On one of my photos i have this sign 16 Sept 1944 anyone know what happened there . Some sort of Explosion. Keith
Was the photograph taken near Bergues (Nord), France, or somewhere nearby? It is fairly close to Dunkirk. I believe the Germans had undermined one of the buildings in the village during their withdrawal to the Dunkirk perimeter in 1944. It was blown on 16 September leading to many civilians being wounded or killed, although I am not exactly sure of the exact numbers. The Town Hall at Bergues would have the numbers involved. The Bergues incident was a sad and very tragic episode. After living through the German Occupation the inhabitants never lived to see the freedom they had longed for since 1940. This is a translation of the sign: "Here, on 16 September 1944, after 10 days of siege, an attack was perpetrated against the innocent. Explosion prepared by enemy before its withdrawal to Dunkirk. 42 killed. 60 wounded. Passers-by Remember !!!" ======================= (Additional information) I have just found the following article on a French language 'Histoires du Nord' blog on the Internet, which was written in September 2007 (63rd anniversary of the massacre at Bergues): http://histoiresdunord.blogspot.co.uk/2007/09/attentat-du-16-septembre-1944-albert.html According to this article there were 42 people killed and 'about' 60 wounded. This would seem to match with the information on your photograph.
