REMINDER OF FAMOUS ATTACK RESTORED BY LOCAL INITIATIVE Elsewhere in this issue, I have given an update on the current situation regarding the fading red cross painted on the wall of a building once used as a First World War Dressing Station in the village of Aix-Noulette , and the progress made by our ‘local hero’ Francis Roger in his negotiations to preserve this. On a previous visit, in 2007, Francis had also informed me that the remains of a First World War monument which had stood since February 1918, had recently been destroyed, either by a storm, or by what we would define as ‘person or persons unknown’. When Francis told me that this was the 44th Battalion CEF memorial, which had been constructed on the area of Vimy Ridge known as ‘The Pimple’, I recalled first being taken to this by Professor Peter Simkins, on a Suffolk Branch tour, about five years ago. For a Canadian-built memorial, it could not possibly have presented a greater contrast to the huge monument located just over a mile away, which, in that same year of 2007, had received the finishing touches to a several million dollars refurbishment. As can be seen by the photograph taken from Nigel Cave’s Battleground Europe book, ‘Vimy Ridge’, the structure looked as though it had been ravaged by the elements and vandalism over the years, possibly because of its remote location. I was, therefore, surprised and disappointed to learn from the book, that it’s forlorn, hollow appearance had been more to do with the removal of its inscribed side-panels, which had long-ago been transported to St.James Park, Winnipeg. Considering that the remaining shell still bore the legend ‘Canada’ and ‘44’, it is surprising that it had since, apparently, been abandoned and neglected. However, one man did still care about the monument, or rather, the men who had been so proud of capturing this vital feature, that, before returning to their homes in Canada, they had decided to erect a memorial not only proclaiming their achievement, but also remembering their comrades who had lost their lives in the process. When Francis Roger had learned of the destruction of the remains of the monument, he decided to write to the local mayor – the question was ‘which one?’ To make it easier for battlefield visitors to trace the location of the ‘Pimple’, Francis felt that any new memorial should be positioned at the nearby junction of three tracks. However, this proved to mark the boundary of three local villages – Givenchy, Angres and Souchez! As the original monument had been sited within the jurisdiction of Souchez, Francis decided to approach the mayor of this village first. Following negotiations with the resourceful Francis, the mayor, Monsieur Jean-Marie Alexandre, kindly agreed that a new memorial/marker would be erected in the suggested position, in time for the 90th Anniversary commemorations in April 2007. This marker was duly constructed, but, presumably in view of its exposed and remote location, this has been ‘built to last’, from solid concrete blocks, rather than for its architectural beauty.
When the structure was completed, its only identifying feature was a small plaque, attached to the top, bearing the words “44th Bn Memorial” and “The Pimple”. However, it was ready for the commemorations, and, sure enough, Francis met a number of Canadians who had made a point of visiting this historic place. These included grateful historian/journalists, and an official from the Canadian Directorate of History and Heritage, who was so pleased to see the new memorial that he later wrote to Francis, and the Mayor of Souchez, to record his appreciation of their initiative. However, Francis was still not satisfied with the memorial, so he has since designed a larger, and more informative, panel. He set about obtaining a suitable sheet of wood and, for the next month, he spent an hour every day, painstakingly chiselling out words and numbers, which he painted before fixing the panel to the front of the structure. (The result can be seen in the photograph. Francis Roger is on the left and the author of this article – Peter Last – is on the right.) The new epigraph is particularly appropriate. Firstly, because it recognises the valiant, but fruitless, attempts to capture The Pimple which had already been made by the French army during the bloody Battles of Artois in 1915. Secondly, because it also remembers the 46th and 50th Battalions, who had attacked alongside the 44th Battalion when the Pimple was finally captured by 10th Brigade, C.E.F. But why was the Pimple so important? When the Battle of Arras opened on the morning of April 9th, 1917, the Canadians had, of course, been ordered to capture the high ground known as Vimy Ridge, possession of which was essential if the main, central, thrust of the advance was to succeed. This meant that the Canadians were responsible for the northern end of the front to be attacked and, whilst it was not the highest part of the high ground, the Pimple was the northern-most end of the northern flank of the entire Arras offensive. Visitors to the Vimy memorial park will be aware that the land falls away sharply on the eastern (German-held) side of the ridge, while the terrain across which the Canadians were attacking was a very gentle slope. However, at the northern end of the Canadian front, the land falls away sharply to the west, north and east! This meant that whoever held the Pimple enjoyed a commanding view in three directions, and the view to the north over the Souchez valley towards the Lorette spur was especially desirable. This fact was not lost on the German defenders who had had two and a half years to make the position as near impregnable as possible. This is probably why the Pimple, and the northern end of the Canadian front, was excluded from their objectives for the first day. Their plan for the opening day of the assault was to capture the rest of the Ridge and to save their attack on the Pimple for the second day, when the 10th Brigade would be allocated the task.
However, although the first day of the battle proved to be a triumph for the Canadian Army, the defenders held on to the highest part of the Ridge, known as Hill 145 (where the twin pylons of the huge memorial stand today). This meant that the 10th Brigade was diverted to providing additional impetus to fresh assaults on this feature on the second day of the battle. Once this objective had fallen, the 10th Brigade was given 48 hours to recover and re-organise before being launched at the only part of the Ridge still in German hands. At the same time, the British 73rd Brigade of the 24th Division had been given a similar task in wresting the last-remaining German garrison from the edge of the adjacent Lorette spur, in the Bois en Hache. Following a barrage of almost a hundred guns, the 44th, 46th and 50th Battalions of the 10th Brigade, C.E.F., left their trenches at 5.00 a.m on April 12th, aided by snow which blew into the faces of the German defenders. Despite very muddy conditions, two of the battalions slogged their way to their objectives within an hour, and by 8.00 a.m., all three units had taken over the German positions on, and to the north of, the Pimple. In their, almost, mirror-image attack on the other side of the valley, the 2nd Leinsters and the 9th Royal Sussex succeeded in gaining control of the remains of the woods, which were once the Bois en Hache on the eastern slopes of the Lorette spur. At 145 and 188 metres, respectively, at their highest points, the two neighbouring masses of the Lorette Spur and the Vimy Ridge had dominated the surrounding area, and threatened Arras, ever since October 1914. Now, after the loss of well over 100,000, mainly French and German, lives, they had finally both passed into Allied hands on the same day - April 12th, 1917. Much later that day, under cover of darkness, the German defenders withdrew to their Third Line, which was so far back that the new owners of Vimy Ridge would be denied the opportunity of looking down on the German trenches, but at least it clearly indicated that their commander, Crown Prince Rupprecht had no immediate plans to retake the high ground. Compared to the slaughter which the area had repeatedly witnessed in 1915, the final acts of capturing the Bois en Hache and the Pimple were modest affairs, with fewer than five battalions involved, but it meant that another hundred Irish and British men would not be returning to their respective islands, and a further 200 or so would be keeping the 24th Division Dressing Station at Aix-Noulette busy (as mentioned in the ‘Aix-Noulette Red Cross’ article, on page 15). For the men of the 10th Brigade, only half a mile or so away, the experience was such that the survivors had felt compelled to leave physical reminders of their achievements, and of their comrades who had fallen in their attack. In the Battleground Europe book ‘Vimy Ridge’ Nigel Cave writes, regarding the 46th Battalion, C.E.F., “Its attack on the Pimple cost the battalion 108 casualties, 26 fatal. Soon after the battle the battalion erected two crosses on the Pimple, one with the names of those killed on April 9th and the other those killed on April 12th. These survived for some years, but there no longer remains any trace of them. The only remaining memorial to the fighting that took place on the Pimple is the concrete surrounds of the 44th (Manitoba) Battalion memorial. The cross and panel with the names was taken back to Winnipeg in 1926.” Of course, since this book was published, the last vestige of these memorials had disappeared in 2006, so no evidence of the proud achievements of the 10th Brigade existed in the very location chosen by the men who had erected them – until Francis Roger decided to do something about the matter. I’m sure that future British and Canadian battlefield visitors looking for the Pimple will be grateful to Francis for the new memorial/marker, especially any whose ancestors had served in 10th Brigade and had battled through the snow and mud to forcibly remove the last of the German garrison from Vimy Ridge. Sources – ‘Vimy Ridge’ by Nigel Cave, part of the Battleground Europe series published by Pen and Sword Books Limited. ‘Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War, Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1919’, by Colonel G.W.L.Nicholson, C.D.
The large red dot is the location of the new Pimple memorial. The red dotted line is one of several footpaths leading to the memorial.
Map showing respective locations of Bois-en-Hache (top left), The Pimple (centre) and Hill 145 (bottom right).
Photo of Remains of original 44th Bn memorial taken in 2006 by Dale Hjort.
The above article was written by Peter Last for the Feb/March 2009 issue of the WFA Bulletin.