Général Ernest Barbot

Saving Arras

Souchez obliterated

The Germans would hold out in Souchez for another couple of months until the 26th September when Barbot's men would finally take control of the mud and wasteland that had been the village.

Souchez saw such terrible fighting that it was completely obliterated. The Germans had made use of the local Château de Carleul and the Sugar Mill (Sucrerie) and turned them into fortresses. By changing the water system they had also managed to partially flood the valley - now called Zouave Valley.

The French writer Henri Barbusse served as a stretcher bearer here during the battle and described that whilst Carency had at least a few outlines of buildings, Souchez seemed to have disappeared, not a wall was left standing, the trees blasted away, it was hard to believe that in this muddle of torn brick, timber and metal you could still make out the cobbles - this used to be a road.

Nous sommes devant Souchez. Le village a disparu. Jamais je n'ai vu une telle disparition de village. Ablain Saint-Nazaire et Carency garde encore une forme de localité, avec leurs maisons défoncées et tronquées... Ici, dans le cadre des arbres massacrés - qui nous entourent au milieu du brouillard - plus rien n'a de forme : il n'y a même pas un pan de mur, de grille, de portail qui soit dressé, et on est étonné de constater qu'à travers l'enchevêtrement de poutre, de pierres et de férailles, sont des pavés : c'était ici une rue.

Henri Barbusse; Le Feu

It had become: a trickling purée of wood, stone and bones ground and kneaded into the mud.

The village was reconstructed after the war with the aid of the London Borough of Kensington whose soldiers had served in the sector.

The Monument

The monument was designed by Paul Dechin and sculpted by his father Jules. Work began in 1935 under a committee headed by Général Pétain, and the monument was inaugurated on Sunday the 9th May 1937 in the presence of numerous VIPs and veterans of the Alpine Division.

The statue is not only dedicated to Général Barbot himself, as commander of the 77e DI, but also to his men who fell in Artois between the 1st October 1914 and the 20th February 1916.

A bronze Général stands as he often did with a hand in between two button of his greatcoat (like Napoleon). With a gesture of his right hand he tries to protect his soldiers who can be seen climbing up out of their trenches in berets - no steel helmets in 1915.

The Général's own regiment the 159e RIA (they were known as the 15-9, Quinze-Neuf) was an Alpine Regiment and at their conception in 1889 were equipped with the dark blue chasseur beret, a huge tarte of an affair. It was Barbot's habitual headgear rather than an officer's kepi.

On the collar of the leading officer you can make out the 57 insignia of his battalion. Above him are listed the units forming the Division. On the other side their battle honours are engraved.

On either side of the monument are two commemorative plaques. One is to Général Plessier who had preceded Barbot as commander of the 77e DI and was the first Général killed in action (Alsace, 19th August 1914), the other to Général Stirn who took over at Barbot's death but was himself killed two days later. By coincidence Stirn in 1914 had succeeded Pétain as Colonel of the 33e RI, the Arras Infantry Regiment (Who counted a young Lieutenant Charles de Gaulle amongst its officers).

Above them all a winged victory holds aloft branches of laurel.

A local newspaper le Réveil du Nord reported that in the morning thousands upon thousands of veterans carrying standards by the hundred gathered at Notre Dame de Lorette to pay homage to their fallen comrades.

In the afternoon the crowd of perhaps 50,000 moved to Souchez where the monument was draped in red, white and blue. Many of the veterans were overcome with emotion and had to be treated by the medical staff on hand. Général Keller read the address for the absent Maréchal Pétain, who had been taken ill.

Le général Barbot savait causer avec les hommes, il savait exalter leur courage et sa simplicité d'attitude, bien loin de diminuer son prestige, engendrait une communauté de pensées qui réunit dans une même affection des hommes qui poursuivent le même but et sont exposés aux mêmes dangers

Général Barbot was a man who knew how to natter with his men, to praise their courage and his ease of attitude, far from diminishing his prestige this created an atmosphere of that mutual affection which can be found in men who persue the same goal and expose themselves to the same dangers.

Barbot was a regular visitor to St Pol whilst stationed in Artois and an anecdote tells of how one day whilst wandering through the town in his usual greatcoat (without belt) and tarte he was accosted by the garrison commander for his attire.

Barbot listened to the tirade and then calmly asked how many days in the cells would satisfy the Major's displeasure, and saluted. The Major blew his top for such insolence and was in mid second tirade when his eye caught the two discreet stars on the General's sleeve. With a red face the Major withdrew !

Another story recounted in the Regimental History is of an ordinary soldier encountering this elderly comrade in the trenches.

Why on earth have you not been demobilised at your age ?
They won't let me.
Why ever not ?
Because I'm the General.

The North African Memorial

Immediately to the left of Barbot's monument is the rather interesting memorial erected to honour the 700 inhabitants of the Pas de Calais who lost their lives in the conflicts of North Africa between 1952 and 1964.

The first stone was laid on the 3rd March 2002 and the memorial was inaugurated on the 22nd September 2002. It is composed of four distinct parts: the gate, the stone plaque, the memorial and the garden.

The central pathway is aligned towards Barbot's monument and Notre Dame de Lorette on the hillside. Within the Lorette lantern tower crypt lies France's Unknown Soldier from the war.

The granite block shows a map of northern Africa and the wish that we remember those who fell there.

The actual monument is a hollow white cube symbolising the Earth in a round basin - the sky. Within the cube a second, red, cube is suspended representing the blood of those who died. From it pour the tears of those who mourn their loss onto a black granite pyramid.

Around this simple but symbolic representation the walls carry the names of the 700 soldiers who Died for France (remembering of course that at the time these were French Départements).

The twelve trees within the small memorial garden represent the twelve years of the war.

---

2nd Battle of Artois
Notre Dame de Lorette