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Poelkappelle remembers

  • 14-10-2013 1:30pm
    #1
    Pat Dunne
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,015 ✭✭✭


    I was recently sent the following link, http://www.p1917a.blogspot.ie/ As part on the centenary commemorations for the First World War, a group of locals in the village of Poelkapelle, Belgium, have decided to construct a replica Mk IV Tank.

    A brief history, Capt Jack Coghlan commanding a Mk IV tank took part in an action carried out by the Royal Tank Regiment in 1917 which liberated the village of Poelkapelle. Local legend has it that Capt. Coghlan from Dublin and his crew who were all “Geordies” took up position outside the local Café (Pub) to secure the village. During the action the tank was disabled when it was hit by a German anti-tank round. As a result of the extensive damage to the Mk IV was abandoned in the village by the Royal Tank Regiment.

    In the years following the armistice, the locals commemorated the action by including Capt. Coghlan’s MkIV as part of their monument to the Great War, becoming a local tourist attraction for the town in the 1920’s & 30’s. In a twist of fate during WW2, the Germans took the Mk IV for scrap metal and the people of Poelkapelle effectively lost their war memorial.

    Next year I plan to attend the commemoration ceremony at Poelkappelle when Capt. Coghlan’s “new Mk IV” will take to the field.

    Article corrected.


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