Location
Wanquetin is a village 7.5 miles west of Arras in the Department of Pas-de-Calais, France.
Lat: 50° 16′ 36” N
Lon: 2° 36′ 57” E
Background
A small rural village with a population in 1911 of just 682, and much the same today, Wanquetin nevertheless has a long history. The have been archaeological finds of Gallo-Roman artefacts, and evidence of Christian worship as far back as 1012AD. It was said to be a parish by 1306AD. Of interest is that the village had a Protestant community since the 1500s, when people fled persection at Arras. A small Protestant church was built in the village in the early 1800s and remains today after repair to war damage.
Wanquetin at war
When the early war of movement ended in 1914, it left the line of the Western Front to the east of Arras. There had been skirmishes between French and German troops in the Wanquetin area during the phase often called the “race to the sea”: for example, as reported by the regimentral history of 1re légion de gendarmerie. Its 37 year-old brigadier Alexandre Dugimont, a man from Verchain-Maugré near Valenciennes, was shot dead in the village on 23 September. He may be the first man to have lost his life in the village in the Great War.
The front line remained virtually static until the summer of 1918 when the allied forces pushed the Germans eastwards and well away from the area. As such, Wanquetin remained in allied hands throughout the war but was close enough to the front line to have an important role. Its location, close to the main Doullens-Arras road and railway, led to it becoming a centre for medical and logistics units and for the billeting of troops going into or coming out of the Arras sector of the front. This sector was under French Army control until early 1916 when it was handed over to the British Third Army. VI Corps arrived to relieve the French XVII Corps, and the first British elements to arrive at Wanquetin belonged to the 14th (Light) Division. Within a few days, that formation relocated and 5th Division came into the area.
On 2 March 1916 14th Field Ambulance (5th Division) arrived and set up a dressing station in huts at Wanquetin vacated by the French army. Ten days later, an enemy aircraft dropped two or three bombs in the vicinity but did no damage. The Ambulance relocated to the chateau in Habarcq on 16 March. Also arriving with the Ambulance on 2 March was the transport and headquarters of all brigades of the division’s artillery and No. 2 Company of its Train. On 6 March, the division’s adjutant reported that the Decauville light railway that ran from Saulty-l’Arbret to Wanquetin was being used for supply. The 1st Norfolk Regiment also arrived for a brief period.
41 Casualty Clearing Station relocated to Wanquetin on 6 October 1916, having spent the previous six months at Doullens. Its war diary reported that “The hospital camp at Wanquetin is situated on a gentle slope at the west end of the village … it consists of four fields total area 180 yards x 160 yards. There are four French large huts and one small one. The camp has been used for several months by different Field Ambulances and a portion is still occupied by the 43rd Field Ambulance.” The CCS remained at Wanquetin until it relocated to Duisans in February 1917, and reports that while it was there it evacuated casualties to Avesnes. It also says that its buildings were dismantled at Wanquetin and taken for reconstruction at Duisans.
Other corps and divisions rotated through periods in this area for the remainder of the war, during which the village sustained some damage from aerial bombing and very long range shellfire. An ammunition dump blew up on 16 May 1917.
Wanquetin fell into German hands in May 1940 (British troops being once again in the area, but briefly) and remained under occupation until it was liberated in 1944. I know no more about it, but an area of interest is that Wanquetin is referred to in “Deux oradour évités de justesse: Wanquetin, 14 août 1944 – Fleurbaix, 3 septembre 1944” by Chanoine Léon-Noël Berthe. Oradour-sur-Glane was of course the scene of a terrible massacre of 642 innocent civilians by the German SS Panzer Division “Das Reich” in June 19144 and it appears that Wanquetin narrowly avoided such a fate in the August. Thank goodness that it did so.
Visiting Wanquetin today
I find Wanquetin an interesting place, mainly for its wealth of ancient farm buildings, but it must be said that it is not an oasis. It must be one of the villages of this part of France that is least furnished with any possibilities for refreshment or victualling. As far as accommodation goes there is a B&B that I have never tried: the Maison d’Hôtes l’Aubaine.
The village communal cemetery is well signposted from the D59. There are 8 war burials within the cemetery and another 221 (plus 9 from May 1940) in the adjacent military extension. According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, “A few burials were made in the communal cemetery from March to November 1916, but in October 1916, the 41st Casualty Clearing Station came to the village, and by the end of November it had become necessary to begin the extension. The last graves made in the cemetery were those in Plot II, Row E, where 23 men of the 3rd Canadian Machine Gun Battalion, killed on 24 September 1918 in a German daylight air raid over Warlus, are buried (a further 10 from this incident are buried in Plot II, Row C).”
The earliest dated death is that of Sapper 121660 Richard George, a Wolverhampton man of 184th Tunelling Company of the Royal Engineers (grave II.A.12 in the old cemetery). He died of heart disease whilst in the care of 14th Field Ambulance on 6 March 1916.
The first man to be buried in the extension plot was Pte 17/1194 Charles Doyle of the 17th West Yorkshire Regiment, a Hunslet man who died of wounds on 29 November 1916 (grave I.A.1).
Among those buried here is Quebec man Cpl 889958 Joseph Thomas Kaeble VC MM, 22nd Canadian Infantry, who died on 9 June 1918 (II.A.8). His surname at baptism was Keable. He earned his Victoria Cross on the day before he died of wounds. The citation reads, “For most conspicuous bravery and extraordinary devotion to duty when in charge of a Lewis gun section in the front line trenches, in which a strong enemy raid was attempted. During an intense bombardment Corporal Kaeble remained at the parapet with his Lewis gun shouldered ready for action, the field of fire being very short. As soon as the barrage lifted from the front line, about fifty of the enemy advanced towards his post. By this time the whole of his section except one had become casualties. Corporal Kaeble jumped over the parapet, and holding his Lewis gun at the hip, emptied one magazine after another into the advancing enemy, and although wounded several times by fragments of shells and bombs, he continued to fire and entirely blocked the enemy by his determined stand. Finally, firing all the time, he fell backwards into the trench mortally wounded. While lying on his back in the trench he fired his last cartridges over the parapet at the retreating Germans, and before losing consciousness shouted to the wounded about him: “Keep it up, boys; do not let them get through! We must stop them !” The complete repulse of the enemy attack at this point was due to the remarkable personal bravery and self-sacrifice of this gallant non-commissioned officer, who died of his wounds shortly afterwards.” (London Gazette, 16 September 1918)
Wanquetin’s own war memorial, at the corner of D59 and rue de Gouy, lists 32 local casualties of the Great War and another six names added at later dates.