Until 1992 St Mary's ADS (Advanced Dressing Station) Cemetery in Haisnes was a quiet corner of a rarely visited battlefield. All that changed when the grave of a hitherto unknown officer of the Irish Guards was positively identified as Second Lieutenant John Kipling, the only son of the famous writer and poet Rudyard Kipling. Now, this tiny corner of France has joined the list of 'honeypot' battlefield sites, and the tourist buses arrive several times a week throughout the summer months. I was there for another reason however. Just before he passed away, my Brother-in-Law, Alan Walker, had finished researching his Grandfather's service in the Great War. Nottingham man, Private John Walker, had served in the RAMC (Royal Army Medical Corps). It was here, whilst his unit were supporting the 16th (Irish) Division at Haisnes in 1916, that John received a wound which would eventually prove fatal. With Alan's final ambition of walking the ground where his Grandfather served being unfulfilled, two of his friends and myself decided to tie up what we considered to be a loose end.
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| St Mary's ADC Cemetery, Haisnes |
Paying our respects to Private Walker, was an adjunct to a full day of walking the battlefield at Loos. It is not my intention to describe the battle in full here. Suffice to say, the 60,000 strong British (and Indian Army) attack at Loos was a small part of a major French offensive intended to pinch out a huge salient in the German lines which threatened Paris. The French would commit over 700,000 men to an attack on two fronts - Artois and Champagne. Like much that had happened before in 1915, from an Allied perspective the whole thing was a costly failure. The British were attacking over unfavourable flat ground dotted with slag heaps, and to compensate for this gas would be used to mask the attack. On the first day, the 25th September 1915, the initial attack succeeded in punching through the German Front Line despite the gas proving to be somewhat ineffective. In the south the 15th (Scottish) Division and the 47th (London) Division did particularly well - capturing the village of Loos and pushing through to Hill 70 beyond.
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| Looking north from Bois Carre CWGC |
The subsequent attacks at Loos were an unmitigated disaster. The overall commander, Sir John French, had retained control of the Reserves and they were held some way back from the theatre of operations. Aside from a number of British and Indian Cavalry Brigades the Reserve consisted of two 'yet to be blooded' new Army Divisions (the 21st and the 24th) and the Guards Division. The considerable delay in bringing these formations into action in order to capitalise on the early success gave the Germans time to consolidate their Second Line, range their machine guns and set their artillery. By the end of the third day, most of the original gains had been forfeited with a huge loss of life.
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| The (replaced) Lone Tree - Loos Battlefield |
The fighting was particularly fierce around the Hohenzollern Redoubt and the Quarries (the nearby memorial to the 46th (North Midlands) Division is testament to the former). A short distance away a lone tree marks a spot where the slaughter was particularly intense. Visiting this spot in the late 1980s, I remember Martin Middlebrook telling me that the inexperienced New Army officers had chosen the lone tree in the middle of the battlefield as a rallying point. The resultant concentration of fighting men at this spot made easy picking for the German machine-gunners.
The controversy surrounding the treatment of the reserves was to precipitate Sir John French's replacement as Commander-in-Chief by his subordinate Douglas Haig, the Commander of 1st Army. In a admittedly self-serving letter sent to Lord Kitchener (Secretary of War) on 29 September, Haig laid out the case against Sir John.
You will no doubt recollect how earnestly I pressed you to ensure an adequate reserve being close in the rear of my attacking Divisions. It may interest you to know what happened. No Reserve was placed under me. My attack, as has been reported, was a complete success. The enemy had no troops in the second line, which some of my plucky fellows reached and entered without opposition .... the final result is that the enemy had been allowed time in which to bring up troops, and probably construct a third line.
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| Looking south from Dud Corner CWGC |
The losses amongst the officer cohort were particularly high, and amongst them were two men from my home town of Clevedon. 2nd Lieutenant Lewis Hopkins of the 2nd SLI (Somerset Light Infantry), 61st Brigade, 21st Division who was killed in action on the evening of the 26th September. Also, 2nd Lieutenant James Conroy Fair of the 1st Coldstream Guard killed on the 28th of that same month. Their names are recorded, along with thousands of others, on the Loos Memorial at Dud Corner on the main Bethune to Lens road. The intensity of the fighting in the direction of Hill 70 is captured in the Coldstream Guards War Diary entry for the day that Fair was killed - which records that the men were absolutely mown down. Indeed, within one hour nine officers and 240 Coldstream Guardsmen became casualties as a result of just two well-placed German machine guns.
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| Loos Cemetery Extension |
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| Hill 70 Canadia Memorial |
Many of the casualties at Loos are buried in the Loos Military Cemetery near to Hill 70 which was the high water mark of success on the first day of the battle (the Hill was eventually captured by the Canadian Corps on the 25th August 1917). The cemetery is a particular point of interest as it has been extended to cater for the burial of bodies being disinterred as a result of the construction of a vast new hospital a few miles away. The picture above represents less than 10% the new section which will eventually contain in excess of 250 new burials - many identified as a result of meticulous by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission who have used DNA processing to track down relatives and verify identities.
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| A toast to the late Alan Walker in Place des Heros, Arras |
And what of Private John Walker, the RAMC soldier who prompted this trip to Loos? Well, John was born in Nottingham in 1885 to parents Thomas and Sarah, and spent his early life in the Somercotes area. In 1908 he received an educational scholarship which enabled him to attain a professional qualification in mining at the Riddings Colliery Educational Centre. This enabled him to work as a Deputy Miner at the local coal mine. He married Mary Degg at the United Methodist church in Alfreton and had three children - Tom, William and Harry (Alan Walker's father). It would appear that John picked up administrative and medical skills whilst working in the colliery. His late grandson remembered that Harry (John's son) would demonstrate Red Cross skills in South Wingfield Social Club in the 1950s. Maybe an interest in the welfare of others had been passed down a generation?
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| John Walker's grave marker - restored by his grandson |
John enlisted in the RAMC on the 6th September, 1915. He served with 112 Field Ambulance (No. 64661) and was wounded on the 23rd June 1916 around the time his unit had moved to the British lines near Busnes, France. John was discharged from the RAMC on the 14th August 1917 but later joined the Army Pay Corps (No. 23838) before a final discharge on the 8th January 1920. Sadly, John succumbed to his wounds at the St Martin's Convalescence Home in Cheltenham on the 4th July 1923. He is buried in Leabrooks Cemetery, Derbyshire (Plot 957), his grave plot and marker stone having been refurbished by his grandson, the late Alan Walker, as a final act of remembrance.
This blog is dedicated to my good friend and battlefield walker - Alan Walker, who sadly passed away earlier this year. We will remember him.
