflieger

VtwinVince · 9 October 2016, 09:26 PM

Any details on why this monument was destroyed?

Froggy · 10 October 2016, 12:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VtwinVince

Any details on why this monument was destroyed?

Probably because the Nazis were aware that Guynemer
was a great patriotic symbol for the France-
The photo with the German soldiers was taken just before it was demolished

VtwinVince · 10 October 2016, 09:20 AM

Merci Froggy. I would think the Nazis would have regarded him as a great patriot and heroic flyer. Many other monuments were left alone.

Volker_Nemsch · 13 October 2016, 02:05 AM

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"I would think the Nazis would have regarded him as a great patriot and heroic flyer. Many other monuments were left alone."

The problem with those ideological idiots (Nazis, Communists, etc.) is, that only the own side has real heroes and even the best men of the "other side" are inferior when it comes to a direct comparison.

An example for a saved monument is the "The wall of the Israelites at Fleury-devant-Douaumont" next to the "Ouvrage de Thiaumont" and the "Ossuaire de Douaumont" near Verdun. Some Nazis had the plan to demolish this one as well, but it was prevented by other German soldiers, who had respect for the French soldiers of the Great War. Maybe some French Forumites have more details about that story...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douaumont_Ossuary

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...vant-Douaumont
.

Froggy · 13 October 2016, 03:28 AM

I read somewhere that the monument had been hidden by wooden barricades during WW2
but that anyway the Germans did not touch Douaumont because they had respect for the french 'poilus' of ww1-and-probably German high ranked officers fought during the great war ..

Volker_Nemsch · 13 October 2016, 08:04 AM

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You are right, Froggy.

Many of the high ranking German officers and generals of WW2 spent some time near Verdun during WW1. The young soldiers/officers of 1914/18 were promoted to higher ranks after the war: roughly a third of the general field marshals ("Generalfeldmarschall") of the Wehrmacht had made some own experiences around Verdun, also witnessing the courage of the French soldiers during the horrible fights.

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VtwinVince · 14 October 2016, 04:22 PM

Danke, Volker. Of course we should keep in mind that destroying monuments goes way back. The French destroyed da Vinci's mock-up of the Sforza equestrian statue when they captured Milan.