This
new memorial was opened on 11 November by President Hollande - and visited by
me on the 15th! It's high quality, original, and a 'must' for any visits
to the Arras area. Called "L'Anneau de Memoire" - the
"Ring of Memory" - it's an oval-shaped enclosure on the hilltop
overlooking the slopes up to Notre Dame de Lorette* where the French were
fighting in the autumn of 1914 and spring of 1915. You walk around the
ring - cut into the ground where you first walk in, but suspended above the
hillside as you make your way around - and see panels and panels listing in
alphabetical order ALL those who died in the Nord / Pas-de-Calais region in
194-18. 580,000 names, of all nationalities - 40 nationalities in fact.
290,000 - i.e. around half - are British Empire, representing almost all
our 'non-Ypres' and 'non-Somme' Western Front losses: Loos, Festubert, Neuve
Chapelle, Arras, Cambrai, much of the 100 Days, etc.
Names
are strictly alphabetical, with no mention of nationality. This gives a
surprising and original perspective - it is so different to the CWGC's Lists of
the Missing since on this new memorial there is no distinction by regiment.
Thus, ALL the J Smiths are together, as you see in one of the attached
photos. You see blocks of names that are clearly French or German or
British - then swaths of names where all nationalties are all jumbled up.
You
see famous names - John Kipling, Wilfred Own (warning: there are two Wilfred
Owns: the poet is Wlfred Edward Salter Owen!) - and, the reason I was there,
the names of relatives of UK clients. It's an amazing complement to a
Vimy Ridge visit too - obviously, all those Canadians are listed here.
It's
smart, respectful, simple, stimulating, and quality - the materials used are
first-class.
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