A circular route beginning at: Cité Madagascar
Coordinates: 50°30 02.48” N – 2°46 44.82” E
Distance: 5.5km/3.4 miles
Suitable for:
Grade: Easy
Maps: IGN Série Bleue 2405 E – Lens
General description and context: This short route looks at the British attack of 25 September 1915 on the Hohenzollern Redoubt and the subsequent fighting which concluded on 13 October with the unsuccessful attack by the 46th (North Midland) Division. The fighting in this vicinity led to five Victoria Crosses being awarded and the deaths of Captain Hon. Fergus Bowes-Lyon – brother to the late Queen Mother – and Major General George Thesiger, commanding the 9th (Scottish) Division. The brutal fighting here also involved men of the 24th Division, one of the first two divisions of Kitchener’s New Army to see action on the Western Front, pitched straight into the maelstrom of a major battle without any preliminary instruction in trench warfare.
The task facing the 9th (Scottish) Division on 25 September 1915 was to attack between the 7th Division on its right and the Vermelles–La Bassée railway on the left and capture the German front and support trenches. Having secured those objectives it was to push on towards Haisnes and the Lens–La Bassée road. On the right flank of the division, 28 Brigade, whose sector was west of the Vermelles–Auchy road, faced Madagascar and Little Willie Trench, a line that was strengthened by the formidable German machine-gun positions at Mad Point and Railway Redoubt. Further east the 26 Brigade sector was opposite the Hohenzollern Redoubt and the Fosse 8 mining complex.
Here the attack was led by 7/Seaforth Highlanders and 5/Cameron Highlanders with 8/Gordon Highlanders in reserve. Whilst the gas attack in the 28 Brigade sector was more of an obstacle than a help, the gas and smoke attack in the 26 Brigade area persisted long enough for the Seaforths to advance through its protective screen and enter the trenches of the Hohenzollern Redoubt. The battalion bombers forged their way forward along communication trenches to reach Fosse Trench around 7am. Taking advantage of the retreating Germans, both battalions continued towards Fosse 8 and the miners’ cottages of the Corons de Pekin on the far side. They consolidated their positions along Corons Trench where they were reinforced by 8/Black Watch and later by 73 Brigade of the New Army 24th Division where, with assistance from the Sappers of 90/Field Company RE, Fosse 8 was put into a state of defence. The 28 Brigade attack had foundered in the face of uncut German wire and a ferocious machine-gun barrage and it was their failure to capture Madagascar Trench and the arrival of German reserves that ultimately prevented any further advance by 26 Brigade towards Haisnes. The inevitable German counter-attack on the Fosse 8 mining complex came at dawn on 27 September. It was during this attack and the subsequent retirement that Captain Bowes-Lyon and Major General Thesiger were killed. By last light on 27 September only the Hohenzollern Redoubt remained in British hands. It was in those old German trenches that Kitchener volunteers such as England and Northampton rugby union captain Edgar Mobbs and his men of 7/Northants huddled until being relieved at 11pm that night. Mobbs had led his men forward across the plain of le Rutoir and straight into battle on 25 September after a march of 12km from Beuvry near Béthune which had started at 11.15am that morning. They had fought all day on the 26th and the 27th and stayed in the old German front line until relief with only the iron rations and water they had brought with them into battle. This keen and untried Kitchener battalion, including a company that went under the name ‘Mobbs’ Own’, had suffered grievously in its first action losing more than 350 men killed, wounded and missing, including its CO Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Parkin. The battalion had been so badly mauled that the people back home in Northampton at first feared that it had been completely wiped out.
By 30 September continual fighting had reduced the British hold on the redoubt to the West Face and Big Willie Trenches with the Germans in control of most of Little Willie Trench; a situation that deteriorated on 3 October when the Germans recaptured the remaining portion of the redoubt from 84 Brigade. The final British attempt to retake the redoubt took place on 13 October when the 46th (North Midland) Division attacked the redoubt and The Dump. Initial gains were soon halted by German machine-gun fire from Mad Point and The Dump which enfiladed the length of Fosse Trench. By the end of the day the remnants of the division were left clinging to the western edge of the redoubt – West Face Trench – with the German front line literally yards away.
Directions to start: Approach Cité Madagascar from the direction of Vermelles along the Rue de Vermelles towards Auchy lès Mines. As you pass the right-hand turn leading to Quarry British Cemetery you will see a group of residential buildings ahead on the right, slow down here and take the next turning on the right. This is the Rue de Dunkerque which runs along the southwestern edge of the Cité Madagascar. Keep bearing right until you reach a crossroads, turn left into the Rue de Douai and park.
Route description: From the Rue de Douai head southeast over the crossroads along the Chemin du Mont d’Auchy Ⓐ passing the farm buildings on the left – note the signpost to the 46th Division Memorial on the left. Immediately after passing the farm your will find the small memorial garden which encloses the 46th Division Memorial on land donated by local landowner Michel Dedourge. The memorial is dedicated to the memory of the 3,763 officers and men of the 46th (North Midland) Division who became casualties at the nearby Hohenzollern Redoubt on 13 October 1915. This is one of three memorials to the 46th Division on the Western Front and the first of the two visited in this guidebook.