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L'écho Des Tranchées L’Écho des Tranchées Quarter 4 - 2020 Nr 66 - Page : 1 ASSOCIATION LOOS, SUR LES TRACES DE LA GRANDE GUERRE L’Écho des tranchées From our President We end the year 2020 with a sad news: the disappearance of our friend Peter Dans ce numéro : Last who was a man passionate about the history of the First World War and especially of the Battle of Loos. On behalf - From our President, 1 - Biography of Emilienne of the members of our association, I offer my sincere condo- Moreau, 2 lences to his family. - From the Navy to the Infantry ….. an Unusual It has been possible for our Association to arrange only Journey, 3 - Private Alexandre Renaud ’ s a very few activities in the final period of 2020 because of War,4 the health crisis. The Musée Alexandre Villedieu remains closed, with all visits being cancelled long with all of our projects for the time being. The Rotary Club at Weppes La Bassée invited us to present a setting of the Battle of Loos by way of a diorama at their base in Douvrin. Elsewhere, Notre Dame de Lorette hosted a visit by Jean Claude Skrela, the former French interna- tional rugby player and coach who led his team to the 1999 World Cup Final and won the Grand Slam with them: he was in the Hauts - de - France region to see for himself places commemorating the Great War. His guide for the occasion was Mi- chel Merckel, the author of “ 14 - 18: Le Sport Sort des Tranchées ”, while Monsieur Dreux, President of the Anciens Combattants (Veterans) Association, and his stan- dard bearer were invited to the gathering which paid tribute to international rugby players who fell on the field of honour. We shall be resuming our own activities with the AGM on Sunday 24 th Ja- nuary 2021, observing all suitable health precautions. All the work we undertook in preparation for the 2020 edition of Loos Sunday has not been in vain, as our committee has decided the event will be staged in 2021. I am therefore able to ad- vise you that the next Loos Sunday will take place on 25th/26th September 2021. Finally, we note that 2020 is also the year of Charles de Gaulle, who was born in Lille in 1890. Accordingly, articles in the following pages cover famous personalities who were here in Artois in 1915 and involved with the General du- ring the Second World War. Enjoyoy your reading and, on behalf of the Association, I offer you my best wishes for the New Year. Stay safe and stay well. Gilles Payen To automatically receive our magazine, you can subscribe on our website ASSOCIATION Place de la République [email protected] LOOS, SUR LES TRACES DE LA GRANDE GUERRE 62750 Loos en Gohelle www.loos1915.fr L’Écho des Tranchées Quarter 4 - 2020 Nr 66 - Page : 2 Biography of Emilienne Moreau Emilienne Moreau, the heroine of Loos in September 1915, is well known to the members of our As- sociation for her acts of bravery during the First World War. After the Armistice she returned to live in the Pas - de - Calais region, and in 1932 she married Just Ev- rard, Deputy General Secretary of the region ’ s Socialist Federation. She herself became General Secretary of the women ’ s branch of that Federation in 1934. When war broke out in September 1939, the couple were living in Lens with Just ’ s two sons, Raoul and Roger. After a brief but orderly evacuation, the family found itself back in Lens at the time of the fall of France in June 1940. However, Emilienne Moreau - Evrard, already known to the Germans through her exploits in the First World War, was immediately placed under house arrest in her mother ’ s home at Lillers. After being allowed to rejoin her family in Lens, she and they started distributing tracts and leaflets expressing opposition to the capitulation and Marshal Pétain. The Evrard family established contact with the Intelligence Service, providing it with valuable in- formation. At the end of 1940, Emilienne and her husband set up the clandestine Socialist branch for Lens. Just Evrard was arrested in September 1941 and, after his release in April 1942, crossed into the southern zone of France. Emilienne joined him there; at Thonon, and later at Lyon, she was to become a liaison agent for the Brutus network founded by Pierre Fourcaud and run at that time by André Boyer. Within the Resistance, Emilienne went under the name of Jeanne Poirier or “ Emilienne la Blonde ”. She provided links to Switzerland for Brutus and the Socialist Action Committee (CAS), and undertook a number of missions in the Paris region. She then joined the France au Combat movement established in October 1943 by André Boyer, and worked with Augustin Laurent, André Le Troquer and Pierre Lambert. While in Lyon, she had a narrow escape from arrest during the “85 Avenue de Saxe episode ” in which seventeen of her comrades were arrested by the Gestapo at the end of March 1944. Still in Lyon in May 1944, she again got away from a series of raids that decimated France au Combat; Germans waiting at her home in the Guillotière quarter of the city fired at her with a machine - gun but missed. She escaped via the cellars. While on the run, she was appointed to a position on the Provisional Consultative Assembly for Al- giers and had to be evacuated. After several abortive attempts, she finally got away to London by air on 7 th August 1944, but returned to France the following month and helped her husband re - establish Socialist branches in Pas - de - Calais. She was presented with the Croix de la Libération by General de Gaulle at Bé- thune on 11 th August 1945, both as an unsung hero of the Resistance but also as the embodiment – for a second time – of French women ’ s resistance. Emilienne Moreau - Evrard was a member of the executive committee of the Socialist Party from 1945 to 1963, honorary adviser to the Assemblée de l ’ Union Française from 1947 to 1958, and also President of the Pas - de - Calais Republican Veterans ’ Association. She passed away at her home in Lens on 5 th January 1971 and is buried in the town ’ s Cimetière de l ’ Est. Her French honours comprise: : Officer of the Légion d ’ Honneur Compagnon de la Libération (by decree dated 11 th August 1945) Croix de Guerre and bar 1914 - 18 Croix de Guerre 1939 - 1945 Croix du Combattant 1914 - 1918 Croix du Combattant Volontaire de la Résistance British honours Emilienne Moreau with Military Medal General de Gaulle Royal Red Cross (First Class) Source: www.ordredelaliberation.fr L’Écho des Tranchées Quarter 4 - 2020 Nr 66 - Page : 3 From the Navy to the Infantry ….. an Unusual Journey Following the disastrous Gallipoli campaign for which he was considered responsible, in May 1915 Winston Chur- chill resigned as First Lord of the Admiralty, a position he had held since 1911. By way of compensation, he accepted the position of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster – the lowest post in the Cabinet, the role being to nominate the na- tion ’ s judges – but he kept his seat on the War Council. Churchill was a personal friend of Sir John French, Commander - in - Chief of the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front. French frequently invited the politician to come and visit his General Headquarters. On 11 th November 1915 Churchill resigned from the Cabinet and quit the Government. On this occasion, The Observer published a favou- rable assessment of the former minister, written by the journalist J. L. Garvin, which ended with these prophetic words: “ He is young. He has the courage of a lion. No enemy can withstand his capabilities and his strength. His hour of triumph will come ”. On 18 th November Churchill landed at Boulogne and went to meet Sir John French at St. Omer. Within a few days he went to the Guards Division HQ and, with the rank of Major, was pitched into training in the field with the 2 nd Grena- dier Guards. Churchill ’ s “ training ” only lasted a week because, after six days and in accordance with procedures, the battalion was withdrawn from the front. On 15 th December, while on a visit to the French front at Camblain l ’ Ab- bé, Churchill met Captain Edward Spears, Sir John French ’ s liaison officer, who told him that he might be offered command of a Brigade. The photograph of Churchill wearing a French “ Adrian ” helmet, alongside General Fayolle and several French officers, was taken during this visit. On his return from this trip, Churchill learned that Sir John had resigned as Commander - in - Chief of the BEF, to be replaced by Sir Douglas Haig. 33 rd French Army Corps HQ This was the heavy price paid by Sir John French for the Battle of Loos with its 50,000 British casualties, including 20,000 dead. Asquith, the Bri- tish Prime Minister, objected to Churchill ’ s promotion and asked Haig to give him command of a battalion instead. Churchill reluctantly accepted this, becoming a Lieutenant Colonel and thus Commanding Officer of 6 th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers, one of the oldest Scottish regiments and one of the most distinguished in the British Army. Major Archibald Sinclair became his se- cond - in - command. st s Churchill took up his post on 1 January 1916, his main task being to revitalise the batta- lion which had lost more than half its men and three quarters of its officers in fighting around the Hohenzollern Redoubt on 25 th /26 th September 1915.
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