Page 261 - The Bugle 2018

D.L.I. Association Battlefield Tour 2018
On Wednesday 27th June 2018, twenty three members of the D.L.I. Association left Durham for Hull and an overnight ferry crossing to Zeebrugge. After disembarking the following day, our first stop was the town of Ypres, Belgium. Here the afternoon was spent visiting various places in ‘the salient’ which were of interest appertaining to the D.L.I. Regiment in WWI.
Led by our tour guides Harry Moses and Clive Bowery, our first port of call was to Gravenstafel Ridge and Boetleer Farm where we toured the battlefield over which the 8th Battalion D.L.I. fought in April 1915, during the 2nd Battle of Ypres. This was the first time this Territorial Battalion had been in action and after two days of fighting were reduced to one company strength and formed a composite battalion with the 6th D.L.I. before being built up to strength later in the year. A photo opportunity was next made at the 50th ‘Northumbrian’ Division Memorial near Wieltje before proceeding to Hooge. Here the actions of 1915/16 were explained and in particular that of 2nd D.L.I. during August 1915. Next having passed near the place where 2nd Lieutenant Frederick Youens, 13th Battalion D.L.I. won his V.C. on 7th July 1917, a stop was made at Perth China Wall CWGC. Here we all paid our respects to Pte T T Edmundson who following the discovery of his remains 2/3 years ago was finally buried in March of this year. After navigating the horrendous traffic in/ around Lille we finally made it to our hotel in Arras a little tired and weary but satisfied after the day’s events.
Friday saw us head north of Arras to Lestrem near Merville, where we toured the area over which the 8th Battalion D.L.I. fought in April 1918 as part of the Battle of the Lys. Other D.L.I. Battalions e.g. 5th; 9th fought in the same area but the party concen- trated on the actions of the 8th. We then proceeded to nearby St Venant and a jump of some twenty two years in time. Here we considered the British Army withdrawal to Dunkirk in 1940. It was in and around St Venant that the 2nd Battalion D.L.I. put up a stout resistance to delay the advance of the German Army. Visits were made to places in/around the town which were of significance during the action of 1940.
Saturday 30th June was the most important day of the tour for we were to attend the unveiling of a new memorial to the 18th Battalion D.L.I. in the village of Bus les Artois on the Somme. The ceremony didn’t start until 6.30pm and this afforded the party time to have a good look around Arras.
The 18th Battalion, otherwise known as ‘the Durham Pals’ was a Kitchener Battalion raised in Co Durham shortly after the outbreak of war. It having the unique accolade of being raised at ‘nil cost to the nation’, something no other Battalion could claim in WWI. When the War Office offered recompense to cover initial cost of raising, equipping, and training the Battalion, it was refused, the entire cost being borne by contributions from fifty two prominent people of the County. Another albeit unwanted claim to fame being it was the first of Kitchener’s Battalions to suffer a fatality on home soil due to enemy action. This occurred on 16th December 1914 when part of
the German High Seas Fleet bombarded Hartlepool, Scarborough and Whitby. The 18th Battalion were on coastal duty in Hartlepool and suffered six fatal- ities with Private Theophilus Jones, age 29 being the first. After initial training 1914/15 and three months defending the Suez Canal in Egypt, the Battalion arrived in Bus les Artois 20th April 1916 and spent the next few weeks making preparations for the Battle of the Somme. The Battalion was part of 31st Division, which consisted of many other ‘Pals Battalions’ e.g. Leeds, Hull, Barnsley, Accrington, Sheffield and Bradford.
For a number of years there had been a memorial to the Leeds and Bradford Pals in the village but none for Durham. Following an initiative between the local community and Durham County Council, a ‘Durham Memorial’ was purchased, shipped to France ready for the official unveiling on the 30th as part of the annual village act of remembrance. In addition to the D.L.I. Association party, an impressive gathering of local dignitaries and inhabitants, the Chairman of Durham County Council, representatives from Leeds and Bradford, all gathered at the village war memorial for the ceremony. After suitable speeches and act of remembrance the new memorial was officially unveiled. Afterwards all attendees retired to ‘la Marie’ for a ‘vin d’honneur’ celebration. At this event Major Paul Wharton (Chairman D.L.I. Associ- ation) presented the local Mayor (Madame Berna- dette Pombourg) with a D.L.I. ‘Tommy’ statue. This being a mark of the regiments appreciation and thanks for the efforts made by the village in remem- bering soldiers from County Durham over one hundred years ago. Now the memorial is in situ, it is hoped that links with the village, the regiment and County Durham can be maintained in future.
Sunday 1st July saw us return home via a Calais to Dover channel crossing. On the way to Calais we stopped to visit the very impressive WWI V1 & V2 Le Blockhaus site at d’Eperlecques near the French coast. The site contains the biggest bunker in northern France and was basically used for the assembly of V2 rockets. The size of the massive bunker has to be seen to be believed together with the damage caused by RAF and USAF allied bombing in 1943/44.
After a relatively traffic and trouble free drive north a tired party finally arrived back in Durham about 11pm. As we all dispersed someone asked a final rhetorical question ‘next year is the seventy fifth anniversary of D-Day are we going’? To which the reply was ‘time will tell’.
Mr C. Bowery
Durham Branch D.L.I. Association
(all photographs copyright D.L.I. Association; Major Paul Wharton; Mr C Bowery) (all photographs copyright CWGC; MoD; Crown Copyright; Mr C Bowery)
NOW THE MEMORIAL IS IN SITU,
IT IS HOPED THAT LINKS WITH THE VILLAGE, THE REGIMENT AND COUNTY DURHAM CAN BE MAINTAINED IN FUTURE
DLI party in Perth China Wall CWGC at grave of Pte TT Edmundson
The new DLI Memorial at Bus les Artois
THE RIFLES
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