By this point in the war death had become commonplace. This valiant defense took place amid scenes of shocking devastation. https://www.rutlandremembers.org/fallen/610/ryan-second-lieutenant-donald-whitmore, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Northamptonshire_Regiment_Cap_Badge.jpg, https://www.parish-council.com/piltonstokedoyleandwadenhoe/index.asp?pageid=645776, https://www.wartimememoriesproject.com/greatwar/allied/battalion.php?pid=6826. Rugby 1st XV 1906 – Douglas is standing second from left. Battles - The Battle of Givenchy, 1914 Fought from 18-22 December 1914 the Battle of Givenchy saw an initially advancing British force face strong opposition (and counter-attack) from a solidly entrenched German force around the village of Givenchy (in Pas-de-Calais, and which was held by the British). He received the Croix de guerre before he was mortally wounded at the Second Battle of Artois in May 1916. An Anglo-French force would attack the Germans in the north-easterly region of Artois. In all that time while I was awake, gunfire and rifle fire never ceased for sixty seconds… At one time we were down to seven guns, but these guns were smoking at every joint, the gunners using cloth to handle the breech levers because of the heat… Our casualties were half the number of men in the firing line. However the artillery bombardment failed to clear all the defensive positions and the advancing infantry found itself up against sweeping machine gun fire near Notre Dame de Lorette in the northern sector of the battlefield; nonetheless they succeeded in capturing several stretches of German trench. He became a Lieutenant with the 3rd battalion Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry before being transferred to the 2nd Battalion. This allowed the Germans to transfer two divisions further south to meet the main French attack unfolding north of Arras. I reached the German position. By mid-day the French lead units had advanced over two miles and begun digging in near Vimy Ridge, the objective of the battle, but the German artillery barrage made it very difficult to bring up reinforcements as planned. A few isolated groups of soldiers managed to advance to the German trenches but they were exposed to enemy fire. It was a nightingale singing in the wood below. The Battle of the Hills or the Third Battle of Champagne (17 - 20 April 1917) was a diversionary battle carried out during the Second Battle of the Aisne. The British opened the attack with two huge explosive mines tunneled under the German trenches (no easy feat in the waterlogged soil; above, German soldiers pose in one of the craters), along with a brief artillery bombardment, shortened due to continuing shell shortages. This would cut key German railway lines and perhaps force them to retreat from their great salient bulging out into France. French Commander-in-Chief Joffre had enquired of Sir John French , Commander of the British Expeditionary Force if British units could support a French offensive into the Douai Plain around late April or early May 1915. The Second Battle of Artois, which took place from May 9-June 18, 1915, marked a new extremity of savage and ultimately futile violence on the Western Front. On 18 June 1915 the Second Battle of Artois came to an end. Cries and moans rose and fell in the infernal din of that struggle… I put my foot on the parapet and cried, “Forward, lads, here we are!” then I felt as though someone had suddenly given me a brutal blow in the back with the butt-end of a rifle… I was hit! The Second Battle of Champagne was part of General Joseph Joffre's Champagne-Loos-Artois Offensive for the fall of 1915, and the second of three Battles of Champagne. The result was disastrous. Edward Roe, a British private, described nauseating conditions near Ypres on May 9: Our new line trenches stench abominably. Amidst the continuing German onslaught at the Second Battle of Ypres, Joffre hoped that an Allied attack on the German Sixth Army under Bavarian Crown Prince Rupprecht in Artois would allow the Allies to sever enemy supply lines and maybe even threaten German armies to the south with encirclement, forcing them to retreat. … At Festubert the British suffered 16,648 casualties including killed, wounded, missing and taken prisoner, in exchange for an advance of just under two miles along a three-mile front. Talbot was born to Dudley Henry Eden and Kathleen Stanhope, 9th Earl and Countess of Harrington of Elvaston Castle, Derby. After the artillery bombardment began at 5am, to the south troops from the 1st Division and Meerut Division tried to advance into no-man’s-land, but many failed were hit before they even left their trenches, as German machine guns swept the parapets. Summer 1912 Cricket review: ‘Undoubtedly the best bowler on the side. The Battle of Festubert, from May 15-25, was the second main British contribution to the Allied offensive during the Second Battle of Artois. Worth a look. The Battle of Aubers Ridge was deemed a failure as no ground had been won and no tactical advantage had been gained. A letter from Humfrey to Mr Story and published in the Oakhamian Magazine, Spring 1915, Vol.31, p.2 to 4, describing life on the front. Britain, France, Belgium, Russian, Italy and Serbia had been represented, and all had agreed to coordinate their attacks. I saw, as in a dream, tiny silhouettes, drunk with battle, charging through the smoke… Shells had made ravages in the ranks. A short summary of this paper. The Second Battle of the Artois had at least two important long-term effects on the French army. If you have any relatives, my advice is don’t let them enlist…. Talbot was killed in action at Fromelles in the Battle of Aubers Ridge on 9th May 1915 during an attack on German trenches. This commission was to carry out the organization and administration for a competition to come up with ideas fo… The plan was for the French to attack first, followed by a British assault, north and south of Arras. The Battle of Festubert took place during May 1915 and was part of a large-scale offensive led by the British Army in the Artois region of France. British appeals that the ground over which they were being called upon to … By May 11 the Moroccan Division, still holding advanced positions without reinforcements, had lost almost half its strength, with over 5,000 casualties. Douglas attended Oakham School between 1902 and 1907. Battle of Ypres (Second Ypres) Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive Battle of Artois (Second Artois) Further Reading. 9-10 May 1915: the Battle of Aubers.A disastrous attack that cost 11,000 British casualties for no material gain: it was a minor supporting operation to a much larger French attack in an action known as the Second Battle of Artois. At every step grey uniforms now surged. Though light, works hard. The British Expeditionary Force was to carry out diversionary attacks as part of an Artois offensive at Arras. Although the British tried to paint it as a success, by any objective measure the attack on Aubers Ridge was a complete debacle, failing to achieve its goal of tying down German forces at the cost of huge losses, with over 11,000 British casualties on May 9 alone, versus approximately 1,000 for the Germans. The Second Battle of Artois (French: Deuxième bataille de l'Artois, German: Lorettoschlacht) from 9 May to 18 June 1915, took place on the Western Front during the First World War. Dubbed the Second Battle of Artois, the British were stopped dead, while the General Philippe Pétain 's XXXIII Corps succeeded in reaching the crest of Vimy Ridge. Actions in Progress. Roll of honour in the Oakhamian Magazine, Summer term 1915, Vol.31, no.2. Three squadrons of 1st Wing Royal Flying Corps assisted the British army in guiding the artillery fire. He reads music with ease and his voice has a fine volume.’. He was killed in the disastrous attempt to take Aubers Ridge during the combined Anglo-French offensive in the Second Battle of Artois. Erik Svend Hundertmark Danish-American private, Field Ambulance Corps 1914-17 in Northern France, was awarded the Croix de guerre with bronze palm and three silver stars. Thus we few that were left dug ourselves as low as possible. I saw one splendid young fellow, with a beautiful face, and straight clear eyes of a sort of forget-me-not blue. The soldiers came under heavy artillery fire and were killed or wounded almost as soon as they went over. His school achievements are listed below: ​Music band in 1906 - Douglas is sitting second from left. The Battle of Loos took place from 25 September – 8 October 1915 in France on the Western Front, during the First World War.It was the biggest British attack of 1915, the first time that the British used poison gas and the first mass engagement of New Army units. Oakham School Cricket 1st XI 1907 – Douglas is standing in the centre. He held an appointment in Russia before going to France to serve in the First World War. However, heavy rain and mist on the day before meant that the attack had to be postponed. Now and again some roof would apparently fall in, and the great hungry tongues of fire would lick the sky, but at our distance no sound broke the awesome stillness – only the song of the nightingale and the booming of guns. His school achievements are listed below: In his sporting career, the Oakhamian Magazine made comments upon his rugby prowess. Nonetheless Joffre, encouraged by the transfer of eight German divisions to the Eastern Front, believed a breakthrough was still possible provided there was sufficient preparation in the form of massive artillery bombardments. Over the next few days the D’Urbal ordered continuing attacks that once again gradually forced the Germans out of their frontline positions in some places, but progress was slow. https://media.iwm.org.uk/ciim5/439/60/large_000000.jpg?_ga=2.105583427.1191359266.1580133906-1071493147.1578670824, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rifle_Brigade_(The_Prince_Consort%27s_Own)_Cap_Badge..jpg, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WW1_1914-15_Star.jpg, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_Medal_(South_Africa), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_War_Medal. Located a few miles northeast of Neuve Chapelle, the village of Aubers is located on the western slope of a low ridge that rises gradually from a marshy, low-lying plain dotted with small forests and crisscrossed by drainage canals (below). With the German defeat at the First Battle of the Marne in September 1914 and the unraveling of the Schlieffen Plan, both sides commenced a series of flanking maneuvers in northern France and Flanders. In his sporting and music career, the Oakhamian Magazine made comments upon his abilities. In his sporting career, the Oakhamian Magazine made comments upon both his cricketing and rugby prowess. Immediately a fatal shot hit him in the head, another hit me in my left buttock. Nothing broke the great silence, save now and then the deep, rich, solemn b-o-o-m of a big gun far away up north, with, perhaps, an occasional crackle of rifles near at hand. Talbot’s grave was lost but he is remembered on panel 10 at the Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing, on the Copythorne Memorial in the New Forest and in Oakham School chapel. John fought in the First World War but survived. The first genuinely large scale British offensive action but once again only in a supporting role to a larger French attack in the Third Battle of Artois. https://www.rutlandremembers.org/fallen/625/humfrey-lieutenant-douglas-herbert-washington, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oxfordshire_and_Buckinghamshire_Light_Infantry_Cap_Badge.jpg. The new plan consisted of two phases, with an initial attack in mid-May targeting the strategic position at Vimy Ridge, setting the stage for a broader offensive to follow in June. The French conquered Notre Dame de Lorette, Ablain St. Nazaire, and Neuville St. Vaast. Unfortunately they failed to reckon with reinforced enemy defenses: following the fleeting British breakthrough at Neuve Chapelle in March the Germans had added new barbed wire entanglements, beefed up the earthworks in front of trenches, built concrete shelters, and created a whole new secondary line of fortified machine gun posts around half a mile behind the frontline. He won… General Sir Arthur Currie, in his personal War Diary. Oakham School Cricket 1st XI 1905 – Douglas is standing third from left. After school, Talbot passed 17th into RMC Sandhurst and gained a prize cadetship. The cost was enormous: over the length of the battle, which continued into mid-June, the French suffered 102,500 casualties, including killed, wounded, missing and taken prisoner, and expended 2.2 million shells. It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. The whole town was glowing like the mouth of hell. Second Battle of Artois (9 th May 1915 - 18 th June 1918) After the failed French offensive at Neuve-Chapelle in March 1915, General Joffre asked for the British’s help to plan a pincer attack in Artois at the beginning of May 1915. This ambitious strategy depended on British support: according to the plan agreed by British Expeditionary Force commander Sir John French, the British First Army under Douglas Haig would mount attacks further north at Aubers Ridge around May 7 and Festubert around a week later, tying down German forces so the French Tenth Army under Victor d’Urbal could carry out the first phase of the offensive, also beginning May 9, to clear the German mini-salient north of Arras and seize Vimy Ridge. However, due to the child's minority, Bonne acted as regent from 1415 until 1424. For at our feet lay Ypres, burning furiously. Download PDF. The Second Battle of Champagne was part of General Joseph Joffre's Champagne-Loos-Artois Offensive for the fall of 1915, and the second of three Battles of Champagne. Oakham School Rugby 1st XV 1906 – Douglas is standing second from left. We have been in the most bitter of fights. After the attack at Neuve-Chapelle, the Germans had considerably strengthened their defences with barbed wire fences, they had built shelters every 20 meter, they had installed machine guns behind steel plates and had deepened their trenches and raised the height of sand bag parapets. As a batsman singularly unsuccessful and hardly a trustworthy fieldsman’. The aim was to break through the German line north of Arras. Progress in the southern sector was also limited, with a few footholds gained in the face of intense German resistance centered on a complex of trenches and tunnels called “the Labyrinth.”. The French and British tried to break through the German defences in Artois and Champagne and restore a war of movement. Sir Douglas Haig decided to renew the attack. He was the grandson of Colonel T. Maxwell and Colonel E.M. Ryan. The man next him was being fed through the nose.” In this context it’s hardly surprising some soldiers did everything they could to get out of the trenches, including self-inflicted wounds, while others warned their loved ones to stay out of it as long as possible. Battle of Arras, (9 April–17 May 1917), British offensive on the German defenses around the French city of Arras during World War I. I attended the burial of this day’s batch. https://oakham-rutland.libguides.com/oakham_school_archives/the_great_war/somme, Crashes and wreckage in the United Kingdom. One encounters or feels a springy feeling underneath the feet when walking along the trench floor. The men who did make it out found that in most places the brief artillery barrage had failed to cut the German barbed wire entanglements, forcing them to dig in or shelter in shell craters. Erik Sass is covering the events of the war exactly 100 years after they happened. Jonathan Krause. The French push to capture Vimy Ridge began an hour after the British attack on Aubers Ridge, at 6am, and included attacks on German positions near a number of villages including Notre Dame de Lorette, La Targette, Carency, and Neuville St .Vaast. That afternoon the British began yet another bombardment at 3:20pm and just before 4pm fresh British units entered the fray behind the barrage, some making it as far as the German frontlines. A reciprocal French advance eastwards in Artois could cut the rail lines supplying the German armies between Arras and Reims. The Second Battle of Artois, which took place from May 9-June 18, 1915, marked a new extremity of savage and ultimately futile violence on the Western Front. 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