The Battles of Arras: North: Vimy Ridge to Oppy Wood and Gavrelle

By Jon Cooksey and Jerry Murland

A guidebook for those planning a tour of this key battleground of the First World War.
 
The First World War battlefields to the north of Arras—including Vimy Ridge—are among the most famous and most visited sites on the Western Front, rivaled only by those around Ypres and the Somme, and this clearly written, highly illustrated guide is the ideal introduction to them. Visitors can trace for themselves the course of each battle across the modern landscape and gain a fascinating insight into the nature of the fighting in the area—and the wider conflict across the Western Front—throughout the war.
 
The book covers the key battles fought in the northern sector of the Arras front, including the 1917 Battle of Vimy Ridge and battles at Villers au Bois, Oppy Wood, and Gavrelle. Expert guides Jon Cooksey and Jerry Murland have devised a series of routes that can be walked, biked, or driven, explaining the fighting that occurred at each place in vivid detail. They record what happened, where it happened, and why, and point out the sights that remain for the visitor to see. Their guidebook is essential reading for visitors who wish to enhance their understanding of the war on the Western Front.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jun 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9781473893054

Jon Cooksey

Jon Cooksey iwasa leading military historian who takes a special interest in the history of the world wars. He was the editor of Stand To!, the journal of the Western Front Association, and he is an experienced battlefield guide. His books include The Barnsley Pals, Calais, Harry’s War and, as editor, Blood and Iron.

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Route 1

Northern Car Tour

A circular tour beginning at: Écoivres

Coordinates: 50°20′34.420 N - 2°40′53.590 E

Distance: 56km/35 miles

Suitable for:

Maps: IGN Série Bleue 24060 - Avesnes-le-Comte and 2406E - Arras

General description and context: We begin at the church on the D49, Rue Jean Baptiste Oboeuf, in Écoivres near Mont-St-Eloi, and conclude at the Bailleul Road West Cemetery, St-Laurent-Blangy, on the outskirts of Arras. The tour takes in the area to the west of the D937 Arras-Ablain-St-Nazaire road and looks at the fighting conducted by the French during the three Battles of Artois in addition to exploring the rear areas around Mont-St-Eloi, Camblain l’Abbé and Carency. We also visit Ablain-St-Nazaire before climbing the steep southern side of the Notre-Dame de Lorette spur to visit the French National Cemetery. Descending into Souchez, we drive south along the D937, stopping at the various memorials and cemeteries en route. After visiting the German cemetery, we turn north to Neuville-St-Vaast and the Canadian Memorial Park on Vimy Ridge before looking in detail at the actions that took place near the Claude, Cuthbert and Clarence mine craters near Bailleul Road West Cemetery.

Grafitti on the walls of the church at Écoivres.

Directions to start: Écoivres is best approached from the D341 which runs between Arras and Camblain l’Abbé.

Route description: The tour begins at the church at Écoivres where there is plenty of parking. Walk round the left side of the church and carved into the chalk stone of the walls at the far end you will find graffiti left by Canadians soldiers. Behind the church was the site of Erie Camp, whilst the building screened by the high wall you can see to the right of the church housed the 1st Canadian Division Headquarters. Being in the relatively safe rear area, Écoivres soon became host to two ‘villages’ of Nissen huts where battalions were withdrawn for rest and recuperation. The village school was used as a main dressing station, drawing many of its casualties from the advanced dressing station (ADS) at Aux Reitz. Lieutenant Colonel Edward Hermon, commanding 24/Northumberland Fusiliers, described his accommodation on 21 March 1917:

Our huts are called Nissan [sic] and are like this: they are made of tin and lined with matchboard and they put them up in a couple of hours, almost. They are about 30ft long by 15ft wide and really very cosy and warm … One end is the pantry then a couple of blankets hung on a wire makes the dining room door and wall. At the other end we have six bunks, really quite comfortable.

From the church, continue through the village on the D49 until you see the war memorial where a CWGC signpost directs you to Écoivres Military Cemetery. Drive on past the communal cemetery to find the entrance to the cemetery on your right. There is room to park two cars on the side of the road directly in front of the cemetery and further parking is available at the communal cemetery.

Écoivres Military Cemetery

This cemetery is really the extension of the communal cemetery where the French had buried over 1,000 men from the Artois campaigns. The 46th (North Midland) Division took over the extension in March 1916, and their graves are in Plot I, Rows A to F. Successive divisions used the French military tramway to bring their dead in from the front-line trenches and, from the first row to the last, burials were made almost exactly in the order of date of death. You will find casualties from the British 25th Division attack on Vimy Ridge in May 1916 in Plots I and II and the 47th (London) Division burials from July and October 1916 in Plot III, Rows A-H. Plots V and VI contain the Canadian graves of men killed during the capture of Vimy Ridge in April 1917. Today the cemetery contains 1,728 Commonwealth burials, 13 of which are unidentified, together with 786 French and 4 German war graves.

Écoivres Military Cemetery.

This is a cemetery where, if you have not come here with any specific purpose in mind, it is possible to become overwhelmed amidst the headstones. With that end in mind we have highlighted nine casualties for you to visit; the first being Lance Corporal James Holland (II.E.17) of 10/Cheshires, who was executed on 30 May 1916. With the mysterious appearance of two suspected Germans who, just as mysteriously, disappeared, Holland falsely declared his post had been overrun and quit it with three of the men in his charge. The subsequent inquiry found this to be incorrect and he was convicted of cowardice. Private Eugene Perry (VI.C.7), aged 21 and serving with 22/Battalion - the French Canadian ‘Van Doos’, was another youngster shot by firing squad for deserting his post on 11 April 1917. He was one of twenty-five Canadians shot during the war - five of them in 22/Battalion. Perry had a reasonable record - apart from two brief absences - and on the second occasion had been absent for a little under 7 hours. But the Van Doos were seen as ‘windy’ and undisciplined after the Somme and Perry paid the price in CO Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Tremblay’s crusade to restore his battalion’s reputation and ’stiffen’ its will.

Lieutenant Kenneth Campbell (IV.B.19) from the Canadian 42/Battalion was described by William Bird in his book Ghosts have Warm Hands as rather naive and inexperienced. This was certainly the cause of his death on 23 January 1917 when he insisted on looking over the edge of Vernon Crater on Vimy Ridge. His brother, Lieutenant Colin Campbell, was killed in October 1917 serving with the Royal Field Artillery (RFA). Driver Albert Morrison (V.K.11), aged 22 and serving with the Canadian Field Artillery, had already been notified of his father’s death, as a passenger on the SS Lusitania, when it was sunk on 7 May 1915. Albert was killed eighteen months later on 5 July 1917. Finally, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Frederick Dennis (V.L.1) took command of 7/8 KOSB on 27 May 1917 after relieving Lieutenant Colonel Sellar. His death by shellfire on 19 May 1918 left the battalion without their ’splendid and gallant’ commanding officer. His funeral at Écoivres took place on 20 May. Four officers from 11/Lancashire Fusiliers (see Route 2) were killed on 15 May 1916 during the 74 Brigade attack on the Crosbie Craters. Second Lieutenant Arthur McFarlan (I.M.26) was killed by Crater Z whilst Second Lieutenants William Barker (I.N.12) and Reginald Barrett (I.N.15) were killed nearby at Craters V and W. The last of these men, Second Lieutenant Edward Jewell (I.M.11), died of his wounds the next day.

From the cemetery drive straight ahead for 600m until you reach a junction. Turn left and in a little under 1km you will reach the junction with the D341. Turn left here, passing over a crossroads to find the next turning on the right. This road leads uphill to