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WESSEX BRANCH WESTERN FRONT ASSOICATION
BATTLEFIELD TOUR “CHEMIN DES DAMES” 14th-17th SEPTEMBER 2017
We departed from Pimperne on our 14th Battlefield Tour at 0500 hours on a dark, chilly and autumnal Thursday morning. Reunited once again with Derek our driver from Mainline, accompanied by his wife, we drove towards Salisbury. Stopping there, more members joined our tour party which was completed at Fleet services with the addition of another member. Leaving thirty minutes later, we resumed our journey and made very good progress arriving at the Dover Ferry terminal at 0915 hours. Being ahead of schedule and passing through passport control we boarded the P & O Ferry ‘Spirit of Burgundy’ which sailed for Calais at 1030 hours. Passing by the entrance into the harbour and viewed from the starboard side, there is an imposing War Memorial at the end of the quay commemorating three British regiments who participated in the Defence of Calais in May 1940. The text of the inscription reads: ‘To The Glory Of God And In Memory Of All Riflemen Of The King’s Royal Rifle Corps, The Rifle Brigade And Queen Victoria’s Rifles Who Fell Defending Calais May 23-26 1940’. Docking at 1115 hours (French time), after a comfortable channel crossing we drove out of the port along the A26 towards Lens.
Exiting the A26 we turned on the D937 and made a stop at Souchez to visit the ‘Lens 14-18’ War & Peace History Centre, a new museum dedicated to the Great War situated at the bottom of the hill of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette. We were greeted at the entrance to the museum by a friendly and enthusiastic staff. Designed by Pierre-Louis Faloci, the building is a complex structure of black concrete cubes – called chapels. The exhibition, produced by Yves Le Maner, sets out in thematic and chronological order the progression of the First World War, using museographic techniques, film, photographs, artefacts, letters and maps. Visitors are able to access, the records of 580,000 soldiers, commemorated on the Ring of Remembrance – The International Memorial of the Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, inaugurated on the 11th November 2014. The Wessex Branch WFA was the first branch to visit the museum which everyone enjoyed and found interesting. It is worthy of inclusion into an itinerary of a future battlefield tour.
Leaving at 1515 hours and continuing on D937 we had good distant views of the Double Crassier and passed by a number of large First World War Cemeteries. In Cabaret Rouge British Cemetery there are 7,650 burials of British Empire servicemen, over 50% of them are unidentified. The cemetery gets its name from a nearby café built in red brick with red roof tiles which was totally destroyed in May 1915. The cemetery was begun in March 1916 and continued to be used until September 1918. In May 2000 the remains of an unknown Canadian soldier was removed and re-interred in a tomb at the foot of the National War Memorial in Canada. His original grave in still marked in the cemetery.
La Targette British Cemetery Neuville-St-Vaast, formerly known as Aux-Rietz Military Cemetery contains 638 burials of the First World War, 41 of them unidentified and 3 Second World War graves, only one of which is identified. The cemetery begun in April 1917 was used by Field Ambulance units until September 1918. Nearly one-third of the casualties are artillerymen. La Targette French Cemetery, Neuville-St-Vaast, contains 11,443 burials of the First World War and 593 of the Second World War. Most of the former casualties were killed during the Second Battle of Artois fought in May and June 1915. French colonial troops are buried in a Muslim section. Remains of the unidentified of both world wars were placed in an ossuary. Both of these cemeteries, adjacent to each other occupy a land area of over 50,000 square metres.
Neuville-St-Vaast German Military Cemetery is the largest German military cemetery in France. Containing 44,833 burials of which 8,040 are unidentified and lie in a mass grave. The majority of the burials were concentrated here from other cemeteries north and east of Arras between 1919 and 1923. A large monument was erected in the cemetery after the war to commemorate soldiers of the Hanoverian Infantry Regiment No.164.
We remained on the D937 and drove into Arras for a one hour break taking the opportunity for a walk and refreshments. Leaving Arras at 1545 hours re-joining the A26 we motored on until we reached the Vis-en-Artois Memorial and Cemetery, at Haucourt. Prior to getting off the coach Rod gave a talk about the cemetery and memorial. He gave brief biographical details about three posthumous Victoria Cross recipients, who are commemorated on the memorial ~ Corporal Allan Leonard Lewis VC 8th Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment, Chief Petty Officer George Prowse VC DCM “Drake” Battalion, Royal Naval Division and Sergeant Frederick Charles Riggs VC MM 6th Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment. Members then spent time in the cemetery and looking at the memorial panels before we departed there at 1715 hours. A pleasant early evening drive took us towards Reims. At 1845 hours we arrived at our hotel in Tinqueux on the outskirts of Reims. Assigned to our rooms with time to freshen up, after which members then gathered together for an evening meal before retiring to bed.
After breakfast on Friday morning we left our hotel a 0900 hours looking forward to a full day’s battlefield tour beginning at Fort de la Pompelle. Before we got off the coach Martin outlined the history of the fort and the fighting which took place in this sector during the war. Situated beside the D931 the fort also known as Fort Herbillon was one of a series of forts in Séré de Riviéres system built between 1880 and 1883. General Raymond Séré de Riviéres (1815-1895) was the originator of this system to build a series of forts along the frontiers and coast of France as a defensive barrier’s against potential invaders. Most were obsolescent by 1914 but the principle of fortified towns as defensive screens which could be used for counter-attacks or as a defensive curtain to block the progress of an aggressor remained extant. Surrounding Fort de la Pompelle is a dry moat which was covered by two level caponiers designed to provide flanking fire on any belligerent trying to cross the moat. The fort’s main armament of 6 x 150mm guns, 4 x 138mm guns, plus smaller artillery pieces and machine guns was garrisoned by 270 artillery troops. In 1913 the fort was demilitarised but on the outbreak of the First World War it was reinstated and fully garrisoned. The Germans occupied Fort de la Pompelle on the 4th September 1914 but were driven out by the French on the 26th. The fort became an important part of the French defensive network around the Reims. Although assaulted and subjected to intense German shellfire it remained in the possession of the French throughout the war.
In 1916 Tsar Nicholas II sent two Russians brigades to support the French in defending the fort and a French naval unit was deployed nearby to bombard the German lines. In the spring of 1918 during the Second Battle of the Marne the German launched three attacks, supported in June with tanks. These assaults were repelled by the 1st Colonial Infantry Corps. At the end of the First World War the fort was abandoned and put up for sale in 1955. Purchased by the Fedération Nationale André Maginot they sold it to the city of Reims for one franc! Fort de la Pompelle had been classed as an historic monument in 1922 and is now a museum which opened in November 1972, having been renovated and the structure stabilised. For the First World War centennial events Reims city authorities financed essential repairs, refurbished the interior and improved visitor facilities.
By the side of the wide pathway leading to the fort’s entrance is a demarcation stone, marking the furthest line reached by the Germans in 1918. They were created by the sculptor Paul Mareau -Vauthier (1871-1936) and erected along the 650-kilometre front from the Belgian coast to the Franco-Swiss border. They were paid for by charitable donations and in Belgium there are 22 and 96 in France. The La Pompelle marker was paid for by the Mexican Association of War Veterans. The New Mexico Infantry Regiment of three battalions were mobilised for war on the 24th April 1917 and the regiment became part of the 40th Division of the American National Guard. They were reorganised into the 143rd Machine-Gun Battalion and the 115th Train HQ & Military Police Battalion. The First New Mexico Artillery were assigned to the 146th Field Artillery Regiment, 66th Artillery Brigade in the 41st US Infantry Division and after arrival in France entered the front lines with the Americans in July 1918. When the 40th Division arrived in France they became a depot division for training and supplying reinforcements drafts to depleted American front line units. Two hundred Mexicans fought in the ranks of the French Colonial Corps in Reims sector in 1918. Displayed in an open area in front of the fort are two artillery pieces one French the other Italian. In the glorious morning sunshine we had a group photograph taken in front of the Russian Memorial, erected in September 2012.
Fort de la Pompelle museum has a magnificent collection of artefacts and memorabilia displayed throughout the underground passages and side chambers. Forming the centrepiece of the collection are over 100 pickelhaubes, headdresses, emblems and arms of the Imperial German Army spanning the years 1870-1914, assembled by Charles Friesé (1901-1970). An inveterate collector he was born in Paris, served in the latter stages of the First World War and the French Moroccan Campaign of 1921-23 as an engineer officer. During the Second World War he was Deputy Mayor of Nantes and from 1947 to 1962 the cities architect. His first class collection of 560 items was donated to the Fort de la Pompelle museum. All the members spent a pleasurable time in this splendid museum and had plenty to talk about when we got back into our coach.
We left the fort at 1145 hours and drove back towards Reims along the D944 and passed by some of the 1,146 mile-stone markers of the La voie de la Liberté – Liberty Road. This commemorative way beginning at Sainte-Mére-Eglise marks the route of the Allied Forces advance from D-Day in June 1944 across northern France to Bastogne in southern Belgium. Continuing along the D944, we crossed the Aisne and passed through the village of Berry-au-Bac where at a roundabout leading to junction 14 of the A26 is a monument to the French Armoured Corps. Standing beside Schneider CA tank, Martin gave a detailed and fascinating talk about the formation of the French Tank Corps and their attack on the Chemin-des-Dames. The memorial stands on the site, which was once known as Le Choléra crossroads from where the tanks advanced in their first operational deployment on the opening day of the Nivelle offensive, the 16th April 1917. [he name given to the crossroads originates from a farm called La Ferme du Cholera. Major Louis Bossut who led the attack was killed along with his tank crew. Despite the bravery displayed by the tank crews in advancing towards the German line it was a disastrous day for the French Armoured Corps, both in lives and equipment. General Jean Baptiste Estienne who had the foresight to realise the potential of tanks and that their use could be a decisive factor in battle is also commemorated by an impressive memorial situated on the green lawn aisle leading up to the French Armoured Corps Memorial.
Moving on from the French Armoured Corps Memorial we stopped at the village of La Ville-aux-Bois-les-Pontavert passing by a British cemetery. La Ville-aux-Bois British Cemetery has 564 burials of which 413 are unidentified, and two of the Second World War and one Frenchman. Approaching the village on the D89 we were temporarily held up by the French police as there had been a remembrance service at the memorial to the 2nd Devonshire Regiment. In the area over the weekend there was a celebratory rugby tournament between French and British clubs. As we waited in the coach we watched those who had attended service stroll past us including villagers, three of them carrying French standards of military associations, British Army personnel and players of various rugby clubs. Waved on by the police our coach stopped near the large and impressive memorial to the 2nd Devonshire Regiment.
The regiment fought a defensive action against an overwhelming attack by the Germans on the 27th May, 1918. Chris gave a detailed account of the action and about some of the participants, many of whom were killed including the commanding officer. Following this talk Phil gave an informative talk about the 5th (Gibraltar) Battery RFA and its history who, fought in the same action in the nearby Bois des Buttes and suffered similar heavy losses. A plaque on the wall of the Marie, opposite the 2nd Devonshire Memorial records these events. For their heroic deeds and sacrifice the 2nd Devonshire Regiment and 5th (Gibraltar) Battery RFA were awarded the Croix de Guerre avec Palme en Bronze by General Denis Auguste Duchêne (1862-1950) who commanded the French 6th Army. The ribbon is still worn today on the No.1 and No.2 Dress of the 5th Battery RFA and the Rifles maintaining a proud remembrance of those who fought on that day. During the earlier remembrance service wreaths had been placed around the memorial by the 12 Regiment RA Rugby Team, Trojan RFC, 2 Royal Hampshire Regiment, Cowbridge RFC and by local residents. After a suitable period of reflection we continued our drive admiring the panoramic views of the French countryside as we steadily ascended the hill side of the Chemin-des-Dames towards the California Plateau.