Postcards from the heart of the Western Front

Road signs in Cambrai, at the heart of 1918 actions

Criss crossing the mainly deserted roads of 
northern France today it's apparent that very few buildings are more than 100 years old. Many civic buildings and churches have been lovingly restored but the signs of reconstruction are everywhere. Although maybe no more than 10-15% of the country was caught up in the carnage of German occupation, the impact was huge. To a country still hurting from the annexation of Alsace and Lorraine to Germany after the 1870 war this was a further affront and humiliation. The French, and by their Alliance the British military tactics tactics for three years were dominated by the desire to remove the invader from French soil. It was a terrible position to be in. British and French forces had to be be thrown against the formidable defences of the invader, or else accept the occupation. The many awful and attritional campaigns of 1915-1917 were, on this account, understandable but fruitless. 1918 brought drastic changes to the wretched status quo. Lines moved rapidly  - first to the east with the final German assaults, and then to the west in the dramatic efforts of the final 100 days. Within a few miles between Le Cateau to the east of Cambrai to Albert to its west battles from every year of the war are marked and remembered



Hard to blame the German artillery for this one - the amazing remnants of the Abbaye on the Mont St. Eloi. It lies to the north of Notre Dame de Lorette and Vimy Ridge, thus contributing a good strategic vantage point for much of the war.

At Le Cateau-Cambresis, below, British and German cemeteries lie alongside each other, separated only by a non-barbed hedge. The Britsh dead here are nearly all 'old contemptibles', victims of Smith-Dorrien's heroic stand against the German juggernaut at the beginning of the great retreat.

British on left, Germans on right

Battle of Cambrai 1917
Bullecourt, and the statue of 'Digger' representing the Australian forces who held on gallantly in the face of von Marwitz's fierce counter attacks in the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917. The Bullecourt fighting was some of the fiercest, and the result shaped the Flesquieres salient, a focal point for Operation Michael that announced the German offensives in March 1918.

This multinational monument is on the edge of the village of Flesquieres, that formed the tip of the salient resulting from Cambrai. Facing east, the central concrete mound represents the Hindenburg line in the Cambrai sector, and the tank tracks represent the breakthrough by tanks on the first day of Cambrai, with the footprints of the infantry who followed up the breach in the Hindenburg line.
The lower photo turns 180 degrees to the west, and a sign points out the landmarks to the west, whence came the British assault.
The tanks, alongside Byng's 3rd Army performed superbly on the first day, but as so often the actions were so severe that them men became exhausted; there were insufficient reserves to follow up the success, and the inevitable German counter attacks reclaimed much of the ground lost, at high price to both sides.

Operation Michael March 1918
The first of the German hammer blows of 1918 fell upon the positions of the 3rd and 5th Armies of the BEF. In particular Gough's 5th army, stretched out along weak positions inherited from the French line came under massive pressure in the first days, and was forced to concede a great deal of ground. In the midst of all this multiple acts of heroism occurred against formidable odds.
One remarkable instance was the courageous (bordering on reckless) leadership of Lt Colonel Dimmer who led his men, on horseback, in a Balaklava style counter attack against the oncoming might of German forces. Aged 34, and recently married, Dimmer was one of those larger than life characters who appear frequently in the annals of war. At the outbreak of war he had been in Africa. He immediately returned home and found himself a posting in the front line within weeks, and he won the VC in defence of the Ypres salient in Klein Zillebeke in November 1914. He continued to hold off the enemy from his machine gun post despite having been hit five times. He was back in the front line in no time and continued to lead by example until his sacrificial charge against the fateful German onslaught on 21st March 1918.

Vargny sur Somme
This beautiful cemetery was an unexpected find on the west bank of the Somme between Ham and Peronne. This area was hammered by the Germans after they broke through the 5th Army defence zones on 21st March 1918. The British withdrew to the line of the Crozet Canal before taking up positions to keep the Germans on the east bank of the Somme, which in this section flows almost due north. Nearly all of the 1000 British men in this cemetery died trying to stop the Germans at the Somme crossings on 22nd and 23rd March 1918

Approaching Vargny from the North, it shimmers in
the distance until becoming recognisable as a CWG cemetery

The view from the southern end. Indescribably
peaceful and moving