Mons, Arras, Neuve Chapelle and Ypres 2007.

[MikeP]

August 23rd, and a short trip to the Western Front was embarked upon.

The original plan was for myself, Clive, GWR (Greg) and ecnirpr (Ryan) to spend six nights in northern France and southern Belgium.

Clive's illness meant that he was unable to join in. A particular shame as it had really come from the germ of an idea he planted lasted year in the area.

Once Greg had finished work on Thursday 23rd, we set off for Downton where Ryan's parents (my brother and sister-in-law) put us up at short notice so that we could all set out together the next day.

Loaded and ready to leave Downton on the Friday morning.

Yesterday being the 23rd August, was the 93rd anniversary of the first full battle that involved the BEF, Mons 1914.

We headed off to the tunnel making good enough time to allow us to choose a cross country route to where we would be pitching camp for the first three nights.

Just outside the tunnel complex we pulled over to set the first destination into my Navigator.

Greg's elderly neighbour, Reg has an uncle buried in the CWGC cemetery at Wimereux. He's unlikely to be able to make the visit himself now owing to his age, so we called in there on his behalf.

The Wimereux CWGC site is actually a part of a normal cemetery and is now within the suburbs of the town.

It's unusual in that the headstones are laid flat.

Being a member of the RBL, I'd brought with me a number of their small wooden crosses (obtainable for a nominal fee that goes towards the Poppy Fund). Greg dedicated one to Reg's uncle,

Made an entry on Reg's behalf in the visitors book,

Then we located the grave and placed the cross.

Along with the photo's, I managed to get some movie footage of the cemetery (before I cocked-up with the camera!) so we can put together something for Reg to keep.

We made our way eastwards via little D roads and discovered that this part of France has far more to offer than is usually seen by holiday makers thundering down Autoroutes in their urge to distance themselves from the Channel ports (but don't tell them ).

We were heading for Boiry Notre Dame, a small village east of Arras where Clive and I had camped a year before.

We made it in good time, able to set up camp in the remaining daylight.

We ate in the camp restaurant, good food and plenty of it.

Saturday 25th. We headed east along the Cambrai road and on to Le Cateau, where we turned north towards Mons, following the route taken by the BEF as they advanced to meet Von Kluck's 1st Army that was swinging south in the "right-hook" of the Schleiffen Plan.

Le Cateau was where Sir John French had his command. I Corps and II Corps meanwhile were heading north to protect the exposed left flank of the French 5th Army.

I Corps under Douglas Haig took up position south east of Mons, near St Symphorien.

II Corps under Horace Smith-Dorien was strung out over a nine mile frontage, it's right flank along the Mons Conde canal.

We followed the same route taken by II Corps that led us through the small town of Malplaquet, scene of Marlborough's final victory against the French in the Spanish War of Succession in 1709.

There stands a memorial to all the combatants of the battle just north of Malplaquet.

There is a photo of BEF officers beside this memorial on their way north to Mons in August 1914.

Reaching Mons, we passed over the canal and made for Casteau where today SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe) has it's base. Just opposite the entrance is the place where German and British forces first engaged on 22nd August when C Squadron 4 Dragoon Guards clashed with German cavalry.

We turned about and headed for Quais des Anglais (as it is now called), where II Corps were positioned on the southern bank of the canal.

I have to confess an interest here as my old regiment (and that of my paternal grandfather who was a regular at the outbreak of the war), Royal Fusiliers, were positioned to cover the approaches to a railway bridge over the canal.

Under the bridge is a small memorial and a plaque.

Lt Maurice Dease was in charge of the battalion machine guns.

II Corps were expecting the enemy in similar strength. Smith-Dorien did not know that he was facing anything between 3 and 5 full Corps.

Despite the difference in numbers, the British were regulars. Highly trained and disciplined. Most notably they were first-class marksmen who could fire twenty aimed rounds per minute at ranges of a 1000 yards.

So effective and rapid was the rifle fire that the Germans were convinced that British Infantry battalions were equipped with large numbers of machine guns.

Maurice Dease was wounded several times as he directed and controlled his two machine guns up on the bridge parapet. His actions ensured that the advancing German Divisions were stopped in their tracks. When he finally succumbed to his wounds and all the gunners were dead or wounded, Private Sid Godley manned a machine gun alone. He too was wounded several times but he continued to man the gun until his wounds and lack of ammunition forced him to give up his position.

Before leaving his place, he smashed the machine gun against a bridge stanchion and then threw it into the canal.

Godley managed to make it to an aid station despite his loss of blood. He was taken prisoner and was awarded his VC in captivity by the Germans.

Smith-Dorien, realised that II Corps position was untenable (and being an Infantryman, unusual amongst generals at that time), he had prepared a fall-back position. He knew that his own left flank was "in the air" and in great danger of being outflanked, he made steps to withdraw his Corps at midnight (not an easy operation to extricate troops in contact).

To the south east of Mons is St Symphorien cemetery. If you only ever visit one CWGC cemetery, make it this one.

St Symphorien started as a German war grave but the Germans also buried the BEF dead here too.

Here you will find former enemies laying in the same place, enemies no longer.

Here too you will find the grave of Private Parr, Middlesex Regiment, killed on 21st August 1914, the first British soldier to die of the hundreds of thousands that followed.

(Sorry no photo's as I have some film of these graves).

Across from Private Parr lies Private Ellison of the 5th Lancers, the last British soldier to die in action on 11th November 1918.

This isn't contrived. It just so happens that the Great War ebbed and flowed back and forth from Mons between August 1914 and November 1918.

Also buried here is Private George Price, the last Canadian soldier killed in the Great War, also on Armistice Day.

Just ahead and to one side of Private Price lays Lt Maurice Dease VC.

I've been here before but this time I wanted to leave a cross with my own message.

I may be a bit soft but I also left crosses on a few graves of those with no name.

We set off from St Symphorien in a subdued spirit. It really is quite a humbling place. It's also in the most perfect location.

Smith-Dorien had tasked 5 Division commander to screen the exposed left flank. For this the Divisional commander (Fergusson) detailed 1st Bn Cheshires and 1st Bn Norfolks to a position between Eloges and Audregnies. They had some cavalry from the 4th Dragoon Guards and 9th Lancers screening their flank.

You can find the line (now a track) that the two battalions dug and look over the same ground that they faced the Germans. The charge by the DG and Lancers that came to an abrupt halt by a wire fence can still be seen in your minds eye.

These units stood their ground and halted the German advance, allowing the rest of II Corps to disengage and begin what was to become the long retreat to Le Cateau either side of the forest of Mormal.

The Cheshires in fact never received the order to disengage and when they eventually surrendered to the German advance, of 1,000 men only 2 officers and 200 men remained.

We rode down the track that was once their defensive line. It's muddy and badly rutted but Ryan still managed it on Tourances.

Sadly my cock-up with the camcorder means that we have no footage or photo's (I intend to return, maybe with others who want to do a detailed tour next year).

Now we turned south and again followed the BEF route in their retreat from Mons.

We stopped just short of the Cambrai road at Le Cateau. Side by side is a CWGC and a German cemetery.

Here at Le Cateau, Smith-Dorien decided to turn and give the enemy a 'stopping blow.'

He knew by now that the French 5th Army was in headlong retreat to the right. He believed that Haig's I Corps was heavily engaged somewhere to his right. Sir John French wasn't happy with this decision but did not countermand it.

II Corps then took up positions along the Cambrai road from Le Cateau, westwards. Critical to this defensive position was a sunken road south of the Cambrai road.

The defensive ambush was spectacularly successful. A French cavalry division under Le Sordet screened Smith-Doriens left and tied down a German Corps while II Corps stunned the German advance.

You know those guns that the Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery fire in Green park on the Queens birthday?

Well they are 18 pounders. All are WWI vintage.

Similar guns were positioned in front of the sunken road and engaged the advancing Germans over "open sights" (aimed by looking down the barrel effectively), something their counterparts a hundred years previously would have understood just a few miles north of Mons at Waterloo!

These guns were then limbered-up and crossed the sunken road at the charge where infantry stood and cheered.

We stopped in the sunken road and tried to imagine the scene. War is never glorious but the actions of men can be worthy of that word.

It is deeper than it looks.

It isn't the original tree but one that has been planted in the same spot that one stood. The original was thought to be too much of an aiming mark so an attempt to fell it was made. The trouble was, it threatened to fall into the sunken road and prevent horse drawn traffic from using it. It was then shored-up to avoid this potential disaster.

The stand at Le Cateau slowed the German pursuit but Smith-Dorien was never forgiven by his superior. After Le Cateau, the German advance that ended on the Marne never really threatened the British again. The battle of the Marne turned the Germans back and they were then pursued north and east as the armies tried to find an exposed flank.

This became the race to the Channel and ended with a front-line that stretched from the Swiss border to the coast of Belgium. Both sides began to dig in.

We made it back to the campsite after a saga of trying to find fuel.

Next day we will be covering the Battle of Arras, the taking of Vimy Ridge and the bitter fighting around Roux.

Later we move on to Neuve Chapelle, Sanctuary Wood, Polygon Wood (First Battle of Ypres) and Third Yrpres (Passchendaele) and Tyne Cot. On the way we visit a grave of a friends father and the Theipval Memorial.

 

[Hustler]

Thank you for an excellent and very informative report MikeP.
It is a subject I have an interest in as 2 of my Great Uncles died in this area and I have done some research and made visits to the area.
But thank you for taking the time to post this, most appreciated.

 

[HotPinkLady]

Thanks for such a brilliant write up on what was obviously an emotional trip..

My granddad was in the BEF - ist bn Rifle Brigade and although only a little girl when he was about I can remember him talking of the RETIREMENT from Mons rather than a retreat.. A proud old boy. Have made many trips over to France and Belgium to pay my respects - we must never forget......

Thanks for the time and effort it took to do your write up.. Cheers

 

[MikeP]

The next day, Sunday 26th, we stayed fairly local and concentrated on the battle of Arras 1917.

First stop was Vimy Ridge. I've visited twice before but I wanted Greg and Ryan to experience the place, it is central to the battle and the Canadian Memorial has only recently been unveiled after its restoration.

We approached Vimy from the north, across the Douai Plain, the open flat country across which the General Staff had hoped the offensive would allow the great breakout to occur. Alas, yet again the breakout never happened and stalemate returned despite the great gains (relative to First World War advances) made.

On 9th April 1917, the Canadian Corps, having the heights of Vimy to scale in their sector of the British assault, crossed their start lines some hours before troops further to the south engaged in the same battle were to do.

Troops who had been sheltering in the ancient tunnels, opened out and further excavated under Arras, emerged and began their epic struggle to knock the Germans off the high ground of Vimy Ridge.

Since 1915, French and British assaults had tried and failed to dislodge the German defenders.

Now, due to a combination of good planning, experience learned in the charnel-house of the Somme offensive, the new German defensive tactic of "elastic defence" and sheer determination, the Canadian Corps stormed and took the ridge.

So significant was this action that Canada, recently raised from Dominion status to a nation in her own right, saw the event as the day that she could rightfully take her place in the world as coming of age.

The memorial raised and unveiled in 1936 reflects this and it's good to see it restored so beautifully high on the ridge overlooking the Douai Plain.

We parked in the main car park. Greg and Ryan set off to wander the preserved trenches.

While they were in the visitor centre, I prepared a picnic lunch.

If you do go to Vimy the exhibits in the visitor centre are very much centred on the Canadian effort. The British forces that also took part in the assault get very little mention, nor does the fact that all the artillery support was British, the Canadian Coprs commander was a Briton or that of the Canadian troops, less than 25% were born Canadians, the vast majority were recent emigre's from the 'Old' country.

That's not said to denigrate the achievement, in fact there are some accounts by Canadians who put the whole success down to the effectiveness of the artillery preparation.

Whatever the justification, the Canadian memorial is truly beautiful and well worth the visit if you are in the area.

It's not until you get up close that you see the sheer quality of the design and workmanship.

It is fitting that a memorial to a nations dead displays such attention to detail. It says a great deal about the value of the lives it commemorates.

Photographs just cannot convey the beauty. Go there and see and feel it for yourself if you have the chance.

From the monument, you will get a view of the Douai Plain.

This puts the importance of the ridge into perspective when you remember that in the Great War, any height advantage, even the slightest, was fought over for its control because of the advantage it gave artillery observers. More than any other war until then, the Great War was an artillery war.

We moved on and visited the Litchfield Crater. One of many craters in the area but this one is a war grave.

Access is best by bike. It's down a narrow track and parking would be a problem for cars.

Next stop was a personal one. We turned south through Arras to Neuville-Vitasse and London Cemetery where a family member is buried.

My paternal great-uncle and Ryan's paternal great-great-uncle was killed on the first day of the Battle of Arras.

We have both visited his grave previously, myself in November 2005 and June 2006, and Ryan came here in September 2006.

It was good to visit together and leave a marker.

We also spent some time going over the battlefield. With Clive's aid last year, I was able to find the various trenches and strong points.

Another, this time maternal great-uncle coincidentally served in the same battalion and was wounded the same day here. Fred died when the hospital ship transporting him home was torpedoed in the Channel on the 17th April 1917.

We now turned north and back towards the campsite, heading for Fampoux and another sunken road.

Fampoux was in British hands towards the end of the battle in late April 1917. It was the jumping-off point for the attempts to take the town of Roux.

The little town of Roux was the scene of some of the most bitter fighting. Unbeknown to the British it was heavily defended with a network of concrete bunkers cleverly camouflaged and hidden.

Time and time again it was attacked with horrific losses. The reasons are hard to grasp now. The wider picture needs to be understood.

The whole of the Arras offensive was meant to draw the German reserves so that the French could launch a massive offensive further to the south. The French however had a crisis of confidence in their military commander, he was replaced at the eleventh hour and at the same time there was a mutiny in the French army. Consequently their assault never really took off.

At the same time, the British Prime Minister, Lloyd George had been against the tactics of his own General Staff. LG wanted over-all control to be in the hands of the French. The French failure gave the British General Staff the opportunity to wrest control back again and continuing the assault was a means to maintain that control.

Alongside the Fampoux sunken road is a CWGC cemetery. It overlooks the ground over which the troops advanced.

In the above photo, Roux can be seen in the distant low ground. Over these fields advanced the men now laying in the cemetery not realising that they were advancing into a killing ground enfiladed by well sited machine guns in concrete bunkers.

Very few survived. Unusually, very close to the cemetery is a memorial to the Seaforth Highlanders who died here in their hundreds.

To the south and west of Roux itself is a track. This track is the line of the British front line trench known as Crump Trench.

Follow the track and you will find a long narrow cemetery, Crump Trench cemetery.

Follow the trench line and you will come to a shaded area.

Here a flight of steps lead up to another cemetery, Roux Cemetery.

These small, peaceful out of the way CWGC sites are incredible places. Personally I find them much more moving than the massed ranks of headstones in the large cemeteries.

Here, although those interred in the cemetery have been gathered in from the surrounding area, you know that in the main, they lay near where they fought and died. The fact that two or three such sites are in such close proximity forces home the nature of the circumstances in which these young men died.

They are much more human and personal than the serried rank upon rank of headstones that can numb the senses by the sheer scale of numbers.

You are more likely to be alone here in these little peaceful places that once saw such horrors. It's that very peace that makes them so incredibly moving places to spend a little time.

Just a little time. So small a price of time compared to the price paid by those who lay here.

 

[davidgibson999]

thanks for posting that report! great pics.
Something I'd love to do in the not too distant future...

 

[Monsieur]

Truly moving post, again. Thanks.

 

[Invicta Moto]

Nice to see Vimy is open again. We went last autumn and it was shrouded in a huge plastic sheet as they were doing restoration work on the monument.

I always like your trip write-ups, always well written and informative.

 

[MikeP]

Leaving Roux Cemetery along what's left of Crump Trench.

Camp broken and packed-up for the off to Belgium where we had a campsite booked south west of Ieper (Ypres).

In conversation with a member of my old Army Boy Service Association, I discovered that his father was buried in a cemetery extension not far off our intended route so I had planned to find his father's grave for him.

On the way to Longeuval I spotted a memorial standing alone on a hill top.

There is a lane leading to the site. It then circles the memorial that stands in the middle of arable land.

It's a memorial to the South African troops who fought in this area.

It's impossible to visit this area and see every memorial or CWGC site. That reinforces (if needed) the extent of the front and the concentration of death and devastation that took place ninety years ago.

We arrived at Longueval Cemetery and Extension.

It's hard to find the right description for such places. Beautiful does fit but somehow isn't right when you consider the reason why such places exist at all.

My friends father was a regular soldier serving with a later BEF in 1940. Although this cemetery is primarily a Great War one, it was extended and includes men who fought a later German invader.

Bert never knew his father. He was killed in the action that was a rearguard to slow the German advance to the coast and thereby buy time for the Dunkirk evacuations.

The extension is the semi-circular area behind the cross of sacrifice.

Here I found Bert's father's grave.

I placed another of the RBL crosses on Bert's behalf.

I've sent some of these photo's to Bert who has been able to show them to his children and grandchildren.

There were some workers attending to the grounds when we arrived. Greg made the effort to approach them and thank them for keeping the places so well. They appreciated his thanks in turn.

Following the Navigator, we were treated to more great little French rural roads (I always set the road preferences as low as possible and have never been disappointed).

Before long we were treated to a view that is iconic in it's own right.

The huge Theipval Memorial to the Somme missing.

There is a decent car park and an excellent visitor centre. Entrance is free and the little book shop is stocked with reproduced trench maps and guide books written in the years just after the Great War. Most publications provide a donation to the RBL, so buying there is a good thing.

Passing through the visitor centre, the path leads through the trees to the broad lawned avenue to the memorial.

The Portland stone panels are inscribed with the names of the missing by regiment, corps or unit and then listed alphabetically.

Above each panel is a boss with the name of specific battles inscribed.

Here we were looking for the name of Ryan's maternal great-great-uncle, R.F. Jerome who was killed while serving with the Sussex Regiment.

The memorial registers will speed up any search but for me, reading through the regimental and corps names and then through the names of the missing forces me to absorb the enormity of the events more.

Coincidentally, a few above Ryan's uncle's name is Greg's surname! Greg doesn't know of any family members that died in the Great War, not because none certainly were but like most of us, the information isn't readily available now that older generations have died. Ryan knew nothing about this particular uncle whose name is recorded here until a week before we set out. Of my own uncles I knew vaguely of one and nothing of the other until eighteen months ago.

There cannot be a family in the UK who has not got someone who was killed in the Great War. I'd suggest that if you don't know of someone in your family, ask the older generation now. You may be surprised by what you find.

There is also a grave site here. On the right are British and Commonwealth graves, on the left those are of Frenchmen.

It was now passed lunch time so we brewed-up in the car park. Pate and bread followed by frankfurter sausages and/or ham with lashings of Dijon mustard, then coffee.

We pushed on towards Ieper and our next campsite still following the Navigator route down some nice rural tracks.

We did admit defeat when one quickly petered out into nothing. If the bikes had been unloaded and all of us had been on TKC's we would have pressed on into the unknown as in my experience the Garmin routes are rarely wrong. In this case discretion seemed the better part of valour!

Onwards into southern Belgium again.

Camping Ypra is located on the Kemmelberg (mount Kemmel) just outside the village of the same name and about 25 kms south of Ieper.

I'd booked for three nights by email, we registered and were pointed towards the tent area.

A point to note. If you visit this area of Belgium and do not speak Flemish, speak English. Most of the locals speak good English. Under no circumstances speak French to the locals!

They are fiercely proud of not being French and do not like to be mistaken for being French.

Seriously. The distinctly iffy service that you get in this region will be a whole lot worse if you address anyone in French.

Camping Ypra is a nice site with good toilet and shower facilities. There's a bar and a small shop but no restaurant. It's mainly laid out for semi-permanent caravans. The tent area is near the top of the hill in what during the winter months doubles as a paddock for the horses that seem very much a part of the life in these parts.

When we arrived, it was fairly busy. Sort of circled in the centre was a collection of tents occupied by some very earnest, possibly religious young people and their odd collection of pedal cycles.

We pitched our camp making use of the paddock fence to position the tarps against the prevailing wind.

Showered, we made our way into Kemmel, where we were assured by the campsite owner, that there was a bar/restaurant.

Either we got the wrong place or what constitutes a restaurant in this part of the world differs from the rest of civilisation.

All we could get was some dry bread with a slice of ham between plus some little white cocktail pickled-onions!

Asking for large beers caused a problem too. After one round we had exhausted the bar's supply of large glasses so the second round had to wait for the glasses to be washed and re-used!

At the risk of upsetting the Belgian Forum members, this is a theme that I will warm to. In the past, I have been less than enamoured with Belgian roads and the standard of driving. Forget what you may think about French or Spanish drivers. Belgians are the worst in Europe. Add to that the fact that most of Belgium seems to be permanently on half-day closing hours and it's not the most attractive part of Europe to spend time!

Still we were here for a purpose and the next couple of days were spent pursuing that purpose.

Oh and by the way, when we got back to the tents, our suspicions about the earnest young people were confirmed when they broke out their guitars and started singing Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam (or similar)!

To be continued.......