Hendecourt lès Cagnicourt

1st September 1918

Location

Hendecourt lès Cagnicourt is a small village of just over 300 inhabitants to the east of Arras. Coming from Arras, continue towards Cambrai along the D 939, passing the Vis en Artois Memorial. Just before reaching the Dury Canadian Memorial you will see a turning to your right, the D 956. Take this road following the signs for Hendecourt.

You may be interested to know that the word - lès - which appears in many village names means near to. You will note that it is spelt with an accent unlike the more common word les which means the (plural).

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Background

The suggestion that Field Marshal Haig appears to have used the Australian and Canadian Divisions as his shock troops has been raised a number of times over the years.

Whether this was intentional or not it would be fair to say that by 1918 the flower of British youth (and indeed middle age) had succumbed to the statistics of this war of attrition. Conscription was just about keeping up with the Army's requirements, but Prime Minister Lloyd George had courted disaster that spring by leaving Haig crucially short of replacements.

Reorganising the British Army

But industrial Britain did not produce the same breed of man as the pioneering, outdoor spirit of the Colonies. Life was grim working in the factories, coalmines and ship yards and the standard of diet on the poor wages left many of those called for service being turned down on medical grounds. To help ease the shortages the age limits were widened and the height limit reduced, giving rise to Bantam battalions of shorter but otherwise healthy soldiers.

The Germans could not have but helped notice that the arrival of Canadians on their front presaged a determined offensive and for this reason the movements of Sir Arthur Currie's Canadian Corps were kept under wraps as much as possible.

At the end of August 1918 the Canadians were no longer needed to bolster a weakened Allied position on the Somme. Nobody appreciated it at the time but the commencement of the French counter attack on the 18th July and the opening of the Battle of Amiens on the 8th August had heralded the end of Germany's last hope of gaining the war. The march to victory had begun.

There was a difference, however, between this advance and that of the German Spring offensive. Earlier in the year General Gough's 5th Army had been a weakly held front line with no prepared positions to fall back on. Now as summer turned to autumn the Germans were retreating back towards the Hindenburg Line (as it was known to the Allies), perhaps the most formidable system of entrenched defensive positions the world has ever seen. In April 1917 the British and Canadians had dented it but never found the ability to crack it open.

The 15th Battalion CEF (48th Highlanders of Canada)

The 48th Highlanders of Canada were formed as a militia unit in Toronto by Lieutenant Colonel John Davidson in 1891. On the formation of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in 1914, the 15th Battalion was recruited from Toronto and retained a strong influence from the city's home regiment, taking their name as the battalion subtitle.

Having been in action for the few days previous the 15th Battalion were brought out of the line to recently cleaned billets at Boves (east of Amiens) on the 23rd August 1918. The next 24 hours were spent in attending the Sunday church parade and cleaning their equipment.

Their turn to move north to Arras was about to begin.

They left Boves at 1500 hours on the 25th August 1918 marching to the Saleux railway yard. It was a slow march as many of the men were suffering from dysentery and the battalion had to keep pausing to allow the men to recover.

Through the night they rattled their way across Picardie to Aubigny en Artois some 20 kilometres behind the Arras front. It was just after 0800 hours and the men managed to avail themselves of a hot meal whilst they awaited their buses. Major John Girvan MC returning from leave that morning had taken over command of the battalion and had been instructed to get his men onto buses and away to Arras.

In Aubigny Communal Cemetery Extension you will find the grave of Claude Nunney VC DCM MM of the 38th Bn Canadian Infantry who was awarded his VC for work carried out attacking the Drocourt-Quéant Line.

Aubigny Communal Cemetery Extension

The news coming in from the front was promising. That morning the 2nd and 3rd Canadian Divisions had launched an attack on the far side of Arras; Monchy le Preux had fallen (again) and the Canadian Corps were advancing from Arras towards Cambrai astride the old Roman road.

Arriving on the outskirts of the town the Highlanders debussed at the Baudimont Gate in Arras (Now a large junction near the Regional Hospital) and from there they marched around the old fortifications to the moat of the citadelle. Fifteen months previously tanks had been parked here prior to the Battle of Arras, now the kilted Canadians rested for the moment and awaited their orders.

Arras 1917

The Canadians were approaching the Drocourt-Quéant Switch, the keystone of the Hindenburg Line defensive system. Behind it lay the partially completed Canal du Nord. From there they would no longer be conquering ground but liberating the northern towns and villages of France, communes that had witnessed nothing but feldgrau since 1914.

The Highlanders left the semi comfort of Arras on the 27th and marched out to Telegraph Hill south of Tilloy les Mofflaines and then later in the evening to positions just behind Wancourt.

As rain started to fall the following day they remained at Wancourt until late in the evening when they were moved forward to take over the front line in front of Cherisy. They were relieving men from 2nd Canadian Division who had been in combat all day.

Captain Vic Goldman (left)
Canadian author Michel Gravel (centre)
Brigadier General Greg Young, 48th Highlanders of Canada (right)

It had not been a simple matter to find the front line. After years of static warfare where gains even on the best of days tended to be limited, the move to open warfare had stretched communications in both directions to its limit.

The relieving force was simply told to advance - in that direction - and take over the line when you encountered it.

The Highlanders set up their Headquarters in the Sun Quarry just south of Cherisy. Their so called line was a system of irregular craters and chalky shell holes.

Although they were not for the moment engaged in any fighting the battalion continued to suffer casualties (11 killed and 28 wounded) as highly effective German artillery continued to harass their positions.

A lucky escape

As evening fell on the 30th August a German shell landed directly on the HQ dugout at Sun Quarry. As these positions were the old German trenches the entrance faced the German lines and the shell came straight through it.

Within were the OC, Major Girvan, a group of officers, signallers, runners and a newspaper reporter. The shell exploded putting out the lamps and smashing the table. As the dust settled the only sound that could be heard was the flutter of the pigeons' wings as they settled back down again.

The gathered humans picked themselves up, dusted themselves down, and possibly gave thanks to numerous good luck charms and deities - everybody had survived a direct hit.

The following morning the 1st Canadian Brigade moved up to the front line for an operation against Upton Wood; a major obstacle on the left of the Highlanders. Throughout the day the battle for the wood rolled back and forth until it was finally secured by the Canadians.

Then, on the afternoon of the 31st August the Highlanders were ordered to take over the newly captured and consolidated trenches with their front line position in Ulster Trench a few hundred metres further down the road towards Hendecourt lès Cagnicourt.

At dawn they were to attack a feature known as the Crow's Nest and the Château Wood at Hendecourt.

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The attack on the Crow's Nest
Sun Quarry Cemetery
Upton Wood Cemetery