La Grande Reconstruction, Arras, ville nouvelle !

🇬🇧

We have mainly selected photographs from the Imperial War Museum showing the presence of British troops in Arras. They defended our city; we pay homage to them and in particular to those, a regretably great number, who never left Arras. They are mostly buried in the monumental "Faubourg d'Amiens" cemetery, details of which can be found in the French original of this blog (The cemetery of the Faubourg d'Amiens).

(The I.W.M.  photographs are supplemented by some from the article "The conflict seen by the Photographic Section of the army")

In 1914, the British army was a professional one. Following the heavy losses suffered at the start of the war, Lord Kitchener, then Minister of War in Great Britain, launched a massive recruitment drive and appealed to volunteers to form the New Army K, "The New Kitchener Army".

We thus see arriving among  the British troops young inexperienced soldiers coming from all Great Britain: England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Also joining the Commonwealth Army were young men  from Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia, countries still closely linked with Great Britain.

Far from their native land, these volunteers had traveled thousands of kilometers by boat to reach England for training before being assigned to different sectors of the British front which  stretched from Flanders to the Somme.

The British General Headquarters, responsible for stragetic planning, initially located in Saint-Omer, was transferred in March 1916 to Boulogne-sur-Mer.

In the Artois, the British replaced the French troops, en route to Verdun, from February-March 1916.

The first General Staffs settled in Arras in March 1916.

The French "Place Militaire" was  attached to the British Military Authority.

A plaque on the Wellington Memorial mentions : "In April 1917, on the eve of the Battle of Arras, 14 Commonwealth divisions under British command await the start of the offensive on a 22 km front". (Ref.1. See below.)

This British presence in Arras was hailed by two articles in the "Lion of Arras", one of which is in English.

Yves Le Maner writes : "The British installed Town Majors in the main towns near the front-line and took charge of the administration of the territories, with the collaboration of the mayors. A French military mission was  assigned to the British army to iron out any difficulties with the local authorities; interpreters, whether British or French, played an important role in relations with the inhabitants. While the English provost-marshall provided the police, French territorial gendarmes were present to oversee the evacuation of civilians." ²

Arras, a British fortified camp

Quoting an Arras resident, Laurent WIART writes : "These troops established themselves in houses, where they set up their administration and their supply stores, canteens, YMCA hostels, etc... The British carried out extensive defense work around Arras and set up numerous telephone installations. They set up barricades and machine gun nests at sensitive points; Mr. Cronfalt then notes: "They seem determined to defend, if necessary, the city street by street." ³

Alain Jacques writes :"The less dangerous areas such as the Lower Town were allocated to the permanent staffs, French and British, where they were  housed in bourgeois houses and mansions.

The quarters traditionally reserved for the army such as the citadel or the barracks proved to be insufficient, and were above all regularly targeted. Also, to reduce the risk of loss and compensate for the lack of housing, the troops were scattered in the northern and eastern districts of the city, in which complete streets were requisitioned, such as rue Baudimont, rue d'Amiens and the Squares  from which civilians were evacuated if necessary.

The sectors occupied by the soldiers were quickly provided with cinemas, hostels (YMCAs), games rooms. Two police stations were installed on the Place du Théâtre and on the Grand'Place. They  were responsible for maintaining order for the new occupants, whose numbers were sometimes greater than that of the pre-war population." ⁴

Dr. Georges Paris writes :"The English staff had moved into Mr. Anselin's building, at the corner of rue Gambetta and rue St-Jean, and had fitted out the  "boves" (underground quarries) . A shell that fell on the house prompted him to change residence and  move to the Place Victor Hugo, not far from the offices of the Place française which remained on rue des Promenades. ". ⁵

And again : At the beginning of 1917, a contingent of 18,000 soldiers settled in the city, in the buildings still standing and in the boves of the Grand’ Place. . ⁶

A police report dated May 3, 1916 tells us that the British army only authorized the opening of drinking establishments to the troops from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. The report mentions: “[we] noticed that several English soldiers were entering the Duhamel tavern  , located rue St Aubert n° 81, in Arras. This establishment was brightly lit and the door wide open. We entered and found that the innkeeper, Mrs. Duhamel, 27, was serving a mug of beer to an English soldier, and that about sixty English soldiers were standing and seated in the bar of this inn. Many drinks: wine and beer, were served to them. We pointed out to the innkeeper that it was 8:20 p.m. » ⁷

1 - Plaque on the memorial at the Wellington Quarry.

2 - Le Maner Yves, La Grande Guerre dans le Nord et le Pas-de-Calais, Editions La Voix, 2014, p. 295

3 - Wiary Laurent, Master's Thesis "Arras ville de l'Arrière Front pendant la Première Guerre Mondiale" , 1996. Page 77.

4 - Jacques Alain, Mortier Laurence, La bataille d'Arras, Editions Degeorge, 2014, p. 27

5 - Docteur Georges Paris, Un Demi-siècle de vie arrageoise, 1971, p 56

6 - Ibidem p. 57

7 -  File : "Mission militaire française DEN à F", Municipal Library Archives.

Film of the three previous photographs.

Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantery

The title of this article is inspired by the title of a chapter - "Arras à l'heure anglaise" - of the excellent book: Jacques Alain, Mortier Laurence, La Bataille d’Arras, Editions Degeorge, 2014

A big thank you to our British friend and also from Arras Barrington Cross for the wise proofreading of these translations and the additional information he was kind enough to give us.

🔼