ASSOCIATION « LOOS,SUR LES TRACES DE LA GRANDE GUERRE »

L’Écho des tranchées

From our President

In this edition : I would like this newsletter by paying tribute to the former Mayor of Loos -en - In this edition: Gohelle, Monsieur Marcel Caron, who recently passed away. He was full of From our President, 1 commitment, passion and affection for his neighbourhood and its people. Loos Sunday and tributes, 2 Our Association, “Loos on the Trail of the Great War”, owes him a huge debt of Report on activities, 3 gratitude. With Monsieur Duparcq, they founded the Musée Alexandre Ville- New acquisitions, 4 dieu over twenty years ago, following on from the incredible story of the Water- man fountain pen. The Association offers its sincere condolences to his family and friends. The Association’s activities are now focussed on preparations for “Loos Sun- day” in October. Loos Sunday is often commemorated on the Sunday nearest 25th September by the London Irish Rifles in London. We have opted for Sun- day 13th October, which marks the end of the Battle of Loos. This event will commemorate the liberation of a substantial part of the town of Loos by British troops. Bagpipes will be played at Loos on Sunday 13 th October, and Scottish kilts will make their return with re -enactment groups. Details of the programme are to follow. The story of Loos is also being told in the course of some excellent battlefield walks led, and meticulously prepared, by our guide M. Delattre. I can wholeheartedly recommend taking part in these walks which also include plenty of anecdotes. See our website www.loos1915.fr for the programme. In conclusion you are invited to come and see us at the Musée Alexandre Ville- dieu on 21 st and 22 nd September during European Heritage Open Days. I hope you enjoy both this newsletter and your summer holidays.

Gilles Payen

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ASSOCIATION Place de la République To contact us : «LOOS, SUR LES 62750 Loos en Gohelle TRACES DE LA GRANDE [email protected] GUERRE » https://www.loos1915.fr I.P.N.S L’Écho des tranchées Page 2

LOOS SUNDAY What’s it about?

Our Association, “Loos, on the Trail of the Great War”, with support from the office of the Mayor of Loos -en -Gohelle, is organising a weekend of events on 12 th and 13 th October. Its purpose is to honour the British battalions that fought on our soil a century ago.

The programme for the Loos Sunday 2019 will be the subject of a separate communication in the near future.

Tribute to the Black Watch

On 7 th June, our museum welcomed a group of eight visitors from Ketter- ing in England. They took a great interest in the displays of artefacts and our explanations, and then we took them on to see Emilienne Moreau’s house and the nearby Loos Redoubt. The group particularly wanted their pilgrimage to cover the ground where ancestors of two of them had fought.

We parted company with the group after a lengthy visit to Dud Corner Cemetery where, up on one of the corner towers, their leader, Chris Noble, told them about the location and its history. Before resuming their journey, the group paid tribute to several soldiers from the Black Watch who are buried at Dud Corner Cemetery and they laid a poppy wreath at the foot of the Cross of Sacrifice.

“Voices of the Great War” Emilienne Moreau at Souchez Museum

An exhibition produced by Pas de Departmental Archives about the heroes of 1914 -1918 and the re - building of the area after the First World War was recently on show at Souchez museum.

In the autumn of 1914, the Germans took the village of 1,500 inhabitants, which they transformed into a veri- table fortress. The French soldiers, nicknamed 'Poilus', called the village the 'Mud Area' and wanted to take back from 9 . A flood of artillery, many battles, and in the autumn of 1915, Souchez finally re- turned to Allied hands. In the meantime, the village is completely destroyed.

A wooden case was made for the occasion to display writings and photographs relating to Emilienne Moreau and her Croix de Guerre was brought out from the Musée Alexandre Villedieu for the first time. One unusual feature was an “odourama” in the shape of a pear, allowing visitors to “smell the air of Loos in 1915”.

A delegation from our Association attended the preview of the exhibition in Souchez Museum.

I.P.N.S Page 3 L’Écho des tranchées

Final resting -place for Private George Newburn Private George Alfred Newburn, an 18 -year -old in the 7th Battalion Canadian Infantry, took part with his comrades in an attack on Hill 70 on 15th August 1917. His body was found a century later on the buil- ding site for the new Lens hospital.

His remains have now been buried in Loos British Cemetery at a ceremony attended by his nephew from British Columbia and other members of the family.

A number of other soldiers, mostly Canadian, have also been disinterred from the same location and are in the process of being identified.

Mont de Walk Ten or so people met up on Saturday 25 th May for the Mont de Vermelles walk on a bright, sunny day.

They enjoyed hearing not only accounts about the Great War (its origins, the arrival of the Germans in Loos, the first two battles, the cemeteries and personalities, etc.) but also various anecdotes about the he- ritage of Loos: present -day and former residents of the town who took part in the walk were pleasantly surprised to learn a number of things they hadn’t previously known.

The group signed up on the spot for the future Hill 70 walk.

The “Route du Louvre” Our Association recently contributed to the “Route du Louvre”, as it has done in previous years. This involved setting up a stand to be viewed by those participating in the walks and races along the route linking Lille, the administrative capital of the region, with Lens, now considered its cultural capital since a branch of the Louvre was established there in 2012. On the right picture, among the many visitors to our stand was Monsieur Xavier Bertrand, President of the Hauts de France Region. L’Écho des tranchées Page 4

New acquisitions for our Museum

The Battle of Loos, depicted by a former miner. Stanislas Skrzydlewski (1926 -2012), the son of Polish migrants, lived much of his life in Cité 108, a miners’ housing complex in Loos -en - Gohelle. When this was demolished, he and his family came to live in a small house that he had acquired in Rue Victor Hugo. Stanis (as he was known) had two passions: the mine where he spent all his working -life, and painting. These passions shine through in the quality of his work and in the subject - matter, which often depicts the mine and its miners.

He painted “The Battle of Loos 1915” in 1983, drawing inspira- tion from contemporary documents. Apart from the battlefield scene, it clearly shows the former pit -heads 15 and 15b, known to the British troops as Tower Bridge.

Stanis showed his paintings at a number of exhibitions, including this one at the Foyer Omer Caron in Loos in 1985.

We are most grateful to his daughter Jeannine for this gift which can now be admired in the Musée Alexandre Villedieu. An altar -cloth from the church of St Pierre. On Sunday 2 nd June, our museum was visited by representatives of the Comité Historique de Vermelles, accompanied by the Grandson of Captain James Leslie Auld MacDonald of the Royal Scots who fought at the Battle of Loos in September 1915.

At the time, he saved an altar -cloth from the church of St Pierre. It was therefore quite an emotional occa- sion when his descendant restored the altar -cloth to the church during a religious service, following a stop for remembrance at the town memorial where the Scottish anthem was played.

NB: There is a new email address for the « Loos, sur les Traces de la Grande Guerre » association : , [email protected]