Surrey Branch Western Front Battlefield Tour
Eighteen members of the Surrey WFA branch set off on the last weekend in September for a battlefield tour of the Western Front with a focus on the events of 1918, a year that saw the fighting move out of the trenches and a return to open warfare brought about by the German Spring Offensive and then the decisive Allied breakthrough in the 100 Days Offensive. As we made our way through northern France the opportunity was taken to visit some old favourites plus member requests to honour relatives that served during the Great War.
Heading south and en-route to Thiepval our first stop by request was to visit the grave of a relative at Gommecourt British Cemetery No.2, an area which saw some of the hardest fighting during the 1916 Somme campaign. This stop also enabled us to introduce the events of March 1918 when the German Army rapidly swept westwards and threatened to split the British and French Armies. Looking from the cemetery towards Rossignol Wood it was at this point, just seven days after the start of the Spring Offensive, that the Australian 4th Brigade came into the line and joined with the British 62nd Division in front of Hebuterne to halt the German advance.
The group continued south to visit the Thiepval Memorial, dedicated to the 72,000 officers and men of the UK and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before the 20th March 1918 and have no known grave. Next, driving past Mouquet Farm the group headed to the Pozieres British Cemetery which contains the Pozieres Memorial that commemorates the 14,000 casualties that died and have no known grave during the period of the German Offensive from 21st March 1918 up until the beginning of the 100 Day Offensive in August. No trip to Pozieres would be complete without standing at the Australian Memorial at the Windmill where Charles Bean eloquently wrote that the Pozieres ridge ‘is more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth’. Passing the Butte de Warlencourt the group then headed back up to Arras and our base for the next two nights for some rest and a well-earned beer.
Saturday’s main destination was the Sir John Monash Centre at Villers-Bretonneux. Driving south from Arras we were able to retrace the direction of travel that the reinforcing Australian Divisions took when heading back to the Somme and the last defensive lines before the German Army could strike towards the strategic transport hub of Amiens. Just to the south of Albert one of the most decisive battles of that time took place by the railway line at Dernancourt where the Australian 4th Division doggedly held the line, with evidence of the heavy fighting still visible from the fragments of shrapnel picked up from the recently ploughed field.
Driving past the Red Barron crash site, Villers-Bretonneux was reached, the site of the German attack which saw the Australian 3rd and 5th Divisions recapture the town on 25th April 1918, the third anniversary of Anzac Day, as well as being the start of the decisive 100 Days Offensive on 8th August. In the military cemetery we stood by the grave of Sgt PJ Ball, MM, 44th Bn AIF, whose inscription says ‘I fought and died in the Great War to end all wars. Have I died in vain’. The answer lay all around us on the pockmarked headstones and monuments, testament to the fighting between the French and Germans here in 1940.
Having spent an informative couple of hours exploring the Sir John Monash Centre, we headed eastwards across the flat countryside to the south of the Somme river, following the direction of travel by the Australian and Canadian forces from the 8th August 1918 as they advanced past Peronne and on to our next stop at the Riqueval Bridge that crossed the St. Quentin canal. Situated on the heavily defended Hindenburg Line, the attack across the bridge and the canal by the British 46th (North Midland) Division was one of the most successful and audacious attacks during the war. The crossing of this vital obstacle enabled the Allied forces, which now included the Americans, to move on to and take the final sections of the Hindenburg Line at Beaurevoir where we stood and heard stories of bravery and sacrifice in what turned out to be the final actions of the Australians on the Western Front. After a long but rewarding day, the group headed back to Arras where the world chip festival was taking place in the Town Square, a fine accompaniment to a welcome refreshment.
Left: Riqueval Bridge today; Right: Brig-Gen Campbell, VC, addressing troops of the 137th Bgde, 46th Division, on the Riqueval Bridge
Sunday morning we drove the short distance to the Faubourg d’Amiens Cemetery in Arras, home to the Arras Memorial which like the Pozieres Memorial contains the names of 35,000 servicemen from the UK, South Africa and this time New Zealand, who died during the period in 1918 between the start of the German Spring Offensive to the start of the 100 Days Offensive. In addition, the adjacent Arras Flying Services Memorial commemorates more than1,000 airmen from the Royal Naval Air Service, the Royal Flying Corps and the subsequent Royal Air Force that have no known grave. While at the Cemetery the Surrey branch members conducted a short Act of Remembrance service which included the laying of a wreath in memory of the fallen at the Stone of Remembrance.
Leaving Arras, we headed southeast to the Orival Wood British Cemetery in the vicinity of Cambrai and Flesquieres to pay our respects to member relative Pte G. Bowman 2 RM Bn before travelling eastwards to the Ors Communal Cemetery, the final resting place of the leading wartime poet Lt Wilfred Owen, MC, killed in action while crossing the Sambre-Oise Canal just one week before the Armistice.
Our final destination took us to the fortified town of Le Quesnoy, where despite having to scale the walls the New Zealand Division had on 4th November 1918 it’s most successful day during the Great War.
A most enjoyable and rewarding tour was the sentiment of all as we headed back to Calais and home.
Greg Stephens
Surrey Branch Co-Secretary (web content)
