Page 214 - The Bugle 2018

Chairman of Durham County Council, Cllr John Lethbridge with French dignitaries at the unveiling of the DLI Pals Bn Memorial – Bus-les-Artois
The DLI Association Battlefield Tour 27 June–1 July 2018 to attend the dedication of the memorial in the village of Bus-Les-Artois, donated by Durham County Council in recognition of the part played by the 18 (Pals) Battalion DLI in the battle of the Somme
A party of 21 DLI Friends and Association members assembled at the Durham Reserve Army Centre, known as the Gilesgate Armoury on 27 June to leave for a 5-day Battlefield Tour of Northern France, to visit DLI battle-sites, to renew old friendships, and to unveil the Memorial to 18th (Pals) Battalion of the DLI in the village of Bus-les-Artois from where the battalion started their advance towards Serre on 1 July 1916, the first morning of the battle of the Somme, where they sustained such heavy losses partly as a result the element of surprise being lost by the exploding of the nearby Beaumont-Hamel mine 10 minutes early at 7.20 am, forewarning the Germans in their defensive redoubts of the planned operation. Major Paul Wharton thanked all those who were involved in providing the memorial and those who attended the ceremony of dedication at Bus-les-Artois. He said “Thank you to all those that attended the 102nd Anniversary Ceremony of Remembrance and the unveiling of the new memorial for the 18 Pals Battalion DLI at Bus-Les- Artois, France. Well done the DCC for producing the memorial and well done to the DLI Association members for your smart turn out on parade; you did the Regiment proud. It was a privilege for me to make a presentation to Madame le Maire, on behalf of the DLI Association. It was an honour to remember our fallen and the DLI soldiers from the battle of the Somme and WW1.”
The party also visited the Gravenstafel Ridge where elements of four Durham Battalions fought in The Great War in the 2nd Battle of Ypres between 24 & 26 April 1915, the battle honour St Julien being awarded to the 1/5th Bn DLI. The 8th Bn defended a salient exposed by the rout of the French Zouaves as a result of a gas attack, alongside the Canadian Winnipeg Rifles at Boetleer’s Farm, sustaining the loss of 574 NCOs & men and 19 Officers, many of them in action for the first time.
On the last morning before driving to Calais to catch the ferry back to the UK, the BFT group visited le Blockhaus d’Éperlecques, the World War 2 Rocket Site near Calais, designed for the German V-weapons programme, This site was most inter- esting and merits a longer visit on another occasion. ‘Le Blockhaus’ is a massive concrete structure intended as a production facility for the fuel to power German V1 &V2 rocket missiles and as a launching point to directed them at the United Kingdom during the Second World War. It was constructed from March 1943 and carried the code name Kraftwerk (power station) Nord West. The base was built by 35,000 slave labourers under the direction of Organisation Todt. The launching site, near the railway from Calais to St Omer, was intended to incorporate a factory for liquid oxygen, used as rocket
fuel, and a bombproof railway tunnel linking underground missile stores with the launching ramp. The installation was designed to hold 100 missiles and to launch 26 a day. The bunker was never completed as a result of the repeated bombing by the British and United States air forces as part of Operation Crossbow against the German V-weapons programme. The attacks caused substantial damage and rendered the bunker unusable for its original purpose.
AT THE END OF THE DAY A CHORUS OF ‘WE ARE SOME OF
THE DLI ‘ CONCLUDED PROCEEDINGS AND EVERYONE WENT HOME AFTER A MOST ENJOYABLE DAY
Stockton branch members stand behind the newly unveiled DLI Pals Bn Memorial
220 REGIMENTAL ASSOCIATIONS
THE RIFLES