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Battles of Artois 1915

Rat-gnawed bones in disused trenches

In late 1914 and 1915, this high plateau was a battlefield. At that time a small church stood here and in October 1914 the Germans, advancing to take Arras further south, occupied most of this plateau and the valleys beneath. Arras withstood German attacks and the line of the Western Front established itself in a great bulge around Notre Dame, Ablain St Nazaire and Carency a few kilometres away to the south. On the plateau the Germans built five lines of deep trenches and threw up a fortress of sand bags, metal plates and machine guns in the ruins of the old church.

From December 1914, the French kept up attacks on the Germans in Notre Dame, and during the Second Battle of Artois, which began on 9 May 1915, they wrenched the position from their enemies. Notre Dame fell on 12 May, but only after days of hand-to-hand fighting in the trenches and the ruins.

The man in charge of French forces at the retaking of Notre Dame was General Paul Maistre and a statue of the general lies just beyond the cemetery gates. The main French attack was down below between the villages of Souchez and Neuville St Vaast. It was aimed at forcing the Germans off the eastern heights of Vimy Ridge so that the French could once more command the view out over the plain of Douai and the industrial heartland of northern France then under German occupation. In late July, after appalling casualties on both sides, the battle came to an end without the French gaining Vimy Ridge.

A black and white photo of a lithograph. Men standing in a trench with water almost knee high, all wearing wet-weather clothing. Moonlight comes through the clouds.
A colour photo of a stone monument (Lantern tower). It stands about 5 storeys high. The base is a platform with pillars on each corner. The top has a concave-columned section with a pointed top.
A colour photo looking across many many rows of white headstones, as far as can be seen. Manicured lawns run between the rows. The cemetery is bordered by tall lush dark-green trees.
A colour photo of a stone statue. A man stands on high, looking down at a soldier, who appears to be speaking to him. The upper figure wears a French Army Kepi and large cape/coat. The solder wears muddy boots, a long coat, a helmet and much army gear.
A black and white photo of artwork. 3 men up against a hill. 1 on his haunches loads his rifle with wary eyes. The other soldier stands at the ready with rifle and bayonet. A man directly behind them, head bandaged, arms wide, holding a gun, mouth open.
A colour photo of the bottom of the Lantern tower.
A black and white photo, inside/behind a shelter, where the barrel of the machine gun is protruding out of a small hole. There is a soldier beside the gun and one holding and aiming the weapon. Space appears cramped.
A colour photo of a white cross. Reads: "EDET FERDINAND SOLDAT 2ND R.I. MORT POUR LA FRANCE 16-6-1915"
A black and white photo of a soldier, resting on a knoll. He is wearing a large rain coat, some gear and beside him rests a large back pack and rifle.
Black and white photo of two soldiers standing in a shallow trench. There is a small cutout at hip level, in the wall of the trench which holds various items.
A colour photo of a round badge printed with the pciture of a brunette, wearing a red cap, red plunge v-neck with white trip, a striped blue and white skirt. She is holding a flag pole which is draped behind her.

On 25 September, the Third Battle of Artois commenced in conjunction with a large-scale British attack at Loos, further north. A huge bombardment of five days preceded the infantry advance towards the village of Souchez below Notre Dame. It rained heavily and the soldiers—the 'poilus'—went forward soaked to the skin. Again, casualties were enormous and a French officer, Captain Humbert, recorded: 'Each night the dead were loaded on carts while the companies going up the line passed by long rows of other dead awaiting their turn to be removed.' Again, the battle failed to secure Vimy Ridge for the French but Souchez fell.

In early 1916, the British Expeditionary Force took over this part of the line from the French as the Germans mounted their massive assault on Verdun far to the south-east. Philip Gibbs, the English war correspondent, came up to Notre Dame at the time and wrote of how the French left this 'sacred ground' with reluctance—'Every field here was a graveyard of their heroic dead'. Gibb was guided by a French officer around the blasted landscape of Notre Dame as German shells flew over from Vimy Ridge. As the French departed Gibb described the war-torn countryside inherited by the incoming British garrison:

… khaki men who came into their old places and found the bones and bodies of Frenchmen there, as I found, white, rat-gnawed bones, in disused trenches below Notre Dame when the rain washed the earth down and uncovered them.

Philip Gibbs, Now It Can Be Told, Chapter XIII, London, 1920

In April 1917, as part of the British offensive at Arras, the Canadian Corps attacked the Germans from positions east of Souchez in a line with the modern A26 Autoroute and drove the enemy from Vimy Ridge.