List of World War I memorials and cemeteries in Artois

Following the various declarations of war which were to lead to the First World War, the German Army opened the war on her western front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium and then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The German Army forced the Allied armies to retreat until the Battle of the Marne was fought, when the tide turned and the German Army was forced to retreat northwards. They did so to the river Aisne, dug in on the high ground there, and fought the First Battle of the Aisne. This encounter was inconclusive and what historians call the race to the sea followed, during which neither side was able to achieve a breakthrough as they edged to the north and at the conclusion both sides were to dig in along a meandering line of fortified trenches, stretching from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier with France. This line, the Western Front, remained essentially unchanged for most of the war. A war of movement was over and a type of warfare that no side had planned for was to take its place: a static war of attrition with both sides entrenched on either side of the front line.

Between 1915 and 1917, there were several major offensives along this front. The attacks employed massive artillery bombardments and massed infantry advances. However a combination of entrenchments, machine gun nests, barbed wire, and artillery repeatedly inflicted severe casualties on the attackers and counterattacking defenders and as a result, no significant advances were made. Among the most costly of these offensives were the Battle of Verdun with a combined 700,000 dead, the Battle of the Somme with more than a million casualties, and the Battle of Passchendaele or "Third Ypres", which saw roughly 600,000 casualties.

Both sides tried to break the deadlock by introducing new military technology, including poison gas, aircraft and tanks but it was improved tactics that eventually restored some degree of mobility to the conflict. The German Spring Offensive of 1918 was made possible by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk that marked the end of the conflict on the Eastern Front. Using the recently introduced infiltration tactics, the German armies advanced nearly 60 mi to the west, which marked the deepest advance by either side since 1914 and they very nearly succeeded in forcing a breakthrough.

The Germans could not in the end break the Allied line and now the numerical advantage given the Allies by the volume of soldiers arriving from the United States of America fuelled an inexorable advance by the Allied armies during the second half of 1918. The German Army commanders finally realised that defeat was inevitable, and the government was forced to sue for conditions of an armistice. This took place on 11 November 1918 and the terms of peace were agreed upon with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.

This article continues where the List of World War I memorials and cemeteries in Flanders left off and here looks at that part of the Western Front that ran through some of French Flanders and Artois and comments on some of the cemeteries, monuments and memorials that are located there. This exercise will divide the front into distinct sections: Firstly the section from south of Ploegsteert to Festubert, then the section from La Bassée and Béthune to Lens, then the area around the two ridges of Notre Dame de Lorette and Vimy and finally Arras and Cambrai.

Background
After the Battle of the Marne and that on the Aisne, the encounters between the two opposing armies moved northwards towards Compiègne on 17 to 18 September 1914, to Roye on 22 September 1914, Albert from 27 to 28 September 1914 and then Arras from 30 September to 5 October 1914. From 4 to 8 October 1914 there was fighting at La Bassée and Neuve Chapelle. The two armies then continued to move northwards until the Yser and the North Sea coast were reached.

Neuve Chapelle was to see a further battle from 10 to 13 March 1915, followed by that at Aubers Ridge on 9 May 1915, Festubert from 15 to 25 May 1915 and Loos from 25 September to 18 October 1915.

No major attacks took place in the Arras sector from the end of October 1915 to April 1917, but then we see the huge Battle of Arras fought from 9 April to 17 May 1917, fighting at Hill 70 in August 1917, the "Kaiser’s Battle" from 21 to 28 March 1918, the Battle of the Lys in April 1918 and the Second Battle of Arras in August 1918.

Sector 1. Arras: From south of Ploegstreet to Festubert
The battle of Armentières was part of the so-called "Race to the Sea", the series of battles that were ultimately to define the line of the Western Front as trench warfare finally took over in the autumn of 1914.

Sector 1: Fromelles (Fleurbaix), Aubers, Neuve Chapelle and Festubert
Moving south from Armentières, we reach that part of the front line dominated by the Aubers Ridge and once again we see how the side holding the high ground gained so much advantage, not only because they had a clearer view of the enemies' activities but also because their artillery could be used so much more effectively. The German army held this ridge so much of the fighting in the sector involved attempts to dislodge them from it. "South of the Armentières sector lies Aubers Ridge, a belt of country about 3 miles deep and 9 miles long.  No extended periods of fighting devastated this ridge; but by shielding the important French town of Lille and German communications and supply hubs, it was always a potential setting for a major British offensive, The ridge itself, barely rising 50 feet above the plain was hardly an outstanding topographical feature in peacetime; in war, however, it totally dominated the terrain to the north and west.  It was to be the scene of several British struggles in 1915- and the site of a tragic failure the following year.".

Further images of the "Cobbers" memorial
Below are some photographs of the "Cobber" memorial, and V C Corner.

Aubers Ridge and Festubert
It was on 24 March 1915, several days after the failed offensive at Neuve-Chapelle, that General Joffre made an official request for the British Army to take part in a huge offensive he was planning in Artois at the beginning of May. The aim of the offensive was to break through the German line north of Arras. The main thrust of the attack was to be made by the 10th French Army on Vimy Ridge and two supporting attacks on the flanks would, it was hoped, secure the heights of Lorette Spur to the north-west and other high ground to the east of Arras. If everything went according to plan the French hoped that they would be able to advance into the coal basin itself and take Douai.

In this context the British fought two battles, that at Aubers Ridge and at Festubert, both fought in May 1915 and both to distract the German's from Joffre's main attack.

Neither battle achieved the results hoped for and huge casualties were sustained- it reportedly took three days to transfer the wounded of 9 May to the field ambulances on the second line. In one single day of fighting the British Army had lost 11,000 men (dead, wounded and lost in action) which was, in relative terms, one of the highest casualty rates of the Great War, in particular for officers. The memorial at Le Touret remembers those who died at Aubers and Festubert and have no known grave.

Sector 2. Artois: From La Bassée and Béthune to Lens


===Dud Corner Cemetery, the Loos Memorial and the Battle of Loos. The Gohelle Battlefield===



In the autumn of 1915, the British High Command had little enthusiasm for another major offensive but the French were quite insistent on one. Joffre’s plans involved a two-pronged attack. The French Army was to launch a major attack in the Champagne area and a Franco-Commonwealth attack was planned on a 32 kilometre line to the north of Arras. Of this 32 kilometre stretch the British were allocated a 10 kilometre section running from Givenchy just north of the La Bassée Canal and the industrial town of Bully-Grenay in front of Lens; the Gohelle Battlefields.

One reason for Haig and French's lack of enthusiasm was that they did not feel that they had fully absorbed the lessons of Second Ypres, Festubert, Neuve Chapelle and Aubers Ridge, the earlier offensives of 1915 and the doomed Gallipoli campaign had diverted precious men and munitions from the Western Front. However their major concern was that the levels of ammunition available would not support a major offensive as the initial advances by the infantry would have to be supported by a high degree of artillery fire. The French demand was however met and the British Army allocated the 10 kilometre sector mentioned earlier. At this battle the British intended to make their first use of gas and the offensive would give Kitchener’s "New Army" a chance to show their mettle.

In fact the offensive failed both in the Champagne and at Loos and the Loos Memorial at Loos-en-Gohelle commemorates the 20,605 British officers and men who were killed from 25 September 1915 to the end of the war in November 1918 in the little sector between the river Lys in French Flanders and the village of Grenay, near Lens, in Artois. The Loos memorial forms the rear and two sides of Dud Corner Cemetery, so called because of the high number of unexploded shells found there.

The thousands of names of the servicemen missing in action with no known grave are inscribed on 139 stone panels attached to these side and rear walls. The Loos Memorial was designed by Sir Herbert Baker with sculpture by Charles Wheeler. The stone tablets containing the names of the missing are numbered from 1 to 139, starting at the north-west corner of the memorial and running around the walls to the south-west corner. The memorial was unveiled by Sir Nevil Macready on 4 August 1930.

The Battle of Loos had opened on 25 September 1915. The 9th (Scottish) Division scored one of the few successes by gaining a foothold on the Hohenzollern Redoubt and Fosse 8, the main observation posts used by the Germans to view the area and the 15th (Scottish) took Loos and pushed on to the Hill 70 Redoubt. However the gains, won at such a horrific loss of life, had to be capitalized on quickly and the reserves (mostly inexperienced New Army Divisions) were brought into action too slowly. The Germans counter-attacked and by 27 September the offensive was breaking down and the Germans had retaken both the Hohenzollern Redoubt and Fosse 8. Attempts to retake these important positions were made on 13 October 1915, but failed after further heavy losses and by 19 October 1915, the battle petered to a halt. The British Army had lost over 20,000 men.

Field Marshal Sir John French, already being criticised before the battle, lost his remaining support in both the Government and Army as a result of the British failure at Loos and his perceived poor handling of his reserve divisions in the battle. He was replaced by Douglas Haig as Commander of the British Expeditionary Force in December 1915.

The first use of gas by the British had not been a success but Kitchener’s New Army had at least been "bloodied" and in every sense of the word. It has been estimated that more than 14,000 of those named on the walls of the Loos Memorial died in the Battle of Loos and that of the 8,500 who died on the first day, over 6,500 were to have no known grave.

Among the dead on the British side at Loos were Fergus Bowes-Lyon, brother to Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (later Queen Consort, of George VI and "Queen Mother"), author and poet Rudyard Kipling's son, John, and the poet Charles Sorley.

"Loos was the fourth failure of 1915 for the British and this time losses reached almost 48,000 men; at Vimy the French figure was almost identical. In the wider Artois offensive the total was 143,567.".

No further attacks were to take place in the Gohelle, Vimy and Arras sectors until the spring of 1917.

Sector 3 Artois: Loretto Heights and Vimy Ridge
The south-eastern end of the Vimy Ridge descends into a gently rolling landscape following a low ridge to the east of the ancient city of Arras. East of Arras the front line crossed gently rolling farmland, dotted with farms and villages. Arras was evacuated by French forces on 29 August 1914 but reoccupied a month later. It remained in French hands throughout the war. Underneath the city there were tunnels and catacombs dug out of the chalk by the Romans. Some were used during the First World War by medical units and as safe shelter for Allied troops. The city was smashed to pieces by German artillery bombardments not a difficult task for the Germans given their vantage points on the high ground.

"As the boundary of the clay plain of Flanders and the chalk uplands of Artois, the Vimy Ridge and its smaller cousin Notre Dame de Lorette created a formidable military barrier, a geological fracture destined to have a deep impact on the lives of soldiers struggling for topographical advantage." In 1914 the German Army had taken both these ridges and had occupied both Loos and Lens and it was largely as a consequence of the efforts of French Alpine divisions and troops from Senegal that they were kept out of Arras and once the front line had stabilised Arras was left at the centre of a salient and open to constant artillery bombardment from the high ground to the north and south. The French were always anxious to redress this situation and after an offensive in 1914 Foch launched the Second Battle of Artois from 9 May to 19 June 1915. The Germans were driven from Notre Dame de Lorette but a major break-through was not achieved. The Vimy Ridge and beyond it Douai remained in German hands. There was however to be little respite and 1915 was to see another offensive in the area, the Battle of Loos.

South of the coalfields around Lens, the Artois landscape gently rises up in a series of finger-like spurs. Two spurs of particularly high ground afford magnificent views in all directions. These spurs lie in a north-west to south-east direction and are located north-west of the city of Arras. They are known as the Loretto Heights (Notre Dame de Lorette) and the Vimy ridge.

Early fighting for Vimy Ridge
The ridge had fallen to the German Army in October 1914. The French Tenth Army attempted to dislodge the Germans from the region during the Second Battle of Artois in May 1915 by attacking their positions at Vimy Ridge and Notre Dame de Lorette. During the attack, the French 1st Moroccan Division briefly captured the height of the ridge, where the Vimy memorial is currently located, but was unable to hold it owing to a lack of reinforcements. See photographs of the Moroccan memorial in the gallery below. The French made another attempt during the Third Battle of Artois in September 1915, but were once again unsuccessful in capturing the top of the ridge.

In February 1916 the British XVII Corps relieved the French Tenth Army from the sector and on 21 May 1916, the German infantry attacked the British lines along a 1800 m front in an effort to force them from positions along the base of the ridge. The Germans captured several British-controlled tunnels and mine craters before halting their advance and entrenching their positions. British counter-attacks on 22 May did not manage to change the situation and in October 1916 the Canadian Corps relieved the British IV Corps and took up position along the western slopes of Vimy Ridge.

The Battle of Vimy Ridge 9 to 12 April 1917
The Canadian Corps was ordered to seize Vimy Ridge in April 1917. The Canadian Corps were commanded by Sir Julian Byng

In the week leading up to the battle, Canadian and British artillery subjected the enemy positions on the ridge to a constant barrage and the new 106 fuse, which allowed shells to explode on contact, as opposed to burying themselves in ground, facilitated the destruction of hardened defences and barbed wire.

The four Canadian divisions involved stormed the ridge at 5:30am on 9 April 1917. The Canadians showed great bravery and Hill 145, the highest and most important feature of the Ridge, and where the Vimy monument now stands, was captured in a frontal bayonet charge against machine-gun positions. After a further three days of fighting the Canadians were victorious. Victory was however achieved at a great cost with 3,598 Canadians killed and another 7,000 wounded.

The capture of Vimy was more than just an important battlefield victory. For the first time all four Canadian divisions attacked together: men from all regions of Canada were present at the battle. Brigadier-General A.E. Ross declared after the war, "in those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation."

In 1922, the French government ceded Vimy Ridge to Canada in perpetuity together with the land surrounding it. The gleaming white marble and haunting sculptures of the Vimy Memorial, unveiled in 1936, stand as a terrible and poignant reminder of the 11,285 Canadian soldiers killed in France who have no known graves.

Caberet Rouge British Cemetey
==="Flambeau de la paix" ===

The Arras Memorial and the Flying Services Memorial and the Battle of Arras
The Battle of Arras was a British offensive during the First World War. From 9 April to 16 May 1917, British, Canadian, New Zealand, Newfoundland, and Australian troops attacked German defences near the city of Arras.

At this phase of the war the Allied objective was to end the stalemate of the trenches and break through the German defences into the open ground beyond and engage the numerically inferior German army in a war of movement. The plan of the French High Command was to launch a massive attack (the Nivelle Offensive) about eighty kilometres to the south of the British sector in the Aisne region and at Arras the Allied objectives were to draw German troops away from the ground chosen for the French attack and to take the German-held high ground that dominated the plain of Douai. The British effort was a relatively broad front assault between Vimy in the northwest and Bullecourt in the southeast. After considerable bombardment, Canadian troops advancing in the north were able to capture the strategically significant Vimy Ridge and British divisions in the centre were also able to make significant gains astride the Scarpe river. In the south, British and Australian forces were frustrated by the elastic defence and made only minimal gains. When the battle officially ended on 16 May, British Empire troops had made significant advances but had been unable to achieve a breakthrough and the stalemate of the trenches returned.

The Battle of Arras is normally divided into two phases. Phase one would embrace three encounters, the First Battle of the Scarpe which ran from 9 to 14 April 1917, the First Battle of Vimy Ridge from 9 to 12 April 1917 and the First Battle of Bullecourt from 10 to 11 April 1917.

The Second phase would embrace the Battle of Lagnicourt on 15 April 1917, the Second Battle of the Scarpe from 23 to 24 April 1917, the Battle of Arleux from 28 to 29 April 1917, the Second Battle of Bullecourt from 3 to 19 May 1917. and the Third Battle of the Scarpe from 3 to 4 May 1917.

The gains of the first two days were nothing short of spectacular. A great deal of ground was gained for relatively few casualties and a number of strategically significant points were captured, notably Vimy Ridge. Additionally, the offensive succeeded in drawing German troops away from the French offensive in the Aisne sector. In many respects, the battle might be deemed a victory for the British and their allies but these gains were offset by high casualties and the ultimate failure of the French offensive at the Aisne.

Siegfried Sassoon makes reference to the battle in his famous anti-war poem The General in which he derides the incompetence of the British military staff. and the Anglo-Welsh lyric poet, Edward Thomas was killed by a shell on 9 April 1917, during the first day of the Easter Offensive. Thomas's war diary gives a vivid and poignant picture of life on the Western front in the months leading up to the battle.

Sassoon's poem read- ‘Good-morning; good-morning!’ the General said When we met him last week on our way to the line. Now the soldiers he smiled at are most of ’em dead, And we’re cursing his staff for incompetent swine. ‘He’s a cheery old card,’ grunted Harry to Jack As they slogged up to Arras with rifle and pack. *         *          * But he did for them both by his plan of attack.

Some recommended websites

 * France-French Website with searches to be made for French soldiers killed in 1914-1918
 * Australia-Australian Government Website, with matters concerning the Australian Imperial Force.
 * Canada-Canadian Website with facilities to search for Canadian service records of the 1914-1918 war.
 * Germany-German Website with details of German cemeteries.

Recommended reading

 * P.Warner. "The Battle of Loos" ISBN 1-84022-229-8
 * N.Cave. "Vimy Ridge" ISBN 0 85052 399-0
 * W.Reid "To Arras" ISBN 1-86232-242-2
 * "Illustrated Michelin Guides to the Battlefields (1914-1918)" ISBN 0 904775 29 1
 * G.Gliddon. "VCs Handbook. The Western Front 1914-1918" ISBN 0-7509-3345-6
 * K.Tallett /T.Tasker. "Gavrelle. Arras" ISBN 0 85052 688-4
 * G.Bridger "The Battle of Neuve Chapelle"  ISBN 0-85052 648-5
 * G.Keech "Bullecourt" ISBN 0 85052 652-3
 * C.Fox. "Monchy le Preux" ISBN 0 85052 738-4
 * P.Longworth  "The Unending Vigil" ISBN 1 84415 004-6
 * A.Clark "The Donkeys" ISBN 0-7126-5035-0
 * N.Cherry "Most Unfavourable Ground. The Battle of Loos 1915" ISBN 187462203-5
 * R.Graves. "Goodbye To All That" ISBN 0-14-027420-0
 * Y.Buffetaut. "Notre-Dame-de-Lorette" ISBN 2-84673-019-9
 * Y.Buffetaut "Batailles de Flandres et d’Artois. 1914-1918" ISBN 9782235-020909.