Hohenzollern Redoubt
50°27′30″N 02°47′39″E / 50.45833°N 2.79417°E
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/03/Hohenzollern_Redoubt_October_1915_map.jpg/220px-Hohenzollern_Redoubt_October_1915_map.jpg)
The Hohenzollern Redoubt (German Hohenzollernwerk) was a defensive strongpoint of German forces at the Western Front during World War I, located at Auchy-les-Mines near Loos-en-Gohelle in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France. Named after the House of Hohenzollern, the redoubt was the site of intense and sustained fighting between German and Allied forces. Major engagements took place here from the Battle of Loos (25 September – 14 October 1915) to the beginning of the Battle of the Somme (1 July – 18 November 1916), including a battle at the Hohenzollern Redoubt in 1915 and another at the Hohenzollern Redoubt in 1916.
History
Background
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/Lens-La_Bassee_area_September_1915.png/220px-Lens-La_Bassee_area_September_1915.png)
In the summer of 1915 the German armies continued the strengthening of front trenches, communication trenches and strong-points ordered by Chief of the General Staff General Erich von Falkenhayn, who on 25 January had also ordered the building of more defensive lines behind the front trench. Crown Prince Rupprecht the Sixth Army commander and some Western Front generals had objected to this policy, as an invitation to German troops to retreat rather than fight. After the experience of the Battle of Festubert, where Allied artillery had proved capable of destroying a great width of front trench, opposition had been abandoned and the work carried on as quickly as possible. In early May Falkenhayn had also ordered that a second defensive position be built 2,000–3,000 yards (1,800–2,700 m) behind the whole of the Western Front, to force an attacker to pause to move artillery forward into range.[1]
German preparations
A number of pit-heads known as [Fosses] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) and auxiliary shafts called [Puits] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) had been built around Loos-en-Gohelle in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France, when the area was developed by the mining industry; [Fosse 8 de Béthune] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) was close to the north end of a spoil-heap ([Crassier] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) known as "The Dump". The [Crassiers] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) had been tunnelled or hollowed out by both sides, to provide observation-posts and machine-gun nests.[2] The Dump was 20-foot (6.1 m) high, with an excellent view in all directions. New fortifications were built as quickly as possible, after the Franco-British offensives in May and June 1915. At Dump and Fosse trenches, on a slight rise 400 yards (370 m) in front of the original front line, a new defensive work wired for all-round defence was built and named the [Hohenzollern Werk] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help). The face of the redoubt was 300 yards (270 m) long and curved, with extensions to join with "Big Willie" Trench to the south and "Little Willie" Trench to the north. British planners judged the Hohenzollern Redoubt to be the strongest defensive-work on the whole of the front.[3] In the area of [Fosse 8] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), more fortifications were built in July by the German 117th Division, after it had fought at Vimy Ridge in May and June; once a period of reorganisation at Roubaix was over, the division returned to the line on 9 July.[4]
Attacks 13–19 October 1915
During the Battle of Loos (25 September – 15 October 1915), British units carried out a concentrated attack on the Hohenzollern Redoubt which lasted from 13 – 19 October 1915.[5] The British 9th Division captured the redoubt and then lost it to a German counter-attack. The final British assault on 13 October failed and resulted in 3,643 casualties, mostly in the first few minutes. The official history of the war suggested that "The fighting on the 13th–14th October had not improved the general situation in any way and had brought nothing but useless slaughter of infantry."[6] General Sir Douglas Haig thought it might be possible to launch another attack on 7 November 1915 but heavy rain and accurate German shelling during the second half of October finally persuaded him to abandon the attempt.[7]
Attacks 2–18 March 1916
Over the winter months, the British 170th Tunnelling Company dug several galleries under the German lines at the Hohenzollern Redoubt, which had changed hands several times since September 1915. In February 1916, mining was being conducted at the Quarries and near [Fosse 8] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), where explosions were frequent and were followed by infantry attacks to occupy the near lip and by sapping forward.[8] In March 1916, the west side was held by the British and the east side was still occupied by the Germans, with the front near a new German trench known as the Chord. The Germans had an unobstructed view of the British positions from a slag heap named [Fosse 8] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), and during previous fighting, no man's land had become a crater field. On 2 March, four mines (the largest yet sprung by the British) were detonated, followed by a British advance towards the German lines. The 12th Division intended to capture the crater field, gain observation from crater lips over the German defences back to [Fosse 8] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) and end the threat of German mine attacks. German counter-attacks drove the British back by 6 March. On 18 March, the Germans surprised the British with five mines. The 37th Brigade was eventually relieved by the 35th Brigade, and by the time that the crater fighting died down, both sides held the near sides of the craters.[9][10]
Aftermath
The new German garrison of the Hohenzollern Redoubt was doubled for several days and a high level of alert maintained until the end of the month, when the possibility of another British attack was considered to have ended.[11]
The British exploded another mine on 19 March and the Germans sprung two mines in the Quarries on 24 March. British mines were blown on 26 and 27 March, 5, 13, 20, 21 and 22 April; German mines were exploded on 31 March, 2, 8, 11, 12 and 23 April. Each explosion was followed by infantry attacks and consolidation of the mine lips, which were costly to both sides and turned more areas of no man's land into crater fields. The 12th Division was relieved on 26 April and missed the German gas attacks at Hulluch which began the next day,[12] launched from an area close to the Hohenzollern Redoubt.
Gallery
-
Aerial photograph of the Hohenzollern redoubt, near Auchy-les-Mines, 21 September 1915
-
The British 46th (North Midland) Division attacking the Hohenzollern Redoubt during the Battle of Loos. A cloud of smoke and gas appears in the centre and left. 13 October 1915
-
Trench map showing British lines, carried by Captain Charles Geoffrey Vickers
-
Second trench map showing British lines, carried by Vickers.
-
Union Flag is sited in the centre of no man's land; the pylon stands on the site of the redoubt.
Victoria Cross
The following soldiers received the Victoria Cross in connection with operations at the Hohenzollern Redoubt:
- 13 October 1915: Corporal James Lennox Dawson (187th Company, Corps of Royal Engineers).[13]
- 14 October 1915: Captain Geoffrey Vickers (The Sherwood Foresters).[13]
- 27 September 1915: Corporal James Dalgleish Pollock (Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders).[14]
Commemoration
Hohenzollern Redoubt Memorial | |
---|---|
United Kingdom | |
Hohenzollern Redoubt Memorial | |
For The officers and men of the 46th (North Midland) Division who became casualties at the Hohenzollern Redoubt on 13 October 1915. | |
Location | 50°29′51″N 2°46′37″E / 50.49749°N 2.77700°E{{#coordinates:}}: cannot have more than one primary tag per page |
Designed by | Michael Credland |
"Their Country Found Them Ready" |
The missing are commemorated on the Loos Memorial.[15] On 13 October 2006, a memorial was unveiled, to commemorate the officers and men of the 46th (North Midland) Division who became casualties, on 91st anniversary of the final assault. The memorial was designed by Michael Credland and takes the form of an octagonal broken column 46 inches (1.2 m) high, built from Portland stone, with two tiers of steps forming the base. The broken column signifies the loss of the head of the family and the loss of an army column. The angle of cut at the top of the column is 46° and the pitch of the steps is the same angle. An inscription "Their Country Found Them Ready", is carved on the top step of the Memorial and was chosen by Martin Middlebrook, from the song Keep the Home Fires Burning, composed by Ivor Novello in 1915.[16]
-
Unveiling ceremony: period tribute
-
"Their Country Found Them Ready"
Footnotes
- ^ Wynne 1939, p. 63.
- ^ Edmonds 1928, p. 146.
- ^ Edmonds 1928, p. 235.
- ^ Edmonds 1928, pp. 235, 177.
- ^ Edmonds 1928, p. 378.
- ^ Edmonds 1928, p. 388.
- ^ Edmonds 1928, pp. 370, 390.
- ^ Middleton Brumwell 1923, p. 34.
- ^ Middleton Brumwell 1923, p. 44.
- ^ Edmonds 1932, pp. 177, 176.
- ^ Edmonds 1932, p. 177.
- ^ Middleton Brumwell 1923, pp. 45–46.
- ^ a b Edmonds 1928, p. 387.
- ^ Edmonds 1928, p. 353.
- ^ CWGC 2013.
- ^ Slattery-Christy 2008, p. 28.
References
- Books
- Edmonds, J. E. (1928). Military Operations France and Belgium 1915: Battles of Aubers Ridge, Festubert and Loos. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence: Military Operations France and Belgium, 1915. Vol. II (1st ed.). London: Macmillan. OCLC 58962526.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) - Edmonds, J. E. (1932). Military Operations France and Belgium, 1916: Sir Douglas Haig's Command to the 1st July: Battle of the Somme. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. Vol. I (IWM & Battery Press 1993 ed.). London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-89839-185-7.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) - Middleton Brumwell, P. (1923). Scott, A. B. (ed.). History of the 12th (Eastern) Division in the Great War, 1914–1918 (N & M Press 2001 ed.). London: Nisbet. ISBN 1-84342-228-X. OCLC 6069610. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) - Ewing, J. (1921). The History of the Ninth (Scottish) Division 1914–1919 (N & M Press 2001 ed.). London: John Murray. ISBN 1-84342-190-9. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
- Histories of Two Hundred and Fifty-One Divisions of the German Army which Participated in the War (1914–1918) (PDF). Washington: United States Army, American Expeditionary Forces, Intelligence Section. 1920. ISBN 5-87296-917-1. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
- Humphries, M. O.; Maker, J. (2010). Germany's Western Front: Translations from the German Official History of the Great War. Waterloo Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. ISBN 978-1-55458-259-4. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) - Slattery-Christy, D. (2008). In Search of Ruritania: The Life and Times of Ivor Novello. Indiana: Authorhouse. ISBN 978-1-4259-4943-3.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) - Wynne, G. C. (1939). If Germany Attacks: The Battle in Depth in the West (Greenwood Press 1976 ed.). London: Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-8371-5029-9.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
- Theses
- Peaple, S. P. (2003). "The 46th (North Midland) Division T. F. on the Western Front, 1915–1918". Thesis. Birmingham: Birmingham University. OCLC 500351989. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
- Websites
- Anon (2013). "Dud Corner Cemetery and The Loos Memorial Roll of Honour". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
Further reading
- Weetman, W. C. C. (1920). History of 1/8th Battalion Sherwood Foresters 1914–1919. Nottingham: Thomas Forman. OCLC 697766384. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
- Jones, H. A. (1928). The War in the Air, Being the Story of the Part Played in the Great War by the Royal Air Force (PDF). Vol. II (N & M Press 2002 ed.). London: Clarendon Press. ISBN 1-84342-413-4. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Victoria Cross Winners, Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regimental Museum
- Report Hohenzollern Redoubt, Auchy-les-Mines archaeological excavations. No Man's Land The European Group for Great War Archaeology
- Another fight for the Hohenzollern Redoubt, Western Front Association
- The Royal Lincolnshire & Royal Anglian Regimental Association
- The Hohenzollern Redoubt, the Staffordshire Regiment's worst day
- Hohenzollern Redoubt article
- "Over the Bridge of Death", the attack of the 137th Brigade
- Contemporary Australian newspaper report
- Tunnelling Companies RE
- 1915 in France
- 1916 in France
- Battles of the Western Front (World War I)
- Battles of World War I involving France
- Battles of World War I involving Germany
- Battles of World War I involving the United Kingdom
- Conflicts in 1915
- Conflicts in 1916
- Explosions in 1916
- History of Nord (French department)
- World War I mines
- World War I sites in France