THIS year five members of the Farnham Great War group took part in a visit to the Arras area on the 100th anniversary of some of the fiercest fighting of the Great War.

As they drove towards Arras the first stop was at Vimy Ridge where one of the most impressive memorials on the Western Front commemorates the successful assault and capture of the ridge by Canadian troops. The huge white monument dominates the skyline and is set on the highest point known as Hill 145 - the height in metres of the ridge.

At Gavrelle they saw the Royal Naval Division Monument and went on to trace the action that was to lead to the award of the Victoria Cross to Second Lieutenant A O Pollard, a Surrey man.

His citation read: ‘Owing to heavy casualties caused by enemy shellfire, the troops of various units to the left of Second Lieutenant Pollard’s Battalion had become disorganised on 29th April, 1917, at the Gavrelle, France. A further enemy attack only caused further confusion and retirement, and being closely pressed by enemy forces. Realising the seriousness of the situation, Second Lieutenant Pollard rushed up to put a halt to the retirement. With only four men, he began a counter-attack with bombs, pressing it home, breaking the enemy and regaining all the ground that had been lost: and much more in addition. The enemy sustained many casualties as they retired in complete disorder. With his lack of regard for danger, he instilled every man, who saw him, with courage.”

He was to survive the war and became a prolific author with his autobiography entitled, ‘Fire-Eater Memoirs of a V.C.’ of interest to any student of the Great War.

They drove on to Roclincourt Valley cemetery where they found the grave of Edward Bolton, a soldier, convicted of desertion who was subsequently shot at dawn. The group found the ruins of the estaminet by Duisans Halt where he spent his last night and poignantly followed his last brief, blindfolded walk to the place of execution by a railway embankment. He was buried in an unmarked grave but subsequently reinterred to Roclincourt Cemetery.

They went on to visit the grave of Edward Thomas the poet in Agny Cemetery. He is commemorated in Steep, near Petersfield where he lived for a while before enlisting in the Artists Rifles in July 1915, despite being a mature married man who could have avoided enlisting. He was unintentionally influenced in this decision by his friend and fellow poet Robert Frost, who had returned to the US but sent Thomas an advance copy of ‘Taken’. The poem was intended by Frost as a gentle mockery of indecision, particularly the indecision that Thomas had shown on their many walks together. Most audiences took the poem more seriously than Frost intended.

Thomas similarly took it seriously and personally, and it provided the last straw in Thomas’ decision to enlist.

Thomas was promoted to corporal, and in November 1916 was commissioned into the Royal Garrison Artillery as a second lieutenant. He was killed in action soon after he arrived at Arras on Easter Monday, April 9, 1917, and is buried in the cemetery at Agny. Written below his name on the headstone it simply says ‘Poet’.

Each year the group identify a soldier from the Farnham area killed in the Great War, find his grave or the memorial to him and, in an act of remembrance place a wreath at the grave. This year the chosen soldier was one GW Ayres. His name appears, along with four others, above the entrance to the Memorial Hall in West Street. The selection of Private Ayres was made prior to the to the redevelopment of the hall which was built in memory of the soldiers’ sacrifice.

Some research at the museum found a picture of Private GW Ayres in the Farnham Herald of July 1917. It included a little background information and contact was made with a relative still living in Farnham. He is commemorated on the Arras War Memorial which has nearly 35,000 names of soldiers killed mainly in the Arras offensive of April/May 1917 and who sadly have no known grave. After locating his name a picture was taken and the wreath laid.

Using the war diaries of his regiment, The Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry the group followed his advance up Telegraph Hill to a German stronghold known as the Harp just behind the crest of the hill which took place on April 9, 1917. This was later followed by a walk along the Cojeul valley towards the St Rohart Factory, now peaceful farmland. It was here in the attack by the 5th Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry attack on May 3, 1917, that George Ayres was killed.

In Feuchy Chapel British cemetery is the grave of 2nd Lieutenant C Pile, Royal Flying Corps who was a victim of Lothar Van Richthofen, brother of the Red Baron. He survived a dogfight and heavy landing in a badly damaged aircraft but sadly died of his wounds while being carried to a casualty clearing station.

One of the group had acquired papers relating to Private Harry Green of the 5th Northamptonshire Regiment, a pioneer battalion who now lies in Monchy British Cemetery. They made the walk to Infantry Hill, the Mound, Bois du Vert and finally the site of the strongpoint where he was mortally wounded on July 16, 1917.

With the light fading the last visit of the day was to Brown Copse Cemetery, Rouex to pay respects to Lt D Macintosh VC. An extract from The London Gazette, dated June 8, 1917, records the following: “For most conspicuous bravery and resolution in the face of intense machine gun fire. During the initial advance he was shot through the right leg, but though crippled he continued to lead his men and captured the trench. In the captured trench Lt Mackintosh collected men of another company who had lost their leader, and drove back a counter-attack. He was again wounded, and although unable to stand, he continued, nevertheless, to control the situation.

“With only 15 men left, he ordered his party to be ready to advance to the final objective, and with great difficulty got out of the trench and encouraged his men to advance. He was again wounded and fell. The gallantry and devotion to duty of this officer were beyond all praise.”

The final day started with a link back to Signaller William Bass, aged 20 of the Royal Scots Fusiliers, whose diary had been the central part of last year’s visit to the Somme. He took part in the pursuit to the Hindenburg Line in March and April 1917.

The group were able to follow in his footsteps in a visit to the site of the Madeleine Work, a German redoubt in the old second line. Further extracts from his diary put him in the thick of the fighting near Arras. A particular entry hints at the ferocity of the fighting: “Then on the 23rd April we went over the top again and it was a fight. Only four signallers left. I was hit all over my equipment and my steel helmet without a doubt saved my life.”

Their next visit was to the Croisilles Railway Cemetery, a rather unusual shape dug into the farmland and having a large section empty of graves and the embankment close by. Fierce fighting during the German advance is described in Ernst Jungers autobiographical novel, ‘Storm of Steel’ from the German point of view and, though it was not possible to identify the particular machine gun posts, a walk along the old railway embankment showed what a formidable defensive position the British occupied.

With time running out there were further visits to Bullecourt, where they saw the memorials including the Slouch Hat, The Australian Digger and Australian Cross memorial all monuments to the brave Australian troops and the ground near Diagonal Road where Lieutenant Rupert Moon won his Victoria Cross. The third Victoria Cross of the visit and proof of the severity of the fighting and the immense bravery shown around Arras.

It was fitting that their last stop was at the Seaforth Highlanders Memorial in Fampoux where Lt D Mackintosh had set off from prior to the fighting for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross. This brought to an end a busy three days during which we had criss-crossed the Arras Battlefield which is now tranquil farmland but 100 years ago saw some of the fiercest fighting of the war.

Looking ahead to next year trip which will take place in March and focus on the 100th anniversary of the German Spring Offensive and the battles of Hamel, Amiens and the Hundred Days. Hopefully they will include a visit to Wilfred Owen’s grave on the way to the first and last graves of the war at St Symphorien.

The group would like to find a suitable soldier for next year’s wreath laying ceremony and would be ­pleased to learn about anyone in the area who lost a relative or knows of a Farnham soldier who was killed in the 1918 campaigns.