Loos-en-Gohelle (Pas-de-Calais)

The Battle of Loos (25 September to 8 October 1915) was part of a combined Anglo-French offensive in Artois, aiming to break through the German lines in the mining basin around Lens. British forces had to advance through this open country from the right towards Loos and Lens. The Germans occupied strong defensive positions, including the slag heaps in Loos, offering obvious strategic advantages. The offensive achieved little territorial gains, in spite of the use of poison gas by the Allies. Losses were very high (some 60,000 British and 26,000 German casualties). On the horizon, to the right can be seen the Lone Tree, an obvious landmark in the flat country, then located in no-man's land. More to the centre is the British Memorial and Dud Corner Cemetery.

Haisnes (Pas-de-Calais)

St. Mary's A. D. S. Cemetery. John Kipling, son of British writer and Noble Prize laureate Rudyard, was reported injured and missing in action on the first day of the battle of Loos, barely 18. His face ripped off, his body was never found during the war. Research concluded in 1992 he was buried here in St. Mary's Advanced Dressing Station Cemetery, although other sources suggest this grave may be of another officer. In any case, John Kipling never had to enlist in the first place, as he was severely short-sighted, but only did so in order not to disappoint his father. The tragedy of losing his only son inspired Rudyard Kipling to become involved with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. He devised the phrases "Their name liveth for evermore" found on the stones of remembrance of each cemetery, as well as "A soldier of the Great War known unto God" seen on the graves of unknown servicemen.

Loos-en-Gohelle (Pas-de-Calais)

Dud Corner Cemetery and Memorial just outside of Loos forms the most important Commonwealth burial place in the area. Most of the 1,812 buried here fell in the Battle of Loos. Only 686 are identified. The Memorial was designed by Sir Herbert Baker and unveiled on 4 August 1930. The Loos Memorial to the Missing commemorates 20,605 British officers and men who were killed from 25 September 1915 to the end of the war in November 1918 in the battle sector between the river Lys in French Flanders and the village of Grenay, near Lens, in Artois.

Vimy (Pas-de-Calais) - Canadian National Vimy Memorial

The memorial is dedicated to the commemoration of the Battle of Vimy Ridge (9-12 April 1917) and Canadian Expeditionary Force members killed during the First World War. It also bears the names of those 11,285 Canadians who died in France and had no known grave at the end of the war.

Vimy (Pas-de-Calais) - Canadian National Vimy Memorial

The memorial was erected on the highest point on the ridge, the infamous Hill 145, overlooking the plain of Douai. The two pylons representing Canada and France, peace and freedom, tower 27 metres above the base of the monument. The surrounding grounds preserve the scars of the battlefield.

Vimy (Pas-de-Calais) - Canadian National Vimy Memorial

The monument was designed by Canadian architect and sculptor, Walter Seymour Allward. It was carved in Seget stone (beige limestone), which gives the monument its uniform colour. The unveiling took place in the presence of King Edward VIII and French president Albert Lebrun on 26 July 1936.

Vimy (Pas-de-Calais)

Remnants of a German strong point on Vimy Ridge with the Douai Plain and the landmark "Double Crassier" slag heap at Loos in the background. Vimy Ridge protected this area of occupied France in which coal mines and factories could be kept in full production for the German war effort. Until its capture by Canadian forces in April 1917 Vimy formed the key to the German defensive system in this sector.

Vimy (Pas-de-Calais)

Traces of the battlefield on the site of the Vimy Ridge Memorial Park, with the characteristic warning signs for unexploded ordnance underground.

Vimy (Pas-de-Calais)

The rebuilt trenches in the Vimy Ridge Memorial Park may look luxurious with their concrete sandbags and duckboards, but do give a good sense of how dangerously close the opposing armies in this sector were.

Vimy (Pas-de-Calais)

A Canadian observation post.

Vimy (Pas-de-Calais)

This monument facing Vimy Ridge commemorates the action of the so-called 'Division Marocaine' - which in effect consisted of Tunisian and Algerian servicemen, zouaves and legionaries - during the initial stages of the 2nd Battle of Artois (9-11 May 1915). The division broke through the enemy lines and swiftly reached the ridge, yet had to abandon it owing to a lack of reinforcements. At the end of the war the division numbered some of the most decorated units of the entire French army. The monument was unveiled in 1925.

Vimy (Pas-de-Calais)

Givenchy Road Canadian Cemetery. Within the Canadian National Vimy Memorial Park, this cemetery contains 108 Canadian burials, most from the Battle of Vimy Ridge (9-12 April 1917).

Vimy (Pas-de-Calais)

Givenchy Road Canadian Cemetery. Headstones with the characteristic Canadian Maple Leaf. Most died in their teens and twenties on April 9, 1917, the first day of the battle.

Notre-Dame de Lorette / Ablain-Saint-Nazaire (Pas-de-Calais)

Two ridges were of capital importance in the area north of Arras - Vimy and Notre-Dame de Lorette (the latter seen here from the Cabaret Rouge near Souchez). Both allowed artillery to control the landscape for kilometers in all directions, while the Vimy Ridge protected an area of occupied France in which coal mines and factories could be kept in full production for the German war effort. The Germans took possession of both ridges in 1914, building strong defences. The French army captured the high ground at Lorette in the autumn of 1915, yet Vimy stayed in German hands until it was finally taken by Canadian forces in April 1917. Both actions resulted in massive casualties. The destroyed church of Ablain-Saint-Nazaire at the foot of the hill was left in ruins.

Notre-Dame de Lorette / Ablain-Saint-Nazaire (Pas-de-Calais)

Monument to the French general Paul Maistre and his 21st Corps, which played a key role in the capture of the Notre-Dame de Lorette ridge between October 1914 and June 1915.

Notre-Dame de Lorette / Ablain-Saint-Nazaire (Pas-de-Calais)

Nécropole nationale de Notre-Dame de Lorette. Located on the infamous ridge that was the scene of much bloody fighting during the first years of the war, this French concentration cemetery became the largest in the country. More than 42,000 French servicemen who died in Artois and Flanders have found a final resting place on Notre-Dame de Lorette, half of them in individual graves. Notre-Dame de Lorette 188 m high, is part of Ablain-Saint-Nazaire, a commune with some 1,800 inhabitants.

Notre-Dame de Lorette / Ablain-Saint-Nazaire (Pas-de-Calais)

Nécropole nationale de Notre-Dame de Lorette. A basilica in neo-Byzantine style was built by the French architect Louis Marie Cordonnier and unveiled in 1925.

Notre-Dame de Lorette / Ablain-Saint-Nazaire (Pas-de-Calais)

Nécropole nationale de Notre-Dame de Lorette. Father and son Cordonnier also designed the 52 meters high lantern tower. Six graves at Notre-Dame de Lorette pair father and son, both killed in the war - the former in the First, the latter in the Second. The first grave in this row is one of these tragic cases. If "Mort pour la France" didn't mean much to you, then this surely will.

Notre-Dame de Lorette / Ablain-Saint-Nazaire (Pas-de-Calais)

'The Wooden Crosses' ('Les Croix de bois') immortalized in the 1919 novel by Roland Dorgèles (and the superb film adaptation by Raymond Bernard from 1932) have long since been replaced by crosses or marker stones in concrete. The sight of these boundless meadows of death remains no less impressive.

Notre-Dame de Lorette / Ablain-Saint-Nazaire (Pas-de-Calais)

L'Anneau de la mémoire/Ring of Remembrance. This memorial pays tribute to the soldiers who died in the region Nord Pas-de-Calais between 1914 and 1918. It lists 580,000 names of 40 nationalities. Designed by Philippe Prost, it was unveiled on 11 November 2014.

Ablain-Saint-Nazaire (Pas-de-Calais)

Located at the foot of the Notre-Dame-de-Lorette hill, the village of Ablain-Saint-Nazaire was destroyed by artillery fire in 1915. Its 16th-century church was left in ruins. The commune of Ablain preferred to build a new church.

Souchez (Pas-de-Calais)

Statue of the French general Ernest Barbot. In 1915 Barbot was leading the 77th Division. A highly capable and respected commander, Barbot was mortally wounded at the beginning of the Second Battle of Artois on 10 May 1915 in Souchez. He is buried at Notre-Dame-de-Lorette. The statue depicts the general in his uniform of the chasseurs alpins. The ridge of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette is seen on the horizon.

Neuville-Saint-Vaast (Pas-de-Calais)

Memorial for the Polish Volunteers who fell in the area on 9 May 1915, during the Second Battle of Artois. in 1917 a Polish army was created on French soil, a force that would comprise over 30,000 men by the time of the Armistice. In the earlier years of the war, Polish volunteers already served with the French Foreign Legion. They were a mix of aristocrats, labourers and students, all hoping for the revival of their motherland, divided up between the Central Powers and Russia. The Polish volunteers trained at Bayonne and were named “Bajonczycy”, the Bayonnais. They distinguished themselves in the Second Battle of Artois in May 1915, but suffering severe losses were almost completely wiped out as a fighting force. The monument for the Bayonnais at Neuville-Saint-Vaast was erected in 1929, but destroyed by the Germans in the Second World War. The current monument was renovated in 1995.

La Targette/Neuville-Saint-Vaast (Pas-de-Calais)

French Cemetery. The cemetery contains the graves of 11,443 war dead from the battles of Artois in 1915. 3,882 remain unidentified and are buried in mass graves. Moreover, 593 French, 4 Poles et 170 Belgians from the Second World War are buried here. La Targette was a battlefield area in 1915, so most of the men buried here, died in the vicinity. After the war burials from smaller cemeteries in Artois were assembled at La Targette.