The Cantaing Memorial to Lt Ewart Alan Mackintosh
Scottish War Poet Killed during the Battle of Cambrai
Here are 29 photographs from our visit to the village of Cantaing in Picardy and the chapel of St Hubert which is now a memorial to the Scottish poet Lt Ewart Alan Mackintosh MC of the Seaforth Highlanders. He was killed on 21 Nov 1917 in a trench close by this wayside chapel. His grave is in the nearby Orival Wood Cemetery.
Lt Mackintosh gained his Military Cross in June 2016 in fighting near Arras. The citation reads: For conspicuous gallantry. He organised and led a successful raid on the enemy's trenches with great skill and courage. Several of the enemy were disposed of and a strong point destroyed. He also brought back two wounded men under heavy fire.
The World War One Battle of Cambrai beginning on 20 November 1917 was the first battle in which the British used armoured tanks on any scale. It was also very costly with about 45,000 casualties suffered on both sides.
This is an account of the inauguration of the Memorial: Remembrance Day, 11th November 2017, saw a special event in northern France in honour of E Alan Mackintosh. After lunch the UK participants, including Mackintosh's great-nephew, Rev Charlie Cleverly; Councillor Margaret Paterson of Dingwall; and Robert Shanks of the Seaforth Highlanders Association, visited Mackintosh's grave at Orival Wood Cemetery, Flesquieres, accompanied by the Maire of Cantaing.
The first formal ceremony was the laying of wreaths at the Cantaing-sur-Escaut village war memorial, where the village children sang the Marseillaise. Then everyone followed the Battle of the Somme Pipe Band, re-enactors and standard bearers to the St.Hubert Chapel on Rue d'Anneux, where the Mackintosh Memorial was inaugurated.
The crowd returned behind the band to the village church where children recited verses of Mackintosh's poems in French, Mackintosh's life was described in French, the local civic leaders spoke and the Battle of the Somme Pipe Band played.
The Mackintosh exhibition, recently seen in Dingwall and Thurso, was on display, with French summaries of the text.
Here are four videos:
The Opening of the Memorial 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPgIsqIdy7E
The Opening of the Memorial 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlQPy1nc71o
A Reading of the Poem 'In Memoriam’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cdxvZnsk2Q
Pink Floyd ‘When the Tigers Broke Free’ (Anzio in WW2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_5DRKZI1Ow
Lt Mackintosh gained his Military Cross in June 2016 in fighting near Arras. The citation reads: For conspicuous gallantry. He organised and led a successful raid on the enemy's trenches with great skill and courage. Several of the enemy were disposed of and a strong point destroyed. He also brought back two wounded men under heavy fire.
The World War One Battle of Cambrai beginning on 20 November 1917 was the first battle in which the British used armoured tanks on any scale. It was also very costly with about 45,000 casualties suffered on both sides.
This is an account of the inauguration of the Memorial: Remembrance Day, 11th November 2017, saw a special event in northern France in honour of E Alan Mackintosh. After lunch the UK participants, including Mackintosh's great-nephew, Rev Charlie Cleverly; Councillor Margaret Paterson of Dingwall; and Robert Shanks of the Seaforth Highlanders Association, visited Mackintosh's grave at Orival Wood Cemetery, Flesquieres, accompanied by the Maire of Cantaing.
The first formal ceremony was the laying of wreaths at the Cantaing-sur-Escaut village war memorial, where the village children sang the Marseillaise. Then everyone followed the Battle of the Somme Pipe Band, re-enactors and standard bearers to the St.Hubert Chapel on Rue d'Anneux, where the Mackintosh Memorial was inaugurated.
The crowd returned behind the band to the village church where children recited verses of Mackintosh's poems in French, Mackintosh's life was described in French, the local civic leaders spoke and the Battle of the Somme Pipe Band played.
The Mackintosh exhibition, recently seen in Dingwall and Thurso, was on display, with French summaries of the text.
Here are four videos:
The Opening of the Memorial 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPgIsqIdy7E
The Opening of the Memorial 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlQPy1nc71o
A Reading of the Poem 'In Memoriam’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cdxvZnsk2Q
Pink Floyd ‘When the Tigers Broke Free’ (Anzio in WW2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_5DRKZI1Ow
