Crossroads at Gheluvelt

This famous painting was commissioned by the Green Howards in 1923. The Italian artist Fortunino Matania was able to reconstruct the scene from sketches made at the time, October 1914. The crossroads in question was in Gheluvelt but the painting was titled the Menin Crossroads despite the fact that it is also the Kruiseke Crossroads. Two of the figures are notable. The officer standing on the left holding a map is Lieutenant-Colonel King the CO who was killed two weeks later, on 30 Oct. The other one is the soldier in the foreground carrying a wounded man on his back. This is said to be Private Tandey who served in the Green Howards at that time. He later, on 27 July 1918, transferred to the 5th Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment where he was awarded his three bravery medals; VC, DCM and MM. He became famous as the soldier who did not shoot Corporal Adolf Hitler when he had the chance. Apparently Hitler had a photo of this painting on his wall at Berghof, and spoke to Neville Chamberlain about it, and how grateful he was to Henry Tandey for not killing him.

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