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THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN
IN FRANCE AND F'LANDERS
1917


BOOKS BY A. CONAN DOYLE
THE FIRM 0F GIRDLESTONE.
THE WHITE COMPANY.
THE MYSTERY OF CLOOMBER.
MICAH CLARKE.
THE REFUGEES.
THE CAPTAIN OF THE "POLESTAR."
THE DOINGS OF RAFFLES HAW. '
THE GREAT SHADOW.
THE PARASITE.
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
THE SIGN OF FOUR.
THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
ROUND THE RED LAMP.
THE EXPLOITS OF BRIGADIER GERARD.
THE STARK-MUNRO LETTERS.
RODNEY STONE.
THE TRAGEDY OF THE KOROSKO.
UNCLE BERNAC.
THE GREEN FLAG.
SONGS OF ACTION.
SONGS OF THE ROAD.
THE GREAT BOER WAR.
A DUET, WITH AN OCCASIONAL CHORUS.
THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES.
THE ADVENTURES OF GERARD.
SIR NIGEL.
THE VALLEY OF FEAR.
THE LAST GALLEY.
THE NEW REVELATION.
THE VITAL MESSAGE.


THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN
IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS
1917
BY
ARTHUR CONAN POYLE
AUTHOR 0?
“mm GREAT BOER WAR,‘ no.
HODDER AND STOUGHTON
LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO
MOMXIX
hi3


SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE’S
HISTORY OF THE WAR
Uniform with this Volume.
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE
AND FLANDERS
1914
THE BREAKING OF THE PEACE.
THE OPENING OF TIIE WAR.
THE BATTLE 0]? Mom.
THE BATTLE 01‘ LE. CATEAU.
THE BATTLE OF THE MARNE.
THE BATTLE OF THE AISNE.
THE LA BAssEE-AEMENTIEEES OPERATIONS.
THE FIRST BATTLE OF YPBES.
A RETROSPECT AND GENERAL SUMMARY.
THE WINTER LULL OF 1914.

THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE
AND FLANDERS
1915
THE OPENING MONTHS or 1915.
NEUVE CHAPELLE AND HILL 60.
THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPBES.
THE BATTLE OF RICHEBOURﬂqFESTUBERT.
THE TEENOHEs 0F HOOGE.
THE BATTLE OF Loos.
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE
AND FLANDERS
1.21:
JANUARY TO JULY 1916.
THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME.
THE GAIN'ING- OF THE THIEPVAL RIDGE.
THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME.
THE BATTLE OF THE ANOEE.
- 'With Maps, Plans, and Diagrams.
HODDER AND STOUGHTON
LONDON, NEW YORK, AND TORONTO

3/03,?[5
702
s


PREFACE
THIS, the fourth volume of The British Campaign in
France and Flanders, carries the story through the
long and arduous ﬁghting of 1917, which {culminated
in the dramatic twofold battle of Cambrai. These
events are cut deep into the permanent history of
the world, and we are still too near it to read the
whole of that massive and tremendous inscription.
It is certain, however, that this year marked the
period in which the Allies gained a deﬁnite military
ascendancy over the German forces, in spite of the
one great subsequent rally which had its source in
events which were beyond the control ofthe Western
powers. So long as ink darkens and paper holds,
our descendants, whose freedom has been won by
these exertions, will dwell earnestly and with reverence
upon the stories of Arras, Messines, Ypres, Cambrai,
and other phases of this epic period.
I may be permitted to record with some thank-
fulness and relief, that in the course of three thick
volumes, in which for the ﬁrst time the detailed battle-
line of these great encounters has been set out, it has
not yet been shown that a brigade has ever been
out of its place, and even a battalion has seldom
gone amiss. Such good fortune cannot last for ever.
I Absit omen! But the fact is worth recording, as it
V


vi THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
may reassure the reader who has natural doubts
Whether history which is so recent can also lay claim
to be of any permanent value.
The Censorship has left me untrammelled in the
matter of units, for which I am sufﬁciently grateful.
The ruling, however, upon the question of names
must be explained, lest it Should seem that their
appearance or suppression is due to lack of knowledge
or to individual favour or caprice. I would explain,
then, that I am permitted to use the names of Army
and Corps Commanders, but only of such divisional
Generals as are mentioned in the Headquarters
narrative. All other ranks below divisional Generals
are still suppressed, save only casualties, in connection
with the action where they received the injury, and
those who won honours, with the same limitation.
This regulation has little eﬁect upon the accuracy of
the narrative, but it appears in many cases to involve
some personal injustice. To record the heroic deeds
of a division and yet be compelled to leave out the
name of the man who made it so efﬁcient; is painful
to the feelings of the writer, for if any one fact is
clearer than another in this war it is that the good
leader makes the good unit.
The tremendous epic of 1918 will call for two
volumes in its treatment. One of these, bringing the
story up to June 30, 1918, is already completed, and
Should appear by the summer. The other may be
ready at the end of the year.
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
CROWBOROUGH,
' January 20, 1919.


CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
THE GERMAN RETREAT UPON THE ARRAS-SOISSONS FRONT
Hindenbiirg’s retreat—The advance of the Fifth and Fourth Armies—
Capture of Bepaume and Peronne—Atrocious devastation by the
" Germans—Capture of guns at Selency—Deﬁnition of the Hinden-
burg Line—General survey . . . . . .
CHAPTER 11 ' -
THE BATTLE OF AERAs '
April 9 to April 23, 1917
Vast preparations—Attack of Snow’s SeVenth Corps—The Ibex Trench
—-Attack of Haldane's Sixth Corps—Attack of Fergusson’s Seven-
teenth Corps—A Scottish Front—The splendid Canadians—~Capture
of Monchy—Essex and Newfoundland—A glorious episodeéThe
Chemical Works-Extension of the battle to the north—Desperate
ﬁght of the Australians at Bulleeourt . . .
CHAPTER III
FAQ I
20
OPERATIONS IN THE ARRAS SECTOR FROM APRIL 23 ONWARDS
Advance of April 23—Middlesex and Argyll—Grand ﬁghting of the
Fifteenth Division—H.A.C. at Gavrelle—Operations of May 3—
The Gavrelle Windmill—Loss of F'resnoy—Cspture of Roeux—The
long ﬁght at Bullecourt . . . . . .
CHAPTER 1V-
THE BATTLE OF MESSINES
Plumer’s long vigil——-The great mines—Advance of Australians—Of New
Zealanders-0f the Twenty-ﬁfth Division—Of the Irish Divisions—
’64
vii-


viii THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
PAGE
Death of Major Redmond—Advance of Nineteenth Division—Of
the Forty-ﬁrst Division—Of the Forty-seventh Division—Of the
Twenty-fourth Division—General results . . . . 94
CHAPTER V
OPERATIONS FROM JUNE 10 TO JULY 31
Fighting round Lens—Good work of Canadians and Forty-sixth Division
—-Action on the Yser canal—Great ﬁght and eventual annihilation
of 2nd K. R. R. and 1st Northampton—An awful ordeal—Exit Russia 113
CHAPTER VI
- THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPREs
July 31, 1917
Attack of July 31~Advence‘of the Guards—Of the Welsh—Capture of
Pilkem—Capture of St. J ulien by'Thirty-ninth Division—Advance
of Fifty-ﬁfth Division—Advance of Jacob’s Second Corps—General
results . . . . . . . . 133
\x
CHAPTER VII
THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPREs
August 1 to September 6 A
Dreadful weather—German reaction—Attack of August 16—Advance of
Cavan's Corps—Capture of Langemarck—Dreedful losses of the two
Irish Divisions—Failure in the south—Splendid ﬁeld-gunners-
The Forty-second Division upon September 6 . . 158
CHAPTER VIII
THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPREs
September 6 to October 3, 1917
Engagement of Plumer’s Second Arniy»-Attack of September 20—Fine
advance of Fifty-ﬁfth Division—Advance of the Ninth Division—


CONTENTS
ix
Of the Australians—Strong counter-attack upon the Thirty-third
Division—Renewed advance on September 26~—Continued rain—
Desperate ﬁghting . I
CHAPTER IX
'THE THIRD BATTLE or YPRES
October 4 to November 10, 1917
Attack of October 4—Further advance of the British line—Splendid
advance of second-line Territpn'als—Good work of H. A. C. at Reutel-
-—Abortive action of October 12—Action of October 26—Heavy
losses at the south end of the line—Fine ﬁghting by the Canadian
Corps—Capture of Paschendaale—General results of third battle
of Ypres . ' . . _ . . ' . .
CHAPTER X
THE BATTLE or CAMBRAI
First-phase, November 20—Tanks en masse—Attack on the Tunnel
Trench—Byng's great advance—Fine ‘work of the Sixty-second
Division—Hard ﬁghting of Pulteney’s Third Corps—Exploit of Fort
Garry Horse—Second day of battle—Rally of Germans—Capture
of Bourlon Wood by Fortieth Division—Attack by the Guards
on La Fontaine . . . . . . .~
CHAPTER XI
THE BATTLE or CAMBRAI
Second phase of battle on NoVember 30—~Great German attack—Disaster
_ to three divisions—Desperate ﬁght of Twenty-ninth Division—Fine '
advance by the Guards—Capture and recapture of Gouzeaucourt—
Hard battle in the Bourlon Sector—Heavy losses of the Germans——
Retraction of the British line . . . '
INDEX . . . . . .
PAGE
179
202
235
269.
301


MAPS AND PLANS
Fighting Line, February 24,
PAGE
1917, and Fighting Line,-
March 1, 1917 . . Face page 8
I The Arms Front 39
Chart of Order of Battle, Arras, April 9, 1917 . 63
Order of Battle, Messines, June 7, 1917 111
Line of Battle, August 16, 1917 . . . . 165
The Ypres Front 178
Third Ypres Battle, September 26 201
Order of Battle, October 4, 1917 207
Fighting Line, November 20, 1917 . 239
Battle Line of Third Army, November 20, 1917 259
Fighting Line, November 30, 1917 269
Battle Order of Third Army; November 30, 1917 281
Map to illustrate the British Campaign in France and
Flanders . . . . At end
xi


K 12%


CHAPTER I
THE GERMAN RETREAT UPON THE ARRAS—SOISSONS
FRONT
Hindenburg’s retreat—The advance of the Fifth and Fourth Armies—
Capture of Bapaume and Peronne—Atrocious devastation by the
Germans—Capture of guns at Selency—Deﬁnition of the Hinden-
burg Line—General survey.
IN the latter days of 1916 and the beginning of 1917,
the British Army, which had in little more than two
years expanded from seven divisions to Over ﬁfty,
took over an increased line. The movement began
about Christmas time, and early in the New Year
Rawlinson’s Fourth Army, side-stepping always .to
the south, had covered the whole of the French
position occupied during the Somme ﬁghting, had'
.crossed the Somme, and had established its right
ﬂank at a point near Roye. The total front was
increased to 120 miles, which may seem a small
proportion as compared to the whole; In making
such a comparison, however, one must bear in mind
the diﬂerence in the effort of sustaining an army in
one’s own country and in a foreign land with all
communications by water. The task of the British
was continually made more diﬁ‘icult by the precarious
nature of their connection with their base. Dulness
of vision may be as dangerous to a nation as treason,
CHAPTER
I.

The
German
Retreat ‘
upon the
Arms-
Soissons
Front.
1 B


2 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAIPTER and no enemies could have harmed the country more

The
German
- Retreat
upon the
Arras~
Soissons
Front. ,1
than those perfectly sincere and patriotic individuals
who had for so long opposed the construction of
a Channel Tunnel.
The general disposition of the British forces after
this prolongation t0 the south was as follows. Plumer’s
Second Army still held that post of danger and Of
honour which centred round the Ypres salient.
South of Plumer, in the Armentieres district, was the
First Army, now commanded by General Horne, whose
long service with the Fifteenth Corps during the
Somme Battle had earned him this high promotion.
Allenby’s Third Army carried the line onwards to the
south of Arras. From the point upon which the
British line had hinged during the Somme opera-
tions Gough’s Fifth Army took over the front, and
this joined on to Rawlinson’s Fourth Army near
the old French position. From the north. then
the order of the armies was two, one, three, ﬁve,
and four.
The Winter was spent by both sides in licking their
wounds after the recent severe ﬁghting and in pre-
paring for the greater ﬁghting to come. These
preparations upon the part of the British consisted
in the addition to the army of a number of fresh
divisions, and the rebuilding of those divisions, ﬁfty-
two in number, which had taken part in the Somme
ﬁghting, most of them more than once. As the
average loss in these divisions was very heavy indeed,
the task of reconstructing them was no light one.
None the less before the campaign re-opened, though
. the interval was a short three months, the greater
part of the battalions were once again at full strength,
while the guns and munitions were very greatly in-


THE GERMAN RETREAT 3
creased. Aconsiderable addition to the strength of the OHAHER
army was effected by the civilian railway advisers, '
under Sir Eric Geddes, who by the simple expedient T1"
German
of pulling up their own lines at home, and relaying Retreat
them in France, enormously. improved the com- 1222,?“
munications of the army. - . @153ng
In the case of the Germans their army changes
took the form of a considerable new levy from those
classes which had been previously judged to be unﬁt,
and a general comb-out of every source from which
men could be extracted. A new law rendered every
citizen liable to national service in a civilian capacity,
and so released a number of men from the mines and
the factories. They also increased the numbers of
their divisions by the doubtful expedient of reducing
the brigades, so that the divisions were shorn of a
third of their strength. The battalions thus obtained
were formed into new divisions. In this way it was
calculated that a reserve force had been created
which would be suddenly thrown. in on one or the
other front With dramatic effect. Some such plan
may have been in contemplation, but as a matter
of fact the course of events was such that the
German generals required every man and more for
their own immediate needs during the whole of
the“ year.
It has been shown in the narrative 'of 1916 how
the British had ended the campaign of that year by
the brilliant little victory of Beaumont Hamel, which
gave them not merely 7000 prisoners, but command
'of both sides of the Valley of the Ancre. This victory
had been the sequel to the capture of the Thiepval
Ridge, and this again had depended upon the general
success of the Somme operations, so that the turn of


4 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAIPTER events which led to such considerable results always

The
German
Retreat
upon the
Arms-
Soissons
Front.
traces back to the tragic and glorious 1st of July.
It was clear that whenever the weather permitted
the resumption Of hostilities, Sir D_ouglas Haig was
in so commanding a position at this point that he
was perfectly certain to drive the enemy out of the
salient which they held to the north of Beaumont
Hamel. The result showed that this expectation was
well founded, but no one could have foreseen how
considerable was the retreat which would be forced
upon the enemy-a retreat which gave away for
nothing the ground which cost Hindenburg so much
to regain in the following year. . '
Although the whole line. from the sea to the
Somme was a scene of activity during the winter,
and though hardly a day, or rather a night, went by
'that some stealthy party did not cross No-Man’s-
Land to capture and to destroy, still for the purposes
of this narrative the three northern armies may be
entirely ignored in the succeeding operations since
they had no occasion to alter their lines. We shall
ﬁx our attention in the ﬁrst instance upon Gough’s
Army in the district of the Ancre, and afterwards
upon Rawlinson’s which was drawn into the operations.
Gough’s Army consisted, at the beginning of the
year, of three corps, the Fifth (E. A. Fanshawe) to
the left covering the ground to the north of the
Ancre, the Second Corps (Jacob) immediately south
of the river, and the First Australian Corps (Birdwood)
extending to the junction with Rawlinson’s Army,
and covering the greater part of the old British line
upon the Somme. It was upon the Fifth and the
Second Corps that the immediate operations which
opened the campaign were to devolve.


THE GERMAN RETREAT 5
The Fifth Corps was formed at this period CHAPTER-
of three divisions, the Eleventh, Thirty-ﬁrst, and
Seventh. Each of these divisions by constant pres— Tl“
German
sure and minor operations, backed by a powerful Retreat'
artillery ﬁre, played a part in the wearing process of 132:,th
constant attrition which ended in making the position
of the Germans impossible. On January 10, the Jan,
32nd Yorkshire Brigade of the Eleventh Division
carried an important trench due east of Beaumont
Hamel, taking 140 prisoners. On the next day the
movement extended farther north, where three-
quarters of a mile of trench with 200 prisoners was
the prize. On January 17, another 600 yards north
, of- Beaumont fell' into British hands. Of the 1228
prisoners who were taken in January a considerable
proportion came from this small sectiOn of the line,
though the largest single haul consisted of 350'men
who were captured by a brilliant advance of the
Australians in the Le Transloy sector uponJanuary 29.
The movement along the valley of the Ancre was
continued in February, but at an accelerated pace,
the Second Corps, which consisted of the Sixty-third,
Eighteenth, and Second Divisions, moving in con-
formity with Fanshawe’s men upon the northern
bank. The chief initiative still rested with the
latter, and upon February 3 another push forward
of 500 yards upon a mile front yielded a hundred
more prisoners, while two sharp counter attacks by
the Germans only served to increase their losses.
A number of small spurs run down to the river
upon the northern bank, and each of these suc-
cessive advances represented some fresh ridge sur-
mounted. Upon February 6 the Second Corps was
moving upon Beaucourt, which is to the immediate


6 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAIPTER south of the river, and upon the 7th the village was

The
German
Retreat
upon the
Arms-
Soissons
Front.
Feb.
' two months.
evacuated—the ﬁrst of that goodly list which was to
adorn the oii‘icial communiqués during the next
On the 9th the advance crept 0n-
wards upon both banks, gathering up a hun-
dred prisoners, while eighty more were taken in
Baillescourt Farm upon the north bank. These
men were Hamburgers of the 85th Regiment.
Upon February 10 the left of the Fifth Corps began
to feel out towards Serre, that village of sinister
memories, and 215 prisoners were taken from the
trenches to the south of the hamlet. This provoked
a new counter from the enemy which was beaten back
upon February 12. A period of impossible weather
suspended the advance, but again upon February 17
the British tide swelled suddenly into a wave which
swept forward on either bank, engulﬁng some crowded
trenches north of Baillescourt Farm, which yielded
12 ofﬁcers and 761 men of the 65th, 75th, and 395th
Prussians. The main success was gained by the
Sixty-third Division upon the left of the Second
Corps, but it was aided by the work of the Eighteenth
and Second Divisions to the south of the Ancre.
The latter met with strong resistance and had con-
siderable losses. The burden of this work fell chieﬂy
upon the 99th and 54th Brigades, both of which
reached their objectives in the face of mist, darkness,
uncut wire, heavy ﬁre, and vigorous resistance. This
blow stung the enemy into a sharp reaction, and
three waves of infantry stormed up to the 10st
position, which for a time they entered, but were
again beaten out of. During their temporary success
they claim to have taken 130 prisoners.
All these advances, with their accompanying and


THE GERMAN RETREAT 7
ever-extending bombardments, had been like those CHAPTER
multiplied causes, each small in itself, which eventually 1'
loosen and start a great landslide. The effect must The
German
undoubtedly have been begun some weeks before Retreat
when the Germans perceived that they could no 111225?“
longer hold on, and favoured by wind, rain, and fog,
started their rearward movement to the great per- Feb.
manent second line, the exact position of which was
still vague to the Allies. Upon February 25 the
- whole German front caved in for a depth cf three
miles both north and south of the Ancre. Wading
through seas of mud Gough’s infantry occupied Serre,
Pys, Miraumont, Eaucourt, Warlencourt, and all the
ground for eleven miles from Gomiecourt in the
north to Gueudecourt in the south. On February 28
Gomiecourt itself had been occupied by the North
Country troops of the Thirty-ﬁrst Division, while
“Puisieux and Thilloy had also been added to the
British line. The advance was not unopposed. The
battle-patrols continually extended to attack some
trench of snipers or nest of machine-guns. Mined
roads and all manner of obstructions impeded the
onward ﬂow of the army. The retreat was orderly
and skilful, and the pursuit was necessarily slow and
wary. By a pleasing coincidence the Thirty-ﬁrst
Division, which occupied Serre, was the same brave
North Country Division which had lost so heavily
upon July 1 and November 13 on the same front.
On entering the village they actually found the
bodies of some of their own brave comrades who had
got as far forward seven months before. I ,
On March 4 the advance which had steadily con-
tinued in the north spread suddenly southwards to
Bouchavesnes north of Peronne, the sector held


8 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAI'TER by the Twentieth and Forty-eighth Divisions of
I.

The
German
Retreat
upon the
Arres-
Soissons
Front.
- March. -
Rawlinson’s Army, which from this time onward was
more and more engaged in the forward movement.
Three machine-guns and 172 prisoners were taken.
There was some interruption of the operations at this
stage owing to severe snowstorms, but upon March 10
Irles, west of Bapaume, was taken by assault by the
Eighteenth Division. This was a formidable point,
well wired and trenched, so that the artillery in full
force was needed for preparation. The infantry went
forward before sunrise, and within an hour the village
with 15 machine-guns and 290 prisoners was in British
hands. The losses were light and the gain substantial.
Grevillers also fell, next day. This advance in front
of Bapaume was of importance as it turned Loupart
Wood, forming part of a strong defensive line
which might have marked the limit Of the German ,
retreat. It was clear from that day onwards that
the movement was not local but far reaching. The
enemy was still too strong to be hustled, however,
especially upon the northern sector of the operations,
where Jaco'b’s Second Corps was feeling the German
line along its whole front. An attempt at an advance
at Bucquoy upon the night of March 13, carried
out by the 137th Brigade of the Forty-sixth
North Midland Division, met with a check, though
most bravely attempted. The two battalions con-
cerned, the 5th, South Staffords and 5th North
Staﬁords, found themselves entangled in the darkness.
amid uncut wire and suffered considerable loss before 1
they could extricate themselves from an impossible
position. ,
On March 19 and 20 the whole movement had
become much more pronounced, and the French as


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THE GERMAN RETREAT 9
well as the British were moving ever a seventy-mile CHAPTER
front, extending from Arras in the north to Scissons
in the south. Each day now was a day of joy in The
German
France as some new strip of the fatherland was for a Retreiltl
time recovered, but the joy was tempered by sorrow iii;- e
and anger as it was learned with what_barbarity the
Germans had conducted their retreat. To lay a March.
country waste is no new thing in warfare. It has
always been held to be an occasional military necessity
though the best commander was he whoused it least.
In all Napoleon’s career it is difﬁcult to recall
an instance when he devastated a district. At the
same time it must be admitted that it comes within
the recognised chances of war, and that when Sher-
man’s army, for example, left a black weal across the
South the pity of mankind wasstirred but not its
conscience. It was very different here. These devils
—or to be more just—these devil-driven slaves, with a
malignity for which it would be hard to ﬁnd a parallel,
endeavoured by every means at their command to
ruin the country for the future as well as for the
present. Buildings were runiversally destroyed, in-
cluding in many cases the parish churches. Historical
monuments, such as the venerable Castle of Coucy,
were blown to pieces. Family vaults were violated
and the graves profaned. The furniture of the most
humble peasants was systematically broken. The
wells were poisoned and polluted. Worst of all, the
young fruit-trees were ringed so as to' destroy them for
future seasons. It was considered the last possibility
of savagery when the Mahdi’s men out down the Slow-
growing palm-trees in the district of Dongola, but
every record upon earth has been swept away by the
barbarians of Europe. As usual these outrages


10 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
I.

The
German
Retreat
upon the
Arms-
Soissons
Front.
March .
reacted upon the criminals, for they conﬁrmed those
grim resolutions of the Allies which made that peace
by compromise for Which the Germans were eternally
working an absolute impossibility. Their Clausewitz
had taught them that it is of supreme importance to
make peace before there comes a turn of the tide, but
he had not reckoned upon his descendants being so
, brutalised that a peace with them was a self-evident
impossibility.
Turning from the deeds of savages to those of
soldiers, we have now to trace the progress and scope
of the great German retreat, the ﬁrst pronounced
movement upon either side on the Western Front
since September 1914. From Arras to Roye the
British Army was advancing while the movement was
carried on to Scissons by the French. On the curve
of the trenches the front measured more than a
hundred miles. SO close was the touch between the
two Allied armies that the patrols of French and
British cavalry rode together into Nesle. On March
18 the Australians had occupied Bapaume, with the
Seventh Division moving upon their left and the
\Twentieth upon their right, the cavalry fringe being
formed of the Indian Lucknow Cavalry Brigade of
the Fourth Division. To the south the Warwick
Brigade of the Forty-eighth South Midland Division
passed through Peronne. At each end of the long
curve the Germans held fast, Arras in the north and
Scissons in the south being the two ﬁxed points, but
the country between, to a depth of ten miles in the
British sector and of thirty miles in the French, was
rapidly overrun by the Allies, the cavalry patrols
feeling their way everywhere while the infantry
followed hard upon the heels Of the horses. Guns and


THE GERMAN RETREAT
11
munitions had been successfully removed by the
Germans but incredible quantities of barbed wire and
other defensive material had been abandoned in their
positions. Towards the end of March the left of the
French and the right of the British were in touch in
the immediate front of St. Quentin. There had been
scattered ﬁghting all along the line, and the resistance
thickened each day, so that it was evident that the
ﬁnal German position had been nearly reached. On
March 24 the Australians had a sharp ﬁght at Beau—
metz between Bapaume and Cambrai. The village
was taken, lost, and retaken with considerable loss
upon both sides. It was clear that in this quarter a
deﬁnite German line had been approached. Similar
reports soon came in from Croisilles, from Lagnicourt,
from Ronssoy, from Jeancourt, and all along from
Arras to St. Quentin. So gradually the famous
Hindenburg line deﬁned itself, and the Allied Generals
became more clearly aware Of the exact nature and
extent of this new German position. Early in April,
by pushing up to it and brushing aside the advanced
forces which screened it, its outlines were more
clearly mapped. This process of deﬁnition led to
more serious ﬁghting, the worst of which, as will
presently be shown, fell upon the Australians at
Bullecourt, some ten miles from the Arras end of the
new line. Some foretaste, however, of the consider-
able resistance which they were about to meet with
in their section was encountered by the Australians
at Noreuil on April 2. The brunt Of the attack upon
the village was borne by the South Australians, who
behaved with great gallantry, having to rush a difﬁcult
position intersected by sunken roads. A small body
of the stormers, some sixty in number, were cut off
CHAPTER
I.
The
German
Retreat
upon the
Arras-
Soissons
Front.
M arch .


12
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
I.

The
German
Retreat
upon the
Arms-
Soissons
Front.
April.
and overwhelmed, but the main body captured the
village, taking 137 German prisoners. Among other
brisk skirmishes occurring at the beginning of April -
was one at Epehy, ﬁfteen miles north of St. Quentin,
where the 144th Brigade of the Forty-eighth South
Midland Division cleared the hamlet and sugar
factory of St. Emilie. In this operation, which was
carried out chieﬂy by the 4th Gloucesters, 5 ofﬁcers.
and 80 men fell, but the German loss was consider-
able. A few days later the 145th Brigade of the
same division distinguished itself by the capture after
sharp ﬁghting of Ronssoy and- of Lempire, the
ﬁrst village being carried by the 4th Berks and the
latter by the 5th Gloucesters. This brought the
British line in'that quarter up to the ﬁnal German
position. '
Some sharp ﬁghting had also taken place at Savy
and Selency to the immediate west and north-west of
St. Quentin, upon the front of the Thirty—second
Division, which, together with the Thirty-ﬁfthand
Sixty-ﬁrst, had been pressing the German line. On
the morning of April 2 the 14th Brigade of this.
division was ordered to attack Selency. On the
two previous days the village of Savy had been
taken, and a strong attack made upon the Bois de
Savy by the 96th and 97th Brigades. The advance
of April 2 was at ' early dawn and the veteran
2nd Manchester Battalion was in the lead. The
whole operation was conducted under heavy
machine-gun ﬁre, but by swift movement and a _
judicious use of the ground the losses were mini-
mised. Whilst the Lancashire men made direct
for the village the 15th Highland Light Infantry
kept pace with them upon their right ﬂank. A


THE GERMAN RETREAT ' 13
battery of six German ﬁeld—guns opened ﬁre in
the very faces of the. stormers, but C Company
of the Manchesters, with admirable steadiness and
presence of mind, swerved to each side and rushed the
guns from the ﬂank, capturing them all. The attack
Was at 5 A.M., and by 6.30 the whole objective had been
captured. No further advance was possible as the
front line was already close to St. Quentin, which was
a German stronghold. The position at the end of the
action was that the'village was in the hands of the
British but that the six guns with their caissons were
in the open where the Germans could cover them with
their ﬁre. The victors were determined to have their
trophies, and their enemy was no less eager to make it
impossible. The moment that darkness had fallen
a party of Manchesters, under the lead of Lieut.
Thomas, the adjutant, and Lieut. Ward of the 161st
R.F.A., endeavoured. to man-handle the guns into
CHAPTER
I.
The
German
Retreat
upon the
Anas-
Boissons
Front.
April.
the British lines, but directly they began to. haul so _
sharp a ﬁre of shrapnel was opened at} a range of
800 yards that they were compelled to desist. A
covering party of the 15th Highland Light Infantry
lay round the guns till dawn, and during the day they '.
remained safe under the riﬂes of the infantry. At
eight o’clock on April 3 a further attempt to bring ‘
them in was made by Major Lumsden of the Staff, with
_ Lieutenants Ward and Lomax of the gunners. Horse
teams were brought dewn, and amid a terriﬁc barrage
the gun wheels began at last to revolve. Maddened
by the sight seen under the glare of! their star shells,
the German infantry surged forward and for a time '
were all round the Highlanders who still guarded the
guns. One small party of Germans dashed in upon
the guns with a charge of dynamite and managed to


14 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
I.

The
German
Retreat
upon the
Arras-
Soissons
Front.
April.
blow in the breech of one of them. They were driven
off, however, and the six guns were all brought in,
while upon April 4 the six artillery caissons were also
salved. SO ended a most satisfactory little operation
for which Major Lumsden received a Victoria Cross
and later the command of a brigade, while the other
ofﬁcers were decorated.
On April 2 in the north of the new line, near
the spot where very great things were pending,
Snow’s Seventh Corps had taken Henin and Croisilles,
with the aid of. the Fifth Army upon their right.
It was a small operation in itself, but it was preparing
the jumping-Off place for the great battle of April 9.
There was continued bickering along the line where the
British were pushing in the German outliers. In
this work the Thirty-ﬁfth Division in the Epehy
district distinguished itself greatly during the early
summer. One attack upon a hill held by the Germans
and carried by the 15th Chesters and 15th Sherwoods
of the 105th Brigade was particularly brilliant. In
addition, upon April 4, the village of Metz with
the adjoining position was taken after a sharp ﬁght].
by the 59th Brigade of the Twentieth Division. The
10th and 11th K.R.R. were the battalions chieﬂy
engaged in this ﬁght, which at one time had an
ugly aspect, as the Germans Slipped into a gap
between the Twentieth on the left and the Eighth-
Division on the right. They were cleared out, how-
ever, and the line was advanced beyond the Village to
the right of the Australians.
A more serious action was that which began upon
April 13, when the Thirty-second Division was
ordered to support the left of the French in their
unsuccessful attack upon St. Quentin. The task


THE GERMAN RETREAT 15
assigned to the British division, with the Thirty-ﬁfth
_ Division co-operating upon its left, was to attack
the village of Fayet. This was carried out very
gallantly by the 97th Brigade, with the 2nd York
Light Infantry and the 16th Highland Light Infantry
in the lead. The village with 100 prisoners was
taken at the ﬁrst rush, but it was found to be more
difﬁcult to get possession of a wood called the Twin
Copses, beyond the village. S0 severe was the
ﬁghting that the General of the 97th Brigade had
seven battalions under his command before it was
ﬁnished. Finally, the Twin Copses were splendidly
carried by the 11th Borders. The total of prisoners
came to 5 ofﬁcers and 334 men in this very spirited
‘operation.
With the conclusion of the German retreat and
the solidiﬁcation of the new line, some more general
‘view may be taken of the whole operation. It cannot
be denied that it was 'cleverly planned and deftly
carried out, though it can hardly be said to have
deserved the ecstasies of admiration which were
bestowed upon it by the German Press. It was not,
for example, as formidable an operation as the British
withdrawal from Gallipoli, an extraordinarily clever
manoeuvre which received less than its fair share of
recognition at home, because it was associated with
the sad ending of high hopes. It was also universally
taken for granted in Germany that Hindenburg was
going to “ reculer pour mieux sauter” as he had
done once before at Tannenberg, and that some
' extraordinary burst of energy at some other point
would soon change the exultation of the Allies into
despair. Nothing of the sort occurred during that
year, and it speedily became evident that the old
CHAPTER
I.
The
German
Retreat
upon the
Arras-
Soissons
Front.
April.


16 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
The
German
Retreat
upon the
Arran-
Soissons
Front.
April.
Marshal had simply moved because his lines were
untenable, and because by shortening them he could
make some compensation for the terriﬁc losses of
men at the Somme. That he ever regained the ground
was due only to the subsequent Russian debacle.
We have it upon the authority of Sir Douglas
Haig that the great local retreat of the Germans had
no very great effect in modifying the Allied plans.
Those plans, so far as the British were concerned,
were to make a combined assault from the north and
from the south upon the Ancre salient, Gough attack-
ing from the south and Allenby from the north.
As the salient had now ceased to eRist, the rOle of
Gough was conﬁned to following up the German
retreat until he came to the new Hindenburg line,-
which was an obstacle of so formidable a character
'that it checked anything short of a very powerful
attack. Allenby’s part of the programme was still
feasible, however, and resolved itself into an attack
upon the high ground held by the Germans and their
whole line down to the point where the new positions
began. How Allenby carried out this task, and the
great success which attended his efforts, ‘will be
described in the coming chapters.
Before passing to this and the other great battles»
which will make the year 1917 for ever memorable
in our history, it would be Well to brieﬂy enumerate
those world events which occurred during these three
months and which directly or indirectly inﬂuenced
the operations in France. The French line ‘had re-_
_ mained stationary save for the forward movement
already described. In Russia the lines had also
remained ﬁrm, and there was no outward indication
of the convulsions into which'that unhappy country


THE GERMAN RETREAT
17
was about to be thrown by the revolution which broke
out on March 12 of this year. From Italy also there
was nothing momentous to report. The most cheering
news which reached the Allies was from the British
Eastern lines of battle, where both in the Sinai Penin-
sula to the east of Egypt, and in Mesopotamia, good
progress was being made. The Sinai desert had been
practically cleared of that enemy who had advanced
so boastfully to the capture of Egypt, and the British
lines were now upon the green terrain which faces
Gaza upon the frontier of Palestine. The chief
success, however, lay in Mesopotamia. A great
soldier had apparently appeared in the person of
General Maude, whose name may be recalled by the
reader as the Commander of the 14th Brigade upon
the Western front. Leaving his limited activities in
the prosaic trenches of Flanders, he had suddenly re-
appeared, moving swiftly along the track of so many
of the old conquerors, and leading his picturesque
force of Britons and Indians against the ancient
capital of Haroun-el—Raschid. In February he had
avenged Townshend by recapturing Kut with more
than 2000 prisoners. Following up his victory with
great speed, he entered Bagdad upon March 11 at
the heels of the defeated Turks, and chased them
north along the line of the German railway, the
constructors of which had never dreamed what
strange stationmaster might instal himself at their
terminus. The approach of a Russian force seemed
to hold out hopes for further combined operations,
but meanwhile the whole of southern Mesopotamia
remained in the hands of the British, and no Turk
was left within forty miles of the ancient capital.
The chief event in Great Britain was the successful
CHAPTER.
I.
The
German '
Retreat '
upon the
Arres-
Soissons-
Front.
0


THE GERMAN RETREAT ' 19
wars to follow. Apart from the vast material help, emf“!
the mere thought that 'the great race which has '
inherited our speech and so many of our traditions (22:11)“
was lined up with us upon the. day of Armageddon 5522836
was a joy and an inspiration to every Briton. Arras-
Soissons
Fronts


CHAPTER
II.

The
Battle of
Arras.
CHAPTER II
THE BATTLE or ARRAS
April 9 to April 23, 1917
Vast preparations—Attack of Snow’s Seventh Corps—The Ibex
Trench—Attack of Haldane’s Sixth Corps—Attack of Fergusson’s
Seventeenth Corps—A Scottish Front—The splendid Canadians—
Capture of Monchy—Essex and Newfoundland—A glorious
episode—The Chemical Works—Extension of the battle to the
north—Desperate ﬁght of the Australians at Bullecourt.
WHILST the German line was falling back to its new
positions, and the Allies were eagerly following it
across the ravished countryside until the increased
resistance and the familiar lines Of barbed wire warned
them that the immediate retreat had come to an end,
Sir Douglas Haig had managed, without relaxing his
pursuit, to collect a strong striking force at the point
of junction between the new German line and the
old. The blow which he contemplated was no small
local advance, but was a wide movement extend-
ing from the neighbourhood of Lens in the north
to Arras in the south, a ﬁont of more than twelve
miles. Upon this sector a tremendous concentration
of artillery had been effected, and four corps were
waiting the signal for the assault, the three southern
ones forming Allenby’s Third Army, while the fourth
or northern one was the right—hand corps of Horne’s
‘ 20


THE BATTLE OF ARRAS 21
First Army. The southern corps were the Seventh
(Snow), which operated to the south of Arras, having
Croisilles for its southern boundary ; the Sixth (Hal-
dane), which advanced due east from Arras with the
Scarpe for its northern boundary; the Seventeenth
(Fergusson), which had its right on the Scarpe and
its left on Thelus, with its front facing the three spurs
which form this end of the Vimy Ridge ; and ﬁnally
the Canadian Corps (Byng), which faced this long and
sinister slope, the scene of so much bloodshed in the
past. Each corps was marshalled with three divisions
in front and one in reserve, so that there were roughly
120,000 men in the storming line with 40,000
advancing behind them. Maxse’s Eighteenth Corps
was in reserve in the rear of the Third Army,
While M‘Cracken’s Thirteenth Corps was behind the
First Army. The Germans had six divisions, the
Eleventh Prussian, Fourteenth Bavarian, First
Bavarian Reserve, and the Seventeenth, Eighteenth,
and Seventy—ninth reserve in the line. Their guns
also were numerous, as subsequent captures were to
prove, but it is probable that an extension of the
Hindenburg retreat was in contemplation, and that
some of the heavy artillery was already on the move.
A second strong line from Drocourt to Quéant was
known to exist, and its occupation would form a
natural sequel to the retirement in the south.
The German strategists had imagined that by
withdrawing ~ their 'troops over a long front they
would throw out of gear all the preparations of the
Allies for the spring offensive. What they actu-
ally did was to save their force in the Gommecourt
peninsula from being cut off, which would surely
have been their fate had they waited. But in the
CHAPTER
II.

The
Battle of
Arras.


22 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
II.

The
Battle of
Arras.
larger issue they proved to be singularly ill-informed,
for they had stayed their retreat at the very points,
of the line on which the offensive had been prepared,
so that the plans Of attack were neither modiﬁed nor
delayed. That this is true is evident, since such
. tremendous blows as Arras in the north and Rheims .
in the south could not possibly have been delivered I
had the'preparations only begun after the Hindenburg
retreat. ,
One of the most difﬁth problems of this attack
was how to arrange it upon that section which was
covered by the town of Arras. It is true that the
German line was 1700 yards east of the market'-
place, but the Sliburbs extended right up to it, and
it was fringed with houses. The town itself, in which
the storming troops must assemble and through which
all supports and supplies must pass, was full of narrow
streets within easy range of the German guns, and
previous French experience had proved that each
exit was so carefully and accurately barraged by the
German ﬁre that it was most difﬁcult for the troops
to debouch from it. This problem was solved by a
ﬁne piece of military engineering. The large cellars
and other subterranean excavations with which the
place abounded were connected up and fresh tunnels
constructed, so that it was eventually found to be
possible to put three whole divisions underground,
with permanent headquarters and every necessary
detail, including water, electric light, and a three-
foot tramway. This ﬁne work was carried out by
the New Zealand, the 179th, and the 184th Tunnel-
ling Companies. A huge dressing-station With 700
beds was also constructed. , In this great underground
place of assembly the greater part of the Sixth


THE BATTLE OF ARRAS
23
Corps was assembled, while many of the tunnels
on the south side of the town were allotted to the
use of the Seventh Corps. All this had been carried
out during the winter in the anticipation of a big
attack being made at this point. For purposes of
communication, over 1000 miles of twin cable was
buried in six-foot trenches or secured to the sides of
tunnels. Besides these special preparations, the usual
immense labour of preparing for a modern attack
had been thoroughly carried out along the whole line,
including the construction of very many gun positions,
trench mortar emplacements, dressing-stations, and
innumerable dumps of munitions and engineering
stores, Some dislocatiOn had been caused in the
plans by a partial withdrawal in the enemies’ front
trenches upon March 18, opposite the right end of the
British lines. The abandoned works were occupied
and linked up with the old system, so that upon
April 9 all was in order for the assault. The extreme
difﬁculties caused by the formidable defensive pre—
parations of'the enemy were fully realised, but every—
thing which human forethought could_.suggest had
been done to meet them. Above ‘ all, two great-
lessons taught by the Somme experience had been
thoroughly assimilated; the one that the broader the
attack the more successful it is likely to be, as it
prevents a concentration of the German guns upon
a single area; the other that it is wiser, even in the
heat of battle and the glow of victory, to limit your
objective to an area which is well within the range
of your guns. That last blue line so far forward upon
the map has been the cause of many a rebuff. .
The British bombardment, which came in gusts
during the days preceding the attack, did enormous
CHAPTER
II.

The
Battle of
Arras.


THE BATTLE OF ARRAS 25
Snow’s Seventh Corps had the Twenty-ﬁrst North
Country Division upon the extreme right, the
Thirtieth Lancashire Division in the centre, the
Fifty-sixth London on their left, and the Fourteenth
Light Division upon the extreme northern wing.
The soldiers, soaked t0 the skin, with the rain beating
upon their backs, and their feet ankle-deep in the mud,
set about their task in a calm, businesslike fashion
which would take no denial. N 0 village or notable
ﬁxed points lay in their path, but they plodded with-
out a check or halt over the ﬁrst two lines of entrench-
ments, ﬁnding no very strong resistance, save at
one point upon the left of their line, and suffering
little loss from the German artillery. Considerable
numbers of the enemy were found scattered in their
shattered trenches 0r cowering in the dug-outs. Over
a thousand of these were sent to the rear. The
advance was at the point where the new German line
branched away from the old one, the Twenty-ﬁrst
Division on the right joining the left of Gough’s Army
in the neighbourhood of the oneul River, while the
Fourteenth Division was in touch with the Third
Division on the north.
The immediate objectives of the various divisions
of this Seventh Corps were Telegraph Hill in the north
opposite to the Fourteenth Division, Neuville Vitasse.
opposite to the Fifty-sixth Division, St. Martin-sur-
Cojeul opposite the Thirtieth Division, and the
Hindenburg line opposite the Twenty-ﬁrst Division.
Taking them in turn from the south, we shall ﬁrst
follow the fortunes of the north countrymen of
Campbell’s Division. This division upon the ﬁrst
day was not expected to do more than make a strong
demonstration, because both it, and to a less extent
CHAPTER
II.

The
Battle of
Arras.


26 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
II.

The
Battle of
Arras.
the division upon its left, had in front of it sheets of
uncut wire and all the devilries of the ﬁxed German
line. The object, therefore, was that they, Should
make a holding attack in the hope that the northern
divisions of the corps should get well forward to the
east, and then swing to the south in such a way as
to make the German position luntenable. 'This was
eventually done, and a way was cleared so that the
two divisions in the south should be able to advance
with the remainder of the line. The whole operation
.of the Seventh Corps has to be continually judged
by the fact that they were on the edge of the
abandoned area, and that therefore their southern
front bulged out to the east in a way which brought
the successive divisions almost into an echelon
' formation.
On the left of the Twenty-first Division were the
Lancashire pals Of the Thirtieth Division. Upon
April'8 they had made a good start, as the 2nd Bed- '
fords carried the village of St. Martin, an outlier of
the Hindenburg line, but on the same date the 21st
Brigade was held up in an attempt to advance upon
the left. They advanced on April 9 with the 21st
iBrigade upon the left and the 90th upon the right.
i The ﬁrst dash behind a splendid barrage was most
successful, but the 21st Brigade, after passing the front
German lines, ran into uncut wire and was held, the
18th Liverpools suffering severely. The brigade upon
the right managed, however, to get forward for some
distance, but it also was faced 'by uncut wire, and
was compelled to dig in as best it could. The attack
was renewed two days later with the aid of four tanks,
‘ but the wire still held, though the devoted infantry
tried again and again. Finally, however, the Fifty-


THE BATTLE OF ARRAS 27
sixth Division having cleared its own front sent the
Victoria Riﬂes bombing down the front of the Thirtieth
Division, who in turn cleared the front of the Twenty-
ﬁrst Division on their right, and so by the evening of
April 11 the line was ﬁnally advanced. The clearing
of the front of the Twenty-ﬁrst was done by the
,18th Manchesters, who, unsupported, bombed their
way down 1700 yards of Hindenburg line, a very
notable achievement.
To Hull’s Fifty-sixth Division, the next upon the
north, was assigned the capture of Neuville Vitasse
and the strong works which surrounded it. The
advance was carried out at 7 .45—the zero time was
earlier as it travelled up the line—and was led by
the 167th Brigade upon the right and by the 168th
Brigade upon the left, while the 169th were in sup-
port. “ The bombardment and the covering ﬁre
were magniﬁcent,” says one who marched in the ranks;
CHAPTER
II.

The
Battle of
Arras.
“ I almost felt sorry for the poor old Hun, only, after "
3,
all, he is such a Hun. The chief ﬁghting was on
the right, where the 3rd London and 8th Middlesex
stormed the main portion of the village. At 10.30
all the eastern edge had been secured, and the
'1st London moved'forward to take the Cojeul Switch
line. Unfortunately, they struck up against uncut
wire and a very heavy belt of ﬁre. Colonel Smith, the
commanding oﬂicer, and the great majority of the.
other ofﬁcers were killed or wounded, and the advance
was brought to a stand. The 18th Liverpools of the
21st Brigade upon the right had also been halted by
the uncut wire. The colonel of the 7th Middlesex
took command of this difﬁcult situation so far as it
affected the advance of his brigade, and threw his
battalion in to strengthen the 1st Londons, so that


28 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
I].

The
Battle of
Arras.
together they captured the Cojeul Switch Trench.
The Londoners were then well ahead of the Liverpool
men upon their right, so the 1st London threw back
a defensive ﬂank while the 7th Middlesex stormed
forward against the powerful Ibex Trench. Three
separate attempts were made, much impeded by the
deep mud, and all ending in failure, so that darkness
fell before the task had been accomplished, but with
true British tenacity, at 3 A.M., in the darkest hour
before dawn, the Middlesex men tried once more and
carried Ibex, taking a number of prisoners. The
168th Brigade had with varying fortunes kept pace
upon the left, and in the early morning the London
Scottish on its right were in touch with Ibex Trench.
The position of the 167th was still dangerous upon
the ﬂank, as it was always ahead of its southern
neighbours, so that instead of advancing eastwards,
the colonel of the Middlesex now turned south, his
depleted ranks being strengthened by the 9th London
(Victorias) from the reserve brigade. The enemy were
only forty yards oﬁ upon the ﬂank, with a perfect
warren of trenches, and the mud was so dreadful that
some men who got in could hardly be dragged out
again alive. In spite of every difﬁculty-the Londoners,
after an initial check, swept triumphantly down Ibex
and Zoo trenches, clearing in one wild, glorious rush
the whole position, capturing 197 more prisoners of
the 31st Prussian Regiment with several machine-
guns. Captain Cousens, who led this charge, after
being badly wounded, was unhappily killed by a
sniper in the moment of victory. The Victorias
were too late to join in the victorious charge which
stands to the credit of the 7th Middlesex, but they
helped to hold and to extend what had been won.


THE BATTLE OF ARRAS 29
The general effect of_the advance of this division was
to turn the ﬂank of the southern German defences
and to open up a road for the Thirtieth and Twenty—
ﬁrst Divisions upon the right. ,
The Fourteenth Light Division to the north of- the
Londoners was faced by the slight slope and formidable
defences of Telegraph Hill. They went forward in
close conformity with the Sixth Corps upon their
left, the 42nd Brigade being upon the left and the
43rd upon the right. Their movement during the
day was a particularly ﬁne one, and they not only
took the strong position of Telegraph Hill, but they
carried the British line to a point far to the east of it.
Their whole advance was largely regulated by the
situation upon their northern ﬂank, and they were
exposed to such an enﬁlade ﬁre whenever they got at
all ahead, that they found it impossible to act entirely
upon their own.
Upon the left of the front was a strong German
position called “ The Harp,” which was very gallantly
carried by the 42nd Brigade. Sixteen tanks which
were to have lent them a hand in this difﬁcult opera-
tion failed for some reason to arrive in time, and the
infantry had to advance with no help save their own
stout hearts. The attack was carried out by the
9th K.R.R. with the 4th Royal Fusiliers of the Third
Division acting upon their left, and their comrades of
the 6th Oxford and Bucks upon their right. Their
only serious opponents here as elsewhere were snipers
and machine-gunners, but these were all of the best,
and caused heavy losses before the whole objective
with its garrison had been captured. By 9.15 in the
morning it was entirely in British hands, and as the
day wore on the division kept steadily improving
CHAPTER
II.

The
Battle of
Arras.


30 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
II.

The
Battle of
Arras.
their position, though still short Of their ﬁnal objective,
that elusive line, which is so easy to draw and so
hard to attain. In the evening, an attempt was made
by the Fourteenth Division to struggle still further
eastwards. This advance had no success, and so the
forward units of the whOle Seventh Corps dug in on
the general line from Feuchy Chapel Road in the north
to near Croisilles in the south, having after a desperate
day’s ﬁghting achieved a gain which averaged two
or three miles, and a total of nearly 2000 prisoners
with a number of guns. Concerning these prisoners,
it may be unsafe to generalise, but it is certain that
many of them surrendered very readily. As to their
general type the opinion of a commanding ofﬁcer who
handled many of them may be quoted : “ The ofﬁcers
were mild persons, none of the bullet-headed, bristly-
moustached, truculent Prussian type. The prisoners
generally do not inspire one with respect. Braggarts
and bullies in prosperity, in adversity they cringe.”
Haldane’s Sixth Corps was to the immediate left
of the Seventh, and its operations were directed due
east of Arras. The three front divisions, counting
from the south, were the Third, the Twelfth
South of England, and the Fifteenth Scottish, with
the Thirty-seventh English in reserve. The troops
of the assaulting divisions had been assembled
for three days in the caves under Arras, but on
the night of April 8 they were silently passed into
the assembly trenches, an operation which was carried
through with little interference or loss. The vile
weather may have been a blessing in disguise, as
it covered all the preparations from the German
observation. - _ _
The right of the attacking line was formed by the
O


THE BATTLE OF ARRAS 31
76th Brigade of the Third Division, a unit which had
distinguished itself greatly in previous ﬁghting. The
8th and 9th Brigades were in close support. Its front
was south of the Arras—Cambrai Road. ‘ To the left
of the 7 6th Brigade the line was carried on. by the
37th and 36th Brigades of the Twelfth Division.
Their right rested on the Arras—Cambrai Road. To
their left were the 44th and 45th of the Fifteenth
Division. Their left rested upon the Scarpe. Nothing
couldhave gone more smoothly than the advance,
which kept well up with the barrage. Only at
Observation Hill was vigorous resistance encountered,
and the German barrage was so belated that it fell
upon empty trenches after the stormers had left
them. The line of infantry as it swept forward in its
' irresistible advance was formed, counting from the
south, by the 10th Welsh Fusiliers, the 1st Gordons,
the 6th Queen’s, the 7 th East Surreys, the 11th Middle-
sex, the 7th Sussex, the 8/10th1 Gordons, the 9th
Black Watch, the 6/7th Scots Fusiliers, and the 11th
Argyll and Sutherlands. To the courage which had
always been their birthright, the infantry now added
all the cool war wisdom which experience of many
battles must bring with it, and all those devices for
overcoming the 'scattered forts of the enemy and
avoiding their machine-guns, which had been learned
on the Somme and the Ancre, were now practised to
keep down the losses of the assault.
The advance of the 76th Brigade had been to the
south of the great high road which leads from Arras
to Cambrai—a road which was destined to be second
only to the Menin Road as a centre of hard ﬁghting.
CHAPTER
II.

The
Battle of
Arras.
1 Where two numbers are given for one battalion, it means that-two ‘
battalions with these numbers have been telescoped into one.


32 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
II.

The
Battle of
Arms.
. was always in the rear.
The Gordons led the attack and took the front line
with a number of the Prussian 38th Regiment. The
10th Welsh Fusiliers then passed through the ranks
of the Highlanders and captured Devil’s Wood. So
swift were these movements that the German barrage
‘ Having thus secured the
ﬁrst objective, the 9th Brigade, strengthened by the
2nd Suffolks, stormed forward to the next line of
defence. The 4th Royal Fusiliers on the right took
Nomeny, Spring, and Lynx Trenches, when the
Suffolks passed through them and took Neuilly Trench.
The 12th West :Yorkshires took Tilloy village. The
13th Liverpool, after being held up on the left,
carried the line forward and, by getting its machine-
gun on to the roof of Tilloy Chateau, dominated the
country to the extreme .discomfort of the German
snipers. Besides these numerous trenches and strong
points, the 9th Brigade helped to take the fortiﬁed
position known as The Harp, an exploit in which they
were much assisted by a couple of tanks. Here a con-
siderable number of prisoners were made, including
most of a battalion of the 162nd Regiment,‘together
with its commander.
It will save confusion if we follow the fortunes of
each division for the day, regardless of what is going
on upon its ﬂank, as it is impossible to understand a
narrative which switches continually from one portion
of the line to another. The whole operation of the
Sixth Corps was somewhat behind the time appointed,
as each division had met with some delays, but the
advance towards the third objective was begun about
one o’clock in this southern area. The 8th Brigade
had now taken up the running, and the 9th had
fallen into support. Reinforced by the two reserve


34 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917

CHAPTER
IL
The
Battle of
Arras.

wounds would not be in the back. It was found, how- '
ever, as they neared the line of the third German
position, that considerable stretches of wire had been
imperfectly cut, and that the machine-gun ﬁre was so
severe as to make the ﬁnal assault impossible. The
infantry dug in, therefore, and waited for further
support from the guns, many of which were already
on the move. The 9th Essex upon the right actually
reached the Feuchy Chapel Work and held their grip
of it, keeping in line with the 8th Brigade upon the
south.
The Fifteenth Division to the north Of the corps’
front had before them the very strong position called
the Railway Triangle, where the line to Lens branches
away from the line to Douai. This formidable place
was attacked by the Scotch infantry, and after a
severe struggle it was captured about 11.30 save for
its eastern side, which was ﬁnally taken later in the
morning, the artillery aiding the assailants by some
extraordinarily good shooting. The advance was
then resumed, and the division found itself shortly
after noon in the line of the second objective. Six
brigades of ﬁeld artillery had followed closely upon
the heels Of the infantry and managed, in spite of the
unfavourable state of the ground, to take up a position
to cover the further attack. When one recalls the
dreadful weather and the shell-pocked state of the
countryside, it was a remarkable feat upon the part of
the gun-teams tO get their pieces so rapidly forward.
Several tanks came forward also, and did good work
not only upon this front, but at Tilloy and The Harp.
The Fifteenth Division was now somewhat behind
the others, but Shortly after two O’clock the 46th
Lowland Brigade advanced upon the third ObjthiY6~


THE BATTLE OF ARRAS
35
These splendid soldiers brushed aside every obstacle,
and when ﬁred upon at short range by German
guns rushed onwards with a yell and captured the
battery. By 4 RM. they had fully reached their
ﬁnal line and had pushed out their patrols some
hundreds of yards to the eastwards. This ﬁne
advance, which was the only one to reach the extreme
limit upon this front, was carried out by the 7th Scots
Borderers, 10th Scots Riﬂes, and 12th Highland Light
Infantry, with the 10/11th Highland Light Infantry
mopping up behind them.
At 7 P.M. an attempt was made by the two southern
divisions to get forward from the Feuchy Chapel Line
and gain a position level with the 46th Brigade.
Evening was setting in, however, the men were
weary and the difﬁculties manifold, so that no
progress was made, both the Third and the Four-
teenth Divisions suﬂering additional losses in the
attempt. _
The Thirty-seventh Division, composed entirely of
English troops, North, South, and Midland, had moved
up in the rear of the ﬁghting line, and in the middle
of the afternoon it found itself in the German second
line system, while the corps’ mounted troops had
followed behind the Fifteenth Division, as far as
the Railway Triangle. As evening fell, the Thirty-
seventh Division pushed forward with the intention
of reaching the extreme point attained by the Fifteenth
CHAPTER
II.

The
Battle of
Arras.
Division and then swinging to the right in the hope _
of capturing Monchy. The advance seems, how-
ever, to have taken a direction rather too much
to the south, with the result that instead of ﬁnding
the opening made by the 46th Brigade they came
upon .the more contracted Feuchy line held by the


36 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
II.

The '
Battle of
Arms.
Twelfth and Third Divisions. Here they were held up
by a ﬁeld of wire as their comrades had already been,
and the two brigades concerned—the 111th upon the
left and the 112th upon the right—remained in line
with the 35th and the 8th Brigades, the units being
considerably intermingled. The 63rd Brigade, how-
ever, which was now a brigade of the Thirty-seventh
Division, though the reader will associate it with the
Twenty-ﬁrst Division in the past, was able to keep its
true direction, and before night had ﬁnally established
itself at the north end.of Orange Hill well up to the
third objective and in touch with the 46th Brigade.
The corps’ cavalry also pushed forward along the
south bank of the Scarpe, capturing three 8-inch
howitzers upon the way, and halting opposite Fam-
poux, where they were in touch with the Fourth
Division upon the northern bank of the river.
Such was the splendid day’s work of Haldane’s
Corps. It is true that in the south the uncut wire
had made it impossible for them to reach their ultimate ‘
objective, but they had in the space of the one Easter
day captured the villages of Feuchy and of Tilloy,
. the strong redoubts of The Harp and the Railway
Triangle, gained some thirty-six square miles of
ground, and taken 2000 prisoners with 60 guns. It
was a most notable achievement. We shall now
pause on the evening of this ﬁrst day of battle and we
shall go back to reconstruct the operations upon the
northern bank of the Scarpe.
The Seventeenth Corps (Fergusson) was upon the .
left of the Sixth. Its right-hand unit, Lukin’s Ninth
Division, consisting of two Scottish and one South
African brigade, was operating upon the immediate
north of the Scarpe. This division was to attack with


‘ THE BATTLE OF ARRAS
37
three brigades in line, the 26th on the right, 27th on
the left, and South Africans between. Upon the left
of the Ninth was Nicholson’s Thirty-fourth Division,
drawn largely from Scotland and Tyneside, the same
ﬁne division which had been the very pivot upon which
a the .battle of July 1 had turned. Upon the left of
the corps was the Fifty-ﬁrst Highland Territorial
Division which had distinguished itself so greatly at
Beaumont Hamel ﬁve months before.
therefore, that the ﬁghting line of the Seventeenth
Corps upon this great day was predominantly Scottish,
but Lambton’s veteran Fourth Division was in im-
mediate support. The whole battle-front was from the
right bank of the Scarpe near Arras up to the post
known as the Commandant’s House, just south of
Thelus. There were no villages over the greater part of
this front, but there were great numbers of fortiﬁed
farms and strong posts of every description, besides
the usual lines of wired trenches. The ground was in
successive ridges and a big tactical obstacle existed in
the Lens—Arras railroad in its alternate cuttings and
embankments. The long eager line of Highlanders,
It may be said,
CHAPTER.
II.
The
Battle of,
Arras.
Tynesiders, and South Africans rolled over every.
obstacle, and by ten o’clock had mastered all the
ﬁrst objectives, which were the three lines of German
trenches. In the south the Ninth Division, led by
a well-known South- African Imperial soldier, had
carried ﬁrst Blangy and then Athies by storm.
There was a time when the 26th Brigade upon the
right was hung up, but with 'ﬁne initiative the
right ﬂank of the Transvaal Regiment worked down
along the railway cutting and helped to clear. the
front of its neighbours. In the centre, the Thirty-
fourth Division, after a short check at a network


38 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
II.

The
Battle of
Arras.
of trenches called “ The Pump,” had reached its
allotted positions. In the north the clansmen, who
as Territorials were sprung from the very soil of the
Highlands, had swiftly advanced to the south of
Thelus and had covered the right wing of the First
Canadians while they captured that village. It
was Victory all along the line, and victory without
those excessive losses which have made many of our
greatest successes as tragic as they are glorious. The
artillery barrage had been found to be a powerful
antidote against the deadly machine-guns. “ When
our barrage lifted off the railway cutting, the machine-
guns had been silenced and all the gunners were found
to be dead.” Such was the report of a South African
oﬁicer.
Allusion has been-made to the check caused by
the strong point called “ The Pump ” and the trenches
called the Kleemanstellung just east of it. Some
detail should be added in this matter, for it retarded
the attack of the ﬂanks of two divisions, and the delay
caused by it had the effect that the Canadians on
the left and the Ninth upon the right were further
forward in the late afternoon than part of the Fifty-
ﬁrst and the Thirty-fourth, which might have caused
a dangerous Situation. The Thirty-fourth Division
had advanced upon a three-brigade front, which
consisted from the south of the 101st, the 102nd,
and the I 103rd. On the north of the 103rd
was the 152nd Brigade of the Fifty-ﬁrst Division
with the Seaforths as the ﬂank battalion. This
pestilent strong point, armed with well—served and
well-concealed machine-guns, lay between the two
brigades arid held up the ﬂanks of both, inﬂicting
considerable losses not only on the Seaforths, but


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To face page 89.


THE BATTLE OF ARRAS 39
on the 25th N orthumberland Fusiliers, who were on Games
the left of the Thirty—fourth Division. For a con— 11'
siderable time the advance was held. The 27th re- gale of
serve battalion of the N orthumberland Fusiliers were Arras.
sent up, and one of its companies, led with a ﬁne I
mixture of valour and cunning, carried the place
by storm. The whole line then got forward, but
the losses had been heavy, including Colonel Hermon
of the 24th Northumberland Fusiliers. In the
evening it was found that the ﬁnal objective had
not yet been fully attained at this quarter of the
ﬁeld, for it had been marked at a farm called Maison
de la Cote, from which the front line was still a
thousand yards distant. A brilliant little attack,
however, by the 103rd Brigade, in the early morning
of April 10, captured the whole position. Besides
the check at The Pump, there had been another
on the Fifty-ﬁrst divisional front at a post called
the “ Deutsche Haus.” The consequence of this
was a loss of the barrage and a delay which led
to the isolated left of the Fifty—ﬁrst losing direction
entirely and wandering round in a half-circle. The
circumstances were so complex that it 'was not until
next morning that they could be cleared up. Had the
Germans had the spirit for a counter-attack, they
would certainly have found a considerable gap in
the line.
These events were in the northern area of the
Seventeenth Corps. In the southern portion, at about
eleven o’clock, the reserve division came forward,
. and, passing through the weary ranks of the Ninth,
pushed on along the northern bank of the river. The
advance had already been a splendid one, the Ninth
Division having 2000 prisoners to its credit, but this


40
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
II.

The
Battle of
Arras.
open warfare that had been seen for years.
movement of the Fourth Division against an enemy
who was already badly shaken was a very fruitful
one. The 12th Brigade was nearest the Scarpe, with
the 11th upon the left, while the 10th moved forward
in close support. Two Obstacles faced the division,
the straggling village of Fampoux upon the bank of
the river, and the Hyderabad Redoubt, a considerable
fort to the north of the village. The 12th Brigade
moved swiftly forward in the nearest approach to
The
1st Royal Lancasters were on the right of the swift
ﬂexible line, the 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers in the centre,
and the 2nd Essex upon the left. The brigade fought
its way in the teeth of a very hot ﬁre to the outskirts
of Fampoux, where the reserve battalion, the 2nd
West Ridings, passed through the King’s Own and
carried the village in splendid style late in the evening
at the point of thebayonet. It is a remarkable fact
that the wire in front of the village had not been cut
by the artillery, and the infantry passed in Single
ﬁle through the gaps in it, after disposing of the only
German machine-gunner who offered resistance. At
the same time the 11th Brigade kept pace upon their
left ﬂank—the Hampshires to the left and Somersets
to the right, while the 1st Riﬂe Brigade, passing
through them, rushed the strong position of the
Hyderabad Redoubt, and the East Lancashires 7
formed a defensive ﬂank. Communication was at
once opened across the Scarpe with Haldane’s Corps
upon the south side. By this ﬁne advance of the
Fourth Division the right of the Seventeenth Corps
had got considerably further forward than the centre,
so that a defensive line had to be formed sloping
back from this advanced point. This was the pOsition


42
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
II.

The
Battle of
Arras.
at every point, and the First doing the same after
a short check. There was no rebuff save in the
extreme north of the line. Sweeping onwards
with irresistible fury, they overran three lines of
German trenches, including the famous La .Folie
Farm, captured the village of Farbus, and secured the
splendid total of 70 ofﬁcers and 3500 men as prisoners,
the same number as were taken by their British
comrades to the immediate south. They not only
crowned the redoubtable ridge, but they made their
way down the eastern slope and established their
line beyond it. Many of the German infantry were
captured in the great chalk excavations in which
they had taken refuge, two large tunnels in particular
—the Volker and the Prinz Arnault Tunnels—being
crammed with men. Incredible incidents happened
in these subterranean burrows, where small bodies
of. Canadian moppers-up were faced suddenly by
large numbers of armed Germans in hiding. In one
well-authenticated case four Canadians bluffed and
captured 2 ofﬁcers and 70 men from a Bavarian
unit who were found in such a pocket, an incident
which meant a V.C. for, Major Macdowell. When the
Kaiser in prophetic mood had spoken about what
would happen when his Bavarians met the British,
such an incident was_ far from his thoughts. It
should be mentioned that the Fifth British Divi-
sion was in close support of the Canadians, and
that the 13th Brigade of this division was incor-
porated with the Second Canadians upon that day.
It was used in conjunction with the 6th Canadian
Brigade on its right to take the ﬁnal objectives, the
eastern slopes of the Ridge, just north of Farbus
Wood, which they did successfully with slight losses.


THE BATTLE OF ARRAS 43
During the night of the 9/10th April there was
ﬁghting at several points, notably at the north end of
the Vimy Ridge. Here the Fourth Canadian Division
had some difﬁculty in holding its ground against
several strong counter-attacks of the Germans. It is
probable that no body of troops in the whole battle
had a harder task, or stuck to it more tenaciously,
than this Fourth Canadian Division. Hill 145, which
was an outlier of the Ridge, was very strongly held
and desperately defended, so that it would have
turned 'any but ﬁrst-class troops. The ﬁnal clearing
of this point was effected upon April 10, and led to
further operations in conjunction with British troops
to the north, which will be afterwards described.
The second day of the Battle of Arras, April 10,
was spent partly in the consolidation of the ground
gained and partly in increasing the area now occupied.
The troops were in high heart, for although the full
extent of the victory had not yet been realised, it
was already known that at least 10,000 prisoners and
100 guns had fallen into their hands, ﬁgures which
showed that the battle had been the most serious
military disaster which had yet befallen the enemy.
A fuller enumeration taken some days later gave
13,000 men, 3 howitzers, 28 heavy guns, I30 ﬁeld-guns,
84 trench-mortars, and 250 machine-guns as the
total capture. It may be mentioned that over 1000
CHAPTER
II.
The
Battle of
Arras.
April 10.
prisoners were taken from each of the six diﬁerent '
German divisions already enumerated, which disposes
of their mendacious assertion that only two divisions
occupied their front. It was certainly the greatest
blow delivered by the British Army up to that date,
and the only other day’s ﬁghting at all comparable in
its results was the French attack upon the Champagne


44 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
II.

The
Battle of
Arras.
April 10.
front on September 25, 1915, where the number of
prisoners was greater but the capture of guns was
less.
The Battle of Arras may be considered as having
been in truth a one-day battle in the same sense as
the succeeding Battle of Messines, for in each case
the attack was delivered in order to gain a deﬁnite
objective, which was the ridge from which observation
could be obtained. The extreme limit of advance
had not, however, been reached either in the south
or in the north, and so in both these areas hard ﬁghting
continued, due partly to the efforts of the British to
enlarge their gains and partly to the rally of the
Germans and their attempts at counter-attack. There
was no concentration of troops or guns, however,
upon the side of the British, and no attempt at any
cOnsiderable advance. We shall ﬁrst follow these
operations in the south where they centred chieﬂy
round the village of Monchy and Wancourt in the
> areas of the Sixth and Seventh Corps. These we
shall weave into a connected narrative, after which
we shall return to the Vimy region and trace the
movements which led to hard ﬁghting in that
quarter.
In the Seventh Corps to the south the Fifty-sixth
Division of London Territorials had, as already
described, enlarged the area which it had taken the
day before in the Neuville Vitasse sector. The general
curve of the line was such that it was not possible for
the units of the Seventh Corps to get forward until
the Sixth Corps to the north had won some ground,
but upon the afternoon of the 12th a very ﬁne advance
was made, by which the 169th Brigade stormed
Heninel. The Cojeul River was crossed by the


THE BATTLE OF ARRAS
45
Fourteenth Light Division, and the heights upon the
eastern bank were occupied. The 41st Brigade of
this unit had now come into the line. The ﬁrst
attempt upon the heights failed with heavy losses.
Next morning it was found that Hill 90 had been
evacuated, and they were able to advance and seize
Wancourt. This brought the left ﬂank Of the Seventh
Corps up to the right ﬂank of the Sixth Corps, and
ensured close co-operation in those operations to the
north which will presently be more fully described.
This storming of the German position in this section
was the more important as the troops were faced by
the new Hindenburg Line. It was well known that
an alternative line from Drocourt to Quéant existed
some miles to the eastward, but none the less the fall of
the front section at a period when much of its wire
was still intact proved to the Germans how impossible
it was to hold off British troops by mere passive
obstacles. The tanks were of great assistance to the
assailants in this difﬁcult operation. Upon April 13
and 14 the Twenty-ﬁrst Division, with the aid of
the 19th Brigade from the Thirty-third Division,
carried forward the line to the high ground about 1000
yards east of the stream at Henin, astride of that
portion of the Hindenburg Line. Here all further
attempts to advance were stopped by fresh German
troops, until the operations were renewed upon
April 23. This advance of the Twenty-ﬁrst Division
upon April 13 and 14 was in connection with a general
movement of Snow’s Corps, but neither the Fifty-sixth
London Territorials in the centre nor the Fiftieth
North Countrymen on the left, both of them enﬁladed
from the north, could make much progress beyond
the line of Wancourt Tower, and there was little to
CHArrEE

The
Battle of
Arras.
April 10.


46 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
II.

The
Battle of
Arras.
April 10.
show for a hard day’s work. The Thirty-third
Division (Pinney) now took over the front from the
Twenty—ﬁrst.
The immediate task which lay before the Sixth
Corps upon April 10 was to get the Third and Twelfth
Divisions forward to the same line which the Fifteenth
Division had reached. It will be remembered that
the 46th Brigade of the latter division, together with
the 63rd Brigade from the supporting Thirty-seventh
Division, had pushed on as far as Orange Hill, half a
mile farther eastward than the Feuchy Line which
formed the front of the two southern Divisions. Six
brigades of ﬁeld artillery had been hurried up, and
with the help of these guns, aided by trench-mortars,
the wire which held up the advance was partly blown
away. The Third and Twelfth Divisions were then
able to move forwardand to make one line with the ‘
Fifteenth—an operation which was completed by mid-
day, the 8th Brigade doing some brilliant work. The
strongly fortiﬁed village of Monchy, elevated above
the plain, lay immediately in front of the Sixth
Corps, and its capture was their next task. With this
object in View, the 63rd Brigade was swung round
from the north and worked its way south and east,
getting into touch with the other brigades of the
Thirty-seventh Division, which passed through the
newly captured third Objective and occupied the
ground upon the west of the village. A general
advance was then made on each side of the village,
the 112th Brigade occupying La Bergere upon the
Cambrai road due south of Monchy, while the 1/11th
Brigade, with the 9th and 10th Royal Fusiliers in
the lead, in the face of a considerable opposition,
pushed onwards until it gained a footing on the out-


THE BATTLE OF ARRAs
47
skirts of the village and on the high ground to the
north of it, where the 154th Company R.E. dug a
temporary line. This was the position on the evening
of April 10, while the British line had been strength-
ened by the presence of the 7th Brigade of Cavalry
from the Third Cavalry Division, who were following
closely behind the Thirty-seventh Division. In all
these operations the~weather greatly impeded progress,
as it prevented the advance of the guns needed to
break down wire and other obstacles. '
During the night of April 10 the Twelfth Division
was withdrawn into reserve, and the advance was
resumed in the early morning by the remaining
divisions and the cavalry. At 5 A.M. the infantry was
closing in upon Monchy under a heavy ﬁre. The line
of advance extended right across the Cambrai road,
the 76th Brigade ﬁnding itself opposite to the village
of Guémappe. Here they were exposed to a very
heavy ﬁre of machine-guns, and this famous brigade
sustained heavy losses, which were increased by a
second attempt to get forward in the afternoon. The
7 6th Brigade ﬁnally entrenched itself some half a
mile to the west of Guémappe and waited for develop-
ments. The 8th Royal Lancasters were particularly
hard hit in their attack.
In the meantime the 111th Brigade of the Thirty-
seventh Division had advanced directly upon Monchy,
and after severe ﬁghting, in which the splendid infantry
struggled onwards in the face of every possible difﬁ-
culty of German resistance and of driving snow-
storms, the place was carried by assault. The three
regiments of cavalry from the 8th Brigade, the Royal
Horse Guards, 10th Hussars, and Essex Yeomanry,
advanced at a gallop and did splendid service by taking
CHAPTER.
H.

The
Battle of
Arras.
April 10.


48 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917 -
CHAPTER
II.

The
Battle of
Arras.
April 11.
part in the attack, following closely upon the infantry,
and helping to cOnsolidate the village. By nine
o’clock in the morning the 13th K.R.R. and 13th
Riﬂe Brigade, greatly aided by a very active and
efficient tank, had driven their way to the farthest
houses upon the eastern side. About 150 of the garri-
son remained in their hands, while very many lay
dead among the ruins of the shattered buildings.
The cavalry, who lost their brave leader, General
Bulkeley Johnson, emerged on the eastern Side of the
village and lost heavily at that point, especially in
horses, some 500 of which were hit. They had the
satisfaction, however, of getting their light guns fairly
on to the Germans, as they streamed across the open.
One who was present says : “ The cavalry ﬁlled the
gap between us and the 112th Brigade. 'They lost
heavily, and their conduct was magniﬁcent.” The
new gain was instantly consolidated by the Colonel
of the Riﬂes. '
The Fifteenth Division upon the left of the Thirty-
seventh had been ﬁghting its way forward upon the
north, endeavouring to keep in line with the Thirty-
seventh. It had got somewhat ahead of the Fourth
Division, however, which was to the north of' the
Scarpe, and in consequence had to face the whole ﬁre
from the strong village of Roeux, which held them up.
The general line of the corps that night was La
Bergere, Monchy, and then the line of the Monchy—
Fampoux road as far as the Scarpe. To the north of
the Scarpe there had been no forward movement, as
the Chemical Works to the east of Fampoux presented
an obstacle which was beyond the immediate scope
of Sir Charles Fergusson’s operations.
On the night of April 11 the Thirty- seventh


THE BATTLE OF ARRAS 49
Division, which had suffered considerably in the
capture of Monchy, and the Fifteenth which had
lived up to its reputation during ﬁfty-six hours of
incessant ﬁghting under most inclement conditions,
were withdrawn for a short rest, while the Twelfth
Division returned into the line, and the Seven-
teenth took the place of the Thirty-seventh. April 12
was spent in consolidation and in bringing up heavy
howitzer batteries along the Cambrai road, and placing
them in positions between Feuchy and Tilloy Where
they could support the coming operations.
From the time that the British had captured the
village, both it and the whole front line in that area
had been subjected to a most severe German bom-
bardment, which tried the troops extremely, but did
not prevent them from repulsing several attempts at
counter-attack, none of which reached the front
trenches. On the night of April 12 the Twelfth
Division, which was considerably worn from its exer-
tions, was drawn out and was replaced by the
famous Twenty-ninth Regular Division, which had
gained such honour and suffered such losses at Galli-
poli and on the Somme. There was no forward
movement upon April 13 in the region of Monchy, but
farther south the 9th Brigade, which had taken the
place of the 7 6th in front of Guémappe, endeavoured,
to reach that village, but were met and checked by
the same murderous machine-gun ﬁre which had held
up their comrades, a ﬁre which came both from the
hamlet itself and from the high ground to the south
which lay within the area of the Seventh Corps.
1st Northumberland Fusiliers and 12th West Yorks,
which led the attack, both suffered severely.
As no large movement was contemplated upon
E
CHAPTER
II.

The
Battle of
Arras.
April 12.
The ‘


50 I THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
II.
_ The
Battle of
Arras.
April 14.
this front it was now held by only two divisions, the
Twenty-ninth to the south and the Seventeenth to
the north, covering the whole broad area from the
north of the Cojeul River to the south of the Scarpe.
At 5.30 upon April 14 both divisions advanced in
order to test the German strength and, if possible,
to push them farther back from Monchy. It was an
' unsuccessful day, and yet it was one of those failures
which will be remembered where facile successes have
been forgotten, for it brought with it one episode
Which elicited in the highest degree the historical
qualities of British infantry. It had been arranged
that the 88th Brigade, consisting of the 2nd
' Hants, 4th Worcesters, 1st'Essex, and the N ewfound-
land Regiment, should attack due east of Monchy,
while another brigade of the Twenty-ninth Division
should advance to their right, and the Seventeenth
Division guard their ﬂank upon the left. Both of the
ﬂank attacks failed, however, and the result was that
the storming line of the- 88th Brigade, consisting of
the Essex men on the left and the Newfoundlanders
on the right, found themselves in possession of the
German trenches on Infantry Hill, east of Monchy,
but with both wings exposed and with so terriﬁc a
barrage behind them that they were practically cut
off from assistance. This might have mattered little
, under ordinary circumstances, since two such bat-
talions might be counted upon to hold their ground, .
but by an evil chance their advance had coincided
with a cOnsiderable German counter-attack from the
Bois du Sart, made by a whole Bavarian division with
the intention of retaking Monchy. The result was
a Homeric contest in which two battalions held up a
whole division, shattered a considerable attack, and


THE BATTLE OF ARRAS
51
were practically annihilated in doing so. Of- some
companies not a single man returned and yet few
were ever reported as prisoners in Germany. No
more gallant feat of arms has been performed in the
war. The 2nd Hants and 4th Worcesters in support
did their best to help their comrades, and sustained
considerable losses themselves in the attempt, but they
CHAPTER
II.

The
Battle of
Arras.
April 14.
were never able to reach the real front line, and it is '
undoubtedly true that the two battalions alone re-
ceived and broke the full strength of the Bavarian
Division, which was entirely fresh, having taken no part
in any previous ﬁghting. It was difﬁcult in the barrage
' and confusionj—the ground being unreconnoitred—
to direct reinforcements to the points where they were
so urgently needed, but a lieutenant of the Essex
passed through the German barrage and managed to
bring up one company of the 2nd Hants, who came
too late to retrieve the ﬁght, but were able to take up
the defence of the northern ﬂank and to prevent the
Germans from getting round' in that quarter. Small .
parties of the enemy got up to the fringes of the village,
but the edge had been taken completely from their
assault, and in spite of the heavy barrage, the staff
of the brigade headquarters, who were the only troops
available, were sufﬁcient to hold them off; Colonel
Forbes Robertson doing particularly good work with
a Lewis gun. No German set foot in Monchy. Of
the headquarter staff there were only nine survivors,
each of whom was decorated.
Apart from the attack so heroically repelled, a
second had developed to the'south-east of Monchy
which was driven back by riﬂes and machine-guns.
The total German losses during the day must have
been very heavy, and they had nothing to show for


THE BATTLE OF ARRAS
53
and to endeavour to carry the place by assault. The
attempt was not successful, though it was urged with
great valour. The wastage of the division had
already been such that neither brigade numbered
2000 bayonets. The average strength of the South
African regiments was about 400 men. As a result,
the attack was wanting in weight, and was repulsed
with considerable loss, which fell chieﬂy upon the
1st Cape and 2nd Natal battalions in the front line of
the South Africans. The attackers endured heavy
losses in debouching from the narrow exits of Fam—
poux under ﬁre, and they were afterwards faced with
700 yards of open ground swept by bullets. In spite
of this, some of the stormers did actually penetrate
the Germanlines, as was proved later by the discovery
of their bodies.
To the north of this section of ﬁerce ﬁghting the
line, which had sagged upon the evening of April 9,~
had been brought level upon April 10 by the readjust-
ment of the Fifty-ﬁrst Division, and by the attack of
the 103rd Brigade of Tyneside Scottish upon the
Maison de la C6te position. From that time the
British front was ﬁrm in this region, and a strong
counter-attack of four German battalions, who could
be seen streaming westwards in lines of motor ’buses,
was broken to pieces upon the night of April 11 by
the steady riﬂe-ﬁre of the 27th N orthumberland
Fusiliers who occupied the front trenches.
Facing this section of the line was the village of
Bailleul which was abandoned by the Germans, and
was taken over by Pereira’s Second Division, who
had relieved the Highland Territorials upon April 13.
Shortly afterwards the Sixty-third Naval Division
took over from the Thirty-fourth. These two divi-
CHAPTER
II.

The
Battle of
Arras.
April 10.


54 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
_ CHAPTER
' II.

The
Battle of
Arras.
April 13.
sions belonged to the Thirteenth Corps (M‘Cracken),
which from now onward occupied a space 'in the
line betweenthe Seventeenth to the south and the
Canadians to the north. The strong villages of Oppy
and of Gavrelle lay now in front of the British in this
quarter, but the German line was destined to remain
unbroken for a considerable period. An attack was
made upon Gavrelle by the 190th Brigade, the lands-
man unit of the Naval Division, but this was only
partially successful. ' Farther to the north the Second
Division had no better fortune against Oppy, which
was attempted more than once. The further advance
against these places will be found recorded further
on, where it will ﬁt into its place among the other
incidents of the renewed general attack upon April 23.
The Canadians in the Vimy Ridge area were
occupied during three days of dreadful weather in
consolidating their new positions, and in pushing the
Germans out of that northern portion which they
still held. The Fourth Canadian Division had suffered
much from machine-gun ﬁre from Hill 145 in the
Souchez district, but this was taken upon April 10.
There was still a good deal of work to be done, how-
ever, at that end of the line, and upon April 12 a
joint attack of Canadians and British cleared the
ground in this quarter. Attacking at dawn in a snow-
- storm, the resolute Canadian infantry drove their
way over the northern limits of Vimy Ridge, capturing A
- among Other positions an outlier of the Vimy Ridge, the
venomous little hill called The Pimple, which had been
a thorn in their side. At the same time the Twenty-
fourth British Division moved forward nearly
opposite to Lens, the river Souchez separating them
from the Canadians. The immediate obstacle which


THE BATTLE OF ARRAS 55
faced the British troops was a scattered wood, the 011mm
Bois-en-Haches, which was most gallantly attacked 11‘
by the 73rd Brigade. The front line in this ﬁne gale“
advance was formed by the 9th Sussex on the left Arras.
> and the 2nd Leinsters upon the right, supported by AP'11 13-
the 13th Middlesex and 7th Northamptons. Both the
Sussex and the Irish battalions, especially the latter,
had heavy losses, but they never faltered until their
objective was won. Upon April 13 there was a general
forward movement along the whole Canadian line, in
the course of which they occupied Willerval in the
south and both Vimy and Givenchy-en-Gohelle in the
north. On the same date the 15th and 95th Brigades
of the British Fifth Division took over from the
Fourth Canadian Division from the Souchez River to
south of Givenchy-en-Gohelle. These two brigades -
actually took over on the. move forward, and did not
stop until they had reached a line Cité—des-Petits-Bois '
to the Vimy—Lens Road just short of LaCoulotte. _
The Twenty-fourth Division in the north joined
in this attack as, to a limited extent, did the
Sixth Division upon its left. It may be explained _
that both of these divisions, together with the
Forty-sixth in support of them, formed Holland’s
First Corps. The Twenty-fourth Division advanced
upon a three-brigade front, the 72nd, 17th, and 73rd
Brigades in that order from the left, sweeping forward
in one line. Complete success attended their efforts.
Angres, Lievin, and Cité St. Pierre were all stormed
and occupied. The 17th Brigade, which had been
strengthened by the inclusion of the 1st Marine
Battalion, did particularly well, for it was faced by
two dangerous strong points called Crook and Crazy,
both of which were carried, the 3rd Riﬂe Brigade


56 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
II.
The
Battle of
Arms.
April 13.
being conspicuous in each operation. Some days
later, the Forty-sixth Division took over from the
Twenty-fourth and the new line was ﬁrmly held, the
area of the Forty-sixth being from the Souchez River
in the south to Fosse 12 de Lens in the north. Farther
to the north the Sixth Division had made some
progress, but had not been able to surmount the old
enemy, Hill 70, the long, clear glacis of which had
cost the British such losses at Loos. The Twenty-
fourth Division had lost 3000 men in these operations,
but their services had been of great value, for the grip
upon Lens was appreciably tighter, and according to
Sir Douglas Haig’s despatch it was the capture of this
position which prevented the Germans from attempt-
ing the retaking of the positions which they had lost.
The British Army was close to the great mining centre,
one of the springs of wealth in France. Ominous
explosions and dense plumes of dark smoke seemed to
Show that it was a spring which would be sealed for
many a day. So precipitate had been the German
retreat in this area that candles were found burning
in the dug-outs, meals were half consumed, and large
stores of engineering materials and grenades were left
behind. ,
Pausing for a moment at this instant, with the line
advanced from three to six miles along the whole
front, 'one may take a glance at the practical results
of this great battle. As a mere military triumph it
was a considerable one, since the total booty in the
immediate battle came by this date to some 14,000
men and 180 guns. Its strategical result was to win
the high ground along the whole of a front which had
been considered impregnable, and so to give both
better observation and drier foothold to the army.


THE BATTLE OF ARRAS
59
in their lives until they entered the war zone. In
some places the tanks broke the wire, but for the
greater part the infantry—West Australians and New
South Welshmen on right, Victorians on left—with
extraordinary gallantry and with considerable loss
worked its way through it, taking the village of
' Riencourt. On the farther side, however, they were
met with repeatedbombing attacks which continued
through the morning and afternoon with such per-
tinacity that the Australian supply of bombs was
exhausted. There were only three tanks, and though
they behaved with the greatest audacity they were
all put out of action. The artillery support being in-
adequate, the infantry had to fall back, and one
considerable party, some 700 in number, were unable
to get through the wire, so that after doing all that
men could do they were compelled to surrender.
Several of these men escaped later with fresh tales of
that German brutality to prisoners which has been
their constant policy, with a few honourable excep-
tions, since the ﬁrst days of the war. When the large
national issues have been settled or forgotten, these
smaller villainies will leave Germans as outcasts
among the civilised nations of the earth, with no living
men save the murderers of Armenia with whom they
can hold equal converse. This temporary repulse
upon the Hindenburg Line by no means disheartened
the'Australians, who argued that if with so little
support they could effect so much, a more deliberate
assault could hardly fail 'of success. Within three
weeks, as will be shown, they were to prove the truth
of their contention.
In the meantime, a considerable German attack
had been prepared which fell upon the Australian line
CHAPTER
II.

The
Battle of
Arras.
April 12.


THE BATTLE OF ARRAS 61
especially in their efforts to get back through the CHAPTER
gaps in their own wire. Both sides took several H'
hundred prisoners in this action, but the German Efﬁe“
losses were heavy, and nothing at all was gained. Arras.
The units which have been mentioned, the Seventh APT“ 15'
Fifty-eighth, and Sixty—second Divisions, with the
Fourth and Fifth Australian Divisions, constituted
for the moment the whole of Gough’s Fifth Army.
To its south, extending from the right of the
Australians at Hermies down to the junction with
the French at St. Quentin, lay Rawlinson’s Fourth
Army, which consisted at this period of the Fifteenth
Corps (Du Cane) upon the left, with the Twentieth,
Eighth, and Forty-eighth Divisions in the line.
To the south of this was the Third Corps with
the Fifty-ninth, Thirty-ﬁfth, and Thirty-second _
Divisions in the line. Their general instructions
were to push the enemy back so as to gain
complete observation of the Hindenburg system.
The Twentieth Division pushed up into Havrin-
court Wood, and gradually by many skirmishes
cleared it of the enemy, an operation which ex—
tended over some time, but was not accompanied
by any hard ﬁghting. '
A sharp little action, already described, was fought
at-the extreme south of the British line upon April
13, in which the Thirty-second Division was engaged.
This unit captured Fayet, which is only one mile
north of St. Quentin. At the same time, the two
divisions upon -the left, the Thirty—ﬁfth and the
Fifty-ninth, advanced and captured the ground
in front of them. After some ﬁghting, these two
divisions occupied the Gricourt—Pontruet line. This
section of the line ceased after April to concern the


62
. THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
II.

The
Battle of
Arras.
April 13.
British commanders, for the St. Quentin end of it
was taken over by the French, while the trenches
north of that were occupied by Canadian and Indian
cavalry, so as to release fresh divisions for the opera-
tions in the north. '
The full objects of the Arras battle, so far as they
could be attained, had been reached after a week of
ﬁghting. Had he only himself to consult, Sir Douglas
would have assumed a strict defensive from that time
onwards and begun at once to transfer his forces fOr
those operations which he had planned in Flanders.
It was essential, however, that he should hold and
use up as many German divisions as possible in order
to help the French offensive which was about to start
in the south. How successful the British General
had been already in this design is shown by his-own
statement that after this week of ﬁghting the Germans
had twice as many divisions opposite to him as they
had at the beginning, and were driven into constant
counter-attacks which cost them heavy losses. The
Whole aftermath of the Battle of Arras, extending
until the end of May, is to be judged from this point
of view, and though we may be inclined to wince at
the heavy losses and the limited results, we have to
bear in mind continually the wider strategic meaning
of the operations. -


CHART or


ORDER OF BATTLE—ARRAS >1 s: >4 >i >4 m a
- E *3 D “I m E 5
April 9, 1 9 1 7 o m a g g < 0
<1 g F“ s ::> e
a: w a w e
M H in
El 2 m m m >1 a
{If E ‘ D D E z 5,
a 8 E if: ‘2 3 5
til 0 <1 III Q A 05
>24 in In a . w as O
6 46 24 4 3 2 1 51 34 9 15 12 3 14 3O 21
A + J x Y a 4 37 56
let G. (Holland) Canadian Corps (Byng) 17th C. (Fergusson) 6th C. (Haldane) ' 7th C. (Snow)
' ARRAS
First Army (Horne) Third Army (Allenby) Gouen’s
. Fifth
Reserve of First Army Reserve of Third Army Army
63 33 I
13th C. 31 18th C. 50
(Congreve) 5 (Maxse) 1 7 II }D1v. Lav,
2 . 2 9 I I I


CHAPTER III
OPERATIONS IN THE ARRAS SECTOR FROM
APRIL 23 ONWARDS
Advance of April 23~Middlesex and Argyll—Grand ﬁghting of the
Fifteenth Division—HAG. at Gavrelle—Operations of May 3—
The Gavrelle Windmill—Loss of Fresnoy—Capture of Roaux—
The long ﬁght at Bullecourt.
CHILI?“ UPON April 16 the great French offensive had broken
' out upon the Aisne, directed against the line of Chalk
gpfﬁzﬁm Downs which the British had learned to know so well
grrfs - in 1914, and aiming at that ancient road, the Chemin
econ des Dames, which some of the First Division had
actually reached in that year. The attack was very
successful in the outset, a haul of prisoners and guns
being secured which brought their Victory to a level
with that at Arras. After a time, however, the
defence became too strong for the attack, and the
French losses became very serious. Whilst they were
gathering their strength for a fresh blow, which was
brilliantly delivered later in the year, it was necessary
for Sir Douglas to keep up his pressure to the north,
and to engage guns and troops which should, according
to hiS' original plan, have been diverted long ago to
the Flemish front. This had the effect of delaying
the operations there, and this in turn brought us
into the premature rainy season which began upon
64


OPERATIONS IN THE ARRAS SECTOR 65
August 1 and lasted with very few breaks for the rest
of the autumn. Thus the circumstances at this date,
unavoidable as they were, had amalign effect upon
the year’s campaign, which was greatly increased by
the wild proceedings of the new Russian rulers, if
the organisers of anarchy can be known by such a
name. These preposterous people, who began their
career of democracy by betraying all the democracies
of the world, and exempliﬁed their morality by re—
CHAPTER
' I11.

Operations
in the
Arras
Sector.
April 23.
pudiating the loans which had been made to Russia -
in her need, reduced the armies to such a state of
impotence that they were useless as allies, so that
the Latin and Anglo-Saxon races had to ﬁght with
the full weight of the military autocracies. This fact
made the situation both upon the Italian and upon
the Western fronts inﬁnitely more serious than it
would otherwise have been, since not only the men,
but the munitions of the Germans, could be concen-
trated upon their undoing.
Upon April 23 there was a renewal of the advance
all along the British line, which took for its objectives,
counting from the south, Bois du Vert, Bois du Sart,
Pelves, Roeux, Gavrelle, Oppy, Acheville, etc.
Upon this date, Snow’s Seventh Corps in the
south had the Thirty-third Division upon its right,
the Thirtieth in the centre, and the Fiftieth upon
the left. It was a day of hard ﬁghting and of very
limited gains, for General Snow experienced all
the disadvantages which the attack has against the
defence, when there is no overwhelming artillery
to blast a road for the infantry. All three divisions
made some progress in the early hours of dawn,
but the whole of the two northern divisions and
the centre of the Thirty-third Division were soon
F


66 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917 ’
CHAPTER
III.

Operations
in the .
Arras
Sector.
April 23.
held up and were ﬁnally driven back to their starting-
point by very heavy machine-gun ﬁre. About 11 A.M.
a heavy German counter-attack, preceded by a terriﬁc
shower of shells, came rolling down the Cojeul Valley,
driving back the Fiftieth Division after their very
ﬁne initial advance. The obstacle in front of the
troops was nothing less than the Hindenburg front
'line, so that they might well ﬁnd it a diﬂicult nut to
crack. The Thirtieth Division fell back in touch
with the Fiftieth, but the Thirty-third managed to
hold on to its gain of ground on the ﬂank which had
brought it into the German front line south of the
Sensée River.
The position at this part of the line had become
serious, and was ever more so as the evening passed
into night, for the forward position of the Thirty-third
Division had exposed its Whole left ﬂank, its advanced
units were cut off, and the Germans, pushing back
the Lancashire men of the Thirtieth Division, had
worked forward to an extent which threatened the
guns. If the advance continued, the Thirty-third
Division must either fall back under most difﬁcult
conditions or be overwhelmed. General Pinney held
his ground, and was comforted in doing so by the
sounds all night of a brisk riﬂe-ﬁre upon his front,
though it was impossible to ascertain what troops
- were in so isolated aposition. With the ﬁrst light
of morning, two battalions of the 19th Brigade,
the 20th Royal Fusiliers and 2nd Welsh Fusiliers,
were pushed forward to clear up the situation. They
came after advancing 1200 yards upon the remains of
two grim, battle-stained companies, one of the 1st
Middlesex and one of the 2nd Argyll and Sutherland
Highlanders, who had' spent some ﬁfteen hours in


OPERATIONS IN THE ARRAS SECTOR 67
the heart of the enemy’s advance, seeing their attacks
sweeping past them, but keeping as steady as two
rocks in a stream. Apart from the other hardships
of their position, they had endured the whole of the
British barrage put down to stop the German advance.
This stout defence not only screened the face of the
Thirty-third Division, but to some extent covered
the ﬂank of the Thirtieth—a striking example of
what may be accomplished by a small body of
determined men who refuse to despair, be the situation
ever so desperate. In their shell-holes were found a
score or so of German prisoners whom they had held
in their clutch. Lieutenant Henderson of the High-
landers received the V.C. over the ﬁne stand made
by his troops, and Lieut. Archibald of the same
battalion, together with Captain Belsham and Lieut.
Rutter of the Middlesex, received decorations for
valour, as did many of their brave followers. It was
a deed which was worthy of the famous 91st and
of the old Die-Hards of Albuera. Altogether upon
this day the Thirty-third Division gained great
distinction, and, as a visible sign of its prowess,
750 prisoners from the German Sixty-ﬁrst Division.
The attack, so far as the Sixth Corps was concerned,
was launched in the early morning of April 23, with
the 44th and 45th well-tried Scottish Brigades upon
CHAPTER.
III.

Operations
in the
Arras
Sector.
April 23.
the right ; on their left were the 88th and 87th Brigades '
of Regulars, and farther north still was the 5lst
Brigade with one battalion of the 50th. The remain-
ing brigades were in reserve, with the Third Division
in support behind them. _
The advance was met by an extremely heavy
machine-gun ﬁre and by a desperately destructive
barrage of heavy artillery. In spite of this, the


68
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
III.

Operations
in the
Arras
Sector.
April 23.
infantry made good progress at several points. The -
Highlanders of the 44th and the Lowlanders of
the 45th Brigades faced the deadly ﬁre with equal
bravery, and had soon established themselves to
the north and partly to the east of Guémappe.
The Twenty-ninth Division had also made a ﬁne
advance, being screened from the ﬂank ﬁre which
told heavily upon their comrades to north and south.
By nine o’clock they had reached the line which had
been marked out as their objective, and though the
Germans came swarming down from Pelves, they
could not budge them from their new positions. On
the British left, however, the advance had failed,
for the guns in Roeux on the north side of the Scarpe
commanded their ﬂank, and the 51st Brigade was
unable to get forward in the north, and only slightly
in the south. The German counter-attacks developed
so strongly in the course of the morning that the
Fifteenth Division had to fall back from their ad-
vanced positions, taking up a line due north of
Guémappe, where it was in very close touch with the
Germans in front and with the 88th Brigade upon
' the left. Both brigades of the Twenty-ninth Division,
thrown out in a large semi-circle, held fast to their
ground all day. At six in the evening the support
brigade of the Fifteenth Division, the 46th Brigade,
advanced and again won the forward-line, including
the village of Guémappe; but the Seventeenth
Division upon the left was unable to get forward.
The 46th Brigade, as night fell, found its isolated
position so precarious that it fell back a little so as to »
get into closer touch with the right of the Twenty-
ninth Division, but still held on to the Village. It
was a long and hard day’s ﬁghting, in which both


OPERATIONS IN THE ARRAS SECTOR 71
Gavrelle, it was doubtful if the gains made up for
the losses upon the day’s balance. _
A second day of hard ﬁghting was destined to
follow that of April 23, though the advance began
later in the day. In the area of the Seventh Corps
some advance was made in the centre and two ﬁeld-
guns were captured. The Sixth Corps also went
forward again. The front attacked was strong, the
ﬁre heavy, and the attacking troops had again and
again been through the furnace, which had only
tempered their courage, but had woefully consumed
their numbers. The Fifteenth Division in the south
got forward some distance and dug themselves in on
the new line. The Twenty-ninth also made'some
gains, but were unable to retain them, and fell back
upon their old line. In the movement some of the
parties to ﬂank and rear were overwhelmed, and 250
men, including 3 ofﬁcers,'were taken. In the north,
the Seventeenth Division held its old line, and did
not join in the advance._ After nightfall the Twelfth
Division came into line again, relieving the weary
Twenty-ninth. Farther north the Seventeenth Corps
and the First Army were driving back counter-
attacks.
The next day (April 25) saw the long struggle still
renewed. In the early morning the 50th and 52nd
Brigades of the Seventeenth Division went forward
and made some progress, as did the indomitable
Fifteenth Division in the south. It was clear, how-
CHAPTER
III.

Operations
in the
Arras
Sector.
April 24.
ever, that the forces available for attack were not _
strong enough to attain any considerable result in
this portion of the line. The Fifteenth, however,
were not to be denied, and with extraordinary tenacity
they made a sudden night attack upon April 26, and


72 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
III.

Operations
in the
Arras
Sector.
April 27.
for a time got possessionof a strong German post,
called Cavalry Farm, which barred the way. The
enemy counter-attacked in the early morning of
April 27 and re-occupied the Farm, but the Scots-
Imen held ﬁrmly to the trenches immediately south
of it. At this date the Seventeenth drew out of the
line and the Third came in again in the centre Of the
Corps front, while the Twelfth moved to the left.
They were just in time to meet a strong German
night attack upon April 27, which broke before the
riﬂe and machine-gun ﬁre of the infantry at the point
of contact between the two divisions. The German
losses were heavy, and they left a few prisoners
behind them. I
April 28 had been ﬁxed for a forward movement
of Fergusson’s Seventeenth Corps on the north of the
Scarpe, so the Twelfth Division on the, south bank
advanced in sympathy with it. This attack gained
possession of part of Bayonet Trench, a formidable
line which crossed the front, but a further attack
was unable to clear the whole of it, on account of the
very severe machine-gun ﬁre down the Scarpe Valley.
It was a day of hard ﬁghting to the north of the
Scarpe, which only affected the line of the Sixth
Corps to the extent that the Thirty-fourth Division
failed to carry the Chemical Works on the north _
bank of the river. It was the possession by the
enemy of this position and of the village of Roeux
to the east of it which was so fatal to all advances
south of the Scarpe, as the guns from these places
enﬁladed the Southern line. But for this the Twelfth
Division might have reached their whole objective.
The Thirty-fourth Division made another attempt
upon Roeux in the middle of the night, but again


OPERATIONS IN THE ARRAS SECTOR 73
without success, and the Second Division farther
north had no better luck in front of Oppy.
Although the progress had been very limited at
the southern end of the line, there were better results
to the north. The Canadians, whose staying power
in this long-drawn ﬁghting was as remarkable as
their ‘valour, had taken Arleux, together with a con-
siderable section of trench upon either Side of it.
This ﬁne assault was opposed by wire, by sunken
roads, and by a desperate hand-to-hand encounter
amid the ruins, all of which failed to hold the
Canadian infantry. On their right the 5th and 6th
Brigades of the Second Division were heavily engaged
in front Of Oppy and Oppy Wood with some success
at ﬁrst, but this was neutralised by a strong German
counter-attack. Some progress had been made also
by the Thirty-seventh Division upon the left, and
by the Thirty-fourth Division to the right of the
Seventeenth Corps to the north of Gavrelle, and on
the slopes of the long incline known as Greenland
Hill between Gavrelle and Roeux. In these two
days of defensive ﬁghting > the German bulletins
claimed a victory, but the fact that they had lost
‘ ground and nearly 1000 prisoners was sufﬁcient to
show how hollow was the pretence. Their losses
were greatly increased by the continual unsuccessful
counter-attacks which they threw against the new
positions in the Oppy line, which had now reached
the edge of the village. Gavrelle village was attacked
no less than seven times, and each time the stormers
were completely repulsed.
One particular deed of valour connected with
these operations demands some fuller exposition.
The front of the German line which had been breached
I
CHAPTER
III.

Operations
in the
Arras
Sector.
April 28.


74 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
HI.

Operations
7 in the
Arras ~
Sector. .
April 23.
between Gavrelle _on the south and the Bailleul-
Gavrelle railway upon the north, was a narrow one,
and the ’Naval Division had penetrated here to a
depth of nearly 1000 yards, thus creating a narrow
salient into the German defences with its apex at a
fortiﬁed windmill. The 4th Bedfords, supported by
‘the 7th Royal Fusiliers, were responsible for this
advance. The attacks at the north had failed. Thus
the troops in the salient had a most difﬁcult taskin-
holding the position in view of the determined counter-
attacks, which. had continued with hardly a check
from April 23, when the salient was formed. The
pressure fell upon the 190th Brigade, and very especi-
ally upon the 7th Royal Fusiliers and the 1st Honour-
able Artillery Company. '
The orders had been given to endeavour to widen
the base of the salientby bombing up the German
trenches to the northward, and this work was com-
mitted to Major Osmond of the H.A.C. The attack
was to be carried on in two parallel lines—the one
up the original front trench and 'the other up the
original support trench. Three young lieutenants——
Pollard, O’Brien, and Haine—led the bombers, and
they came away with a rush which would have
gladdened the hearts of the“ many generations of
soldiers who have served in this ancient corps. The
railway to the north was their limit, and they'had
almost reached it when Haine’s party found itself
held up by a fortreSs containing 200 of the Fusilier
Guards. He sat down before it, repulsed a severe
counter-attack, sent back for trench mortars, and
upon April 28, after a rest during which the 1st Marine
Battalion maintained and enlarged the line, he
attacked it in due form. After a short but vigorous.


vOPERATIONS IN THE ARRAS SECTOR 75
bombardment, he captured it with two- machine-guns onAnmi
and ﬁfty of the garrison. He was ordered to leave a ' HI' '
platoon in the captured post, but they, in turn, were Plierationa
besieged by an attacking force of the German Guards iii:
coming down-trench, and drivin in the extreme Tctgrég
right of the Second Division in the north. The pr '
platoon, or what was left of it, blew up the guns-
and retreated upon the main body of their Company,
_ who were assembled, under Haine, just south of the
railway. There they established a block and re-
- mained fast, while Pollard threw out his bombers on
the left toform a defensive ﬂank. _ _
' Whilst the Royal Marines had held the line they
had endeavoured to push the Germans to the north
and had lost heavily in the venture. They—or the
scanty remains of them—were now relieved by the
4th Bedfords and 7th Royal Fusiliers. Encouraged
by this strengthening of the general line, the inde-
fatigable Haine, whose company now numbered only
thirty-ﬁve men, assembled his miniature siege-train,
beleaguered the fort once more, and captured it for
the second time with its garrison. Pollard with his
men then pushed past, and took the northern objective
which had already cost so dearly. Having seized it,
he called to his aidi'men' of the Bedfords, the 7th
Fusiliers, and of the 22nd Royal Fusiliers of the
Second Division to hold the new line. The battle
swung and swayed for a time as the Germans made
successive' efforts, but the whole Naval Division front
and part of the Second Division front was cleared.
The total trench line taken by Pollard was about a
mile, and 1000 yards of this he cleared with the help
of four bombers, while Haine repelled no fewer than
fourteen attacks. Altogether it was a remarkable


76
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917 '
CHAPTER
III.

Operations
in the
Arras
Sector.
' May 3.
example of what audacity and initiative can do, and
both these young ofﬁcers obtained the V.C. for their
determined valour, while Major Osmond, in local
charge of the operation, won his D.S.O.
May 3 was a day of general battle upon the British
front, the attack being arranged to help the coming
French advance due upon May 5. The main action
raged from Vimy in the north to the Scarpe, while to
the south of the Scarpe the Sixth Corps and Seventh
Corps still continued their indefatigable struggles to
get forward past the Monchy-Guémappe line on to
Pelves and Cherisy. The upshot Of the long day’s
ﬁghting was the capture Of Fresnoy by the Canadians
at one end of the line, and of a part of the new German
line by the Australians at the Other end. The Oppy
position was also enlarged and strengthened, and
progress was made all along the front as far south as
Croisilles. Nearly a thOusand additional prisoners
were taken by the Seventh Corps.
The operations in the southern area upon May-3
VVere carried out by the hard-worked Twenty—ﬁrst
Division upon the right, the Eighteenth in the
centre, and the Fourteenth on the left. Good progress
was made all along the line, which extended inIthe
evening roughly from the St. Rohart Factory through
a point 1000 yards west of Cherisy to the west edges
of Fontaine. All three divisions had hard ﬁghting,
and all three lived up to their high reputations. At
one time, the 53rd Eastern County Brigade of the
Eighteenth Division had actually entered and passed
Cherisy, but the pressure of the counter-attacks
and of the guns was too strong, and they had to
relax their grip. In commenting upon this achieve-
ment, General Snow remarked : “ I have never met


OPERATIONS IN THE ARRAS SECTOR 77
a division which so persistently pushed its way forward
during the intervals between heavy ﬁghting, and the
ground (over 1000 yards) won in this manner stands
to its credit.” The 8th Norfolk and 10th Essex did
particularly well. In the Fourteenth Division the
42nd Brigade was in close touch with the Londoners
on their left, while the 44th were on the right. The
ﬁrst 1500 yards’ advance of this division was easy
going, but here as elsewhere the darkness caused loss
of touch and some confusion, which was not improved
by-the severe ﬁre into which the troops came with the
breaking of the dawn. It is a dismal experience at
any time to trudge through that leaden sleet, but most
dismal surely in that cold ghostly hour of early
morning. The 8th Riﬂe Brigade and 7th K.R.R.
did all that men could do, and held a ﬂank for the
Eighteenth Division when they advanced upon
Cherisy, but when at last the latter was forced back
the Fourteenth Division retired also, and found them-
selves by 10.30 in the morning little advanced from
where they started. >
The exertions and losses of the 42nd Brigade upon
the left of the divisional front were not less than
those upon the right, nor had they anything solid to
show for them. Their advance was led by the
5th Oxford and Bucks upon the right, with the
9th Riﬂe Brigade upon the left. The Oxfords with
great gallantry captured a position called New
Trench, and endeavoured to consolidate it, but after
sustaining a shattering ﬁre from every sort of missile,
and after having lost 300 men, they were charged
by six or seven waves of infantry, each wave being
about 150 strong. Their numbers and the volume
of their ﬁre were not sufﬁcient to stop such an advance,
CHAPTER
III.

Operations
in the
Arras
Sector.
May 3.


78
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
III.

Operations
in the
Arras
Sector.
May 3.
and the remnants fell back after having taken heavy
toll of their assailants.
The advance to the immediate south of the Scarpe
'Was started at an hour before dawn, and was carried
out bythe Fifty-sixth, Third, and Twelfth Divisions
of the Sixth Corps in the order named from south to
north. This attack from the onset met with the same
terriﬁc machine-gun ﬁre which had limited all our
gains and made them so costly upon this front. On
the extreme right the 69th Brigade made a most
dashing advance, passing through Cavalry Farm
in the darkness, and making good their footing in
the German system of trenches to the east of it.
In this quarter the gain of ground was permanent,
but the 167th Brigade upon the left was not so
successful, and was held up by wire and machine-guns,
as was the 8th Brigade upon its left. All the leading
battalions in this quarter sustained crushing losses, ,
especially the 1st London, the 7th Middlesex, and the
2nd Royal Scots. For some reason the British
artillery preparation seems to have been entirely
inadequate. “ As soon as the ﬁrst wave topped the
ridge between our front line and the German trench,
it was obvious that the latter had never been ade-
quately dealt with, and had apparently escaped the
barrage, as it was full of infantry standing shoulder
to shoulder, and waiting for our men'to come on. In
consequence, while isolated groups got forward, the
great bulk of our men were attacked by a withering
ﬁre, and pinned down into shell holes from which they
were unable to emerge until after darkness.”
The hostile shelling in all this St. Rohart area was
almost incessant during the day, and of so heavy a
volume that it was such as had hardly ever been


OPERATIONS IN THE ARRAS SECTOR 79
witnessed by any one present. "-If we had another
day of it I verily believe we should have been reduced
to idiocy.” So wrote a brave veteran who endured
it. It was therefore clear that the .British counter-
battery work- had been at fault. Add to this that the
start before dawn had the same effect as in other parts
of the line, causing clubbing of units with loss of
direction, and it must be admitted that the experience
of the soldiers upon May 3 was not a happy one.
Deverell’s Third Division upon the left of the Fifty-
CHAPTER
I II .

Operations ‘
in the
Arras
Sector.
May 3.
sixth found much the same conditions and could make ,
little progress. On the extreme left, however, the
36th ,Brigade of the Twelfth Division, the same
‘ unit Which had done so well at Ovillers, made a ﬁne
advance, gaining the position known as Scabbard
Trench. They lost it temporarily to a counter-
attack, but it was again taken and permanently held
by the 7th Sussex. The fact that the corresponding
point on the north bank of the Scarpe had not yet
been taken by the ﬂank unit of the Seventeenth Corps
made it impossible to get farther forward in this
quarter. The difﬁculty of the Twelfth Division,
which had made the farthest advance in the morning,
was that they had gone forward in the darkness, and
had lost direction and touch with each other, while
leaving behind them scattered Parties of German
infantry. The result was that when the Germans
began their counter-attacks the front British lines ~
were practically surrounded, and several small parties
of the 37th Brigade were cut off. One little post of
the 6th Buﬁs was entirely isolated a thousand yards
ahead of the British line, but held off the enemy all
day, and 15 men, the survivors out of 40, made
their way back in the evening, scrambling through


80
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
III.

Operations
in the
Arras
Sector.
May 3.
' the south of the Scarpe.
German trenches and shooting down all opposition.
By that time the whole right of the Twelfth Division
had been forced back to its original line, but the left
still held ﬁrm in Scabbard Trench. The division had
2000 casualties in this day’s ﬁghting.
The 169th Brigade had in the meanwhile main-
tained a difﬁcult position with very great gallantry.
This position had been always isolated upon the left,
but it was covered upon the right by the successful
advance of the Fourteenth Light Division to the south
of the Cojeul River. About mid—day, however, a
strong German advance forced the Fourteenth Divi-
sion back to their original line, with the result that the
right ﬂank of the 169th Brigade became exposed. It
was only when there seemed an imminent possibility
of being cut off that this gallant brigade, which con-
tained the 2nd London, Victorias, Westminsters, and
London Riﬂe Brigade, was compelled to drop back to
their original line. It was a barren and bloody day
in this section of the line, save for the limited gain 'upon
Two machine-guns and 100
prisoners were the meagre'trophies of a long day’s
ﬁghting. Yet in estimating results, one must never
lose sight of that necessity for constant action which
is the only method by which the side which has the
stronger reserves can assert its eventual superiority
in a war of attrition. .
To the north, the Fourth Division gained ground
east of the Chemical Works and penetrated into
Roeux, but were driven out once more, the 10th and
- 11th Brigades, especially the 1st Somersets and 2nd
Seaforths, having very heavy losses. The Ninth
Division got well forward upon their left, some of
them over-shooting their objective—Uit Trench—and


OPERATIONS IN THE ARRAS SECTOR 81
being cut off. Very heavy counter-attacks in the CHAMEB
afternoon broke upon this and upon the other sections 111'
of the Third Army. In the evening, both the Fourth glpfﬁjﬁm
and Ninth Divisions with gallant pertinacity tried to Arms
get forward again in the hope that their advanced 32:0;
posts might still be rescued, but they had no success. '
A hundred prisoners were taken, but at least as many
were lost, including Highlanders, West Ridings, and
Lancashire Fusiliers, victims of their own push and
valour. .
To the north of the Ninth Division, two divisions
of the Thirteenth Corps, the Thirty-ﬁrst to the south
and the Fifth to the north, had beaten furiously
against the German line upon the Oppy—Gavrelle
sector. The eﬁorts of these divisions were greatly
handicapped, as in the case of others, by the very
early hour at which the action had begun, and by
moonlight in the earlier hours, which exposed the
assembly of the troops. Starting in pitch darkness
the brigades lost touch and direction, so that they
were unable to reach their objectives with the speed
and precision which is so necessary if barrages and
machine-guns are to be avoided. The 92nd East
I Yorkshire Brigade of the Thirty-ﬁrst Division ad-
vanced upon Oppy Wood, and found itself among
trees in the darkness with criss-cross lacings of
barbed wire from the branches in every direction,
and a heavy ﬁre beating. on their ranks. The
obstacles would have been difﬁcult in day-time, but
were impossible at night. The battalions got com-
pletely mixed up, and ﬁnally a strong German attack
drove them back to their trenches, in spite of a most
strenuous resistance, notable for many deeds of valour,
for one of which, the single—handed attack upon a
G


OPERATIONS IN THE ARRAs sEcTOR 83
of this veteran unit, whose worth had now been proved
upon so many battleﬁelds. The ﬁghting was the
more severe as the village was full of German troops
mustered for an attack. Fresnoy was, however, most
difﬁcult to hold, as the enemy had retained trench
systems both to the north and to the south of it.
Shortly after its capture the First Canadians were
drawn out of the line for a rest, and the Thirteenth
Corps extended to the left, so as to take over its front
and to connect with the Second Canadians.
In the early dawn of May 8 the garrison of the
village was driven out by a powerful attack from
three German divisions. This attack fell at the point
of contact between the left of the British and the right
of the Canadians, and was so severe that both were
pushed back. The 95th Brigade of the Fifth Division,
which had'moved down from the Lens area, was the
particular one which bore the brunt upon the British
line, and the two front battalions, the 1st East Surreys
and 12th Gloucesters, lost heavily under the terrible
concentrated shellﬁre which a survivor who had tested
both described as being “ as bad as Longueval.” For
some reason the artillery support 'was deﬁcient, and
the SOS. signals were unanswered. The infantry
were driven out by the German rush, and a
gallant counter - attack led by a Major of the
Gloucesters, with some of their men and some of
the 1st Cornwalls, failed to recover the position.
The Canadians made no less desperate eﬁorts, but it
was impossible to stand against the concentrated
bombardment. “ You could not see for mud in the
air,” says an observer. Fresnoy became once more a
part of the German line. The price paid, however,
was a, veryheavy one, for it was only the second
CHAPTER
III.

Operations
in the
Arras
Sector.
May 8.


84 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
III.

Operations
in the
Arras
Sector.
May 8.
attacking division, who were the famous 5thBavarians,
which effected a lodgment after the leading division
had been broken and driven back with very heavy
losses by the rapid ﬁre of the defenders. Upon the
British side a large proportion of the small garrison
was killed or wounded, while 300 were taken. The
lst Devons came up in the evening and the line was
reconstructed about 600 yards to the rear of the Old
one. It was determined, however, to push it forward
at once, and in the early morning of May 9 the Fourth
Canadians upon the left, the Devons in the centre,
and the 15th Brigade upon the right, pushed on once
more, and established the line close to the Village,
which still remained in the hands of the enemy.
Up to this point the new British offensive which
had started upon April 9, and had now come practi-
cally to an end, had yielded the splendid results of
400 ofﬁcers and 19,100 men prisoners, 98 heavy guns,
and 159 ﬁeld-pieces captured, together with 227
trench mortars, 464 machine-guns, and other material.
The battle of May 3, which had ended by some
gain of ground, and by the capture of nearly 1000
prisoners (as against some 300 which were lost upon
that day), was the last general action along the new
line, though it was followed by numerous local
engagements. -
On May 10, in the dusk of the evening, the lull
upon the Scarpe was, broken by a most successful
attack by the Fourth Division upon Roeux Station,
the. Cemetery, the Chemical Works, and ﬁnally the
village itself, every one of these points being taken
by storm. The value of this success may be judged
by the fact that this was the ninth assault upon the
position, a fact which gives an index both of the


OPERATIONS IN THE ARRAS SECTOR 85
pertinacity of British infantry and of the steadfast CHAPTER
courage of the successive German garrisons. The
10th Brigade. led by that man of many wounds and glpteﬁztiws
honours, de Wiart, took the village itself, the Dublin Arras
Fusiliers and the newly formed battalion, made from :cmi'o
dismounted Household Cavalry, doing good service. ay '
Berners’ 11th Brigade had advanced upon the left
and captured all their objectives, the 1st Hants
taking the Chateau, whilst the 1st East Lancashires
and the 1st Riﬂe Brigade got the Chemical Works,
‘the scene of so many combats. The place was
defended by the 362nd Brandenburgers, who were
nearly all killed or taken, the prisoners being over
500 in number. The Fourth Division handed over
Roeux to the 51st Highland Territorials, who success-
fully held it during a very desperate counter-attack
upon the night of May 13. The incessant and costly
counter-attacks of the Germans in all these regions
proved how vital they considered these lost positions.
On May 11 there was another sharp little action
which improved the British position. Upon that
date the 168th Brigade of the Fifty-sixth Division
made a sudden attack at nightfall upon Tool Trench,
an awkward position which ran along a small spur
and had been a cause of loss in the previous attack.
It was captured with a rush, together with a handful
of prisoners and six machine-guns. This position
was consolidated and permanently held. , On the
same night the .169th Brigade on the right advanced
its line between Cavalry Farm and the Cojeul River.
Next day an attempt was made to carry forward this
success along the northern portion of the corps line,
but was met with So heavy a barrage that it was not
possible to carry it out.


86 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
III.

Operations
in the
Arras
Sector.
May 16.
The strain upon the divisions during this con-
tinuous ﬁghting had been so great that it was found
necessary to give them all the rest and relief possible.
With this object in view, the Sixth Corps front was
held now by only two divisions, the Fifty-sixth upon
the right and the Twenty-ninth on the left. In order
to cover the whole line, the Corps mounted troops
were advanced and were placed in the trenches upon
the south of the Scarpe, which were less vulnerable
since the capture of Roeux by the Fourth Division.
In the dim light of the very early morning of
May 16, after a heavy shell-fall, a new division of the
enemy was thrust forward just north of the Scarpe.
In a long day’s ﬁghting it was practically destroyed,
for though in its ﬁrst ardent advance it ﬂowed over
the shot-shattered advance posts, it was ﬁnally held,
and then after a long tussle was shot out of its new
positions by the riﬂes and Lewis guns, until before
evening it was back whence it started. In this brisk
action thousands of the assailants were killed or
wounded with nothing to show for it save the sub- -
stantial losses which they inﬂicted. This very severe
attack fell mainly upon the Fifty-ﬁrst Division, who
showed once more that British formations, even if
penetrated, are very far from being defeated.
On May 18 there was a spirited local operation
by the 8th Middlesex oi the 167th Brigade, in which
they made a very gallant bombing attack upon that
portion of Tool Trench which was not yet in British
hands. The opposition, however, was so strong that
no permanent good could be effected. On the next _
' day there was a further attempt to get forward, both
by the 167th and by its neighbour, the 87th Brigade. I
The ﬁre was too deadly, however, and the advance


' OPERATIONS IN THE ARRAS SECTOR 87
was not successful. This failure seems to have been.
due to a knowledge on the part of the enemy as to
the coming assault, for the machine-gun'ﬁre and the
barrage opened in full force at the 'very moment
when the leading line of infantry sprang over the
lips of their assembly .trenches.
May 20 marked a successful advance of the Thirty-
third Division on the right of the Seventh Corps,
against the Hindenburg Line in. the Sensée Valley
and southwards towards Bullecourt. On this occasion
there was no preliminary bombardment and no
creeping barrage. A mist helped the 98th Brigade
to deploy unobserved under the bulge of the chalk
hills that rise to the south of the Sensée Valley.
When this mist rose the Germans had a ﬁne, though
transitory, view of British tactics, for the battalions
were advancing as upon an Aldershot ﬁeld day.
The 100th Brigade worked down the Hindenburg
Line north of the river, crossed it, and joined
hands with their comrades on-the south. It was a
complete. surprise, and counter-attack was checked
by the volume of the British gun—ﬁre‘which tore up
the whole rear of the German defences. The result
was the capture of more than a mile of the front line
on either side of the Sensée River, with half a mile
of the support line, and 170 prisoners, with many
machine-guns. The losses in this well-managed affair
were well under a thousand. '
CHAPTER
III.

Operations
in the
Arras
Sector.
May 20.
For ten days after this the southern front ~-
was quiet, and the only change consisted in the
withdrawal of the Fifty—sixth and the substitu-'
tion of the Thirty-seventh Division. On -May 30
a minor operation was carried out upon a small
section of German trench by the 88th Brigade,


88 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
III.

Operations
in the
Arras
Sector.
May 30.
assisted by the 8th East Lancashires from the 112th
Brigade. This attack had some partial success, but
was eventually driven out Of the captured position
by a strong counter-attack, with the result that a
small body of the 3rd Middlesex Regiment, some
thirty in number, were isolated and taken or slain.
Greater success, however, attended the next operation,
which was an attack upon June 14 upon Infantry
Hill, which included Hook Trench and Long Trench.
This very successful advance was carried out by the
1st Gordons and 2nd Suﬂolks, the two regular bat-
talions of the 76th Brigade. The Whole position was
stormed by a surprise attack and 180 prisoners were
taken. A counter-attack was broken up by the
British artillery. The losses of the storming battalions
were well under 400 men. Two days later the
Germans again made a strong effort to thrust back
the British advance, but again they failed with
considerable loss, save at the more advanced posts
which they occupied. A British attempt next morn-
ing to regain these lost posts was not successful.
Upon June 18, the anniversary of the great day
when Germany and Britain fought together for
freedom, there was a fresh attack to retake Hook
and Long Trench. It surged up to and into the
trenches, but could not disperse the sturdy men of
Suffolk, who held them. The German wave lost its
momentum and broke up into pools, which soon
were swept back with the ebbing tide. Nearly 200
prisoners were taken in this spirited affair.
The Seventeenth Corps had a brisk day upon
June 5, which extended into three days of ﬁghting.
On this date the Ninth Division upon the right and
the Thirty-fourth upon the left moved forward


OPERATIONS IN THE ARRAS SECTOR 89
suddenly in the evening, covering the space between
Roeux and Gavrelle. The attack was directed against
a dangerous network of trenches called Curly, Charlie,
and Cuthbert, which guarded the rising slope known
as Greenland Hill. The brunt of the ﬁghting was
borne by the 27th or Lowland Brigade in the south,
and by the 102nd Tyneside Brigade in the north. In
the latter brigade the 20th and 21st Northumberland
Fusiliers carried the trenches opposite to them, while
the Scottish infantry kept pace with them upon the
right. After hard ﬁghting the whole front German
position fell into the hands of the stormers, who had
to defend it against a long series of desultory counter-
attacks, which lasted until June 7, when the enemy
ﬁnally gave up the attempt to regain the ground
which he had lost. Six oﬂicers and 217 men were
captured, and the German losses in killed were very
heavy, each front battalion reckoning that there were
between three and four hundred enemy dead scattered
in front of it. It was a spirited local action attended
by complete success.
It is necessary now to go back in point of time
and pickup the narrative at the northern end of the
line.
On Thursday, May 24, the operations at Lens,
in abeyance since April 23, broke out once more,
when the Forty-sixth Division, which had extended
its left so as to occupy much of the ground
formerly held by the Sixth Division, made an attempt
CHAPTER
III.

Operations
in the
Arras
Sector.
June 5.
upon Nash Alley and other trenches in front of ,
it. The attack was made by the 137th Stafford
Brigade, and was launched at seven in the evening.
The objectives with twenty-eight prisoners were
easily secured. It was found impossible, however,


90
V THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
III.

Operations
in' the
Arras
Sector.
May 24.
to hold the captured ground, as every German gun
within range was turned upon it, and a furious
succession of assaults wore down the defenders.
Captain McGowan beat off ﬁve of these onslaughts
before he was himself blown to pieces by a bomb.
Every ofﬁcer being down, Major MacNamara came
forward from Headquarters to take command, and
in the morning withdrew the detachment, an operation
which was performed with great steadiness, the men
facing back and ﬁring as they retired. Major
MacNamara was himself killed in conducting the
movement. - There were inces'sant skirmishes, but no
other outstanding action for some time in the north
of the line, so we must again return to the extreme
south and follow the fortunes of the Australians and
their British comrades upon the Bullecourt sector.
The operations of the Australians and of the
British divisions were renewed upon May 3 in front
of Bullecourt and Lagnicourt, the scene of the brave
but unsuccessful attack of April 11, when the
Australian infantry with little support penetrated
the Hindenburg Line. On this second occasion
the British gun-power was very much heavier and_
cleared a path for the attack, 'while laying down‘an
excellent barrage. The original advance was in the
ﬁrst glimmer of daylight, and by 6.30 it had penetrated
well into the Hindenburg Line, the wire having been
blown to pieces. The advance made its way by
successive rushes to the right of Bullecourt village,
where it clung for the rest of the day, the infantry
engaged being almost entirely men from Victoria.
Laterally by their bombing ' parties they extended
their hold upon the two front lines of German trenches
to the right, in which quarter the attack had originally


OPERATIONS IN THE ARRAS SECTOR 91
been held up. In the meantime the 62nd Yorkshire
Territorial Division had fought their way up to the
village and were engaged in desperate hand-to-hand
ﬁghting among the shattered brick houses. An
English aviator, ﬂying at a height of only 100 feet
or so, passed up and down the Australian battle-line
helping with his machine-gun, and ﬁnally dropping
a message, “ Bravo, Australia!” a' few moments
before a bullet through the petrol tank brought him
at last to earth. The greeting of this brave lads might
well have been the voice of the Empire, for the
Australian infantry wrought wonders that day. The
British division having been held at Bullecourt, the
result was that the Australians projected as a salient
into the Hindenburg Line, and that they were attacked
on both ﬂanks as well as in front, but they still held
on not only for May 3, but for two days that followed,
never losing their grip of the trenches which they
had won. On the right the Germans made counter-
attacks which have been described by the admirable
Australian Ofﬁcial Chronicler as being done in “School
of Seals ” formation, where a hundred grey-backs all
dived together from one shell crater to another.
None of these attacks got up, owing to the rapid and
accurate riﬂe ﬁre which met them. The German
bombing attacks down the trenches were met by
showers of trench-mortar bombs, which broke them
I up. The Germans had trench-mortars also, however,
and by their aid they made some of the right-hand
positions untenable, but West Australian bombers
restored the ﬁght, and the New South Welshmen
added further to the gains. In vain a battalion of
Prussian Guards and a column of picked storm-
troops beat up against that solid defence. The
CHAPTER
III.

Operations
in the
Arras
Sector.
May 3.


92 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
III.

Operations
in the
Arras
" Sector.
May 3.
position once taken was always held. The Seventh
Division 'had relieved the Sixty-second, and had
tightened its grip upon the outskirts of Bullecourt,
and from this time onwards its daily task was on the
one hand to push farther into the ruins and to
eradicate more of the scattered German posts, and
on the other to move out upon the right and get close
touch with the Australians so as to cover one Side
of their dangerous salient. Each object was effected
in the midst Of ﬁghting which was local and inter-
mittent, but none the less very desperate and ex—
hausting. During a week continual counter-attacks
moVing up from Riencourt broke themselves upon
either the British or Australian lines. The 9th and
10th Devon battalions of the 20th Brigade, and their
comrades of the 2nd Borders and 2nd Black Watch,
were especially hard pressed in these encounters.
With inexorable pressure they enlarged their lines,
however, and by May 17 the British Fifty-eighth
Division of London Territorials (Cater), which had
taken over the work, could.claim to have the whole
of Bullecourt in their keeping, while their brave
Oversea comrades had fairly settled into the gap
which they had made in the Hindenburg front line.
Though the operations were upon a small scale as com-
pared with great battles like Arras, no ﬁner exploit
was performed upon the Western front during the
year than this successful advance, in which the three
British divisions and the Australians shattered no
less than ﬁfteen attacks delivered by some of the best
troops of Germany. Sir Douglas Haig, who is not
prodigal of praise, says in his ﬁnal despatch : “ The
defence of this 1000 yards of double trench line,
exposed to attack on every side, through two weeks
0


OPERATIONS IN THE ARRAS SECTOR 93
of constant ﬁghting, deserves to be remembered as a CHAPTER
most gallant feat of arms.” The losses were naturally
heavy, those of the three British divisions—the gleljzﬁm
Seventh, Fifty-eighth, and Sixty-second—being ap- Arm
proximately the same. They had been opposed by
Guards Regiments and Brandenburg Grenadiers, the
very cream of the Prussian Army, and had rooted
them out of their carefully prepared position.


CHAPTER IV
THE BATTLE OF MESSINES
June 7, 1917
’ Plumer’s long vigil—The great mines-—Advance of Australians—Of '
A
CHAPTER
IV.

The
Battle of
Messines.
June 7.
New Zealanders—Of the Twenty-ﬁfth Division—Of the Irish
Divisions—-—Death of Major Redmond—Advance of Nineteenth
Division—Of the Forty-ﬁrst Division—Of the Forty-seventh
Division—Of the Twenty-fourth Division—General results.
THE operations upon the Somme in the autumn of
1916 had given the British command of the high
ground in the Somme district. The next move was
to obtain a similar command in the continuation of '
the same high ground to the north. This was accom-
plished from Arras to Lens in the great battle which
began upon April 9, 1917. After the complete con-
quest of this Vimy position, the next step was obviously
to attack the prolongation of the same ridge in the _
Ypres direction. This was carried outwith great
success upon June 7 in the Battle of Messines, when
nine miles of commanding country were carried and
permanently held, from the neighbourhood of Ploeg-
strate in the south to Hill 60 and Mount Sorel in the
north. Thus many spots which will for ever be
associated with the glorious dead—Hill 60 itself, With
its memories of the old 13th and 15th Brigades;
Wytschaete, where the dismounted troopers fought
94


THE BATTLE OF MESSINES 95
so desperately in the fall of 1914; Messines, sacred
also to the memory of the cavalry and of the British
and Indian infantry who tried hard to hold it; ﬁnally
the long, gently sloping ridge which was reddened
by the blood of the gallant London Scots when- they
bore up all night amid ﬁre and ﬂame against the
ever-increasing pressure of the Bavarian's—all these
historic places came back once more into British
keeping. It is this action, so splendid both in its
execution and in its results, which we have now to
examine, an action which was a quick sequel to the
order of the German command that “ the enemy must
not get Messines Ridge at any price.”
For two thankless years Sir Herbert Plumer, the
ofﬁcer who in his younger days had held on in such
CHAPTER
IV.

The
Battle of
Messines.
bulldog fashion to the country north of Mafeking,
had been the warden of the Ypres salient. His task
had been a peculiarly difﬁcult and responsible one——
indeed, many a military critic might have said a primal
that it was an impossible one. The general outline
’of the British trenches formed a loop rather than a
. salient, and there was no point in it which could not ‘
be shot into from behind. Add to this that all the
rising ground, and therefore all the observation, lay
with the enemy, and that the defending troops were
very often skeleton divisions which had come up
exhausted from the south. Taking all these circum-
stances together, one can understand the facts which
turned General Plumer’s hair white during these two
years, but never for an instant weakened the deter-
mination of his defence. There was no one in-the
Army who did not rejoice, therefore, when it was
learned that the Second Army had been chosen for
the next attack, and that the long-suﬁering Plumer


96 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
IV.

The
Battle of
Messines.
n
was at last to have a chance of showing that he could
storm a line as well as hold one.
Preparatory to the attack, some twenty great
mines had been driven into the long, low hill, which
is really little more than a slope, attaining a height
of 250 feet at the summit. These mines contained
600 tons of explosives, and had been the work of con-
stant relays of miners during many months. These
tunnelling companies of miners, drawn from all sorts
of material and ofﬁcered by mining engineers and
' foremen, did some splendid work in the war, and the
British ﬁnally outfought the Germans under the
earth as completely as they did both on it and above
it. The accumulation of guns was even greater than
at Arras, and they were packed into about half the
length of front, so that the effect of the massed ﬁre
when it broke out in the morning of June 7 was crush-
ing to an extent never before known in warfare. What
with the explosions of the mines and the downpour
of shells, the German front line, with its garrison,
may be Said to have utterly disappeared, so that
when at 3.20 in the ﬁrst faint ﬂush of a summer
morning the infantry dashed forward to the attack,
the path of victory had already been laid out before
them. Let us examine the general composition of
the British line before we follow the fortunes of the
various units.
General Plumer’s Army had been moved down the
line so as to cover all its objectives, and Gough’s
Fifth Army from the south had been put in to the
north of it, occupying the actual salient. This Army
was not in the ﬁrst instance engaged. The Second
Army consisted of three Corps. The northern of
these was Morland’s Tenth Corps, which was in the
I


THE BATTLE OF MESSINES 97
region of St. Eloi. This Corps consisted, counting (human
from the north, of the Twenty-third, Forty-seventh Iv'
and Forty-ﬁrst Divisions with the Twenty-fourth in gale of
reserve. Upon its - right, facing Wytschaete, was Messines.
Hamilton Gordon’s Ninth Corps, containing from the
north the Nineteenth, Sixteenth, and Thirty-sixth
Divisions, with the Eleventh in reserve. Still farther
to the right was the Second Anzac Corps (Godley)
facing Messines with the Twenty-ﬁfth British Division,
the New Zealanders, and the Third Australians in
line from the north, and the Fourth Australians in
reserve. This was the British battle-line upon the
) eventful dawn of June 7, 1917. '
To take the work of individual units, we shall begin
with the Third Australian Division (Monash) upon the
extreme right. The men, like their comrades all along
the line, had endured very heavy shelling in their
assembly trenches, and sprang eagerly forward when
the word to advance was given. The First and
Second Australian Divisions had given so splendid an
account of themselves already in the Hindenburg
Line, that it was no surprise to ﬁnd that their mates
were as battleworthy as any troops in the Army.
The whole country in front of them was drenched with
gas, which hung heavy with the mists of morning, but
the weird lines of masked men Went swiftly onwards
in open order through the poison region, dashed over
the remains of the German trenches, crossing the
small. river Douve upon the way, and then pushing A
on from one shot-shattered building to another,
keeping well up to the roaring cloud of the barrage,
occupied without a hitch the whole of their allotted
position. With a single pause, while Messines was
being occupied upon their left, the leading line of
H


98 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917 I
Cnu'mn
IV.

The
Battle of
Messines.
Victorians and Tasmanians drove straight on for
their ultimate goal, sending back a stream of captured
prisoners behind them. Only at one trench was there
a sharp hand-to-hand ﬁght, but in general so splendid
was the artillery and so prompt the infantry that the
enemy had never a chance to rally. It was a perfect
advance and absolutely successful. Some indica-
tions of counter-attacks came up from the Warneton
direction during the afternoon and evening, but they
were beaten out so quickly by the shrapnel that they
never came to a head. Half-a-dozen ﬁeld-guns, as
well as several hundred prisoners, fell to the lot of the
Australians.
Upon the immediate left of the Australians was
the New Zealand Division (Russell), which had done
so splendidly at the Somme. Their Riﬂe Brigade had
been given the place of honour exactly opposite to
Messines, and by eight o’clock they had occupied the
village and were digging in upon the farther side.
Thirty-eight machine-guns and a number of prisoners
were the trophies of their advance. There was no
' severe ﬁghting, so well had the mines and the guns
together done their work; but the men who stormed
the village found numerous cellars and dug-outs still
occupied, into which they swiftly penetrated with
bayonet or bomb. In one of these regimental head-
quarters was found a message from General von
Laﬁert ordering the 17th Bavarian Regiment to ho1d
the village at all costs. It is certainly extraordinary
how these unfortunate and gallant Bavarians were
thrust into every hot corner, and if the reason lies in
the fact that their Prince Rupprecht had the honour
of commanding the German Army of Flanders, then
it is an honour which Will leave its grievoustrace upon-


THE BATTLE OF MESSINES
99
his country for a century to come. It is an extra-
ordinary historical fact that the Bavarians, who were
themselves overrun and crushed by the conquering
Prussians in 1866, should have paid without demur
the enormous blood tribute to their conquerors in a
cause in which they had no direct interest, since no
annexation of Briey metals or Belgian lands would
bring prosperity to Bavaria.
The losses of the New Zealanders in their ﬁne
advance were not heavy, but they had a number of
casualties that evening and next morning in their
newly consolidated position, which included unfortun-
ately Brigadier-General Brown, one of the ﬁnest
ofﬁcers in the force, who was killed by a burst of
shrapnel.
' Upon the immediate left of the New Zealanders
was the Twenty-ﬁfth (Bainbridge), a sound, hard-
working British Division, which had a ﬁne and a very
long record of service upon the Somme. The task
allotted to this division was a formidable one, con—
sisting of an attack upon a 1200-yard front, which
should penetrate 3000 yards and cross nine lines of
German trenches, the concealed Steenebeek Valley,
and crush the resistance of a number of fortiﬁed farms.
In spite of these numerous obstacles, the advance,
which was well-covered by General Kincaid-Smith’s
guns, was splendidly successful. The 74th Brigade
was on the right, the 7th upon the left, with the
75th in reserve. Observers have recorded how at
the very instant that the men surged forward
under their canopy of shells, six miles of S.O.S.
rockets rose in one long cry for help from the
German line. From the right the British wave of
stormers consisted of_the 2nd Irish Riﬂes, the 13th-
CHAPTER
IV.

The
Battle of
Messines.


100 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
IV.

The
Battle of
Messines.
Cheshire, the 3rd Worcesters, and the 8th North Lanca-
shires, Veterans of Ovillers and the Leipzig Redoubt.
Keeping close behind a barrage Of- sixty guns, they
ﬂooded over the enemy trenches, just missing the
answering barrage which came pattering down behind
them. These troops advanced without a check to
the line of the Steenebeek, where the work was taken
up by the second wave, consisting of the 9th Lancs.,
11th Lancashire Fusiliers, 10th Cheshires, and 1st
Wilts, the order being taken from the right. For a
time there was a dangerous gap between the Wiltshires
and the ﬂank of the Ulstermen to the left, but this
was’bridged over, and the advance rolled on, with a
constant capture of prisoners and machine-guns.
Only at one point, named Middle Farm, was there a
' notable resistance, but the Lancashire Fusiliers-and
Irish Riﬂes combined to crush it. All this attack had
been carried out in a dim light, half mist and half
dust-laden from explosions, where obstacles were
hardly seen until they were reached, and where it took
. ﬁne leading and discipline to preserve direction, so
that numbers of men lost touch with their own bat—
talions and went forward as best they might. These
are the times when shirkers have their chance and
whenthe true individual quality of troops is most
highly tested. Out of touch with ofﬁcers on either
side, the British advanced and. the Germans sur-
rendered. ' A
On the capture of all the ﬁrst objectives the 8th
South Lancashires and 11th Cheshires of the 75th
Brigade passed through the victorious ranks of their
fellow brigades and pushed on against the strong
October system of trenches beyond. The 8th Borders
followed closely behind, consolidating the ground won


THE BATTLE OF MESSINES 101
by the forward line. It was still only four in the CHAPTER
morning. As the 75th Brigade swept forward, it _
found the 1st New Zealand Brigade upon its right, £22,160,
and the 107th Ulster Brigade upon its left, all moving Messines-
swiftly in one great line. By eight o’cloek' all
immediate opposition had been beaten down, and the
full objectives were being consolidated by the 106th
Field Company Royal Engineers, ﬁve ﬁeld-guns having
been added to the other trophies. These might have
been got away by the enemy had not the machine-
guns knocked out the gun teams. The 110th and
112th Brigades of British artillery had been pushed up
after the infantry, and though some delay was caused '
by the unfortunate destruction of Major Campbell .
and his whole battery staff by a single shell, the
batteries were in action within the German lines by
11 A.M. -
About midday a counter-attack began to develop
along the front of the Second Anzac Corps, involving
bothv British, New Zealanders, and Australians, but
the blow already received had been too severe, and
there was no resilience left in the enemy. The
attempt died away under a withering ﬁre from riﬂes
and machine-guns. By 2 RM. all was quiet once
more.
The British effort was not yet at an end, however.
The long summer day was still before them, and there
was a good reserve division in hand. This was the
Fourth Australian Division (Holmes), two brigades of
which passed through the ranks of the Twenty-ﬁfth
' and New Zealand Divisions, about 3.15 P.M. Their
objective was a further system of trenches 500 yards to
the east and well down the other slope of the Messines
Hill; The advance of each brigade was admirable, V


THE BATTLE OF MESSINES
103
the Wytschaete slope, closely followed by their
second line, which was formed by the 1st Munster
Fusiliers, 6th Connaught Rangers, 2nd Royal Irish
and 8th Inniskillings. In this order, in close touch
with the Ulstermen upon their right and the English
Nineteenth Division upon their left, they swept up
the hill, their Celtic yell sounding high above the
deep thunder of the guns. The explosion of the huge
mines had a disconcerting effect at the ﬁrst instant,
for great masses of débm's came showering down upon
the men in the advanced positions, so that the dense
smoke and the rain of falling earth and stones caused
confusion and loss of direction. The effect was only
momentary, however, and the eager soldiers dashed
on. They swarmed over Wytschaete village and wood,
beating down all resistance, which had already been
badly shaken by the accurate ﬁre of General Charlton’s
guns. It was in the assault of the village that that
great Irishman, Major Willie Redmond, fell at the
head of his men. “ He went in advance when there
was a check. He was shot down at once. As he fell,
he turned towards his men and tried to say something.
No words came, but he made an eloquent gesture
with his right arm towards the German line, and the
Irish swept forward.” The profound gratitude of
every patriot is due to him, to Professor Kettle, to
Mr. Stephen Gwynn, M.P., and to all those Nationalists
CHAPTER
IV.

The
Battle of
Messines.
who had sufﬁcient insight to understand that Ireland’s '
true cause was the cause of the Empire, and that it
was the duty of every Irishman of all shades of
opinion to uphold it in arms. 0 st sic amnes! An
Irishman could then hold his head higher to-day !
By 3.45 A.M. the ﬁrst objective had been taken,
and by ﬁve the second, save in front of the Leinsters,


104
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
IV.

The
Battle of
M essines.
where there was a stout resistance at a German
machine-gun post, which was at last overcome. It
was at this period that a dangerous gap developed
between the retarded wing of the right-hand brigade
and the swiftly advancing ﬂank of the left, but this
opening was closed once more by seven O’clock. By
7.30 the third objective had been cleared by the 1st
Munsters on the right and the 2nd Irish Riﬂes on,the
left, for the second line had now leap-frogged into the-
actual battle. By eight o’clock everything had fallen,
and the ﬁeld-guns of the ,59th and 113th Brigades
R.F.A. had been rushed up to the front, well-screened
by the Slope of the newly conquered hill. The new
position was swiftly wired by the 11th Hants and
Royal Engineers.
There now only remained an extreme line which '
was, according to the original plan, to be the objective
of an entirely new advance. This was the Oostaverne
Line, so called from the hamlet of that name which
lay in the middle of it. ' Its capture meant a further
advance of 2000 yards, and it was successfully
assaulted in the afternoon by the 33rd Brigade, .
consisting of the 7th South Staﬁords, 9th Sherwoods,
6th Lincolns, and 6th Borders. It has been frequently
remarked, and Guillemont might be 'quoted as a
recent example, that both Englishmen and Irishmen
never ﬁght better than when they are acting together
' and all national difference is transmuted suddenly
into generous emulation. So it was upon the ﬁeld
of Messines, for the advance of the 33rd Brigade was .
a worthy continuation of a splendid achievement.
Keeping pace with the 57th Brigade of the Nineteenth
Division to their north,"they dashed aside all obstacles,
and by 5.45 were in complete possession of the farthest


THE BATTLE OF MESSINES
105
point which had 'ever been contemplated in the
fullest ambition of theGenerals. 1
The enemy had been dazed by the terriﬁc blow,
but late. in the evening signs of a reaction set in, for
the German is a dOur ﬁghter, who does not sit down
easily under defeat. It is only' by recollecting his
constant high qualities that one can appreciate the
true achievement of the soldiers who, in all this
series of battles~—Arras, Messines, and the Flanders
Ridges—were pitch-forking out of terribly fortiﬁed
positions the men who had so long been regarded as
the military teachers and masters of Europe. _ Nerved
by'their consciousness of a truly national cause, our
soldiers fought ~With a determined do-or-die spirit
_which has surely never been matched in all our
military annals, while the sagacity and adaptability
of the leaders was in the main worthy of the magni-
ﬁcence of the men. As an example of the insolent
conﬁdence of the Army, it may be noted that on this,
as on other occasions, all arrangements had been made
in advance for using the German dumps. “ This
should invariably be done,” says an imperturbable
ofﬁcial document, “ as the task of rapidly getting
forward engineer stores is most difﬁcult.”
A line of mined farms formed part of the new
British line, and upon this there came a series of
German bombing attacks on June 8, none of which
met with success. The 68th Field Company of the
Engineers had inverted the position, turning the
defences from west to east, and the buildings were held
by the Lincolns and Sherwoods, who shot down the
bombers before they could get within range even of
the far-ﬂying egg-bomb which can outﬂy the Mills by
thirty paces, though its effect is puny in comparison
CHAPTER
IV.
The
Battle of
Messines.


106 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
IV.

The
Battle of
Messines.
with the terriﬁc detonation of the larger missile.
From this time onwards, the line became permanent.
In this long day of ﬁghting, the captures amounted to
8 ofﬁcers and 700 men with 4 ﬁeld-guns and 4 howitzers.
The losses were moderate for such results, being 1100
men for the Irish and 500 for the 33rd Brigade.
Those of the Ulster Division were also about 1000.
Upon the left of the Irishmen the advance had
been carried out by Shute’s Nineteenth Division. Of
this hard ﬁghting division, the same which had carried
La Boiselle upon the Somme, the 56th Lancashire
Brigade and the 58th, mainly Welsh, were in the line.
The advance was a difficult one, conducted through
a region of shattered woods, but the infantry cleared
all obstacles and kept pace with the advance of the
Irish upon the right, ﬁnally sending forward the
reserve Midland Brigade as already stated to secure
and to hold the Oostaverne Line. The ground
to be traversed by this division, starting as it did
from near Wulverghem, was both longer and more
exposed than that of any other, and was particularly
open to machine-gun ﬁre. Without the master-
ful artillery the attack would have been an impossi-
bility. None the less, the infantry was magniﬁcently
cool and efﬁcient, widening the front occasionally to
take in fortiﬁed posts, which were ust outside its own
proper area. The 9th Cheshires particularly dis-
tinguished itself, gaining part of its second objective
before schedule time and having to undergo a British
barrage in consequence. This ﬁne battalion ended
its day’s work by blowing to shreds by its riﬂe-ﬁre a
formidable counter-attack. The Welsh battalions of
the same 58th Brigade, the 9th Welsh Fusiliers, 9th
Welsh, and 5th South Wales Borderers fought their


THE BATTLE OF MESSINES 10":
way up through Grand Bois to the Oostaverne Line
with great dash and gallantry. The village of that
name was itself taken by the Nineteenth Division,
who consolidated their line so rapidly and well that
the German counter-attack in the evening failed to
make any impression. Particular credit is due to
the 57th Brigade, who carried on the attack after
their own proper task was completed.
We have now roughly sketched the advance of
the Ninth Corps, and will turn to Morland’s Tenth
Corps upon its left. The ﬂank Division of this
was the Forty-ﬁrst under the heroic leader of the
old 22nd Brigade at Ypres. This unit, which was
entirely English, and drawn mostly from the south
country, had, as the reader may remember, distin-
guished itself at the Somme by the capture of Flers.
It attacked with the 122nd and 124th Brigades in the
line. They had several formidable obstacles in their
immediate front, including the famous Dammst'i‘asse,
a long causeway which was either trench or embank-
ment according to the lie of the ground. An
estaminet upon this road was a lively centre of con—
tention, and beyond this was Ravine Wood with its
lurking guns and criss-cross of wire. All these suc-
cessive obstacles went down before the steady ﬂow of
the determined infantry, who halted at their farthest
line in such excellent condition that they might well
have carried the attack forward had it not been
prearranged that the Twenty-fourth, the reserve
division, should pass through their ranks, as will
presently be described.
To the left of the Forty-ﬁrst was the Forty-
seventh London Territorial Division containing the
victors of Loos and of High Wood. The effect of
Gamma
1V.

The
Battle of
Messines.


THE BATTLE OF MESSINES
109
south, and withOut this advance it would have been
impossible for the supporting division to carry on,
without exposing its ﬂank, 'the work which had been
done by the two divisions upon the right.' At 3.10
in the afternoon, the Twenty-fourth Division under
General Bols, an ofﬁcer whose dramatic experience
in the La Bassée ﬁghting of 1914 has been recounted
in a previous volume, advanced through the ranks
of the Ferty-ﬁrs't and Forty-seventh Divisions at a
point due east of St. Eloi, its attack being synchronised
with that upon the Oostaverne line farther south.
The operation was splendidly successful, for the
CHAPTER
IV.

The
Battle of
Messines.
73rd Brigade upon the left and the 17th upon the ~
right, at the cost of about 400 casualties, carried
that section of the Dammstrasse and the whole of
the historic, blood-sodden ground upon either side -
of it, so rounding off the complete victory of the
Second Army. So close to the barrage was the
advance of the infantry, that the men of the 1st
Royal Fusiliers and 3rd Riﬂe Brigade, who led the
17th Brigade, declared that they had the dust of it
in their faces all the way. - *
' It only remains to be added that on the extreme
left of the line the Germans attempted a counter-
attack while the main battle was going on. _It was
gallantly urged by a few hundred men, but it was
destined to complete failure before the riﬂes of the
89th Brigade of the Thirtieth Division (Williams).
Few of these Germans ever returned.
It was a one day’s battle, a single hammer-blow
upon the German line, with no ulterior operations
. save such as held the ground gained, but the battle
has been aeolaimed by all critics as a model and
masterpieCe of modern tactics, which show the


110
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
IV.

The
Battle of
Messines.
highest power of planning and of execution upon
the part of Sir Herbert Plumer and his able
Chief-of-Staff. The main trophy of course was the
invaluable Ridge, but in the gaining it some 7200
prisoners fell into British hands, including 145 ofﬁcers,
which gives about the same proportion to the length
of front attacked as the Battle of Arras. The
Germans had learned wisdom, however, as to the
disposition of their guns in the face of “ the unwarlike
Islanders,” so that few were found within reach.
Sixty-seven pieces, however, some of them of large
calibre, remained in possession of the victors, as well
as 294 machine-guns and 94 trench mortars. The
British losses were about 16,000. The military
lesson of the battle has been thus summed up. in
the words of an ofﬁcer who took a distinguished
part in it: “ The sight of the battle-ﬁeld with its
utter and universal desolation stretching interminany
on all sides, its'trenches battered out of recognition,
its wilderness of shell-holes, déb'ris, tangled wire,
broken riﬂes, and abandoned equipment, conﬁrms the
opinion that no troops, whatever their morale or
training, can stand the ﬁre of such overwhelming and
concentrated masses of artillery. With 'a deﬁnite
and limited objective and with suﬂ‘icient artillery,
complete success may be reasonably guaranteed.”
It is the big gun then, and not, as the Germans
claimed, the machine-gun which is the Mistress of the
Battle-ﬁeld. The axiom laid down above is well
proved, but it works fOr either side, as will be shown
presently where upon a limited area the weight of
metal was with the Germans and the defence with the
British.
So fell Messines Ridge. Only when the British


ORDER or BATTLE
MESSINES
June 7, 1 9 1 7


THE DAMMSTRASSE WYTSClEIAETE MESSINES
8 3O 23 - 47 41 19 16 36 25 N.Z. 3rd (Allah)
24 11 4th (Aust.)
10th C. (Morland) 9th C. (Hamilton Gordon) 2116. Anzacs (Godley)
Fifth Army Second Army
(GOUGH) (PLUMER)


112 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
IV.

The
Battle of
Messines.
stood upon its low summit and looked back upon the
ﬁelds to westward did they realise how completely
every trench and post had been under German observa-
tion during these years. N o wonder that so much
of the best blood of Britain has moistened that fatal
plain between Ypres in the north and Ploegstrate in
the south. “ My God ! ” said an officer as he looked
down, “it is a wonder that they let us live there at
all.” “ It is great to look eastwards,” said another,
“ and see the land falling away, to know that we
have this last height and have wrested it from them
in three hours.” It was a nightmare which was
lifted from the Army upon June 7, 1917.


CHAPTER V
OPERATIONS FROM JUNE 10 TO JULY 31
Fighting round Lens—Good work of Canadians and Forty-sixth
Division—Action on the Yser Canal—Great ﬁght and eventual
annihilation of 2nd K.R.R. and 1st Northamptons—An awful
ordeal—Exit Russia.
THE Battle of Messines was so complete and clean-cut
within its pre-ordained limitations that it left few
readjustments to be effected afterwards. Of these,
the most important were upon the left ﬂank of
the Anzac Corps, where, as already narrated, some
Germans had held out for some days in the gap left
between the two forward brigades of the Fourth
Australians. These were eventually cleared out, and
upon the night of June 10 the 32nd Brigade of the
Eleventh Division extended the front of the Ninth
Corps to _the south, and occupied all this sector,
which had become more defensible since, by the
energy and self-sacriﬁce of the 6th South Wales
Borderers, a good road had been driven, right up
to it by which stores and guns could proceed.
It was determined to move the line forward at
this point, and for this purpose the Twenty-ﬁfth
Division was again put in to attack, with the 8th
Borders on the left and the 2nd South Lanes on the
right, both of the 75th Brigade. The objective was
CHAPTER
V.

Operations
from
. June 10
to July 31.
113 I


114 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
V.

Operations
from '
, June 10
to July 31.
a line of farmhouses and strong posts immediately
to the east. The men were assembled for the attack
in small driblets, which skirmished forward and
coalesced into a line of stormers almost unseen by the
enemy, crouching behind hedges and in the hollows
of the ground. At 7.30 in the evening, before the
Germans realised that there had been an assembly,
the advance began, while the New Zealanders, who
had executed the same manoeuvre with equal success,
kept pace upon the right. The result was a complete
success within the limited area attacked. The whole
line of posts, cut off from help by the barrage, fell
into the hands of the British in less than half-an-hour.
The enemy was found lying in shell-holes and im-
provised trenches, which were quickly cleared and
consolidated for defence. After this second success,
the Twenty-ﬁfth Division was drawn out, having
sustained a total loss'of about 3000 during the opera-
tions. Their prisoners came to over 1000, the greater
number being Bavarians.
For a time there was no considerable action along
the British line, but there were large movements of
troops which brought about an entirely new arrange-
ment of, the forces, as became evident when the
operations were renewed. Up to the date' of the
.Battle of Messines the Belgians had held the ground
near the coast, and the ﬁve British Armies had lain
over their hundred-mile front in the order from the
north of Two, One, Three, Five, and Four. Under the
new arrangement, which involved a huge reorganisa-
tion, it was the British Fourth Army (Rawlinson)
which came next to the coast, with the Belgians upon
their immediate right, and an interpolated French
army upon .the right of them. Then came Gough’s _


OPERATIONS, JUNE 10 TO JULY 31 115
Fifth Army in the Ypres area, Plumer’s Second Army
extending to the south of Armentieres, Horne’s First
Army to the south end of the Vimy Ridge, and Byng’s
Third Army covering the Cambrai front, with dis-
mounted cavalry upon their right up to the junction
with the French near St. Quentin. Such was the
general arrangement of the forces for the remainder
of the year.
Save for unimportant readjustments, there were
no changes for some time along the Messines front,
and little activity save at the extreme north of that-
section on the Ypres—Comines Canal. Here the
British gradually extended the ground which had
been captured by the Forty-seventh Division, taking
some considerable spoil-heaps which had been turned
into machine-gun emplacements by the Germans.
This supplementary operation was brought off upon
June 14 and was answered upon June 15 by a German
counter-attack which was completely repulsed. Some
brisk ﬁghting had broken out, however, farther doWn
the line in the Lens sector which Holland’s First
Corps, consisting of the Sixth, Twenty-fourth, and
Forty-sixth Divisions, had faced during the Battle of
Arras.- This sector was rather to the north of the
battle, and the German line had not been broken as in
the scuth; These divisions had nibbled their way for-
ward, however, working up each side of the Souchez
River until they began to threaten Lens itself. The
Germans, recognising the imminent menace, had
already blown up a number of their depots and
practically destroyed everything upon the surface,
but the real prize of victory lay in the coal seams
underground. Huge columns of black smoke which
rose over the shattered chimneys and winding gears
CHAPTER
Operations
from
June 10
to July 31.


OPERATIONS, JUNE 10 TO JULY 31 117
upon Lens. Upon June 25 the 6th South Staffords, CHAPTER
with the brave men of the Dominion operating to __
the south of them, pushed the Germans off Hill 65. grerations
Upon June 28 there was a further advance of the 10
137th and 138th Brigades, which was much facilitated t° July 31‘
by the fact that the Canadians upon the day before
had got up to the village of Leuvette upon the south.
A number of casualties were caused by the German
snipers after the advance, and among the killed was
M. Serge Basset, the eminent French journalist, who
had followed the troops up Hill 65.
A successful advance was made by the Forty-sixth
Division and by the Canadians upon the evening of
June 28, which carried them into the village of Avion
and ended in the capture of some hundred prisoners.
This operation was undertaken in conjunction with
the Fifth Division near Oppy, upon the right of the
Canadians. Their advance was-also attended with
complete success, the 95th and 15th Brigades clearing
by a sudden rush more than a mile of German line
and killing or taking the occupants. To the north
of them both the 4th Canadians and the 46th Mid-
landers carried the success up the line. The advance
was an extraordinary spectacle to the many who
looked down upon it from the Vimy heights, for a
violent thunderstorm roared with the guns, and a
lashing downpour of rain beat into the faces of the
Germans. They were tired troops, men of the
Eleventh Reserve division, who had already been
overlong in the line, and they could be seen rushing
wildly to the rear before the stormers were clear of
their own trenches. An unﬁred and brand-new
machine-gun was found which had been abandoned
by its demoralised crew. The ﬂooded ﬁelds impeded


OPERATIONS, JUNE 10 TO JULY 31 119
small posts, commanded by Lieutenant Bowell, was
forgotten, and held on without relief, food, or water until
July .5, when ﬁnding himself in danger of being sur-
rounded this young ofﬁcer effected a clever withdrawal
—a performance for which he received the D.S.O.
Whilst the 138th Brigade had established itself
in the fringes of Cité du Moulin, the Stafford men
upon their left (137th Brigade) .had captured Aconite
Trench and also got among the houses. A number
of the enemy were taken in the cellars, or shot down.
as they escaped from them, the Lewis guns doing
admirable work. About one o’clock, however, a
strong attack drove the Stafford men back as far as
Ague Trench. The support companies at once ad-
vanced, led by Major Graham of the 5th ‘ North
Staﬁ‘ords, who was either killed or taken during the
attack, which made no progress in face of the strong
masses of German infantry. The result of this failure
was that the remnants of two companies of the 5th
North Staffords', who had been left behind in Aconite
Trench, were cut off and surrounded, all who were not
killed being taken. In spite of this untoward result,
the ﬁghting on the part of the battalions engaged
had been most spirited, and the conﬂict, after the fall
of most of the ofﬁcers and sergeants, had been carried
on with great ardour and intelligence by the junior
non-commissioned officers.
On the left, the Sherwood Forest Brigade
(strengthened by the 2nd Regular battalion of their
own regiment) advanced upon the Lens—Liévin Road
and the network of trenches in front of them. It was
all ideal ground for defence, with houses, slag-heaps,
railway embankments, and everything which the
Germans could desire or the British abhor. The
CHAPTER
Operations
rom
June 10
to July .31.
‘


120 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER brigade had advanced upon a three-battalion front,
__ but as the zero hour was before dawn, and the ground
222%“ was unknown to theRegular battalion upon the right,
June 10 the result was loss of direction and confusion.
to July 31' Separated parties engaged Germans in isolated houses,
and some very desperate ﬁghting ensued. In the
course of one of these minor sieges, Captain Chidlow-
Roberts is said to haVe shot ﬁfteen of the defenders,
but occasionally it was the attackers who were over—
powered by the number and valour of the enemy.
The Germans tried to drive back the British line by
a series of counter-attacks from the Lens—Bethune
Road, but these were brought to a halt during the
morning, though later in the afternoon parties of
German bombers broke through the scattered line,
which presented numerous gaps. The losses of the
Sherwood Forester Brigade were considerable, and
included 5 Ofﬁcers and 186 men, whose fate was never
cleared up. Most of these were casualties, but some
remained in the hands of the enemy. The total
casualties of the division in this action came to 50
ofﬁcers and about'1000 men.
This hard-fought action concluded the services of
the North Midland Division in this portion of the
front. It had been in the line for ten weeks, and
under constant ﬁre for the greater part of that time.
The strength of the battalions had been so reduced
by constant losses, that none of them could muster
more than 300 men. Upon July 2 the Forty-sixth
~ Division handed over their line to the Second
Canadians and retired for a well-earned rest. Save
for two very fruitful raids in the Hulluch district in
the late autumn, this Division was not engaged
again in 1917.


OPERATIONS, JUNE 10 TO JULY 31 121
The Germans had strengthened the defence of Lens
by ﬂooding the ﬂats to the south of the town, sub-
merging the Cité St. Augustin, so that the Fourth
Canadians on the right of the Forty-sixth Division
could not push northwards, but they had advanced
with steady perseverance along the south bank of the
Souchez, and got forward, ﬁrst to La Coulotte and
then as far as the village of Avion, which was occupied
by them upon June 28—a date which marked a
general move forward on a front of 2000 yards from
the river to Oppy. Meanwhile, the Sixth Division
had also pushed in upon the north and north-
west of Lens, which was closely invested. The First
Canadian Division relieved the Sixth Division early
in July, so that now the pressure upon Lens was
carried out by three Canadian Divisions, one to the
north, one to the west, and one to the south of the
town. N 0 actual attack was made until the middle of
August, but for the sake of continuity of narrative
we may reach forward and give some short account of
the operations upon that occasion. After constant
pressure, and the drifting of a good deal of gas over
the huge house—covered area which faced them, the
Canadians made an attack upon August 15, which
brought them into the very suburbs of the town,
while advancing their line both to the north and to the
south of it. Two Canadian divisions, the First upon
the left and the Second upon the right, made the main
attack, while the Fourth Division guaranteed their
southern ﬂank. The First Division found itself in
what was practically the old British line, as it was
. deﬁned at the end of the Battle of Loos in September
1915, nearly two years before.
had not far to go to ﬁnd its enemy, for the German
This Veteran division
CHAPTER
V.

Operations
from
June 10
to July 31.


122 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
_ Can-run.
V.

Operations
from
J une 10
to July 31.
trenches were not more than 120 yards away. Flood-
ing over them after a heavy discharge of ﬂaming oil
drums, the Canadians swept with little loss up that
deadly slope of Hill~ 70, sacred to the memory of the
Scots of the Fifteenth Division and of many other
brave men who found their last rest upon it. The
3rd Brigade upon the left and the 2nd upon the right
topped the low hill and charged roaring down into the
Cité St. Auguste beyond. There was a ﬁerce ﬁght at
Cinnebar Trench and the other points which made up
the German second line. The enemy infantry stood
up stoutly to the push of bayonet, and there was
some bloody work before the line was ﬁnally taken
and consolidated by the Canadians. The Second
Division in the meanwhile, advancing with the 5th
Brigade upon the left and the 4th upon the right, had
carried their charge right up to the edge of the city
itself, and had, established themselves among the
shattered houses. As the 5th Brigade rushed forward,
they encountered a body of German infantry advan-
cing as if to an attack, so that for a few glorious
minutes there was close bludgeon work in N o-Man’s—
Land before the German formation was shattered and
the stormers rushed on. A counter-attack developed
about mid-day in front of the First Division, and the
grey-clad troops could be clearly seen marching up in
fours, breaking into artillery formation and ﬁnally
deploying in line, all after the most. approved British
fashion—a fact which was explained later by the
discovery in the dug-outs of ofﬁcial copies of a transla-
tion of the latest Aldershot regulations—surely a most
unexpected result of the clash of the two nations, and
' one which is a compliment to our military instructors.
The British methods of defence, however, proved


.OPERATIONS, JUNE 10 TO JULY 31 123
upon this occasion to be more efﬁcient than those
for attack, and the Germans were shot back into
the rubble~heaps behind them. The losses of the
Canadians in this advance were not heavy, save in
the 5th Brigade, which had in front of it a network
CHAPTER.
V.

Operations
from
June 10
to July 31.
of trenches in front of Cité St. Emile, and carried a _
hard. task through with great valour and perseverance.
From this time forward the advanced line was held,
and it was only the deﬂection of the Canadian Corps to
the north which prevented them from increasing their
gains at Lens. \
The seven weeks of comparative peace between
the conclusion of the Battle of Messines and the
beginning of those long-drawn operations which may
be called the Battle of the Ridges, was broken by one
tragic incident, which ended in the practical annihila-
tion of two veteran battalions which held a record
second to none in the Army. As misfortunes of this
sort have been exceedingly rare in the progress of the
war, it may be well to narrate this affair in greater
detail than the general scale of this chronicle would
. justify. -
Strickland’s First Division had taken over the
sector which was next the sea, close to the small
town of Nieuport. The frontage covered was 1400
yards and extended to Lombardzyde, where Shute’s
Thirty-second Division carried the line along. The
positions had not been determined by the British
cOmmander, but were the same as those'formerly
occupied by the French. It was evident that they
were exceedingly vulnerable and that any serious
attempt upon the part of the Germans might lead
to disaster, for the front line was some six hundred
yards beyond the Yser River, and lay among sand


124 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
V.

- Operations
from
June 10
to July 31.
dunes where the soil was too light to construct proper
trenches or dug-outs. The river was crossed by
three or four ﬂoating bridges, which, as the result
Showed, were only there so long as the enemy guns
might choose. The supporting battalions were east
of the river, but the two battalions in the trenches
were to the west, and liable to be cut off should any-
thing befall the bridges behind them. It was indeed
a very difﬁcult Situation both for Strickland and
Shute, for the Germans had complete local supremacy
both in guns and in the air. '
Upon July 10, the day of the tragedy, the two
battalions in front were the 2nd King’s Royal Riﬂes,
next the sea, and the 1st N orthamptons, upon their
right. The Brigadier of the 2nd Brigade had been
wounded only a few days before, and a new man
was in local command. The story of what actually
occurred may be told from the point of view of the
Riﬂemen, who numbered about 550 on the day in
question. Three companies, A, D, and B, in the order
given from the left, were in the actual trenches, while
C Company was in immediate support. The night of
July 9—10 was marked by unusually heavy ﬁre, which
caused a loss of seventy men to the battalion. It was
clear to Colonel Abadie and his ofﬁcers that serious
trouble was brewing. An equal shellfall was endured
by the Northamptons on the right, and their casual-
ties were nearly as heavy. So weakened was A
Company in its post along the sand dunes that it was
drawn into reserve in the morning of July 10, and
C Company took its place. During this night an
ofﬁcer and twenty men, all Rhodesians, from B
Company, were pushed forward upon a raid, but lost
nine of their number on their return. From 8.50


126
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
_ V.

Operations
from
June 10
to July 31.
message of any sort seems to have reached them from
the rear. The ﬁre was far too hot for visual signal-
ling, and several pigeons which were released did not
appear to reach their destination. With sinking
hearts the shaken and dazed survivors waited for the
infantry attack which they knew to be at hand.
There were really no means of resistance, for, in spite
of all care, it was found that the all-pervading sand,
_which nearly choked them, had put out of gear the
mechanism of all the machine-guns and most of the
riﬂes. The divisional artillery was doing what it
could from the other side of the Yser, but the volume
of ﬁre from the heavies was nothing as compared with
the German bombardment. To add to the misery of
the situation, a number of German aeroplanes were
hawking backwards and forWards, skimming at less
than 100 feet over the position, and pouring machine:
gun ﬁre upon- every darker khaki patch upon the
yellow sand. ,
Both the battalion commanders behaved with the
utmost intrepidity and coolness. Of Colonel Abadie
‘ of the Riﬂes, it was said by one of the few survivors :
“ He inspired all with the utmost conﬁdence. He did
everything in his power and was splendid the whole
time.” Great hopes were entertained that some
diversion would be effected by the gunboats upon the
ﬂank, but for some reason there was no assistance
from this quarter. Hour after hour passed, and the
casualties increased until the dead and wounded along
the line of both battalions were more numerous than
the survivors. At 3 P.M. the regimental dug-out of
the Riﬂes showed signs of collapse under the impact
of two direct hits. Those who could move betook '
themselves to an unﬁnished tunnel in the sand in


OPERATIONS, JUNE 10 TO JULY 31 127
which a handful of Australian miners were actually
working. These men had changed their picks for
their riﬂes, and were ready and eager to help in the
defence of the position. In little groups, unable to
communicate with each other, each imagining itself
to be the sole survivor, the men waited for the ﬁnal
German rush. At 7.15 it came. A division of
German marines made the attack, some skirting the
British line 'along the seashore and approaching from
the ﬂank or even from the rear. As many Riﬂemen
as could be collected had joined the Australians in the
tunnel, but before they could emerge the Germans
were dropping bombs down the three Ventilation
shafts, while they sprayed liquid ﬁre down the en-
trance. The men who endured this accumulation of
horrors had been under heavy ﬁre for twenty-four
hours with little to eat or drink, and it would not have
been wonderful if their nerve had now utterly deserted
them.‘ Instead of this, every one seems to have
acted with the greatest coolness. “ The Colonel
called to the Riﬂemen to sit down, and they did so
with perfect discipline.” By this means the spray
CHAPTER

Operations
from
June 10 '
to July 31.
of ﬁre passed over them. The entrances were blown '
in, and the last seen of Colonel Abadie was when,
revolver in hand, he daShed out to sell his life as
dearly as possible. From this time the handful of
survivors, cut off from their Colonel by the fall of
part of the roof, saw or heard no more of him. The
few groups of men, Riﬂes or N orthamptons, who
were scattered about in the sandy hollows, were
overwhelmed by the enemy, the survivors being
taken. Four officers, who had been half-buried
in the tunnel, dug their way out, and ﬁnding
that it was now nearly dark and that the Germans


OPERATIONS, JUNE 10 TO» JULY 31 129
poisoned by gas shells as they landed upon the farther
side. Of the Northamptons, it would appear that only
one ofﬁcer, Captain Martin, made his escape, though
badly wounded. Colonel Tollemache was heard
calling out to his men : “ It may be the last time, but
ﬁght like Englishmen ! ” - He and all his staff became
casualties or prisoners. The Northampton front was
not more than forty yards from that of the Germans,
and the riﬂe-ﬁre of' the latter swept the parapet to
such an extent that it was impossible to stop the rush.
A private who was No. 1 of a machine-gun, with
two other men, who knew nothing of the mechaniSm,
rushed a gun'out upon the ﬂank and held up the grey
wave for a minute or. so before being submerged,
while a sergeant also distinguished himself by
a determined resistance and by ﬁnally crossing the
Canal to explain the situation to thoSe in command
there.
So ended an experience which can have had few
parallels even in this era of deadly adventure. Of the
Riﬂemen, it was-found next day that 3 ofﬁcers and
52 men had rejoined their brigade. If so many got
away it was largely due to the action of Riﬂeman
Wambach, who swam the canal with_ a rope in his
mouth, and ﬁxed it for his more helpless comrades.
Even fewer of the Northamptons ever regained the
eastern bank. “ Like the Spartans at Thermopylae
the men of Northampton and the Riﬂemen had died
where they had been posted. Heroism could do no}
more.” Out of about 1200 men, nearly all, save the
casualties, fell into the hands of the victors. Every
ofﬁcer seems to have behaved with the utmost possible
gallantry, and not least the battalion surgeon, Captain
Ward, who stood by his Wounded until both he and
K
CHAPTER
V.

Operations
from
June 10
to July 31.


130 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
V.

Operations
from
June 10
to July 31.
they fell into the hands of the Germans. Such was
the deplorable affair of Nieuport, a small incident in
so great a war, and yet one which had an individuality
of its own which may excuse this more extended
account. The total German advance was 600 yards
in depth, upon a front of three-quarters of a mile.
The attack had extended to the eastward upon
the farther side of the Geleide Creek, but here the
positions were more favourable for defence, as
there were supports available and the communica-
tions had not been broken. It is a most signiﬁcant
sign of the enormous respect which the German
' authorities entertained for the British Army, that
this limited action in which only two weak British
battalions Were overwhelmed was solemnly announced
by them in their ofﬁcial bulletin to be “ a great and
magniﬁcent victory.” When one remembers how the
British in turn would have dismissed so small an
action as a mere incident in the campaign, had they
been the victors, it is indeed a most memorable
tribute. The main cause of the defeat, apart from the
faulty position, appears to have been that the infantry
took over the new line more quickly than the artillery,
and that the French heavies had withdrawn before
the British heavies were ready for action. A British
ofﬁcer, afterwards released, was informed by the
. Germans that they had 182 batteries concentrated
upon the position, while there were only 13. ready for
the defence.
It was hoped in Germany and feared in Britain
that the new position gained by the Germans at the
north of the Yser River would enable them to outﬂank
the British defences at Lombardzyde, and to destroy
the 97th Brigade, which. lay to the north of


OPERATIONS, JUNE 10 TO JULY 31 131
the river. The situation certainly looked most
alarming in the map, and no military critic could
have imagined that the position could be held. The
British soldier has a way of doing, however, what
the lecture-rooms would denounce, and after some
very desperate ﬁghting the lines were maintained.
The attack was not on so overwhelming a scaleas on
the left, but it was severe and long continued, from
- 7.30 P.M. till the evening of July 11. The enemy
had at one time won three lines of defence, but they
were eventually thrust back, General Shute feeding
his ﬁghting line from his reserves until he had the
upper hand. The main strain fell upon the 11th
Borders and 16th H.L.I., but as the action went
on the 17th Highland Light Infantry, 15th Lanca-
shire Fusiliers, and 16th N orthumberland Fusiliers
were all in turn involved. It was a real infantry
ﬁght, often in the dark and sometimes at close grips,
and it ended with the line as it was before the attack
commenced. The severity of the action may be
judged by the fact that the brigade. had nearly a
thousand casualties. From this time the line re-
mained unchanged until the great Battle for the
Flanders Ridges turned the thoughts of both parties
to larger issues.
Before we'enter upon an account of that terriﬁc
and protracted engagement, one should mention a
brisk action which was fought by those stark ﬁghters
the New Zealand Division, upon the Warneton front,
to the immediate south of the Messines area. There
is a small ruined village, hardly rising to the dignity
of a mention upon the maps, called La Basseville,
which was held by the Germans under the very noses
of the men with the red hatbands. Upon the night
CHAPTER
V.

Operations
from
June 10
to July 31.


132
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
V.
Operations
from
June 10
to July 31.
of July 27 the Wellington battalion, a name of good
military omen, captured this place with some of
its Bavarian garrison. In the early morning the
Germans came again with a rush, however, and
regained the place. The New Zealanders attacked
once more in the night of July 31, so that their
venture may appear to have been in connection.
with the larger operations in the north. Once more
the village was captured by the Wellington and
Auckland infantry with some ﬁfty more prisoners and
seven machine-guns. The Germans lost heavily in
killed, and the losses were doubled or trebled by their
gallant but unsuccessful counter-attacks, which were
) undertaken often by such limited groups of men that
they seemed the results less Of reasoned tactics than
of desperation. From this time La Basseville passed
into the British system. _
This month of July was signalised by the last
efforts of the Russian Army so long as it remained a
serious force. Under Brusiloff and Korniloff they
made an attack upon the Austro-German lines, but
after initial successes they were paralysed by the
growing disaffection and disorganisation of the
soldiery, who had all the want of discipline of the old
French republicans without the ﬁery valour and
patriotism. From this time onward Russia played
no real military part in the great war, save as the
betrayer of Roumania, the deserter Of Serbia, and
the absorber of such ill-spared supplies as she could
get from her former allies.
>


CHAPTER VI
THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES
July 31, 1917
Attack of July 31—Advance of the Guards—Of the Welsh—Capture of
Pilkem—Capture of St. J ulien by Thirty-ninth Division—Advance
of Fifty-ﬁfth Division—Advance of Jacob’s Second Corps—General
results.
IT had been accepted as an axiom at this stage of the CHAPTER '
_ war that no great operation- could be in the nature VI'
of a surprise—.an axiom which, like most other 3:53:13?
axioms, was shown later in the year to have some Ypres.
startling exceptions. To pack the base of the historic -
Ypres salient with guns, and to assemble within and
behind its trenches the storming troops for a great
advance was, however, an operation which could not
possibly be concealed. British aircraft might have an
ascendency in observation, but that did not' prevent
the German ﬂiers from being both daring and skilful.
All camouﬂage, therefore, was thrown aside, and
throughout the month of July Sir Douglas Haig
openly assembled his forces for the Widening or de-
struction of the iron bands which had so long con-
stricted us in this northern area. The Fifth Army
gathered for the venture, still commanded by Sir
Hubert Gough, the victor _of Thiepval. On his left,'
133 v _


134 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
VI.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
July 31.
opposite Bixschoote, on the edge of the inundations,
- was a French army under General Antoine, a genial
giant who impresses those who meet him as a mixture
of Porthos and d’Artagnan. The general role of the
French Army was to cover the British from counter-
attack from the north, especially from Houthulst
Forest, in the depths of which great reserves might
lurk, for it covers no less than 600 acres. Upon the
right, and engaged in a subsidiary degree in the
operations, was the Second Army, under Sir. Herbert
Plumer, fresh from the triumph of Messines.
The direction of this new attack against the ridges
of Flanders was the logical sequence from the pre-
ceding operations of the year. The high ground of
the Ancre had been taken late in 1916. The high
ground of Vimy fell into British hands in April. In
June the Germans had been driven in one strenuous
day from the high ground of Messines. The whole
line of ridges from‘ end to end was in British hands
save only those which girt in Ypres and dominated
it from the north _and north-east. It is true that
these so-called ridges were often little more than
undulations, but they meant ﬁrmer ground, artillery
observation, self-concealment, and everything which
makes for military advantage. For these reasons
Sir Douglas Haig turned his strength now in that
direction. After his successive advances he might
say with Wellington : “ Knowing well that _if we laid
our bloody hands upon a town it was fated to fall.”
The men who took Ciudad Rodrigo or stormed the
dreadful breach of Badajos could teach nothing in
hardihood and contempt of death to those who
carried Guillemont or Ovillers.’
In attacking a salient like that of Ypres and in


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES 135
endeavouring to ﬂatten it out, it is obvious that the
efforts must be made at the sides rather than in the
centre, since success in the latter case would simply
mean a larger salient. Of the two sides of the Ypres
salient the success of Messines had already relieved
the pressure in the south, and this area was clearly
less important than the north, since it was farther
from the sea. It was evident that any considerable
success upon the northern side would advance the
British line towards Bruges, and an occupation of
Bruges would surely mean the abandonment by
Germany of the Flemish coast. For these (reasons
the eﬂort of the British was chieﬂy directed towards
the north-east, a tract of ground which was difficult
when dry, but which became grotesque in its difﬁ-
culties when it rained and the small low-lying streams
or “ beeks ” which meandered through it spread out
into broad marshy bottoms. These all-pervading
morasses, when ploughed up with innumerable shell-
holes,'were destined to form an almost insuperable
military obstacle. In attacking at such a point Sir
Douglas could only hope that the weather would
abide as a neutral, but as a fact, now as so often before,
its action was bitterly hostile. Up to the very day
of the advance it smiled deceitfully only to break into
a month of rain from the very hour of the attack. If
Berlin needs one more monument in her meretricious
“'Sieges-Allee,” she may well erect one to the weather,
which has saved her cause as surely as the geese
of old saved Rome.
So notorious were the British preparations, cul—
minating in the usual terriﬁc bombardment, that the
approaching conﬂict was discussed in the German
papers weeks before it occurred. Their preparations
CHAPTER
VI.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
July 31.


136 ‘ THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
VI.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
July 31.
had been gigantic, and took a new form which called
for corresponding ingenuity upon the side of the
stormers if it was to be successfully countered. The
continuous trench had, save in the Old system, been
discarded as offering too evident a mark for the
Shattering guns. The ground was held by numerous
. disconnected trenches, and strong points arranged in
depth rather than in breadth, so that the whole front
should form one shock—absorber which would yield
at ﬁrst, but'must at the last bring any pressure to
a stand. Scattered thickly among these small posts
there were concrete forts, not unlike the Martello
towers of our ancestors, but sunk deeply into the
ground, so as to present a small mark to gun-ﬁre.
These forts were made of cement and iron with walls
so enormously thick that a direct hit from anything
less than a six-inch gun could not possibly harm
them. The garrisons of 'each were composed of
twenty or thirty men, with two or three machine-
guns. There was usually no visible opening, the
entrance being approached by a tunnel, and the
windows mere slits which gave a broad traverse for
a machine-gun. They were contrivances which might
well hold up an army, and it was‘a ﬁne example of
British adaptability as well as courage that they were
able to make progress against them. . The days of the
gallant bull-headed rush were over, and the soldiers
had learned in a cruel school that the ﬁghting man
must be wary as well as brave.
At four o’clock in the morning, in the ﬁrst grey
light of a rainy morning, under a canopy of grey
sweeping clouds, and in a fog-girt landscape of be-
draggled ﬁelds and brown patches of mire, the French
and British infantry sprang forward with splendid


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES 137
alacrity upon this dangerous venture which should
culminate in taking the last dominant ridge upon the
British front from those who had held them so long.
The French attacked upon the extreme left of the
line, and had an extremely difﬁcult task, which they
accomplished with a dash and spirit which won the
unstinted admiration of their British comrades. In
front of them was the canal, but they had succeeded
in throwing across some troops in the days before the
battle. It was ﬁtting that they should advance the
line in this sector, for they were starting from the very
spot to which their comrades had been pushed in the
poison~gas battle of April 22, 1915, more than two
years before. The ground in front of them was very
marshy, and as a background to the German position
loomed the great forest of Houthulst, which was
known to be a strong gun position and place of arms.
It was subjected, however, to such a shattering bom-
bardment that it was nearly silent when the attack
advanced, and the French poilus, pushing rapidly on
from point to point, seized the village of Steenstraate,
and ﬁnally the larger village of Bixschoote, establish-
ing their line well to the north of that point. It was
a most valorous advance, and if no detail can be given
CHAPTER
VI.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
July 31.
of it save this passing mention, it is because it belongs '
to that weighty and wonderful volume which shall
record the glorious military deeds of France, a volume
which can only be written with proper appreciation
and knowledge by a French pen. ‘
The British line of battle was formed by ﬁve
corps, the Fourteenth (Cavan) to the north, the
Eighteenth (Maxse) upon its right, the Nineteenth
(Watts) upon the right of that, the Second (Jacob)
came next, and then upon the southern edge of the


138 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
Guam-1m
VI.

The third
Battle of
_ Ypres.
July 31.
area, and hardly engaged in the main ﬁghting, was
the Tenth (Morland). Each corps had two divisions
in the line and two in reserve. We will take each in
turn, starting from the north. It should be noted
that the four ﬁrst corps made up Gough’s Fifth Army,
and that the Tenth Corps was the only part of Plumer’s
Army to be engaged.
Cavan’s Fourteenth Corps was next to the French,
with the Guards in immediate touch with our
allies, and the Thirty-eighth Welsh Division upon
its right. The Twentieth and the Twenty-ninth
Divisions were in support. We shall now f0110w the
splendid advance of the Guards, a division which
more and more as the war progressed reasserted
its position as the very cream of the Army.
On the days preceding the action a number of
bridges had been thrown across the canal, and the
attacking brigades had been passed over this impedi—
ment, so that they were able to deploy rapidly and
escape the German barrage which fell, for the most
part, behind them. This most useful work was
carried out by the 1st Guards Brigade, especially
by the 3rd Coldstream and 1st Irish, who got
across the ﬁrst. This brigade was relieved, and
on the day of battle the 3rd Brigade was upon
the left in close liaison with the French, while
the 2nd Brigade was on the right with their
ﬂank touching the Welshmen. Two “Hate Com—
panies,” as they were called, were thrown out on the
divisional front, whose task it was to make special
discharges of oil drums, thermite, and other missiles
which might smooth the way for the advance of the
infantry. At 4.24 the whistles of fate were heard
shrilly all along the line, and the Guards rose up from


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES 139
their wet assembly ditches, and went forward in their
usual sedate and inexorable fashion. The front line
of battle of the two brigades, counting from the
French ﬂank, were the 1st Welsh, 1st Grenadiers,
2nd Irish, and 1st Scots, while behind them in the
second line were their comrades of the 2nd Scots,
4th Grenadiers, 1st Coldstream, and 3rd Grenadiers.
Each platoon of the Irish carried a green ﬂag adorned
with the Irish harp.
The attack at ﬁrst was so strong or the opposition
so weak that in ten minutes the ﬁrst-line objective
had been gained. From this point the shock-absorber
system began to act, a system which must prevail
save where the attackers know when to suspend their
effort so that the spring of resistance is never pressed
back to the uttermost. The British generals had
learned this lesson and the aims of any one day’s
battle were strictly limited. Thus, although the
losses grew and the difﬁculties increased, the Guards
were well within their powers, in gradually pushing
forwards to the Steenbeek stream, which was the
extreme limit assigned to them. As they advanced
sections were told off to deal with the various concrete
forts and other strong points, a method of attack
which gave great scope for the initiative of individual
junior ofﬁcers or non-commissioned ofﬁcers, and which
was fruitful in acts of valour. About six o’clock the
German machine-guns in Hey Wood held up the line
for a time, and the 2nd Brigade had the chagrin of
seeing some German guns limbering .up and with-
drawing in front of them, while their own barrage fell
as an invisible steel curtain which covered them from
seizure. It was remarked generally of the British
barrage that though extremely accurate as a rule, it
CHAPTER
VI.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
July 31.


' 140
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
~ VI.

The third
Battle of
Ypres,
July 31.
still consisted too much of shrapnel .and not enough
of high explosives, so that it had not the shattering
and uprooting effect which was needful. The Germans
had read the lessons differently, for at this period of
the war their barrage consisted almost entirely of
5-9 “ crumps ” with a small admixture of shrapnel.
By the early afternoon the front lines of the
Guards had fulﬁlled their programme, and a number
of prisoners, including the commanding ofﬁcer and
adjutant of the 73rd Hanoverians, had been con-
ducted to the rear. The losses of the Guards had
.not been excessive, save in the right ﬂank battalions,
especially the 1st Scots, but they included many
valuable ofﬁcers killed or wounded, including Colonel
Greer of the 2nd Irish, COlonel Romilly of the 1st Scots,
and Colonel Lord Gort of the 4th Grenadiers. Among
many deeds of valour which were added to the records
of the division upon that morning there may be men-
tioned that of the heroic surgeon David Lees, who
was decorated for passing ﬁve times through the
barrage carrying wounded, and of the brave Irish
priest, Father Knapp, who absolutely refused to take
shelter when his men were exposed, and met his death
rather than leave them. It is invidious, however,
to mention brave men where all were brave. About
three o’clock the 1st Guards Brigade passed through
the ranks of their comrades and carried the advance
forward to its limit. The order of their advance
from the left was the 2nd Coldstream, with the
2nd Grenadiers on the right, while the 3rd Coldstream
and 1st Irish took the corresponding places in the
secOnd line. ' The 2nd Grenadiers lost heavily from
a ﬂank ﬁre, its difﬁculties and those of all the right
ﬂank being increased by the fact that the railway line,


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES ’ I41
dotted with German strong points, ran as the boundary
between divisions. Captain Ritchie, of Loos fame,
was among the casualties. The Grenadiers got so
far ahead that the protective barrage became thin
and erratic, hardly existing in many places. The
CHAPTER
VI.

The third
Battle of
Ypres,
July.3l.
whole brigade moved forward in close touch with '
the 113th Brigade of Welshmen upon their right.
The latter after the ﬁnal objective was reached were
- shelled for a time out of their position, so that the
Irish and Grenadiers had to throwback a defensive
ﬂank, but the Welsh with dogged spirit came back
to their work and re-established their line late in the
evening. Their work will presently be described,
but so far as the Guards are concerned it may be
added that, with the help ofthe 55th and 76th Field
Company R.E., all they took they kept, although the
physical surroundings were appalling, for they found
themselves for three days lying on the forward slope
of a low ridge under heavy rain in deep puddles of'
water, exposed to German shelling and to the constant
stinging of invisible German snipers. No conditions
could have been more trying, but the Guards stuck
it out with a quiet patient discipline which was as
ﬁne as the valour of their assault.- “ We are just
lying in a snipe bog in the rain,” wrote an Irish
_ ofﬁcer. Due dispositions were made for relief among
the three brigades, and the line was held until a .
farther advance should become possible—an event
which was continually postponed by the incredible
weather.
Passing to the 38th Welsh Division upon the .
_ right of the Guards, their battle _line consisted
of the 113th Brigade upon the left, consisting
entirely of battalions of Welsh Fusiliers, while the _


142 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
VI.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
July 31.
114th Brigade, formed from the Welsh Regiment,
was on the right. The order of the foremost
battalions taken from the left was the 16th and
13th Welsh Fusiliers, with the 13th and 10th Welsh.
The experiences of the division upon its advance
were, as might be expected, not unlike those of the
Guards. “ It was still dark,” says one graphic
correspondent, -“ and all we had to guide us was our
barrage moving forward like a living line of ﬁre,
from left to right as far as the eye could see.” The
ﬁrst objective was captured with little loss, a fair
number of prisoners being taken in the Caesar Support
Trench. In attacking the second objectives the
reserve line came through the front one, so that the
order of the troops, taken again from the left in the
114th Brigade, was the 15th and 14th Welsh, while in
the 113th Brigade, which had a less diﬂicult task,
there was a mere change of companies in the units
already engaged. The opposition now became ﬁercer
and the losses more severe. Marsouin Farm, {and
Stray Farm on the right, and the village of Pilkem.
upon the left poured bullets upon _the advancing
infantry, who slipped from shell-hole to shell-hole,
taking such cover as they could, but resolutely pushing
onwards. Again and again the machine- gun forts
were isolated, surrounded, and compelled to surrender.
The Welshmen had reached their second objective in
the scheduled time. The 15th Welsh Fusiliers were
now pushed into the ﬁring-line upon the left, and the
advance went forward. A gap had formed between
the Welshmen and the Highlanders of the Fifty-ﬁrst
Division upon their right. ~ In this gap lay Rudolph
Farm, spitting ﬁre from every cranny- and window.
A platoon' of the 15th Welsh turned aside from their


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES
143
path and captured or killed all who were in the
German post. To the immediate left of this point
lay another stronghold called Iron,Cross. This was
rushed by the 14th Welsh, at considerable loss
to themselves, but twenty of the garrison were
bayoneted, forty captured, and three machine-guns
secured. Just beyond the Iron Cross was a German
dressing-station which yielded forty more prisoners.
The 15th Welsh Fusiliers on the left had in the
meanwhile a severe ordeal, for so heavy a ﬁre poured
upon them from the clump of trees known as Battery
Copse that they were left with hardly an oﬂicer and
with their protective barrage rapidly receding into
the distance. The men were staggered for a time,
but struggled forward again with ﬁne resolution, and
CHAPTER
VI.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
July 31.
at last established themselves upon the same line as 1
Iron Cross.
Whilst the ﬁghting line had been getting forward
as described, the 113th carrying among other obstacles
the village of Pilkem, and both brigades, but especi-
ally the 114th, bursting through three separate
battalions of the famous Kaferlein regiment of the
Guards, the reserve brigade had been keeping in close
attendance in spite of the German barrage. Now two
battalions of the 115th Brigade were slipped into
the front, the 11th S.W. Borderers and the 17th
Welsh Fusiliers._ These ﬁne fresh troops took up
the running and made for the ﬁnal objective, which
was the Steenbeek stream. This was successfully
' reached, in spite of the ever-growing' resistance,
and the ﬁnal line was formed with posts upon the
farther side of the Steenbeek. Shortly after three ’
o’clock a strong counter-attack broke upon this
Welsh line, and for a time the Borderers were forced


144 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
VI.

The third
Battle pf
Ypres.
July 31.
from the post at “ Au bon'gite ” which they had
- occupied and were thrown across the river. Aided by
a good barrage of artillery and machine-guns the
attack was ﬁnally beaten off, about a hundred Germans
who had charged through the barrage being shot down
by riﬂe ﬁre. After this there was no attempt upon this
day to disturb the new front of the Welsh Division,
though upon Angust 1 in the afternoon there was some
Sign of a counter-attack, which was broken up by the
British artillery before it could, materialise. From
then onwards the weather made further operations
impossible. On August 6 the Twentieth Division
took over this new line.
The advance of the Welsh Division, including as
it did the two exploits of capturing the strongly
fortiﬁed Village of Pilkem, and of utterly Scattering
three battalions of one of the most famous regiments
V in the Prussian service, was worthy Of the great reputa-
tion which they had won at Mametz Wood. The way
in which the men followed up the barrage and tackled
the concrete forts was especially worthy of mention.
The Cockchafers mentioned above were the dandy
regiment of Berlin, and their utter defeat at the hands
of a brigade of the New Army must indeed have been ‘
bitter to thosewho remembered the cheap jests which
had been made at that Army’s expense. Four hun-
dred prisoners from this regiment found their way
to the cages. Altogether700 prisoners were taken,
nearly all Guardsmen from the Third Division.
The Welsh had about 1300 casualties, including
Colonels Radice, Norman, and Taylor. Among the
dead was one, Private Ellis H. Evans of the 15th
Welsh Fusiliers, whose position and importance
Were peculiarly Cymric, since he was the _Winner


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES
145'
of the Bardic chair, the highest honour of the Eisted-
dfod. An empty Bardic chair was afterwards erected
over his grave. It is only in Wales that the traditions
of Athens are preserved, and contests of the body and
of the mind are conducted in public with equal honour
to the victors.
To the south of Cavan’s Fourteenth Corps lay
Maxse’s Eighteenth Corps, extending from the right
of the Thirty-eighth Division to a point opposite to
the village of St. Julien. Maxse’s Eighteenth Corps
consisted of four divisions, the Fifty—ﬁrst supported by
the Eleventh being upon the left, and the Thirty-ninth
supported by the Forty-eighth upon the right. South
of the St. J ulien front they connected up with Watts’
Nineteenth Corps to the south. It should be men-
tioned that the whole corps’ front was occupied for
some weeks before the battle by the 33rd Brigade,
who at great strain and loss to themselves held this
long stretch in the face of constant gassings and
shellings, in order that the attacking divisions might
be able to practise for the day of battle.
Taking the narrative once more from the north,
the Fifty-ﬁrst Highland Territorial Division (Harper),
a unit which has seen an extraordinary amount of
service during the war, advanced with the usual
dash of these magniﬁcent clansmen. Everything went
down before their disciplined rush, There was no
particular geographical point in the area which they
conquered, but their whole front was covered by
fortiﬁed posts, some of which fell with case, while
others put up a considerable resistance. Prominent
among the latter was Rudolph Farm, which was on the
line between the Thirty—eighth and Fifty-ﬁrst Divi-
sions, pouring a ﬂanking ﬁre upon each and holding
L
CHAPTER
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146 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTE
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The third
Battle of
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July 31. i
up the left of the Fifty-ﬁrst. This post was eventu-
ally stormed by the Welsh. Finally the Highlanders,
clearing the ground carefully behind them, reached
their full day’s objective, which was the line of the
Steenbeek. Here they dug themselves in and beat
off an enemy counter-attack.
On the right of the Highland Territorial Division
was the Thirty-ninth Division, consisting of the
116th Sussex Brigade, the 117th Riﬂe and Sherwood
Foresters Brigade, and the 118th mixed Territorial
Brigade. The attack was undertakenby the 117th
Brigade upon the north in touch with the High-
landers, and the 116th upon the south. Both of
these brigades got forward in. excellent style, but
the position was strong and the losses were heavy.
Canadian Farm was taken by the 117th Brigade,
and the 116th also attained its full objective.
Finally, the spare brigade, the 118th, passed
through the ranks of the others, and fought their
way into St. Julien, where no British foot had
been placed since April 24, 1915, when the heroic
remnant of the Canadians had been cut off and
overpowered in its streets.
The operation would have been entirely successful
had it not been for the attempt to advance beyond
the village. This was carried out by the same brigade,
the 118th, with the 6th Cheshires upon the right, the
'1 st Herts in the centre, and the 4/5th Black Watch upon
the left. The Cambridge Battalion was in support.
The attack was extraordinarily gallant, but was held
up by uncut wire and very severely punished. N o
permanent gain was effected, but greater constancy
has seldom been seen. The Hertfordshire men were
particularly ﬁne. Their Colonel Page ‘and their


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES 147
adjutant were both killed, and every combatant
ofﬁcer was on the casualty list, so that it was the
serjeant-major who withdrew the 120 men who had
gone forth as a strong battalion. The doctor was
wounded, and only the chaplain was left, who dis-
tinguished himself by being the last man to recross
the Steenbeek with a wounded man slung over his
shoulder. Such was the experience of the Herts, and
that of the Cheshires and of the Highlanders differed
only 'in detail.
A counter-attack along the whole corps’ front was
beaten back upon the evening of July 31, but the
concentration of German artillery upon St. J ulien was
so terriﬁc that it was found necessary next day to
withdraw the 1st Cambs who garrisoned the village,
the adjacent bridge over the Steenbeek being retained.
Next day the village was reoccupied.
The Thirty-ninth Division, very hard hit by its
victorious but strenuous service, was relieved upon
August 4, after a terrible four days of constant rainfall
and shell-fall, by the Forty-eighth South Midland
Territorial Division, while a [few days later their
Highland comrades were relieved by the Eleventh
Division. So battered was the Thirty-ninth Division
that it was taken forthwith out of the line and its
place in the corps was ﬁlled by the Fifty-eighth.
To return to the‘order of the advance, Watts’
Nineteenth Corps, which was the next one to the south,
consisted of the Fifty-ﬁfth West Lancashire Terri-
torials with the Thirty-sixth Ulsters upon the left,
while the Fifteenth Scottish Division supported by
the Fourteenth Light Division were on the right.
Of these we will deal ﬁrst with the attack of the men
of Lancashire.
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148 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
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The third
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July 31.
The advance was made by the 166th Brigade
upon the left, and by the 165th upon the right.
The ﬁrst German line was rapidly carried, and
the only serious ﬁghting was at the strong point
known as Pommern Redoubt, which held out for
some time but was eventually captured about 10 A.M.
The 166th Brigade, which covered the space between
St. J ulien in the north and the Wieltje—Gravenstafel
Road in the south, was led by the 5th King’s Royal
Lancasters and the 5th North Lancashires, while the
165th Brigade, with their left upon the road and their
right in touch with the Fifteenth Division, were
composed entirely of battalions of the King’s Liverpool
Regiment, the 5th and 6th in front, the 7th and 9th
in the second line. This brigade upon being counter-
attacked used its liquid ﬁre apparatus with good
results. “ From under the mantle of ﬁre ran blazing
Huns with heartrending cries, but I cannot say we had
any sympathy for them. We remembered John
Lynn and the other Lancashire lads who had been
gassed and roasted round Ypres in the battles of
other days, and we felt that the Huns were only being'
paid back in their own coin.” The losses in the ﬁrst
stages of the advance were not severe and came
chieﬂy from the machine-gun ﬁre of the three strong-
holds of Bank Farm, Spree Farm, . and POmmern
Castle. The latter was very formidable, spouting
bullets on three sides, so that the 165th Brigade was
held up by it for a time. In the second stage of the
attack the 164th Brigade with the 4th North
Lancashires on their right and the 5th Lanes
Fusiliers upon their left pushed through the ranks of
their comrades and carried the advance on, taking
Hindu .Cott and Gallipoli, and ﬁnally reaching the


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES .
149
most advanced objective, whence they pushed out
patrols to Toronto and Aviatik Farms. They were
exposed to strong counter-attacks as will be shown.
This fine advance had been matched by Reed’s
Fifteenth Scots Division on the right. Of their
conduct that day it can only be said that it was
worthy of the reputation which they had gained at
Loos and at the Somme. The Scottish bands who
fought under Gustavus Adolphus in the Thirty Years’
War left a renown in Germany which lingers yet, and
it is certain that some memory of the terrible “ Hell-
hags,” as they were called by the German soldiers,
will preserve the record of Scotch military prowess so
long as any of their adversaries are alive to speak
of it. Two brigades led the advance, the 44th
upon the right and the 46th upon the left. As
in the case of the Lancashire men upon their left
- the ﬁrst stages of the attack were easy. On getting
past the German line, however, the full blast of ﬁre
struck the infantry from Douglas Villa, Frezenberg
Redoubt, Pommern Castle, Low Farm, Frost House,
and Hill 37. By ten o’clock, however, the second
objectives had been taken. The 45th Brigade
now pushed through, and though held up on the
right by Bremen Redoubt, they attained the
full objective upon the left, and kept in close touch
with the 164th Brigade. The position, however, was
perilous and, as it proved, impossible, for Watts’
Corps was now well ahead of either of its neighbours.
About two o’clock a violent German drive struck up
against the exposed ﬂank of the Fifty-ﬁfth Division,
causing great losses, especially to the 4th Royal
Lancasters, some of whom were cut off. Another
counter-attack beat against the left" of the enfeebled
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150 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
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The third
Battle of
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July 31.
45th Brigade. As a result the remains of the four
front line battalions were. pushed back some hundreds
of yards, but at 5 P.M. the edge was taken off the
attack and the German infantry were seen to be re-
tiring. About 1 P.M. next day this attack was renewed
down the line of the Ypres—Roulers Railway, and
again the Fifteenth Division bore a heavy strain which
forced it back once to the Frezenberg Ridge, but again
it ﬂooded forward and reoccupied its line. So severe
had been the exertions and the losses of these two
divisions that they were drawn out of the line as soon
as possible, their places being taken by the 36th
Ulsters upon the left and the ,16th Irish upon the
right. . .
We now come to Jacob’s Second Corps lying to the
south of the Nineteenth with its left resting upon the
Ypres—Roulers Railway. It contained no less than
ﬁve divisions, three of which were in the line and two
in support. Those in the line, counting from the
north, were the Eighth Regular Division with its
left on the railway and its right at Sanctuary Wood,
the Thirtieth Lancashire Division in the centre, and
the Twenty-fourth Division opposite Shrewsbury
Forest with its right resting upon the Zillebeke—
Zandvoorde Road. In support was the Twenty-ﬁfth
Division upon the left, and the Eighteenth Division
upon the right. ' ' "
The Eighth Division advanced upon a two-
brigade front, the 23rd upon the left and the 24th
upon the right. Many strong posts including several
woods faced the assailants, and from the begin-
ning the resistance was very obstinate. None the
less, in spite of numerous checks and delays, the
advance was carried forward for half a mile and


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES 151
captured the whole of the front line trenches without
much loss, for the German barrage was slow and late
whereas the British artillery support was excellent.
Indeed it may be remarked that one of the features
of the battle was the remarkable preparation by which
General Jacob, with the aid of his two artillery
leaders, managed to place nearly a- thousand
pieces into a line which .was fully exposed to
CHAPTER
V1.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
July 31.
enemy observation. It was done at a considerable '
loss of men and guns, but it was absolutely essential
to the advance. '
The low rising called the Bellewaarde Ridge was
' the ﬁrst objective of the division and was easily taken.
The two magniﬁcent Regular brigades swept onwards
with a perfect order which excited the admiration of
spectators. As they passed over the curve of the
ground they came into heavy ﬁre from the farther
rise near Westhoek, but it neither slowed nor quickened
their gait. Hooge, Bellewaarde Lake, The White
Chateau, all the old landmarks were passed. .When
‘ the full objective had been reached after more than
half a mile of steady advance the 25th Brigade
passed through the ranks of their comrades and
carried on until, as they neared Westhoek, they ran
into a very heavy ﬂank ﬁre from Glencorse Wood in
the south. This was in the area of the southern
division, so that the 25th Brigade were aware that
their ﬂank was open and that the Thirtieth Division
had not come abreast of them. They halted therefore
1 just to the west of Westhoek, and as their ﬂank
remained open all day they had to content themselVes
With consolidating the ground that they had won
and beating back two counter-attacks. The left of‘
the division kept their station well forward upon the


152
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CHAPTER
VI.

The third
Battle of
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July 81.
Ypres—Roulers Railway, with their left in close touch
with the Scotsmen to the north. The division was
relieved next day by the Twenty -ﬁfth Division.
All the battalions had done great things in the
action, but some specially ﬁne work Was put in by the
1st Sherwood Foresters upon the left of the advance
of the 24th Brigade. At one point it was necessary
to cut through wire whichheld up the advance, and
the gallantry of the wire-cutting detachment was such
that the dying continued to snip at the strands, while
even the dead contrived to fall forward in an attempt
to screen with their bodies their living comrades.
The losses were very heavy, but the historic old 45th
Foot, the “ Old Stubborns” Of the Peninsula, never
in its long career carried through more gallantly in
so ﬁerce a ﬁght. The 2nd N orthamptons also in-
creased their high reputation upon this arduous day,
during which they took many prisoners.
The Thirtieth Division, which consisted, as will be
remembered, to a large extent of “ Pal” battalions
from Liverpool and Manchester, advanced to the
south of the.Eighth. Sanctuary Wood and other
strong points lay in front of the 90th and 21st
Brigades which provided the ﬁrst lines of stormers.
The resistance was strong, the ﬁre was heavy, and
the losses were considerable, so that the assail-
ants were held up and were unable to do more than
carry the front trenches, whence they repulsed re-
peated counter-attacks during the rest of the day.
In the initial advance the 2nd Scots Fusiliers, that
phoenix of a battalion, so Often destroyed and so often
renewed, wandered in the dusk of the morning away
from its allotted path and got as far north as Chateau
Wood in the path of the 24th Brigade. This caused


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES
153
some dislocation of the front line, but the Manchester
men on the right of the Scots pushed on and struck
the Menin Road as far forward as Clapham Junction.
The 21st Brigade in the meantime had to pass a
great deal of difﬁcult woody ground and met so much
opposition that they lost the barrage, that best friend
of the stormer. Bodmin Copse was reached, but few
penetrated to the eastern side of it. The strong point
of Stirling Castle was, however, taken by the Man-
chesters of the 90th. It was the line of Dumbarton
Lakes which proved fatal to the advance, and
though two battalions of the 89th and ﬁnally
the, East Anglians of the 53rd Brigade from
the supporting Eighteenth Division were thrown
into the ﬁght, the'latter winning forward for seme
distance, they found that it was ﬁnally rather a
question of holding ground than gaining it.
ultimate line, therefore, was across from Clapham
Junction. Since neither of the divisions on either
_ side was in any way held up, save perhaps at one
point, it is probable that the southern advance would
have been more successful but for the limited advance
of the Thirtieth Division.
Upon August 2, much exhausted, they were
drawn out of the line and the Eighteenth Division
took their place, and held the Clapham Junction and
Glencorse Wood, which their own 53rd Brigade
_ had largely been instrumental in winning, against
repeated attacks. _
Upon the right of the Thirtieth Division was the
Twenty-fourth, a famous ﬁghting unit which was
the only division able to boast that it had been
present at Vimy Ridge, Messines, and Ypres—three
great battles in the one year. The ground in front
The
CHAPTER
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The third
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July 31.


154 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
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The third
Battle of
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July 31.
of this division was broken and woody, including
Shrewsbury Forest and other natural obstacles. None
the less good progress was made, especially upon the
right, while the left was only retarded by the fact
of the limited advance in the north. The advance
was made upon a three—brigade front, the 17th
upon the left, the 73rd in the centre, and the
72nd upon the right. The 17th, advancing with
that ﬁne battalion the 3rd Riﬂe Brigade alone
in the front line, carried all before it at ﬁrst,
but found both ﬂanks exposed and was compelled
to halt. The 73rd, led by the 2nd Leicesters and the
7th Northamptons, were held up by a strong point
called Lower Star Post in front of them. On the
right the 72nd, with the 8th Queen’s and the North
Staﬁords in the lead, gained the house called the
Grunenburg Farm, which marked the line of their
immediate objective. There they dug in and held
ﬁrmly, connecting up with the left of Plumer’s Army
to the south. Several unsuccessful counter-attacks
were made in the succeeding days upon this point,
in one of which on August 5 Colonel de la Fontaine
of the 9th East Surreys was killed.
If the attack of the Second Corps upon this and
other occasions met with limited success, it is to be
remembered that the long clear slope leading to
Glencorse and Inverness Woods upon either side of
the Menin Road represented as impossible a terrain ‘
for an advancing force as could be imagined. When _
ﬁnally these woods were won, ofﬁcers who stood
among the tree-stumps and looked back were amazed
to think that such ground could have been taken,
and were ﬁlled with surprise that the Ypres salient
could have been held so long under an observation


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES 155
from which nothing could be concealed. When such
positions are held by troops which have a world-wide
reputation, in concrete fortiﬁcations, one should be
surprised, not that the assailants should have failures
but that they should have the dour resolution which
brought them at last to success. -
All the four corps already mentioned, covering the
front ﬁom the junction with the French in the north
to Shrewsbury Forest in the south, belonged to
Gough’s Fifth Army. Of Plumer’s Second Army only
'a portion of the extreme left, consisting of Morland’s
Tenth Corps, was engaged upon July 31. The ﬂank
unit, the Forty-ﬁrst English Division, was in
the front line opposite Basseville, with the New
Zealanders upon their right. There was no intention
-to advance the line to any distance in this locality,
but the whole task assigned to the troops was
_completely carried' out, and the front was pushed
forward until it was level with the right of the
Twenty- fourth Division. It has been explained
by Sir Douglas Haig,- however, that the attack in
this quarter had' never any serious intentions, and
that it was in the nature of a feint in order to dis-
tribute the German reserve of men and guns. None
the less the ground captured by the 123rd Brigade
of the Forty-ﬁrst Division represented a substantial
gain, including the village of Hollebeke and all the
broken and difﬁcult country to the north of the bend
of the Ypres—Comines Canal and east of Battle Wood.
The advance along this portion of the front varied
from 200 to 300 yards, while the New Zealanders at
the right of the line covered the short area assigned
to them in their usual workmanlike fashion, taking
after a short ﬁght the hamlet of La Basseville. On
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July 31.


156 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
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The third
Battle of
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July 31.
the right Of the New Zealanders were the Australians,
whose movement, in accordance with the general
plan was a small one, including the capture of a
ruined Windmill opposite their position. This was
captured, retaken, and captured once again in a
spirited little ﬁght, and August 1 saw more ﬁghting
in this sector under very trying conditions of weather
and ground.
We have now brieﬂy reviewed the work of each
of the twelve divisions which were in line upon the
31st of July. In some places success was absolute,
in some it was partial, in none was there failure.
Speaking generally it may be said that the Thirty-
ninth, Fifty-ﬁrst, Welsh, and Guards, had captured
their full objectives, including the Villages of St.
J ulien, Pilkem, and the Pilkem Ridge; that the Fifty-
ﬁfth and Fifteenth had carried the ﬁrst and second
lines, with the villages of Verlorenhoek and Frezenberg
and the all-important ridge; ﬁnally that the units
upon their right had captured the German ﬁrst lines,
including Hooge, 'Hollebeke, Stirling Castle, and a
line of woods. Apart from the gain of important
and dominant positions, 6000 prisoners and 133
ofﬁcers were taken, together with 25 guns, exclusive
of those which had been captured by General Antoine
to the north. The progress of the French had
been admirable, and they had not only reached
their full objectives but had gone beyond them
and seized the village of Bixschoote, driving back
one severe German counter-attack which surged
up to the point of junction between them and the
Guards. With such results the ﬁrst day of the third
Battle of Ypres was undoubtedly a British victory,
but it was a victory which was absolutely complete


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES 157
in the north, and incomplete in the south. Only one CHArm
British disaster occurred during the day, and that VI‘
was in the appearance of that constant and formidable gal???
ally of the Central Powers, the autumn rain. That Ypres.
night it began, and for many weeks it continued in My 31-
a dreary downpour upon a land which at the best of
times is water—laden and soft. For two months to
come it may be said that operations were really
impossible, and that if they were occasionally driven
forward by the ﬁery determination of the British
leaders, they were undertaken at such a desperate
disadvantage that large results were out of the
question. Impassable mud and unfordable craters
covered the. whole German front, and a swimming
collar might well have been added to those many
appliances with which the patient British soldier was
already burdened.


CHAPTER
VII.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
_ Aug. 1 to
Sept. 6.
CHAPTER VII
THE THIRD BATTLE or YPRES
r August 1 to September 6
Dreadful weather—German reaction—Attack of August 16—Advance
of Cavan’s Corps—Capture of Langemarck—Dreadful losses of
the two Irish Divisions—Failure in the south—’Splendid ﬁeld-'
gunners—The Forty-second Division upon September 6.
FROM the evening of July 31 till that‘of August 1,
there were intermittent and sporadic German attacks
along the whole of the new line, which were the more
dangerous as the wretched weather made it im-
possible for the aircraft to operateandthe artillery
support was therefore unreliable. None the less, the
wet and weary infantry huddling in the puddles and
ditches were not to be forced back. Only at St.
Julien, as already described, was there a temporary
loss of ground. In this. quarter, the Thirty-ninth
Division, especially the 118th Brigade, sustained very
heavy losses, some _of the battalions being almost
annihilated for military purposes. For days in suc—
cession they lay in improvised trenches sodden and
cold in the pitiless rain, and when the rising waters
drove them out they were shot down by the enemy.
None the less, the ground was held and the abandoned
village was regained.
158


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES 159
Another point at which the German reaction was
particularly severe upon August 1 was near Bremen
Redoubt and the Roulers Railway. Here at 3.30 P.M.
the enemy attacked with great valour, the blow
falling chieﬂy upon the 24th Brigade on the left of
the Eighth and the 44th on the right of the Fifteenth
Divisions. The 10th Gordons, 2nd Northamptons,
and 1st Sherwood Foresters were for a time ﬁghting
for their lives, the regimental staff of the Gordons
having to defend the burrow which served as Head-
quarters. The 7th Camerons were also engaged in
this desperate conﬂict which was fought ankle-deep
in mud~ and under driving rain-clouds. Finally a
body of Highlanders under Captain Geddes of the
Gordons made so ﬁerce a charge that the Germans
were driven back and abandoned the attempt in
despair. Their advance, however, had been so sudden
and so ﬁerce that there was a time when the line was
in grave danger. Captain Symon of the Camerons
did great work also in the charge which turned the
tide. Both Geddes and Symon were decorated for
their valour.
.From the ﬁrst day of the battle the front had
been quiet in the sector of the Second Corps, save
for constant reciprocal bombardments, the Germans
'-endeavouring to hinder consolidation, while the
British prepared for an advance upon Glencorse and
Inverness Woods. Upon August 10 an attempt was
made to carry the line forward, the Twenty-ﬁfth
Division advancing upon the left opposite to Westhoek
and the Eighteenth Division coming forward upon
' the right. The operation was a local one, but was
attended with some success, the Twenty-ﬁfth reaching
their full objective and occupying the village of
CHAPTER
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The third
Battle of
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Aug. 1 to '
Sept. 6.


160 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
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The third
Battle of
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Aug. 1 to
Sept. 6.
Westhoek. This attack was carried out by the
74th Brigade, and was a model operation of the
kind. Westhoek itself was rushed by the 2nd Irish
Riﬂes, but the 11th Lancashire Fusiliers on the
north did equally well, ﬁghting their way to the
advanced line 'and capturing several houses with
their garrisons. The 9th North Lancashires had also
a very ﬁne day’s work, but the 13th Cheshires, coming
up in support, lost heavily from the barrage which
had been too Slow to catch the main attack. None
the less the survivors made their way to the extreme
line, where they joined up with some 7th Bedfords
from the 54th Brigade to the south, and held a
covering ﬂank so as to block any attack upon West-
hoek. The Cheshires did particularly well in this
strenuous day’s work, they and the Fusiliers having
repeated hand-to-hand ﬁghts with the German
counter-attacks. At one time a body of the Cheshires
were quite out oﬂ, but they held their own with
determined bravery until their comrades rescued
them. The Eighteenth Division were held up by the
heavy ﬂanking ﬁre from Inverness Copse. The left
of the advance got into the south-western edge of
Glencorse Wood, touching the 74th Brigade south
of Westhoek, but the right brigade could not get
farther than the road east of Stirling Castle. On the
whole, however, it was a good advance, and in the
meantime the TWenty-fourth Division had drawn
closer to Lower Star Post,'the obstinate strong point
which had held up the 73rd Brigade upon July 31.
The Germans showed their resentment at these new
advances by ﬁve counter-attacks on the evening of
August 10, all of which, especially the last, were
strongly pressed. These attacks were most strongly


162 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CKAPTEB
VIL

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Aug. 1 to
Sept. 6.
caste with its codes of honour and appeals to violence
can exceed the quiet courage of those civilian gentle-
men who undertook the leading of our new armies.
Six ﬁeld—guns with 8 ofﬁcers and 300 men Were
taken in this Westhoek operation. The enemy
consisted of the German Fifty - fourth Reserve
Division, and all accounts agree that both in
defence and in counter-attack their conduct was
admirable.
The ground was still very wet and the conditions
deplorable, but the advance must be continued at all
costs if the preparations were not to be thrown away
and winter to ﬁnd us still within the old pent-house
of Ypres. By_the end of the second week in August
the higher ground was beginning to dry, thoughthe
bogs in between were already hardly passable.
One more fortnight would be invaluable, but Sir
Douglas could not afford to waste another day.
Upon August 16 the advance was renewed.
As the original attack had been from a concavity
which was almost a semicircle, and as it had, en-
croached upon the German area round the whole
circumference, the result was that the front was now
too large for simultaneous attack, and the whole of the
units of Plumer’s Army which had formerly taken part
in the battle were now to the south of the storm-area.
The line of battle extended from the French positions
in the north down to the north-west corner of Inver-
ness Wood. Along this line the four corps of Cavan
_ (Fourteenth), Maxse (Eighteenth), Watts (Nineteenth),
and Jacob (Second), were extended in their former
order. In each case the divisions which had borne
the brunt of July 31 were now in support, while the
old supporting divisions were in the line. > As before,


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES
163 '
we will take the corps in their order from the north,
premising that after the usual heavy bombardment
the attack began at 4.45 in the morning. I
'Of the French upon the extreme left of the line
it can only be said that they did all and more than
they were- asked to do. With the grand, swift dash
which is the characteristic of their infantry they
stormed the various fortiﬁed farms along the line of
CHAPTER
VII.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Aug. 1 to
Sept. 6.
the Steenbeek, though some of them held out long'
after the main lines of our Allies had passed them.
The two ends of the Bridge which crosses the stream
at the village of Drie-Grachten were secured, and the
whole of the peninsula made good.
The frOnt of Cavan’s Fourteenth Corps was
formed by the grand old Twenty-ninth Division
upon the left, and the Twentieth Light Division,
the heroes of many ﬁghts, upon the right. Both
divisions lived up to their highest that day, which
means that many a brave man died at his
highest to carry on the record. On the whole,
the Mebus or pill-boxes, the new German- concrete
forts, were less effective in the north than in the
south, which may have depended upon the general .
lie of the country which gave them a shorter area
of ﬁre. Small bedies of brave men—sometimes a
single brave man—managed to get up to them and
to silence them by hurling a sudden bomb through
the porthole from which the gun protruded.
The advance of the Twenty-ninth Division was
begun by crossing in the early dawn the bridges
thrown over the Steenbeek. Starting from the line
of the stream, the advanced mud-beplastered lines,
extending as they crossed country, coalescing as they
concentrated upon any obstacle, moved swiftly for-


164 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
VII.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Aug. 1 to
Sept. 6.
\
wards to their objectives, which were taken in their
entirety. Passerelle Farm was carried by the veterans
of the Twenty-ninth, and so was Martin’s Mill upon
the right, many prisoners being sent to the rear.
Another heave took them across the grass-grown lines
of the abandoned railway and on into the hamlet of
Wijdendrift, the line being established well to the
north-east of that place.
Whilst the Twenty-ninth Division had made this
ﬁne advance upon the left, the Twentieth had done
equally well upon the right, and had ended their
brilliant attack by storming after a short but Sharp
contest the village of Langemarck, that old battle
centre of 1914.
The start of the attack was as ﬁne as its execution, -
for the two brigades were marshalled into their
positions in pitch darkness upon ground which was
bewildering in its badness, close under the untaken
redoubt of Au Bon Gite, whose garrison at any
moment might give the alarm. So silent was the
operation that the enemy was utterly ignorant of it,
though they kept up a continual machine-gun ﬁre
all night which made the assemblage even more
difﬁcult. In the early dawn the German fort was
rushed by two companies of the 11th Riﬂe Brigade
under Captain Slade.
Then keeping within thirty yards of the barrage
the attack moved forward as best it might through
the swamps. The 60th Brigade was on the right
and the 61st upon the left. The latter had never
yet failed to carry its objective, and now it surged
through the village or Langemarck and out at
the farther side. The 12th King’s Liverpool with
the 7th Battalion Of the Sussex, Durham, and


Drie-Grachten


Wijdendrift
Langemarck Zonnebeke
Redoubt Glencorse
Hill 37 E
Pommern Iberian
French 29 2O 11 48 36 16 8 56‘
XIV XVIII XIX II
LINE OF BATTLE
August 16, 1917


166 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER.
VII. '

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Aug. 1 to
Sept. 6.
Yorkshire Light Infantry were the heroes of this
exploit. The German colonel commanding the 3rd
Battalion 261st Regiment, and a crowd of very
shaken prisoners from the 79th Prussian Reserve
Division were picked out of the ruins. On the right
the 60th Brigade had made an equally ﬁne advance,
the King’s Royal Riﬂes being on the ﬂank in touch
with the 12th King’s Liverpool, with the 6th Shrop-
shires on their right, while the 6th Oxford and Bucks
cleared up the numerous pill-boxes at Au Bon Gite
on the banks of the Steenbeek. There were many
casualties in the advance, including Colonel Prioleau
of the Riﬂe Brigade, caused chieﬂy by the ﬁre of the '
murderous Mebus which studded the ground. These
were engaged by small groups of men, specially
trained for the work, who frequently, by their cool,
purposeful courage, succeeded in silencing what would
seem to be an impenetrable stronghold. Sergeant
Cooper of the Riﬂes attacked one of these places
with_twelve men, and had his whole party shot down.
None the less, he closed with it, and ﬁring through
- the loop-hole with a borrowed revolver, he caused the
surrender of the garrison of forty men with seven
guns, winning his V.C. Such deeds were done all
along the line, and without them the advance must
have been held up. Finally the 60th Brigade estab-
lished themselves upon the line of Lan-gemarck, in
touch with the captors of the village, but in the late
afternoon a heavy German attack broke in between
the King’s LiverpOols and the Riﬂes, annihilating the
left ﬂank Company of the latter battalion, which
fought desperately to the end under Captain Dove,
who was among those who fell. .So critical was the
situation at one time that a defensive ﬂank 200 yards


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES 167
in length was held by an oﬂicer and ﬁfteen men, with
hardly any cartridges in their pouches. Touch was
kept, however, between the two Brigades, and before
evening they had dug in and consolidated the new
position. There had been victory along all this front,
and by sunset the whole of the objectives of the
Fourteenth Corps, with the exception of a small
length of trench to the north-east of Langemarck,
were in the hands of Cavan’s infantry. ~
Maxse’s Eighteenth Corps was formed by the
Eleventh Division upon the left, and the Forty-
eighth South Midland Territorials upon the right.
The advance was over the Langemarck—Zonne-
CHAPTER
VII.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Aug. 1 to
Sept. 6.
beke Road, and on over broken ‘ Mebus-studded .
country with no village nor even any farm-house
to give a name and dignity to the considerable
gain of ground. The advance was, though not
complete, of great tactical importance, as it screened
the ﬂank of the successful corps in the North.
Brilliant success had marked the operations of the
Fourteenth Corps, and modiﬁed success those of the
Eighteenth. In the case of the four gallant divisions
which formed the front of the Nineteenth and Second
Corps, it can hardly be said that they had any gains,
while their losses were always heavy, and in some
cases simply disastrous. Yet, conditions of weather,
and ground and position being what they were, it was
impossible to impute a shadow of blame to ofﬁcers or
men, who faced a diﬂicult and often an impossible
task with the spirit of heroes. To show how desperate
that task was, and the extraordinary punishment
which was endured by the infantry, the narrative
of the Sixteenth and Thirty-sixth Divisions which
formed Watts’ Corps may be told at greater length.


168 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER The Sixteenth which is treated ﬁrst was on the right
VII' of the Corps in the Frezenberg sector of the attack.
gal??? This division, which had occupied under torrential
YPres. rain and heavy ﬁre the Frezenberg Ridge since
as: am August 4, was much exhausted before the advance
began. The losses had fallen mainly upon the 47th
Brigade, which had held the line, but the attacking
brigades which now took its place were by no means
immune. On the day before the battle, Brigadier-
General Leveson-Gower of the 49th Brigade and
practically all his staff became casualties from gas
poisoning, and the command had to be taken over
by the CD. of the Irish Fusiliers. So heavy was
the pressure upon the division that 107 ofﬁcers and
1900 men were on the casualty lists before the advance
had begun. None the less, the spirit of the troops
was high, and all were eager for the 'clash. On August
16 the attack was made at 4-45 in the morning, the
Thirty-sixth North of Ireland Division being on the
left and the Eighth upon the right of the Sixteenth
Division. It was upon a two-brigade front, the 48th
being on the right and the 49th upon the left. So
difﬁcult were the conditions that it was only a quarter
of an hour before zero that the concentration was
complete, most of the troops being more ﬁt for a rest
than for a battle. _
The line of advance was formed by the 7th Irish
Riﬂes and 9th Dublin Fusiliers upon the right, while
the 7th and 8th Inniskilling Fusiliers were on the left.
At the signal they went forward over very heavy
ground, the barrage slowing down to ﬁve minutes
per hundred yards. We shall ﬁrst follow the right
attack.
Both the Irish Riﬂes and the Dublin Fusiliers


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES
169
- found themselves at once within the sweep of numerous
machine-guns which caused very heavy casualties.
The Riﬂes for a time were in touch with the 2nd
Middlesex of the Eighth Division upon their right,
but the latter got caught in their own barrage with the
result that it had to fall back. The Riﬂes, who had
lost practically every oﬁcer, moved down the railway
and across the Hannebeek, but were so reduced in
number that it was not possible for the few survivors
to hold the German counter-attack advancing about
4 RM. from Zonnebeke. The Dublin Fusiliers, who
had wilted under a heavy enﬁlade ﬁre from Vampire
Farm and Bremen Redoubt, were in equally bad case,
and all ofﬁcers and orderlies who tried to get forward
to the assaulting companies were killed or wounded.
Two companies of the 2nd Dublin Fusiliers which
came up in support shared in the catastrophe and were
practically annihilated. Of one company two ofﬁcers
and three men survived unscathed. Of another one
non~commissioned ofﬁcer and ten men. Such ﬁgures
will show the absolute devotion with which the Irish-
men stuck to their work and are not, so far as can be
known, exceeded by any losses endured by consider-
able units during the war. Some of these scattered
remains lay out until the evening of August 17,
endeavouring to hold a new line, until after dusk
they fell back to the trenches from which they had
started.
On the left the Inniskilling Fusiliers got away in
ﬁne style with the 7/8th Irish Fusiliers in close
support moving so swiftly that they avoided the
German barrage. Beck House and other strong
points were rapidly taken. A fort named Borry
Farm upon the right could not be reduced, however,
CHAPTER.
VII.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Aug. 1 to
Sept. 6.


170 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
VII.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Aug. 1 to
Sept. 6.
and its ﬁve machine-guns raked the advancing lines.
Three separate attacks upon the concrete emplace-
ments of this position all ended in failure. Part of
the attacking force remained in front of the untaken
position, while another portion passed it on the north
side working on to, the neighbourhood of Zevenkote.
At this side there had been more success as the 7th
Inniskillings had taken Iberian Trench and con-
solidated it. Thence they moved forward to the
eminence called Hill 37, but met with heavy blasts
of ﬁre from that position and from Zonnebeke. The
enemy now counter-attacked from Hill 37, and as
the left ﬂank of the Inniskillings was entirely exposed,
since they had outrun the Ulster men upon their left,
they were forced to retire to a position at Delva Farm.
This was untenable, however, since both ﬂanks were
now exposed, so the whole line fell back to Iberian
Trench. This, however, proved to be also impossible
to hold on account of the truly terrible losses. In the
whole force in that quarter of the ﬁeld only one '
ofﬁcer seems to have been left standing. Both the
8th Fusiliers upon the right and the Ulster men upon
the left had retired, and by 9.30 A.M. there was no
, alternative for the shattered remnants of the 49th
Brigade but to seek the shelter of their own line,
while the 6th Connaughts and 7th Leinsters were
brought up to support them. Of the 7th Inniskillings
there were left one wounded ofﬁcer and no formed
body of men at all, while no other battalion of the
brigade was of greater strength than half a company.
It was indeed a dreadful day in all this Southern
section of the line. The losses had been so heavy
that no further attack could be organised, and in
spite of the fact that scattered men were still lying


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES
171
out, it was impossible to form a new line. Upon the
night of August 17 the Fifteenth Division came
forward again to relieve the exhausted but heroic
infantry, who had done all that men could do,
and more than men could be expected to do, but
all in vain. .
Nor had their brother Irishmen of the Thirty-sixth
Division upon their left any better fortune. The
failure of one division may always be due to some
inherentweakness of its own, but when four divisions
in line, of the calibre of the Thirty-sixth, Sixteenth,
Eighth, and Fifty-sixth all fail, then it can clearly
be said, as on the ﬁrst day of the Somme Battle, that
they were faced by the impossible. This impossible
obstacle took the immediate form of many concrete
gun emplacements arranged chequer-wise across the
front, each holding ﬁve guns. But the contributory
causes in the case of all the divisions except the
Fifty-sixth was their long exposure in dreadful
weather to a sustained bombardment which would
have shaken the nerves of any troops in the world,
apart from thinning their ranks. In the Sixteenth
Division a10ne 1200 men were under treatment for
trench fever and swollen. feet, besides the heavy
losses from shell ﬁre.
The fortunes of the Thirty-sixth Ulster Division
were in all ways similar to those of the-Sixteenth.
There was the same initial advance, the same ex-
CHAPTER
VII.
The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Aug. 1 to
Sept. 6.
perience of devastating ﬁre from concrete strong '
points, the same slaughter, and the same retreat
of a few survivors over ground which was dotted
with the bodies of their comrades. Upon the
right the attack was urged by the 108th Brigade
with the 9th Irish Fusiliers upon the right and


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES
175_-
following up the ﬁrst line and reducing a number of
strong points which had been left untaken. The
losses among the stormers were heavy, but the results
were substantial and there were some hundreds of
prisoners. Especially ﬁne during this and subsequent
actions was the conduct of the ﬁeld-gunners, British,
Canadian, and Australian, who habitually worked their
guns in the open with their horses in attendance,
changing positions, advancing and unlimbering in the
good old fashion with no attempt at camouﬂage, and
deﬁant of the German shells or aeroplanes. The team-
drivers had little to do in the war up to now, but when
their chance came they and their gallant horses went
through the barrage and the poison clouds as if they
were no more than London fogs. The admiration of
the gunners for each other was mutual.- Mr. Bean,
the Australian chronicler, narrates how a British
artillery Major complimented the neighbouring
Australian battery saying: “ We could not believe
you could carry on in such a ﬁre ” : to which the
Australian Major replied: “ Well, do you know, we
were thinking exactly the same thing about you.”
Of such are the ties of Empire.
On August 22 the Fourteenth Division carried out
an attack upon Glencorse and Inverness Woods,
going over the top at 7 A.M. The 42nd Brigade
was on the left facing Glencorse, the 43rd upon
the right facing Inverness. The light infantry bat-
talions went forWard in ﬁne style, the 5th Shrop~
shires and 6th Cornwalls- upon the left carryng
all before them and attaining their full'objective,
which was strictly limited in its extent. This
was held and consolidated. The 6th Somersets
and 10th Durhams went forward on the right, but the
CHAPTER
VII.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Aug. 1 to
Sept. 6.


176 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
VII.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Aug. 1 to
Sept. 6.
ﬁghting was severe and the progress slow. None the
less it was sure, and before evening the greater part
of Inverness Copse was in the hands of these four
battalions, together with nearly 200 prisoners. An
attempt next morning, August 23, to capture Fitz-
Clarence Farm, just north of Inverness Copse, though
supported by three tanks, was not a success, two of
the tanks being hit by gun-ﬁre and the third reaching
the Farm without any infantry at its heels. At the
same time a counter-attack upon the 5th Shropshires
was beaten back by riﬂe ﬁre. On the next day there
was still heavy ﬁghting in this sector, for the Germans
could not bear to give up this wood, and made many
attempts to regain it. The 42nd Brigade held every
inch of their line in Glencorse, but the 43rd were
pushed back to the western edge of Inverness where
they held on. -
There had been a slight forward movement upon
each side of the Fourteenth Division during these
three days of battle, the Forty-seventh Division taking
an advanced line in the north, while the steadfast
Twenty-fourth, still in the line of battle, came forward
in the south. The 17th Brigade upon the right of the
Fourteenth Division guarded its ﬂank during the
advance, and a dashing exploit was performed by
one of its oﬂicers, Lieutenant Stonebanks of the 1st
Royal Fusiliers, who took a strong point with its
garrison by a sudden attack, so gaining his cross.
Among the other operations which. were carried
out between the larger engagements in the hope of
improving the local position were a series which
covered the ground from Fortuin in the north to the
south of the Roulers Railway. This point, which
was still occupied by the Nineteenth Corps, was


THE THIRD BATTLE 013‘ anns 171
covered upon the left by the Sixty-ﬁrst Division, 0116;?“
a second line English Territorial unit, which faced '
Hill 35, while on the right the Fifteenth Division had £23315?
come back into the battle once more. These two Ypres-
divisions made two advances upon August 22 and k“
upon August 27 in an endeavour to enlarge their
front, but neither was successful. Early in September
the Forty-second Division, which had returned
with a considerable reputation from Gallipoli, took
the place of the hard-worked Fifteenth. Upon
September _6 they again endeavoured to get forward,
but the fact that Hill 37 on their left ﬂank had not
been taken proved fatal to their advance. The ground
was swept from this position of vantage so that
when the Forty-Second Division went forward upon
' September 6 to try and storm the line of farms,
Iberian, Beck, and Borry, which lay in front of them,
they were smitten on their. left ﬂank by this deadly
ﬁre and suffered heavy losses—~the more heavy '
because with heroic tenacity they held to their task
long after its failure was inevitable. The 125th
Brigade showed an intrepidity in this attack which
in any former war would have been historical, but
in this prolonged exhibitionv of human and military
virtue does but take its place among many as good.
The 5th and 6th Lancashire Fusiliers who led the
stormers had practically ceased to exist after the
action, while the 7th and 8th in support had heavy
losses. The general lesson of such attacks would
seem to be here, as on the Somme, thatit is better to
“wait for a general advance in order to rectify in-
equalities of the line, rather than to approach them
by local attacks—also that an untaken strong point
upon the ﬂank is absolutely fatal ,to any isolated
N


178
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
VII.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Aug. 1 to
Sept. 6.
effort. From this time onwards the line was quiet,
making preparation for the great coming attack.
On the rest of the Allied battle-line the principal
event of August was a successful Italian attack
upon the home Front beginning upon August 19,
which not only gained ground but brought in no less
than 20,000 prisoners. On the Verdun Front upon
August 20 the French had a ﬁne little victory,
winning back the last remains of what they had lost
in the great struggle, and taking over 5000 prisoners.
Since April 9 the Allied gains in prisoners had been
British 45,000, French 43,000, Italians 40,000,
Russians 33,000. The British at this date held 102,000
Germans as against 43,000 British prisoners held by .
the Germans.


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To face page 178.


CHAPTER VIII
- THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES
September 6 to October 3, 1917
Engagement of Plumer’s Second Army—Attack of September 20—
Fine advance of Fifty-ﬁfth Division—Advance of the Ninth
Division—Of the Australians—Strong counter-attack upon the
Thirty-third Division—Renewed advance on September 26—
Continued rain—Desperate ﬁghting.
THE attack of August 16, with its varying and not
wholly satisfactory results, had been carried out
entirely by the armies of Antoine and of Gough. It
was clear now to Sir Douglas Haig that the resistance
of the Germans was most formidable along the line
of the Menin Road, where the long upward slope and
the shattered groves which crowned it made an ideal
position for defence. To overcome this obstacle a
new force was needed, and accordingly the Second
Army was closed up to the north, and the command
in this portion of the ﬁeld was handed over to General
Plumer. This little white-haired leader with his silky
manner, his eyesglass, and his grim, inﬂexible resolution,
had always won the conﬁdence of his soldiers, but the
complete victory of Messines, with the restraint which
had prevented any aftermath of loss, had conﬁrmed
the whole army in its high appreciation of his powers.
These changes in the line, together with the
CHAPTER
VIII.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Sept. 6 to
Oct. 3.
s 179


180 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER continued rain, which went from bad to worse, had
vm‘ the effect of suspending operations during the re-
gal??? mainder of the month save for the smaller actions
YPres. already recorded. Fresh dispositions had to be made
@2133?“ also in order to meet the new German method of
defence, which had abandoned the old trench system,
and depended now upon scattered strong points,
lightly- held front lines, and heavy reserves with
which to make immediate counter-attacks upon the
exhausted stormers. The concrete works called also
for a different artillery treatment, since they were so
strong that an eighteen-pounder or even a 5-9 gun
made little impression. These new problems all
pressed for solution, and the time, like the days,
was growing shorter.
The front of the new attack upon September 20
was about eight miles in length, and corresponded
closely with the front attacked upon July 31, save that
it was contracted in the north so that Langemarck »
was its limit upon this side. Upon the south the ﬂank
was still ﬁxed by the Ypres—Comines Canal, just north
of Hollebeek. The scheme of the limited objective
was closely adhered to, so that no advance of more
than a mile was contemplated at any point, while a
thousand yards represented the average depth of pene-
tration which was intended. » The weather, which had
given a treacherous promise of amendment, broke
again upon the very night of the assembly, and the
troops were drenched as they lay waiting for the signal
to advance. Towards morning the rain stopped, but
drifting clouds and a dank. mist from the saturated
soil deprived the attackers of the help of their aircraft
—so serious a handicap to the guns. But the spirits
of the men rose with the difﬁculties, after the good


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES
181
old British fashion, and at 5.40 on this most inclement
morning, wet and stiff and cold, they went forward
with cheerful alacrity into the battle. _
The ﬁeld of operations was now covered by two
British armies, that of Gough in the north extending
from beyond. Langemarck to the Zonnebeke front,
‘ while Plumer’s Army covered the rest of the line
down to Hollebeke. It may be said generally that
the task of the men in the south was the more difﬁcult,
since they had farther to advance over country which
had seemed 'to be almost impregnable. None the
CHAPTER
VIII.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Sept. 6 to
Oct. 3.
less the advance in the north was admirably executed '
and reached its full objectives. Cavan’s Fourteenth
Corps still held the extreme north of the British line,
but neither they nor the French upon their left were
really engaged in the advance. They covered the
front as far south as Schreiboom, where the right of
the Twentieth Division joined on to the left of the
Fifty-ﬁrst Highlanders. This latter division formed
the left ﬂank of the main advance, though the
59th Brigade, the 60th Brigade, and the 2nd Brigade
of Guards 'did push their line some short distance
to the front, on either side of the Ypres—Staden
Railway,-the 59th Brigade capturing Eagle Trench
and the 60th Eagle House. This was a very for-
midable position, crammed with machine-guns, and
it took four days for its conquest, which was 'a
brilliant feat of‘arms carried out by men who would
be discouraged by no obstacle. The garrison were
picked troops, who fought desperately, and every-
thing was against the attack, but their pertinacity wore
down the defence and eventually, upon Sept. 23, the
10th Riﬂe Brigade and the 12th Royal Riﬂes cleared
up the last corner of the widespread stronghold.


182 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917’
CHAPTER
VIII.
The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Sept. 6 to
Oct. 3.
The hard-worked Highland Territorials of the
Fifty-ﬁrst Division were worn with service but
still full Of ﬁre. Their advance was also an admir-
able one, and by nine o’clock they had overcome
all Obstacles and dug in upon their extreme objec-
tive. Quebec Farm was a special stronghold which
held the Highlanders up for a time, but ﬁnally
fell to their determined asSault. Rose Farm, Delva
Farm, and Pheasant Farm were also strongly defended.
About 10 A.M. many strong counter-attacks were
made in this area, one of which for a time drove back
the line of the Highlanders, but only for a short
period. This particular attack was a very gallant
one effected by Poles and Prussians of the Thirty-
sixth and Two hundred and eighth Divisions. It
was noted upon this day that the Prussians fought
markedly better than the Bavarians, which has not
always been the case. The method adopted both by
the Highland Division and in some other parts of
the line in order to overcome strong points, such as
farms, was a concentration of portable trench-mortars
ﬁring heavy charges with a shattering effect. Pheasant
Farm was a particularly difﬁcult proposition, and yet
it was so smothered by a cloud of these missiles that
the distracted garrison was compelled to surrender.
This use of what may be called a miniature and
mobile heavy artillery became a feature of the last
year of the War.
Next to the Fifty-ﬁrst Division, and covering the
ground to the north and east of St. Julien was the
Fifty—eighth Division, a new unit of second line
London Territorials which had done a good deal
of rough service in the line, but had not yet been
engaged in an important advance. Upon this occa-


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES 183
sion it bore out the old saying that British troops are
often on their top foim in a ﬁrst engagement. Their
advance was a brilliant one and attained its full
objective, taking upon the way the strongly-fortiﬁed
position of Wurst Farm. Nowhere in the line was
' the ground more sodden and more intersected with
water jumps. The 173rd Brigade was on the right,
the 174th upon the left, the former being led
by the young hero of the Ancre Battle and
the youngest Brigadier, save perhaps one, in the
whole army. It was a magniﬁcent battle de'but for
the Londoners and their coolness under fire was
particularly remarkable, for in facing the difﬁcult
proposition of Wurst Farm they avoided making a
frontal attack upon it by swinging ﬁrst left and then
right with all the workmanlike precision of veterans.
The .capture of Hubner Farm by the 2/6th and 2/8th
London was also a particularly ﬁne performance, as
was the whole work of Higgins’ 17,4th Brigade.
The'two divisions last mentioned, the Fifty-ﬁrst
and the Fifty-eighth, formed the ﬁghting line of
Maxse’s Eighteenth Corps upon this day. On their
right was Fanshawe’s Fifth Corps, which had taken
the place of the Nineteenth Corps. The most
northern division was that sterling West Lanca-
shire Territorial Division, the Fifty-ﬁfth, which
CHAPTER
VIII.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Sept. 6 to
Oct. 3.
had now been in and out of the ﬁghting line but ~ '
never out of shell ﬁre since the evening of July 31,
or seven weeks in all. In spite of its long ordeal,
and of the vile ground which lay at its front, it ad-
- vanced with all its usual determination, the 164th
Brigade upon the left, and the 165th upon the right,
each of them being stiffened by one battalion from
the Reserve Brigade. The 8th Liverpool Irish were


184 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
Ommn upon the extreme left, which moved down the left
VIII" bank of the Hannebeek and struck up against the
52:“??? difﬁcult obstacle of Schuber Farm, which they suc-
Ypres. ceeded, with the co-operation of the 2/4th London
gig-36m and of two Tanks, in carrying by assault. Farther
' south a second farm-house, strongly held, called the
Green House, was carried by the 2/5th Lancashire
Fusiliers, while the 4th North Lancashire took Fokker
Farm upon the right. When one considers that each
of these was a veritable fortress, stuffed with machine-
guns and defended by 2nd Guards Reserve regiment,
one cannot but marvel at the efﬁciency to which these
Territorial soldiers had attained. The 4th Royal
Lancasters kept pace upon the right. The advance
of the 165th Brigade was equally successful in gaining
ground, and there also were formidable obstacles
in their path. After crossing the Steenbeek they had
to pass a very heavy barrage of high explosives and
shrapnel which, however, burst upon percussion and
was neutralised to some extent by the softness of the
ground. The line of advance was down the Graven-
stafel Road. A formidable line of trenches were
carried and Kavnorth Post was captured, as were
Iberian and Gallipoli, strong' points upon the right.
A counter-attack in the afternoon which moved down
against the two brigades, was broken by their riﬂe-
ﬁre, aided by the advent of the two supporting
battalions, the 5th South Lancashires and 5th North
Lancashires. The ground thus taken was strongly -
held until next evening, September 21, when under
cover of a very _heavy ﬁre the enemy penetrated once
more into the positions in the area of the 164th
Brigade. Just as darkness fell, however, there was a
ﬁne advance to regain the ground, in which the'whole


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES
185
.’ 0
of the headquarters staff, with bearers, signallers,
runners, and men-servants, swept up to the position
which was Captured once more. Among other
positions taken upon September 20 was Hill 37,
which had been so formidable a stronghold for the
Germans in the murderous ﬁghting of August 16.
This commanding point was taken and held by
the 5th, 6th, and 9th King’s Liverpools, with part
of the 5th South Lancashires, all under the same
oﬂicer who led‘the 36th Brigade in their ﬁne attack
upon Ovillers. The position was strongly organised,
and upon the next day it heat back a very determined
German counter-attack. -
The Ninth Division was on the right of the
CHAPTER
VIII.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Sept. 6 to
Oct. 3.
Fifty-ﬁfth with the South Africans upOn the left-
ﬂank. At the opening of the attack the 3rd (Trans-
vaal) and 4th (Scottish) South African regiments
advanced upon the German line. Within an hour
the latter had carried Borry Farm, which had deﬁed.
several previous assaults. At eight o’clock both these
regiments had reached their full objectives and the
supporting units, the 1st (Cape) and 2nd (Natal)
regiments went through their ranks, the men of the
Transvaal cheering the men of Natal and the Cape -
as they passed. By 9.30 the second objectives,
including Beck House, had also fallen. There was
a considerable concentration of Germans beyond,
and the 5th Camerons came up in support, as an
attack appeared to be imminent. The artillery
ﬁre dispersed the gathering, however, and the 2nd
Regiment spreading out on the left to Waterend
House established touch with the Lancashire men to
their north. Bremen Redoubt had been captured,
and this was made a nodal point against any


186 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER counter-attack, as was Vampire Redoubt. - By
vm' mid-day the 1st Regiment on the right had lost
gal??? heavily and was forced to dig in and 'act upon the
Ypres. defensive as German concentrations were visible in
3:12-33 t° the Hannebeke Woods. A second battalion of the
26th Brigade, the 7th Seaforths, were at this time
sent up in support. The left ﬂank was also checked
and a defensive post organised at Mitchell’s Farm.
The shelling from the direction of Hill 37 was very
heavy, the more so as the Africans were ahead of the
165th Brigade upon their left. A number of German
aeroplanes ﬂying low and using their machine-guns
complicated a situation which was already sufﬁciently
serious, for the small-arm ammunition was running
low and only a few'hundred exhausted men with a
thin sprinkling of Ofﬁcers remained in the ﬁghting
line. The artillery played up splendidly, however,
and though the enemy massed together at Bostin
Farm he could never get a sufﬁcient head of troops
to carry him through the pelting British barrage.
Thus the day drew to a close with heavy losses cheer-
fully borne, and also with a ﬁne gain of ground which
included several of the most sinister strong points
upon the whole line. The South Africans have been
few in number, but it cannot be disputed that their
record in the ﬁeld has been a superb one.
In the meantime the 27th Brigade, upon the
right of the South Africans, had also done a splendid
day’s work. In the ﬁrst dash the battalion upon
the left front, the 12th Royal Scots, had taken
Potsdam Redoubt with its garrison. Thence the line
rolled on, the Scots F-usiliers and Highland Light
Infantry joining in turn in the advance, until evening
found them with the same difﬁculties and also with


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES 187
the same success as their African comrades. As night Cumin
fell this right wing was in touch with the Australians vm'
near Anzac, and thence passed through the wood and £255???
along the railway bank to the junction with the left Ypres-
brigade, which in turn stretched across to Gallipoli 1°
and to Hill 37, which was now in the hands of their .
Lancashire neighbours and bristling with their
machine-guns. That night the Ninth Division lay
upon the ground that they had won, but the men
had been without sleep or warm food for three days A
and nights under continual ﬁre, so that, hardy as
they were, they had nearly reached the limit of
human endurance. It is worthy of remark that the
wounded in this part of the ﬁeld were attended to in
many cases by captured German surgeons, and that
one of these had an experience of Prussian amenities,
for his brains were scattered by a sniper’s bullet.
The First and Second Australian Divisions joined
the left unit of Plumer’s Army, but worked in
close co-operation with the Ninth Division upon
their right. In a day of brilliant exploits and un-
qualiﬁed successes there was nothing to beat their
performance, for they were faced by that which tries
the nerves of the stoutest troops-an area which has
already been tested and found to be impregnable.
With all the greater ﬁre did the brave Australian
infantry throw itself into the fray, and they had the
advantage over their predecessors in that the line’
was well up on either side of them, and that enemy
guns upon their ﬂanks were too busy upon their own
front to have a thought of enﬁlading. The result
of the Australian advance was instant and complete,
for the remainder of Glencorse Wood and Nonne
Boschen were over - run and by ten o’clock the


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES 189
upon this day, and every objective was seized and 02,313“
held. Inverness Copse, of evil memory, was occupied ___1
at the ﬁrst rush, and the advance went forward Theihird
Batl f
, without a check to Dumbarton Lakes and on past Ypliéi-o
them until the Veldhoek Ridge had fallen. A (Sgt-83m
counter-attack which broke upon them was driven
back in ruin. The advance Was across the marshy
Basseville Beek and through the dangerous woods
beyond, but from ﬁrst to last there was never a
serious check. It was on the Yorkshires, the West
Yorkshires, and the Northumberland Fusiliers of the
68th and 69th Brigades that the brunt of the early
ﬁghting fell, and as usual the North-coimtry grit
proved equal to the hardest task which could beset
before it. The ﬁnal stage which carried the Veldheek'
Ridge was also a N orth—country exploit in this section
of the line, as it was the 10th West Ridings and the
12th Durhams, who with ﬁxed bayonets cleared the
ultimate positions, reaching the western slopes of the
' upper Steenbeek Valley where they dug in the new
temporary lines.
' vOn the extremesouth of the line the advance had
been as successful as elsewhere, and at nearly every
point the full objective was reached. Upon the right
of the TWenty-third Division was the Forty-ﬁrst,
a sound English Division which had distinguished ~
itself at the Somme by the capture of Flers.
The leading brigades, the 122nd and 124th, with
Royal Fusiliers, King’s Royal Riﬂes, and Hamp-
shires in the lead, lost heavily in the advance. The
snipers and machine-guns were Very active upon this
front, but each obstacle was in turn surmounted, and
about 8.30 the Reserve Brigade, the '123rd, came
through and completed the morning’s work, crossing


190 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
VIII.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Sept. 6 to
Oct. 3.
the valley of the Basseville Beck and storming up
the slope of the Tower Hamlets, a strong position
just south of the Menin Road. Among the points
which gave them trouble was the Papooje Farm,
which was found to be a hard nut to crack—but
cracked it was, all the same. This same brigade
suffered much from machine-guns east of Bodmin
Copse, both it and the 124th Brigade being held
up at the Tower Hamlet Plateau, which exposed
the wing of the 122nd who had reached all their
objectives. So great was the pressure that the
Brigadier of the 124th Brigade came up personally
to reorganise the attack. The 11th West Kent, the
southern unit of the 122nd, had their right ﬂank
entirely exposed to German ﬁre. Two young sub-
alterns,- Freeman and Woolley, held this danger-
ous position for some time with their men, but
Freeman was shot by a sniper, the losses were
heavy, and the line had to be drawn in. Colonel
Corfe of the 11th West Kent and Colonel Jarvis of
the 21st K.R.R. were among the casualties. In spite '
of all counter-attacks the evening found the left of
the Forty-ﬁrst Division well established in its new
line, and only short of its full objective in this difﬁcult
region of the Tower Hamlets, where for the following
two days it had to ﬁght hard to hold a line. The
losses were heavy in all three brigades.
On the‘ right of the 41st and oining the ﬂank unit
of Morland’s Tenth Corps was the Thirty-ninth
Division. This Division attacked upon a Single
brigade front, the 117th having the post of honour.
The 16th and 17th Sherwood Foresters, the 17th
Riﬂes, and the 16th Riﬂe Brigade were each in
turn engaged in a long morning’s conﬂict in which


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES 191
they attained their line, which was a more limited. CHAPTER
one than that of the divisions to the north. VHI'
South of this point, and forming the ﬂank of Est]???
the whole attack, was the Nineteenth Division, Ypres-
which advanced with the West-countrymen of the gilt‘f'afm
57th Brigade upon the right, and the Welshmen of
the 58th Brigade upon the left. Their course was
doWn the spur east of Zillebeke and then into the
small woods north of the Ypres—Comines Canal.
The 8th Gloucesters, 10th Worcesters, 8th North
Staffords, 6th Wiltshires, 9th Welsh, and 9th Cheshires
each bore their share of a heavy burden and carried
it on to its ultimate goal. The objectives were
shorter than at other points, but had special difﬁ-
culties of their own, as every ﬂank attack is sure to
ﬁnd. By nine o’clock the work was thoroughly done,
and the advance secured upon the south, the whole
Klein Zillebeke sector having been made good. The
captors of La Boisselle had shown that they had not
lost their power of thrust.
This ﬁrst day of the renewed advance represented
as clean-cut a victory upon a limited objective as
could be conceived. The logical answer to the
German determination to re-arrange his defences by
depth was to refuse to follow to depth, but to cut off
his whole front which was thinly held, and then by
subsequent advances take successive slices off his
line. The plan worked admirably, for every point
aimed at was gained, the general position was greatly
improved, the'losses were moderate, and some three
thousand more prisoners were taken. The Germans
have been ingenious in their various methods of
defence, but history will record that the Allies showed
equal skill in their quick modiﬁcations of attack,


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES 'v 193
Among the British defences the ex-German pill-
boxes were used with great effect as a safe depository
for men and munitions. This considerable German
attack in the north was succeeded next dayby an
even larger and more concentrated effort which
surged forward on the line of the Menin Road, the
fresh‘Sixteenth Bavarian Division beating up against
the Thirty-third and the Australian Divisions. There
was some ﬁerce give-and-take ﬁghting with profuse
shelling upon either side, but save for some local in—
dentations the positions were all held. The Victorians
upon the right ﬂank of the Australians’ position at
Polygon Wood were very strongly attacked and held
their ground all day. Pinney’s Thirty-third Division
had come into line, and the German attack upon
the morning of September 25 broke with especial
fury upon the front of the 98th Brigade, which
fought with a splendid valour which marks the
incident as one of the outstanding feats of arms in this
great battle; Small groups of men from the two
regular battalions, the 1st Middlesex and the 2nd
Argyll and Sutherlands, were left embedded within
the German lines after their ﬁrst successful rush,
but they held out~ with the greatest determina-
tion, and either fought their way back or held on in
CHAPTER
VIII.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Sept. 6 lo
Obt. 3.
little desperate groups until they were borne for- .
ward again next day upon the wave of the advancing
army.
The weight of the attack was so great, however,
that the front of the 98th Brigade was pushed back,
and there might have been a serious set-back had
it not been for the iron resistance of the 100th
Brigade, who stretched south to the Menin Road,
joining hands with the 1 1th Sussex of the Thirty-ninth
0


194 ' THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER Division upon the farther Side. The 100th Brigade
VIII‘ was exposed to a severe assault all day most gallantly
gages? urged by the German Fiftieth Reserve Division and '
Ypres. supported by a terriﬁc bombardment. It was a
gilt’f-af‘w terrible ordeal, but the staunch battalions who met
it, the 4th Liverpools who linked up with their
comrades of the 98th Brigade, the 2nd Worcesters,
9th Highland Light Infantry, and 1st Queens, were
storm-proof that day. On the Menin Road side the
two latter battalions were pushed in for a time by the
weight of the blow, and lost touch with. the Thirty-
Ninth Division, but the Colonel of the Queens,
reinforced by some Of the 16th K.R.R., pushed for-
ward again with great determination, and by 9 AM.
had fully re-occupied the support line, as had the
9th Highland Light Infantry upon their left. So the
situation remained upon the night of the 25th, and
the further development of the British counter-attack
became part of the general attack of September 26.
It had been a hard tussle all day, in the course Of
which some hundreds in the advanced line had fallen
into the hands of the enemy. It should be men-
tioned that the troops in the ﬁring-line were occasion-
ally short of ammunition during the prolonged contest,
and that this might well have caused disaster had it
not been for the devoted Work of the 18th Middlesex
Pioneer Battalion who, under heavy ﬁre and across
impossible ground, brought up the much-needed boxes _
and bandoliers. Theresistance of the Thirty-third
Division was greatly helped by the strong support
of the Australians on their ﬂank. It was a remark-
able fact, and one typical of the inﬂexibilityof Sir
Douglas Haig’s leadership and the competence of;
his various staffs, that the fact that this severe action
' , .


196 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
VIII.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Sept. 6 to
Oct. 3.
the Imperial Armies. The Forty-seventh, the Fifty-
sixth, the Fifty-eighth, and the Sixtieth in Palestine
had all shown how the citizen-soldier of the Metropolis
could ﬁght. ‘
Fanshawe’s Corps consisted upon this date of the
Fifty-ninth Division upon the left, and the Third
upon the right. The Fifty-ninth Division, which
consisted of second-line battalions of North Midland
Territorials, made a ﬁne advance upon the right
of the Gravenstafel Road, keeping touch with the
Londoners upon the left. Here also almost the
whole' objective was reached. The German posi-
tions, though free from fortiﬁed villages, were very
thick with every sort of mechanical obstruction,
in spite of which the attack went smoothly from start
to ﬁnish. It is clear that the British advance was
fully expected at the south end of the line, 'but that
for some reason, probably the wretched state, of the
ground, it was not looked for in'the north.
. The Third Division had kept pace with the
' Australians to the south and with the Midlanders to
' the north, and had captured the village and church
of Zonnebeke, which formed their objective. Very
strong counter-attacks upon'all the part of the land
to the immediate north of Polygon Wood were
beaten down by the masterful ﬁre of the British
artillery.
' To the right of the Fifth Corps the Australians
pursued their victorious career, going to their
full limit, which entailed the. possession of the
whole of Polygon Wood. The Fourth and Fifth
Divisions Were now in the battle line. Push-
ing onwards they crossed the road which connects
Bacelaer with Zonnebeke, and established themselves


THE THIRD-BATTLE OF YPBEs 197
ﬁrmly on the farther side south of Zonnebeke. ' Some
300 prisoners with a number of machine-guns were
taken in this ﬁne advance. The pressureupon the
Australians was especially heavy upon the right ﬂank
of the'Fifth Australian Division, since the left of the
Thirty-third Division had been driven in, as already
described, by the very "heavy German attacks upon
September 25, so that the Victorians of the 15th
Australian Brigade at the south end of the line
started with their ﬂank exposed. They were in
close touch throughout with the 19th Brigade of the
British Division, and the 2nd Welsh Fusiliers found
themselves intermingled with the Victorians in the
advance, with whom they co-operated in the capture
of Jut Farm. It was a ﬁne feat for the Victorians
to advance at all under such circumstances, for as
they went forward they had continually to throw out
a defensive ﬂank, since the Germans had re-occupied
many of the trenches and Mebus, from which they
CHAPTER
VIII.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Sept. 6 to
Oct. 3.
had been ejected upon the 20th. This strip of ground '
remained for a time with the Germans, but the Thirty-
third Division had also advanced upon the right of it,
so that it was left as a wedge protruding into the
British position. Cameron House was taken at the
joining point of the two divisions, and gradually the
whole of the lost ground was re-absorbed.
To the right of the Australians the Thirty-third
Division went forward also to its extreme objective,
gathering up as it went those scattered groups of
brave men who had held out- against the German
assault of the Preceding day. This gallant division
had a particularly hard time, as its struggle against
the German attack upon the day before had been
a very severe one, which entailed heavy losses.


198 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917 I
CHAPTER
VIII.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Sept. 6 to
Oct. 3.
Some ground had been lost at the Veldhoek Trench
north of the Menin Road, where the 100th Brigade
was holding the line, but this had been partially re-
gained, as already described, by an immediateIattack
by the 1st Queen’s West Surrey and 9th Highland
Light Infantry. The 2nd Argyll and Sutherlands
were still in the front line, but for the second time
this year this splendid battalion was rescued from
the desperate situation which only such tried and
veteran soldiers could have carried through without
disaster. Immediately before the attack of Sep—
tember 26, just after the assembly of the troops,
the barrage which the Germans had laid down in
order to cover their own advance beat full upon the
left of the divisional line, near Glencorse_Wood, and
inﬂicted such losses that it could not get. forward at
zero, thus exposing the Victorians, as already re-
corded. Hence, although the 100th Brigade suc—
ceeded in regaining the whole of the Veldhoek Trench
upon the right, there was an unavoidable gap upon
the left between Northampton Farm and Black
Watch Corner. The 'division was not to be denied,
however, and by a splendid eﬁort before noon the‘
weak spot had been cleared up by the Scottish Riﬂes,
the 4th King’s Liverpools, and the 4th Sufiolks, so
that the line was drawn ﬁrm between Veldhoek
Trench in the south and Cameron House in the north. .
A counter-attack by the Fourth Guards Division was
crushed by artillery ﬁre, and a comic sight was
presented, if anything can be comic in such a tragedy,
by a large party of the Guards endeavouring to pack~
themselves into a pill-box which was much too small
to receive them. Many of them were left lying outside
the entrance.


THE THIRD BATTLE or YPRES 199
Farther still to the right, and joining the ﬂank of 01mm.
the advance, the Thirty-ninth Division, like its com-
rades upon the left, found a hard task in front of it, g1:ther
the country both north and south of the Menin Road Ypres.
being thickly studded with strong points and fortiﬁed gig-36 t°
farms. It was not until the evening of September 27, ' '
after incurring heavy losses, that they attained their
allotted line. This included the whole of the Tower
Hamlets spur with the German works upon the farther
side of it. The extreme right ﬂank was held up
owing to German strong points on the east of Bitter
Wood, but with this exception all the objectives were
taken and held by the 116th and 118th, the two
brigades in the line. The ﬁghting fell with special
severity upon the 4th Black Watch and the 1st
Cambridge of the latter brigade, and upon the 14th
Hants and the Sussex battalions of the former, who
moved up to the immediate south of the Menin Road.
The losses of all the battalions engaged were very
heavy, and the 111th Brigade of the Thirty-seventh
Division had to be sent up at once in order to aid
the survivors to form a connected line.
The total result of the action of September 26 was
a gain of over half a mile along the whole front, the
capture of 1600 prisoners with 48 ofﬁcers, and one
more proof that the method of the broad, shallow
objective was an effective answer to the new German
system of defence by depth. It was part of that
system to have shock troops in immediate reserve
to counter-attack the assailants before they could
get their roots down, and therefore it was not un-
expected that a series of violent assaults should
immediately break upon the British positions along
the whole newly-won line. These raged during the


200 'THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTEE
VIIL

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Sept. 6 to
Oct. 3.
evening of September 26, but they only served to add
greatly to the German losses, showing them that their
ingenious conception had been countered by a deeper
ingenuity which conferred upon ' them all the dis-
_ advantages of the attack. For four days there was _
a comparative quiet upon the line, and then again
_the attacks carried out by the Nineteenth Reserve
Division came driving down to the south of Polygon
Wood, but save for ephemeral and temporary gains
they had nosuccess. The Londoners of the Fifty-
eighth Division had also a severe attack to face upon
September 28 and lost two posts, one of which they
recovered the same evening.
Up to now the weather had held, and the bad
fortune which had attended the British for so long
after August I seemed to have turned. But the most
ﬁckle of all the gods once more averted her face, and
upon October 3 the rain began once more to fall
heavily in a way which announced the ﬁnal coming
of winter. None the less the work was but half done,
and the Army could not be left under the menace of
the commanding ridge of Paschendaale. At all costs
the advance must proceed.


CHAPTER.
IX.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Oct. 4 to
Nov. 10.
CHAPTER IX
THE THIRiD BATTLE OF- YPRES
October 4 to November 10, 1917
Attack of October 4—Further advance of the British line—~Splendid
advance of second-line Territorials—Good work of H.A.C. at
Reutel—Abortive action of October l2—Action of October 26—
Heavy losses at the south end of the line—Fine ﬁghting by the
Canadian Corps—Capture of Paschendaach—General results of
third Battle of Ypres.
AT early dawn upon October 4, under every possible
disadvantage of ground and weather, the attack was
renewed, the infantry advancing against the main
line of the ridge east of Zonnebeke. The front of
the movement measured about seven miles, as the
sector south of the Menin Road was hardly affected.
The Ypres—Staden railway in the north was the left
ﬂank of the Army, so that the Fourteenth Corps was
‘ once more upon the move. We will trace the course
of the attack from this northern end of the line.
Cavan’s Corps had two divisions in front—the
Twenty-ninth upon the left and the Fourth upon the
right, two ﬁne old regular units which had seen as
much ﬁghting as any in the Army. The Guards held
a defensive ﬂank together with the French between
Houthulst Forest and the Staden railway. The
advance of the Twenty-ninth was along the line of the
202 '


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES 203
railway, and it covered its moderate objectives with- CHAPTER
out great loss or difﬁculty. Vesten Farm represented IX'
the limit of the advance.
The Fourth Division (Matheson) started from a prs-
point east of Langemarck and ended from 1000 to £124th
1500 yards farther on. They advanced upon a
two-brigade front with the 11th Brigade upon the ,
right, with the northern edge of Poelcapelle as its
objective, while the 10th Brigade upon the left
moved upon the line of 19-Metre Hill. The ﬁre
from this strong point was very severe, and it _drove
back the 2nd Seaforths, who were the right battalion
of the 10th Brigade, thus exposing the ﬂank of the
1st Hants, who were on the left of the 11th. The
veteran Highlanders soon rallied, however, and the
line was strengthened at the gap by the advance into
it of the 1st East Lancashires. Both the Seaforths
and the Lancashire men lost very heavily, however,
by a devastating ﬁre from machine-guns. The 1st
Somersets upon the right had a misadventure through
coming under the ﬁre of British artillery, which caused
them for a time to fall back. They came on again,
however, and established touch with the 33rd Brigade,
who had occupied Poelcapelle. There the Fourth
Division lay on their appointed line, strung out over
a wide front, crbuching in heavy rain amid the mud
of the shell-holes, each group of men unable during
the day to see or hold intercourse with the other,
and alWays under ﬁre from the enemy. It was an
experience which, extended from day to day in this
and other parts of the line, makes one marvel at the
powers of endurance latent in the human frame. An
. ofﬁcer who sallied forth to explore has described the
strange effect of that desolate, shell-ploughed land-


204 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER scape, half-liquid in consistence, brown as a fresh-
IX' turned ﬁeld, with no movement upon its hideous -\
gs“??? expanse, although every crevice and pit was swarming
YPres. with life, and the constant snap of the sniper’s bullet
$3413? told of watchful, unseen eyes. .Such a chaos was it
that for three days there was no connection between
the left of the Fourth and the right of the Twenty-
ninth, and it was not until October 8 that Captain
Harston of the 1 1th Brigade, afterwards slain, together
with another ofﬁcer ran the gauntlet of the sharp-
shooters, and after much searching and shouting saw
a riﬂe waved from a pit, which gave him the position
of the right ﬂank of the 16th Middlesex. It was for-
tunate he did so, as the barrage of, the succeeding
morning would either have overwhelmed the Fourth
Division or been too far forward for the Twenty-ninth.
Upon the right of the Fourth Division was the
Eleventh. Led by several tanks, the 33rd Brigade
upon the left broke down all obstacles and cap- ’
tured the whole of the western half of the long
straggling street which forms the village of Poel-
capelle. Their comrades upon the right had no such
deﬁnite mark before them, but they made their way
successfully to their objective.
Upon the right of the Eleventh Division, the
48th South Midland Territorials had _a most diﬂicult
advance over the marshy valley of the Stroombeek,
but the water-sodden morasses of Flanders were
as unsuccessful as the chalk uplands of Pozieres
in stopping these determined troops. 'Warwicks,
Gloucesters, and Worcesters, they found their way
to the allotted line. Winchester Farm was the chief
centre of resistance conquered in this advance.
To the right of the Midland men the New Zealanders


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES .205-
——that splendid division which had never yet found
its master, either on battleﬁeld or football ground—~
advanced upon the Gravenstafel spur. Once more
the record of success was unbroken and the full
objective gained. The two front brigades, drawn
equally from the North and South Islands, men
of Canterbury, Wellington, Otago, and Auckland,
splashed across the morass of the Hannebeek and
stormed their way forward through Aviatik Farm
and Boetleer, their left co-operating with the Mid-
landers in the fall of the Winzic strong point. The
ground was thick with pill-boxes, here as elsewhere,
but the soldiers showed great resource and indi-
viduality in their methods of stalking them, getting
from shell-hole to shell-hole until they were past the
CHAPTER
IX.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
0a; 4 to
Nov. 10.
possible traverse of the gun, and then dashing, bomb '
in hand, for the back door, whence the garrison,
if they were lucky, soon issued in a dejected line.
On the right, the low ridge magniloquently 'called
“ Abraham’s Heights ” was carried without a check,
and many prisoners taken. Evening found the whole
of the Gravenstafel Ridge in the strong hands of the
New Zealanders, with the high ruin of Paschendaale
' Church right ahead of them as the ﬁnal goal of the '
Army.
These New Zealanders formed the left unit of
Godley’s Second Anzac Corps, the right unit of
which was the Third Australian Division. Thus
October 4 was a most notable day in the young, but
, glorious, military annals of the Antipodean Britons,
for, with the First Anzac Corps ﬁghting upon the right,
the whole phalanx made up a splendid assemblage of
manhood, whether judged by its quality or its quantity.
Seme 40,000 infantry drawn from the islands of the


i
Noordhemhoek '


ORDER OF BATTLE
October 4, 1917
Poei- Winchester Kron- Berlin Tyne Celtic Reutel Hampshire
19-Metre capelle F. prinz F. W. Cottage F. Polderhoek Farm
Vesten Hill - I
' Farm
|
i l
l l
l
l
l
29 4 11 48 NZ. Aust. 3 Aust. 2 Aust. 1 7 21 5 37
L T J p r J \ Y A L T 1 P Y J y
Cavan’s XIV. Maxse’s XVIII. Anzac II. Anzac I. Morland’s X. IX.
(Hamilton Gordon)
W W T
Fifth Army Second Army
(GoucH) (PLUMER)


208 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
0mm"; act of advancing for an assault when the storm broke
5 loose, and the British lines .trampled down and passed
£23312? over the storm troops as they made for their allotted
Ypres objectives.
22141.8? On the immediate right of the Australians was
Morland’s Tenth Corps, with the Seventh, Twenty-
ﬁrst, and Fifth Divisions in the battle line. ._ The
Seventh Division had stormed their way past a
number of strongholds up the incline and had topped
the ridge, seizing the hamlet of Noordhemhoek upon
the other side of it. This entirely successful advance,
which maintained the highest traditions of this great
division, was carried out by the Devons, Borderers, and
Gordons of the 20th Brigade upon the left, and by the
_ South Staﬁords and West Surreys of’the 91st Brigade
upon the right. The full objectives were reached, but
it was found towards evening that the ﬁerce counter-
attacks to the south had contracted the British line
'in that quarter, so that the right ﬂank of the 91st
Brigade was in the air. Instead of falling back the
brigade threw out a defensive line, but none the
less the salient was so marked that it was clear
that it could not be permanent, and that there
must either be a retirement or that some future
operation would be needed to bring up the division on
the right. '
To the right of Noordhemhoek the Twenty-ﬁrst
Division had cleared the difﬁcult enclosed country to
the east of Polygon Wood, and had occupied the
village of Reutel, but encountered such resolute
opposition and such ﬁerce counter-attacks that both -
the advancing brigades, the 62nd and the 64th,
wound up the day to the westward of their full
objectives, which had the effect already described


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES
209
upon the right wing of the Seventh Division. Both
front brigades had lost heavily, and they were relieved
in the front line by the 110th Leicester Brigade of
their own division. During the severe ﬁghting of the
day the losses in'the ﬁrst advance, which gained its full
objectives, fell chieﬂy upOn the 9th Yorkshire Light
. Infantry. In the second phase of the ﬁght, which
brought them into Reutel, the battalions engaged
were the 8th East Yorks and 12th Northumberland
Fusiliers, which had to meet a strong resistance in
difﬁcult country, and were hard put to it to hold their
own. The German counter-attacks stormed all day
against the left of the line at this point around Reutel,
making the ﬂanks of the Fifth and Seventh Divisions
more and more diﬂicult, as the defenders between
them were compelled to draw in their positions. A
strong push by the Germans in the late afternoon got
possession of Judge Copse, Reutel, and Polderhoek
Chateau. The two former places were recovered in
a subsequent operation.
On the ﬂank of the main attack the old Fifth
Division, going as strongly as ever after its clear
three years of uninterrupted service, fought its way
against heavy opposition up Polderhoek Chateau.
The Germans were massed thickly in this quarter and
the ﬁghting was very severe. The advance was
carried out by those warlike twins, the comrades of
many battles, the 1st West Kents and 2nd Scots
Borderers upon the right, while the 1st Devons and
1st Cornwalls of the 95th Brigade were on the left,
the latter coinciding with the edge of Polygon Wood
and the former resting upon the Menin Road. The
13th actually occupied Polderhoek Chateau, but lost
it again. The 95th was much incommoded by ﬁnding
P
CHAPTER
1X.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Oct. 4 to
Nov. 10.


210 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
IX.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Oct. 4 to
Nov. 10.
that the Reutelbeek was now an impassable swamp,
but they swarmed round it and captured their
objectives, while its left got beyond Reutel, and had
to throw back a defensive ﬂank on its left, and with-
draw its front to the west of the village. The chief
counter-attacks of the day were on the front of the
Fifth and Twenty-ﬁrst Divisions, and they were both
numerous and violent, seven in succession coming in
front of Polderhoek Chateau and ’Reutel. This ﬁerce
resistance restricted the advance of Morland’s Tenth
Corps and limited their gains, but enabled them to
wear out more of the enemy than any of the divisions
to the north.
Upon the ﬂank of the attack, the advance of
- the Thirty-seventh Division had been a limited one,
and had not been attended with complete success,
as two of the German strongholds—Berry Cottages
and Lewis House—still held out and spread a zone
of destruction round them. The 8th Somersets,
8th Lincolns, and a Middlesex battalion of the
63rd Brigade all suﬂered heavily upon this ﬂank.
On the northern wing the 13th Riﬂes, 13th Riﬂe
Brigade, and Royal Fusiliers of the 111th Brigade
drove straight ahead, and keeping well up to the
barrage were led safely by that stem guide to their
ultimate positions, into _which they settled with a
comparative immunity from loss, but the battalions
Were already greatly exhausted by long service and -
scanty drafts, so that the 13th Riﬂes emerged from the
ﬁght with a total strength of little over a hundred.
It must be admitted that all these successive ﬁghts at
the south of the Menin Road vindicated the new
German systems of defence and caused exceedingly
heavy losses which were only repaid by scanty


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES 211
and unimportant gains of desolate, shell-ploughed CHAPTER

land. ' 3'
The total result of this Broodseinde action was gags?
a victory gained under conditions of position and Ypres.
weather which made ita most notable accomplish- get 4‘0 .
- . 0v. 10.
ment. Apart from the very Important gain of ground,
which took the Army a long way towards its ﬁnal
objective, the Paschendaale Ridge, no less than 138
ofﬁcers and 5200 men were taken as prisoners: The
reason for this considerable increase in captures, as
compared to recent similar advances, seems to have
been that the Germans had themselves contemplated a
strong attack upon the British line, especially the right
sector, so that no less than ﬁve of their divisions had
been brought well up to the front line at the moment
when the storm burst. According to the account of
prisoners, only ten minutes intervened between the
zero times allotted for the two attacks. The result
was not only the increase in prisoners, but also a very
high mortality among the Germans, who met the full
force of the barrage as well as the bayonets of the
infantry. In spite of the heavy punishment already
received, the Germans made several strong counter-
attacks in the evening, chieﬂy, as stated, against the .
lines of the Fifth and Twenty-ﬁrst Divisions north of
the Menin Road, but with limited results. An attack
upon the New Zealanders north of the Ypres—Roulers
railway had even' less success. Victorious, and yet
in the last extremity of human misery and discomfort,
the troops held ﬁrmly to their advanced line amid the
continued pelting of the relentless rain.
The bravery and the losses of the British artillery
were among the outstanding incidents of this and
subsequent ﬁghting. It was not possible On that


214 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917'
Cn'n'rnn
IX.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Oct. 4 to
Nov. 10.
Brigade upon their right.
point east of Zonnebeke. The wind was high, the
rain intermittent, and the night cloudy and dark;
but in spite of all these hindrances the storming troops
were by some miracle of disciplined organisation ready
in their assembly trenches, and the advance went
forward at 5.20 on the morning of October 9.
Upon the left an extremely successful advance was .
carried out by the French and by the Guards. Of our
gallant Allies itneed only be said that on this day as
on all others they carried out to the full what was
given them to do, and established their advanced
posts a mile or so to the eastward on the skirts of
Houthulst Forest, taking St. Janshoek and pushing _
on, up to their waists sometimes in water; to the
swamps of Corverbeck.
Cavan’s Corps consisted of the Guards upon the
left, the Twenty-ninth in the centre, and the Fourth
Division upon the right. The advance of the Guards
was as usual a magniﬁcent One, and the 1st Brigade
upon the right, the 2nd on the left, pushed forward
the line on their sector for more than a mile, beginning
by the difﬁcult fording of the deep ﬂooded Brombeek
and then taking in their stride a number of farm-
houses and strong points, as well as the villages of ,
Koekuit and Veldhoek—the second hamlet of that
name which had the ill-fortune to ﬁgure upon the
war-map. Four hundred prisoners were left in their
hands, mostly of the 417th Regiment, who had only
taken over the line at four that morning. The 2nd
Brigade of Guards worked all day in close touch with
the French, amid the dangerous swamps in the north,
while the 1st Brigade kept their alignment with the
4th Worcesters, who formed the left unit of the 88th
Even under the awful


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES 215
conditions ’of ground and weather the Work of the
Guards was as clean and precise as ever.
The ground in front of the Guards was sown very
thickly with the German concrete forts, but it was the
' general opinion of experienced soldiers that, formidable
as were these defences, they were less so than the old
trench systems, which in some cases could not ‘be
passed by any wit or valour of man. At this stage of
its development the Mebus could usually be overcome-
by good infantry, for if its loopholes were kept
buzzing with the riﬂe bullets of the stormers, and if
under cover of such ﬁre other parties crawled round and
girt it in, its garrison had little chance. The infantry
attained considerable proﬁciency in these operations,
and “ to do in a pill-box ” became one of the recognised
exercises of minor tactics. The losses of the Guards
in this brilliant affair were not very heavy, though
towards the latter stage the 1st Irish upon the right
got ahead of the Newfoundlanders and were exposed
to a severe ﬂank ﬁre in the neighbourhood of Egypt
House. The 1st Coldstreams upon the 'extreme left
ﬂank were also held up by a strong point near Louvois
I Farm. It was eventually taken with its forty inmates.
The gallant German oﬂicer absolutely refused to
surrender, and it was necessary to bayOnet him.
Altogether the two brigades lost 53 oﬂicers and 1300
men. In connection with their advance and with the
subsequent operations it should be mentioned that
the Guards artillery was worthy of the infantry, and
that the way they followed 'up in order to give pro-
tective barrages, slithering anywhere over the wet
ground so long as they could only keep within good
slating' distance of the counter-attacks, was a ﬁne bit
of work. The pioneer battalion, the 4th Coldstreams,
CHAPTER
IX.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Oct. 4 to
Nov. 10.


216 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
Grimm and the three R.E. Companies, 55, 75, and 76, put in a
H" great deal of thankless and unostentatious work in the

elaborate and difficult preparations for the advance.
Ypres The Twenty-ninth Division upon the right of
Oct. 4 to
No“ 10. the Guards had the 88th Brigade in front, with
the Newfoundlanders behind the Worcesters on the
left ﬂank. Their task was to push along the Lange- '
marck—Staden railway and reach the forest. They
carried the line forward to Cinq Chemins Farm, where ~
they established their new line. The 1st Essex and
2nd Hants were also heavily engaged, and all four
battalions lived up to their high reputation.
To the right of the Twenty-ninth was the 12th
Brigade of the Fourth Division, who had taken
over the front line from their comrades in that
fearsome wilderness already described. The line of
advance was along the Ypres—Staden railway, and
the front was kept level with that of the Guards.
Reinforced by the let Riﬂe Brigade, the advance
went swiftly forward over dreadful ground until it
reached its limits at Landing Farm, about half a
mile north-east of Poelcapelle.
Maxse’s Corps upon the right still consisted of the
Eleventh and Forty-eighth Divisions. The Eleventh
Division had already captured the half of the long
village of Poelcapelle, and now after some very hard
ﬁghting the second half up to the Eastern skirts fell
into the hands of the 32nd Brigade. As they ad—
vanced, the Forty-sixth Midland men kept pace' with -
them upon the right. These troops had the very
worst of the low-lying ground, though they had'the
advantage of being in position and not having to
assemble in the dark and rain, as was the fate of
the more southern troops“ The gallant Yorkshire


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES
219
fatigue, wet to the skin, terribly cold, hungry, and
with weapons which were often choked with mud,.
they went with hardly a pause into the open to face
infantry who were supposed to be second to none in
Europe, with'every form of defence to help them
which their capable sappers could devise. And yet
these men of Yorkshire and Lancashire drove the
Prussians before them and attained the full limit
which had been given them to win.
The Sixty-sixth Division advanced with the
r 197th Brigade on the right of the Ypres—Roulers
railway. It consisted entirely of battalions of the
Lancashire Fusiliers, a regiment which from Minden
onwards has been in the van of England’s battles.
Upon their left was the 198th Brigade, consist-
ing half of East Lancs and half of Manchester
battalions. So covered with mud were the troops
after their long night march that the enemy may
well have wondered whether our native soldiers were
not once more in the line. Savagely they stuck to
their task with that dour spirit which adverse con—
ditions bring out in our soldiers; every obstacle went
down before them ; they reached their utmost limit,
and then, half buried in the mud and stiff with cold,
their blue and cramped ﬁngers still held steady Ito
CHAPTER
- IX.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Oct. 4 to
Nov. 10.
their triggers and blew back every counter-attack '
which the Germans could launch. It was a ﬁne'
performance, and the conditions of the attack cannot
be deﬁned better than by the following extract from
the account of an ofﬁcer engaged : “ After advancing
through the mud for a further three hours, I halted
the Company in shell-holes to enable me to discover
our exact whereabouts; this was a bad mistake,
because when I found the direction we had to go in


220 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
IX.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Oct. 4 to
Nov. 10.
I could not awake the poor fellows, who had fallen
asleep as soon as they had sat down. I had to slave-
drive, and somehow got them a little further forward
before getting blown up myself.” It should be added
that at a later date some Australians who got up
close to Paschendaale reported that they found “ not
far from the village some of the dead of the second-
line Lancashire Territorials, who had fought beside us
in an earlier battle.”
Upon the south of the Second Anzac Corps were
the Australian divisions, who carried forward the
movement they had so splendidly initiated. The
advance set before them on this day was not a deep
one, but such as it was it was carried 600 yards over
the ground north of Broodseinde. Owing to the
difﬁcult lie of the ground, the attacking troops were
particularly exposed to machine-gun ﬁre, especially
at the cutting of the Roulers railway which at
this point comes through the low ridge. The result
was a considerable loss of men. The Australians had
been a .week in the line without rest in continual
ﬁghting, and they were very weary, but still full of
dash and zeal and sympathy for others. “ We met
one British ofﬁcer,” says Mr. Bean, “ stumbling back
with both his puttees long since lost in the mud.
‘ Bitterly disappointed we were late,’ he said.
‘ Hard luck, too, upon the Australians.’ One
thought to oneself when 'one heard of the conditions,
that it was only due to their undiluted heroism that
they ever got there at all.” It was the Second
Australian Division which was chieﬂy engaged in this
difficult battle, and it was they who carried Daisy
Wood, the chief obstacle in that area. The First
Australian Division were hardly included in the


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES 221
original scheme, being too far to the right; but being (>8;ng
unable to witness a ﬁght without joining in it they __'
advanced upon Celtic Wood, passed through it, and Egg?
had some excellent ﬁghting with a strong German YPres-
trench upon the further side of it. The operation £11241:
was a raid rather than an advance, but it was very
useful, none the less, as a distraction to the Germans.
On the extreme south of the line Reutel, which
had been left in German hands upon October 4, was
now carried by storm in a very brilliant operation
which removed the salient of the Seventh Division
to which allusion has already been made. This
advance was carried out by two battalions, the 2nd
Warwicks upon the left and the 2nd Honourable
Artillery Company upon the right. The former took,
after hard ﬁghting, the outlying woods and trenches
to the north of the village, but the Londoners achieved
the more difﬁcult task of carrying the village itself.
It was a desperate enterprise, carried out under
heavy ﬁre, which was so deadly that when the de-
pleted ranks reached their further objective not an
oﬂicer was left standing. The high quality of the
rank and ﬁle is shown in the prompt way in which
they took the necessary steps upon their own initiative,
by which the new line should be held. As to their
losses, they can be best indicated by the dry ofﬁcial
comment: “ The remnants of A, C and D Companies
were withdrawn to J olting Trench and organised
into two platoons under Sergeant Jenkinson.” The
Colonel might well be proud of his men, and London
of her sons.
The extreme right of the British attacking line
upon October 9 was formed by the 15th Brigade
of the Fifth Division. Once again they got into the


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES 223
mud through which they had waded. On both sides
the making of trenches had entirely ceased, as it had
been found that a few shell-holes united by a small
cutting were sufﬁcient for every purpose as long as
the head of the soldier could be kept out of the water.
So useful were these holes as shelters and riﬂe-pits
that it became a question with the British artillery
whether they should not conﬁne their ﬁre entirely
to shrapnel, rather than run the risk of digging a line
of entrenchments for the enemy. _
In this advance the 51st Brigade did remark-
ably well, advancing 1200 yards and securing two
objectives. It is amongst the curiosities of the
campaign that Major Peddie of the 7th Lincolns, with
another ofﬁcer and four men, took 148 prisoners from
a farm—a feat for which he received the D.S.O. I
On Maxse’s front the Eighteenth and Ninth
Divisions had taken over the front line. The
Eighteenth made some progress, but the Ninth, of
which it can truly be said that they never leave a
front as they found it, took the village of Wallemolen,
making a good advance.
The New Zealanders were on the right of the Ninth
Division, covering a front of 1600 yards from Adler
House on the left to the Ravebeek upon the right,
where they joined the Australian Division. They
were faced partly by uncut wire in the Bellevue
position and partly by marsh. The conditions for
the Australians upon their right were no better. The
matter was made worse by the impossibility of getting
the heavier guns forward, while the light ones slid
their trails about in the mud after every discharge in
a manner which made accurate shooting well-nigh
impossible. The losses were heavy in the attack,
CHAPTER
IX.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Oct. 4 to
Nov. 10.


224 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
IX.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Oct. 4 to
Nov. 10.
two Colonels of New Zealand battalions being among
the dead. The New Zealand Riﬂe Brigade were
particularly hard hit. It was found that progress was
impossible under such conditions, and the attack was
called off. So far as the Germans went, 1000 more
were added to the occupants of the cages—so far as
the mud and weather went, they gained a clear victory
over the British Army, for the losses were heavy, and
there was very little gain of ground in exchange.
Upon October 22, the ground having dried a little,
there was some movement at the northern end of the
line, the position being improved and 200 prisoners
taken. The two operations which effected these
results were carried out in the north by Franks’
Thirty-ﬁfth Division co-operating with the French,
and in the Poelcapelle region by the 53rd Brigade of
the Eighteenth Division, which carried the point
known as Meunier Hill, the Essex, Suifolks, and
Norfolks of this splendid unit covering themselves
once more with glory. The Thirty-fourth Division,
which had taken the place of the Fourth upon the
right of Cavan’s corps, also moved forward in corre-
spondence with the ﬂanking units, the Northumber-
land Fusiliers of the 103rd Brigade keeping touch
with the 8th Norfolks of the 53rd.
Some hard ﬁghting was associated with the attack
of the Thirty-ﬁfth Division in the north. It may
be remarked that the Bantam idea had not proved
to be a successful one. It had been abandoned,
and the Thirty-ﬁfth was now undistinguishable
from any division either in its physique or in its
spirit. Upon this occasion both the 105th Brigade
upon the left and the 104th upon the right
fought with magniﬁcent courage. The advance of


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES 225
the former Brigade was particularly ﬁne in the region CHAPTER
of Panama House. The 14th Glosters and 16th 25; '
Cheshires attained their fullest objective, and though gal???
the latter were ﬁnally bent back by the strong German Ypres.
attacks in the afternoon, the Glosters’ ﬁghting line, gitj'ﬁs?
reinforced by some of the 16th Sherwood Foresters,-
held fast under the most desperate circumstances.
Their Colonel might well be proud of the fact that
in an attack carried out by one French and two
British divisions his battalion of Glosters was the
only one which remained rooted and unshaken
'upon the ultimate line. The Lancashire Fusiliers
shone greatly also in the attack, though they were
unable to maintain their most advanced positions.
The German shell-ﬁre, and especially the German .
snipers from the wood on the left, and from a covered
road, were the cause of heavy losses, but the troops
were in excellent fettle, and the 104th Brigade actually
executed a little raid on its own during the night,
bringing back a machine-gun and ﬁve more prisoners.
On October 26, the rain still pouring down as
heavily as ever, and the earth about as liquid as the
heavensythe advance was once again renewed upon
a narrow front which was mostly on the slope of the
hill and therefore offered some foothold for the
struggling infantry. Paschendaale was but a few
hundreds of yards away, and it was imperative that
it should be held befOre the season ended. Haig’s
troops were weary, and several fresh divisions which _
he could have'called upon were already earmarked
for the surprise attack which he was planning in the
south. It was imperative, however, to have some
fresh thrusting force which could be trusted to break
down the remaining obstacles and not only seize the
Q


226 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
IX.
The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Oct. 4 to
Nov. 10.
_ advance in the Houlthulst Forest area.
dominant village, but hold it after seizure. For this
object the close Canadian beleaguerment of Lens,
which was to have ended in an assault, was abandoned,
and the' Canadian Corps was brought round to the
Ypres front, taking the place of the Anzac Corps.
In the new advance it occupied, therefore, the
central position of the line.
There had been several divisional changes in the
north. The front of General Cavan’s line consisted
now of the Fiftieth Division next the French, the
Thirty-ﬁfth Division, and the Fifty-seventh Division.
Maxse’s battle line was the Fifty-eighth London
Division and the Sixty~third Naval. In spite of every
possible disadvantage, fresh ground was gained by
these units, and Varlet Farm, Bray Farm, and Banff
House were added to the British area.
The conditions of these low-lying valleys to the
north, which had long been difficult, had now become
really impossible, and this was the last attempt to
It takes
personal and detailed narrative to enable the reader
to realise the situation which the troops had to
face. An officer of the 170th Brigade, a Lancashire
unit which displayed great valour and lost half its
numbers upon this date, writes : “ I have never seen
such a sight as that country was in the valley of the
Broombeek and Watervlietbeek just south of Hon—
7 thulst Forest. Nothing on earth but the wonderful '
courage of the Lancashire lads enabled them to get so
far as they did. We went over with our riﬂes and ’
Lewis guns bound up with ﬂannel so as to keep the
mud out, and with special cleaning apparatus in our
pockets, but you can’t clean a riﬂe when your own
hands are covered an inch thick ! We killed a great


228 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
IX.‘

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Oct. 4 to
Nov. 10.
Paddebeek, while the Londoners of the Fifty-eighth
Division kept their place upon the left. The German
artillery had greatly increased in strength, thanks to
the Russian collapse, and every fresh idiocy of Petro-
grad was transmuted into showers of steel and iron in
the plains of Flanders. Their infantry also became
more aggressive with this stronger support, and two
heavy counters broke upon the Canadians in the after-
noon of October 26. In spite of every obstacle, it
was an important day in this section of the line for
Paschendaale was almost reached, and the Germans
must have viewed with despair the ever-advancing
line, Awhich neither they nor Nature had been able to
stop.
In the south the operations during the day were
not so successful, and the subsidiary aims were not
attained. In the morning, the Fifth Division attacked
and once again captured the Wood and Chateau of
Polderhoek. The 1st West Kents and 13th Warwicks
of the 13th Brigade carried out this dashing and
arduous operation, and took some 200 men, who
formed the garrison. The Seventh Division mean-
while had- advanced upon Gheluvelt; the 2nd West
Surrey, 1st South Staffords and Manchesters of the
91st Brigade advancing to the south of the Menin
Road in order to guard the ﬂank of their comrades
v . who followed the line of the road which would lead
them to this famous village. The ﬂanking brigade
was held up, however, at the old stumbling—block
near Lewis House and Berry Cotts, where the German
ﬁre was very deadly. This failure enabled the
enemy to bring a very heavy cross-ﬁre upon the
2nd Borderers and 2nd Gordons of the 20th Brigade,
forming the column of attack. In spite of this ﬁre,


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES
229
the stormers forced their way into Gheluvelt, but
found themselves involved in very hard ﬁghting,
while their guns were choked with mud, and useless
save as pikes or clubs. Under these circumstances
they were forced back to their own line. Encouraged
by this success, the Germans then advanced in very
heavy masses and attacked the new positions of
the Fifth Division with such fury that they also had
to loose their grip of the precious twice-conquered
Chateau and fall back on the line whence they started.
It cannot be denied, therefore, that _ though the
British gained ground in the north upon October 26,
they sustained nothing but losses after their great
exertions in the south upon that date. The two
outstanding features of the ﬁghting seem to have been
the' extreme difﬁculty of keeping the weapons in a
serviceable condition, a factor which naturally told
in favour of the stationary defence, and also the
innocuousness of percussion shells, since in such a
swamp they bury themselves so deeply that their
explosion does little harm. Some 500 prisoners were
made in the southern area, but many more in the
north.
Upon October 30, in cold and windy weather, the
attack was renewed upon a comparatively narrow
front, with the First Australian Division upon the
extreme right, then the Fourth Canadians, then the
Third Canadians, and ﬁnally the Sixty-third Division
' upon'the left. The Canadians advancing along the
ridge towards the doomed village were faced by a
terriﬁc concentration of German guns upon that
limited space and by strong infantry attacks, none of
which turned them from their purpose. The direc-
tion of the attack was from west and south-west.
CHAPTER
IX.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Oct. 4 to
Nov. 10.


230 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
IX.
The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Oct. 4 to
Nov. 10.
The Fourth Canadians soon had all their objectives
and held them ﬁrmly, taking Crest Farm on the edge
of the village. The Third Canadians had heavy
resistance to overcome, but captured the spur in
front of them and joined up with their comrades at
Graf. The Sixty-third Division found it very diﬂicult
to get forward, however, and this held back the left
wing of the Canadians. Five severe attacks“were
made upon the Canadians, but were all beaten off by
their steady ﬁre. In some cases, notably at Crest
Farm, the machine-guns captured from the Germans
were turned upon their late owners as they debouched
from the village. There was considerable evidence
of demoralisation among the German infantry upon
this occasion whenever the British could get to grips
with it, and some sections actually ran away at the
outbreak of the ﬁght, which is a very unusual occur-
rence in so disciplined and brave an army. The
latter part of the action was fought in driving rain,
which hardly allowed vision of more than a couple of
hundred yards.
All these heroic exertions were consummated
at six on the morning of November 6, when the
Canadian infantry, advancing with heroic dash, ﬂung
themselves upon the village and carried the British
line right through it, emerging upon the naked ridge
beyond. The advance on the left was made by
the 1st Brigade, while the 5th Brigade took the
village. Many strong points lay just north of the
hamlet, but each of them was rushed in turn. It was
a splendid success, and wrought by splendid men.
The chronicler'cannot easily forget how by a wayside
Kentish station he saw the wounded from this attack
lying silent and patient after their weary journey,


THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES 233'
which was probably inferior in numbers—and certainly
was so in gun power—but which held a series of pre—
dominating positions stiffened by every method which
experience could suggest or ingenuity devise. Their
resistance was helped by the most adverse weather.
conditions which could be conceived; The net result
of the ﬁghting was not only the capture of the crest
of the ﬁnal ridge, but the taking of 24,000 prisoners
and 72 guns. When one remembers that the Germans
in the days of their ascendancy could not in the two
battles of Ypres put together have taken more than
5000 men, one can measure the comparative success of
each army in this conﬂict of giants. It would be vain
to pretend that we did not hope for a greater gain of
ground in this great autumn movement, but the reach
of a General must often exceed his grasp, and here it was
no small prize which still remained with the victor.
One can only sum up the matter by quoting the
measured words of the Field-Marshal in Command :
“ This offensive, maintained for three-and-a-half
months under the most adverse conditions of weather,
had entailed almost superhuman exertions. on the
part of the troops of all arms and services. The
enemy had done his utmost to hold his ground,'and
in his endeavours to do so had used up no less than
seventy-eight divisions, of which eighteen had been
CHAPTER
IX.

The third
Battle of
Ypres.
Oct. 4 to
Nov. 10.
engaged a second or third time in. the battle, after'
being withdrawn to rest and reﬁt. Despite the
magnitude of his efforts, it was the immense natural
difﬁculties, accentuated manifold by the abnormally
wet weather, rather than the - enemy’s resistance,
which limited our progress and prevented the complete
capture of the ridge.”
Whilst this long and arduous struggle had been


CHAPTER X
THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI
First phase, November 20—Tanks en masse—Attack on the Tunnel
Trench—Byng’s great advance—Fine work of Braithwaite’s Sixty-
second Division—Hard ﬁghting of Pulteney’s Third Corps-—
Exploit of Fort Garry Horsrs—Second day of battle—Rally of
Germans—Capture of Bourlon Wood by Fortieth Division—Attack
by the Guards on La Fontaine.
THE year 1917 had begun with high hopes for the
Allies since they had planned a common offensive
which could hardly have failed to break the German
resistance. ’ Both France and England had honour-
ably carried out their share in the common contract.
_ It was the sudden and absolute break down of Russia
which caused the year to set in gloom rather than
in glory. _The phenomenon of that great fermenting
putrefying country was more like some huge cata-
clysm of nature, some monstrous convulsion of the
elements, than any ordinary political movement, so
that anger and contempt were softened into pure
amazement as the gradual dissolution of the vast
organism took place from week to week before a
wondering world. It was as though a robust man
had suddenly softened into liquid putrescence before
one’s eyes. But from a military standpoint it was
a disaster of the ﬁrst order for the Allies and checked
their victorious career in the West, where the failing
CHAPTER
X.

The
Battle of
Cambrai.
First
Phase. -
, 235


236 THE BRITISH- CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
X.
The
Battle of
Cambrai.
First
Phase.
Nov. 20.
German line could always be buttressed up by fresh
guns and fresh divisions from the East. Now on the
top of this misfortune another unforeseen and almost
incredible occurrence placed them at a further dis-
advantage. The Italian army had done so splendidly
well and had won such unfailing ascendancy over
the Austrians that their stability seemed as ﬁrm as
the mountains amid which they fought. It seems,
however, that insidious and treasonable propaganda
of the familiar type had spread disaffection in the
ranks, and the Second Army, which held the very
centre of the Gorizian line, collapsed suddenly. The
result was a very great success for the Austrian and
German forces, who pushed through the breach, and
with little loss to themselves captured more than
200,000 prisoners and nearly2000 guns. It was a
very severe blow for the Allies, and never was their
ﬁne spirit better shown than by the instant steps
which they took to hold Italy up in the moment of
her extreme need. By road and by rail reinforce-
ments poured through the passes of the Alps and along
the shores of the Mediterranean. Whilst the ﬂanking
armies-of the Italians fell back upon new lines French
. and British divisions were hastening forward to share
their pressing danger. The Isonzo and the Taglia-
mento had been in succession abandoned, for a severe .
ﬂanking attack from the north threatened to break
through the passes and debouch upon the Friulian
Plain. Finally the line of the Piave was reached
which still covered Venice. Here the steadier troops
were halted. In the First Army upon the right there
had been little disorganisation, and their retreat
along the coast under constant pressure was a ﬁne
bit of work. Ten batteries of British heavies were


238 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
Curran
' X.

The
Battle of
Cambrai.
First
Phase.
Nov. 20.
terriﬁc barricade there was the further difﬁculty that
the whole method of attack was experimental, and
that to advance without artillery ﬁre against such a
position would appear to be a most desperate venture.
On the other hand it was known that the German line
was thin and that their man-power had been attracted
northwards by the long epic of the Paschendaale
attack. There was a well-founded belief that the
tanks would prove equal to the task of breaking the
front, and sufﬁcient infantry had been assembled to
take advantage of any opening which might be made.
The prize, too, was worth a risk, for apart from the
possibility of capturing the important centre of
Cambrai, the possession of the high ground at Bourlon
would be of great strategic value. The enterprise
was placed in the hands of General Byng, the famous
leader of the Third Cavalry Division 'and afterwards
of the Canadian Corps, who had taken Allenby’s
place at the head of the Third Army. Under him were
from the north, the Sixth, Fourth, Third, and Seventh
Corps under Haldane, Woolcombe, Pulteney, and
Snow, containing some of the most seasoned ﬁghting
material in the army. The troops werebrought up
stealthily by night, and the tanks which were crawling
from every direction towards the trysting-place were
carefully camouﬂaged. The French had been apprised
of the attack, and had made arrangements by which,
if there were an opening made to the south some of
their divisions should be available to take advantage
of it.
The tanks were about four hundred in number
and were under the separate command of General
Elles, a dashing soldier who inspired the utmost
enthusiasm in his command. It had always been


THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI 239
the contention of the tank designers in England that
their special weapon needed, what it had never yet
fOund, virgin ground which was neither a morass nor
a wilderness of shell - holes. The leading lines of
tanks had been furnished with enormous faggots of
wood which they carried across their bows and which
would be released so as to fall forward into any ditch
CHAPTER
X.

The
Battle of
Cambrai.
First
Phase.
Nov. 20.
or trench and to form a rude bridge. These ready- '
made weight—bearers were found to act admirably.
One difﬁculty with which the operations were
confronted was that it was impossible for the guns
to register properly without arousing suspicion. It
was left to the gunners, therefore, to pick up their
range as best they might after the action began, and
7 this they did with a speed and accuracy which showed
their high technical efficiency.
Taking the description of the operations upon
November 20th from the north end of the line we
shall ﬁrst deal with the subsidiary but very important
and successful attacks carried out by Haldane’s Sixth
Corps in the neighbourhood of Bullecourt. The
Hindenburg Line at this point consisted of a front
trench with a second or support trench 300 yards
behind it, and many scattered Mebus or concrete-
machihe-gun forts. The British had already a lodge-
ment in part of the front trench, and the main objective
now was the support trench which was called “ Tunnel
Trench ” because it had a tunnel 30 or 40 feet- down
along its whole length with staircase entrances every
25 yards. The units to whom the attack was en-
trusted were the Third Division upon the right, and
the Sixteenth Irish Division upon the left.
The morning of November 20 was overcast but
not actually raining, with low visibility, which may


240 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
X.

The
Battle of
Cambrai.
First
Phase.
Nov. 20.
account for the fact that the German barrage was
feeble, slow, and inaccurate.
The advance of the Sixteenth Division was by
three brigades, the 47th on the right, the 48th in the
centre, and the 49th upon the left. Every up-to-
date infantry-saving device, the artillery barrage, the
machine-gun barrage, and the Stokes-mortar smoke-
screen was used to the 'full. The guns had been
reinforced by a portion of the artillery of the Thirty-
fourth Division, and the support which they gave
was admirably effective. We will trace the attack
from the right.
The ﬂank battalion was the 6th Connaughts with
the 1st Munsters upon their left.- Their objective
was taken with a spring. The Munsters were able
to consolidate at once. The Connaughts had more
trouble as a rush of. German bombers came down
upon their right, driving the ﬂank company in and
forcing it back down the sap. For several hours
there was hard ﬁghting at this point, which was often
hand-to-hand when the Irish bayonet men rushed at
the German bomb-throwers. Finally a block and a
defensive ﬂank were formed, and two big Mebus,
Mars and Jove, were left in the hands of the
stormers.
In the centre the advance of the 10th Dublin
Fusiliers and of the 2nd Dublin Fusiliers was entirely
successful. So sudden was the attack that many of
the enemy were found wearing their gas masks. Two
large Mebus, Juno and Minerva, with a good stretch
of tunnel trench remained, together with many
prisoners, in the hands of the stormers. The position
was rapidly wired with concertina wire and new
trenches dug for defence and communication by the


THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI 241
155th Field Co. RE. and the 11th Hants Pioneer
battalion. '
On the left the storming battalions were the 2nd
Royal Irish and the'7/8th Irish Fusiliers. The Royal
Irish carried both tunnel and support trenches with
the Flora Mebus, taking 200 prisoners. Many Germans
retreated into the tunnel, but were pelted out again
by Mills grenades. The Fusiliers were equally
successful, but had one short hold~up owing to the
determined resistance of a single ofﬁcer and ten men.
This little party made a brave ﬁght, and were so
situated that they commanded two lines of trench.
Eventually they were all killed. The support trench
was occupied, the tunnel cleared by the 174th Tunnel!
ling Company, and the whole position made good in
a most workmanlike way. A series of counter-attacks
were stamped out by the barrage before they could
get properly going.
The tunnel, as explained, was a continuous gallery
opening into the trench and extending eastwards.
It had numerous chambers leading off, ﬁtted with
wire bunks, tables, etc. This section was elaborately
mined, but the position of the leads had been
accurately disclosed by a deserter, and they were
soon cut by the sappers.
In this swift and successful operation some 635
prisoners of the 470th and 471st Regiments were taken,
with many minor trophies. .Many Germans had been
killed, 330 bodies being counted in the trenches
alone. Altogether it was a remarkably smooth-
running operation, and the model of an attack
with limited objective, upon which General Haldane
and all concerned might be congratulated. It was
the more remarkable as it was carried out without
R
CHAPTER

The
Battle of
Cambrai.
First
Phase.
Nov. 20.


242 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
X.
The
Battle of
Cambrai.
First
Phase.
Nov. 20.
preliminary bombardment, and no help from the
tanks.
While the Irish had attacked upon the left a single
brigade of the Third Division, the 9th, advanced
upon their right, and keeping pace with their comrades
carried out a most successful attack, securing a further
length of the tunnel trench. There was no further
ﬁghting of consequence in this area of the battle, save
for some movement forward on the part of the Irish
division and one short counter-attack by the Germans.
It will be understood that this attack was some '
miles to the north of the main battle, and that a long
section of unbroken Hindenburg Line intervened
between the two. Along this line the Fifty-sixth
Division kept up a spirited Chinese attack all day.
The real advance was upon a frontage of six miles
which covered the front from Hermies in the north
to Gonnelieu in the south. Every company of the
advancing units had been instructed to fall in behind
its own marked tank. At 6.20, just after dawn, in a
favouring haze, General Elles gave the signal, his iron-
clad ﬂeet ﬂowed forward, the ﬁeld of wire went down
with a long splintering rending crash, the huge faggots
were rolled forward into the gaping ditches, and the .
eager infantry crowded forward down the clear swathes
which the monsters had out. At the same moment
the guns roared out, and an effective smoke-barrage
screened the whole strange spectacle from the German
observers.
The long line of tanks, magniﬁed to monstrous size
in the dim light of early dawn, the columns of infantry
with ﬁxed bayonets who followed them, all advancing
in silent order, formed a spectacle which none who
took part in it could ever forget. Everything went


THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI
243
without a hitch, and in a few minutes the whole
Hindenburg Line with its amazed occupants was
in the hands of the assailants. Still following their
iron guides they pushed on to their further objectives.
As these differed, and as the fortunes of the units
varied, it will be well to take them in turn, always
working from the left of the line.
The British front was cut across diagonally by a
considerable canal with deep sides, the Canal du
Nord. Upon the north side of this was one division.
This ﬂank unit was the famous Thirty-sixth
Ulsters, who behaved this day with their usual
magniﬁcent gallantry. Advancing with -deliberate
determination, they carried all before them, though
exposed to that extra strain to which a ﬂank unit
must always submit. Their left was always enﬁladed
by the enemy and they had continually to build up a
defensive line, which naturally subtracted from their
numbers and made a long advance impossible. None
the less, after rushing a high bank bristling with
machine-guns they secured the second Hindenburg
Line, where they were ﬁrmly established by 10.30 after
a sharp contest with the garrison. They then swept
forward, keeping the canal upon their right, until by
evening they had established themselves upon the
Bapaume—Cambrai Road. It was the brigade
moving parallel to the Sixty-second Division upon
which the heavier work fell.
Upon the immediate right of the Irishmen was
Braithwaite’s Sixty-second Division of West Riding
Yorkshire Territorials—one of those second line units
whose solid excellence has been one of the surprises
of the'war. Six of them had already come to the
front, and not one of the six which had not made its
CHAPTER
X.
The
Battle of
Cambrai.
First
Phase.
Nov. 20.


244 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
X.

'l'ue
Battle Of
Csmbrai.
First
Phase.
Nov. 20.
mark. On this occasion the men of the West Riding
made an advance which was the admiration of the
army, and which the Field-Marshal, who weighs his
words carefully, described as “ a brilliant achievement.”
The ﬁrst obstacle in front of the 185th West Yorkshire
Brigade upon the right was the village of Havrincourt,
which, with the aid of the tanks, they carried in
dashing style, though the resistance from the Chateau
was very_ﬁerce. Behind it lay the reserve German
line, which also was taken at the point of the bayonet.
Upon the left the 187th Brigade, containing two
Yorks and Lancaster and two Yorkshire Light Infantry
battalions, swept gloriously forward and got every
objective, including the northern half of Havrincourt.
The 2/5th Yorkshire Light Infantry was particularly
ﬁne, as it charged without tanks and yet kept up
with the line. 'The 186th Brigade, consisting of four
battalions of the West Riding Regiment, then passed
through in a splendid rush which carried them up to
Y and'through the village of Graincourt, regardless of
the fact that Flesquieres on the right was untaken.
Surging on the 188th Reserve Brigade reached and
captured the important village of Graincourt, much
aided by two audacious tanks. With an energy which
was, still unabated they pushed on to Anneux, where
they reached the fringe of the houses. It was a truly
splendid day’s work, in which four and a half miles
of every devilry which German sappers could build or
' German infantry defend was inexorably beaten down.
In all these operations they were aided and supported,
not only by the tanks, but by the 11th Hussars, and
also by a body of King Edward’s Horse. Thirty-
seven guns and 2000 prisoners were the ﬁne trophies
of this one division.


THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI 245
Upon the right of Braithwaite’s Yorkshiremen
was the. Fifty-ﬁrst Highland Territorial Division.
They also made a ﬁne advance, but were held up
by the strongly organised village of Flesquieres.
The approach to it was -a long slope swept
by machine-gun ﬁre, and the co- operation of
the tanks was made difﬁcult by a number
of advanced ﬁeld-guns which destroyed the
slow-moving machines as they approached up
the hill. If the passage of the Hindenburg Line
showed the strength of these machines, the check at
Flesquieres showed their weakness, for in their present
CHAPTER
X.
The
Battle of
Cambrai.
First
Phase.
Nov. 20.
' state of development they were helpless before a well-.
served ﬁeld-gun, and a shell striking them meant
the destruction of the tank, and often the death of
the crew. It is said that a single Prussian artillery
oﬂicer, who stood by his gun to the death and is
chivalrously immortalised in the British bulletin,
destroyed no less than sixteen tanks by direct hits.
At_the same time the long and solid wall of the-
Chateau formed an obstacle to the infantry, as did'
the tangle of wire which surrounded the village. The
ﬁghting was very severe and the losses considerable,
but before evening the Highlanders had secured the
ground round the village and were close up to the
village itself. The delay had, 'however, a sinister
effect upon the British plans, as the deﬁant village,
spitting out ﬂames and lead from every cranny and
window, swept the ground around and created a
broad zone on either side, across which progress was
difﬁcult and dangerous. It was the resistance of this
village, and the subsequent breaking of the bridges
upon the canal, which prevented the cavalry from
fulﬁlling their full role upon this ﬁrst day of battle.


248 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
X.

The
Battle of
Cambrai.
First
Phase.
Nov. 20.
points to the British line“ Hence it was that the
ﬂanks of the Twenty-ninth were carefully covered
and a clear opening made for it, that with one tiger-
spring it might seize this vital position. The bridge
at Marcoing was captured intact, the leading tank
shooting down the party who were engaged in its
demolition. At Mesnieres, which is the more im-
portant point, the advancing troops were less for-
tunate, as the bridge had already been injured and
an attempt by a tank to cross it led to both bridge
and tank crashing down into the canal. This proved
-to be a serious misfortune, and coupled with the
hold-up at Flesquieres, was the one untoward event
in a grand day’s work. Both the tanks and the
cavalry were stopped by the broken bridge, and
though the infantry still pushed on their advance
was slower, as it was necessary to clear that part of
the village which lay north of the canal and then
to go forward without support over open country.
Thus the Germans had time to organise resistance
upon the low hills from Rumilly to Crevecoeur and
to prevent the advance reaching its full limits. A
footbridge was secured by the N ewfoundlanders at
Mesnieres, and it may be mentioned as a curious
example of the wide sweep of the British Empire
that the ﬁrst man to get across it, and to lose his
life in the gallant deed, was an Esquimaux from
Labrador. The centre brigade got about 1500 yards
beyond Marcoing, but there the Germans from
Cambrai had formed a new line which could not be
forced. The enemy recognised this advance as being '
for the moment the most menacing part of the British
' line, and at once adopted the very strongest measures
to push it back and secure the bridgeheads of the


THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI
249
canal. Several times upon November 21 they raged
against this point of the line and made desperate
attempts to gain the two villages. Noyelle, which
was held by the 1st Lancashire Fusiliers, was also
strongly attacked upon that day, but with the aid
of the 2nd Royal Fusiliers and 16th Middlesex the
village was held against a series of onslaughts, one
position changing hands seven times. Some of these
counter-attacks were delivered by Prussian Guards,
CHAPTER
X.

The
Battle of
C ambrai.
First
Phase.
Nov. 20. .
hastily brought from Lens, and the ﬁghting was as _
severe as it usually is when the Kaiser’s own men put
in an appearance.
the 21st, and we must return to the ﬁrst day of the
battle.
- On the right of the Twenty-ninth was the Twentieth
Division. In front of them, upon the farther
side of the line, had lain the powerfully fortiﬁed
farm of La Vacquerie, and this they had taken
with their ﬁrst rush. Beyond lay a long slope,
These events, however, were on .
strongly held by the Germans, called the Welsh _
Ridge. This also was stormed by the Twentieth,
who kept pace with the right ﬂank of the Twenty-
ninth, and pushed their advance forward as far as
the canal. At the same time the 59th Brigade was
.thrown out upon the right to make a prolongation
of the defensive ﬂank built up by the Twelfth Division
and so screen the main attack. All went well with
the right of this advance, but the left, consisting of
the 10th K.R.R., was held for a time by a strong
point which eventually. surrendered and yielded 200
prisoners. Some of this battalion saw the enemy
- running towards Mesniéres and pursued them to the
main bridge. The troops received a most affectionate
welcome from the inhabitants of the houses along


250 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
X.

The
Battle of
Cam brai.
First
Phase.
Nov. 20.
the Cambrai Road. The attack upon the left was
carried out by the 12th K.R.R. and 6th Oxfords of
the 60th Brigade, which swept with little resistance
over the Hindenburg Line, but had some trouble with
strong points beyond. One of these points of resist-
ance which was carried by the 12th K.R.R. accounted
for all the ofﬁcers of the party and 62 out of 96 men,
before it was put out of action by the survivors.
Captain Hoare, a veteran Riﬂeman who had risen
from the ranks, was killed at this point, and his
orderly, a lad of twenty named Shepherd, took over
the direction of the party and carried the operation
through with such dash and valour that he was
awarded the Victoria Cross.
We now come to the Twelfth Division upon
the ﬂank, the ﬁrst English division of the New
Army, a unit which had greatly distinguished itself
at Ovillers and elsewhere. Its task was in some ways
the most diﬂicult of any, as it had not only to advance
upon important objectives but to build up a ﬂank
line of resistance as it went, since the whole attack
might have been checked and brought to ruin by an
enemy assault from the south. The 36th Brigade
upon the left advanced with the 9th Royal Fusiliers
and 7th Sussex in their front line, while two com-
panies of the 8th Fusiliers were thrown out upon the
left to aid in the attack upon La Vacquerie'. On the
right by the Banteaux Spur was the 35th Brigade
with the 9th Essex and 5th Berkshires in the front.
The latter battalion lost heavily from the ﬁre of guns
on their right. When on the line of Bleak House the
supporting battalions, two companies of Fusiliers
and the 11th Middlesex upon the left, the 7th Suﬂolks
and part of the 7th Norfolks upon the right, passed


252
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
Cruma
X.

'The
Battle of
Cambrai.
First
Phase.
Nov. 20.
On the left, however, the success of the
force.
' Fifty—ﬁrst Division had made more open space, and
on 'this side the Bays and the 4th Dragoon Guards
penetrated upon the 21st as far as Fontaine and did
some useful work. -
The Twelfth Division formed the ﬂank of Pulteney’s
Third Corps. Upon its right was Snow’s Seventh
Corps, the left-hand unit of which was the Fifty-
ﬁfth Division of Lancashire Territorials, which had
not been involved in the advance, and indeed
was nominally resting after its supreme exertions at
' Ypres where it had taken a notable part in battle
after battle. It had been planned, however, that
some demonstration should be made upon this front
in order to divert the enemy’s forces and to correspond
with the attack at Bullecourt upon the north. This
was carried out by the 164th Brigade and may have
had the desired effect although it gave no permanent
gain. A point called the Knoll, with an adjacent
farm, was carried by the stormers and was held for
most of the day, but they were forced back to their
own old lines in the evening, after a long day of battle
in which they incurred such heavy losses that the
brigade was seriously crippled at a later date when
the full strength of the division Was urgently needed.
This ended the ﬁrst day of_ the battle, which
represented a considerable victory, and one which
vindicated the enterprise and brain-power of the
British inventor and engineer as much as the valour
of the soldier. The German line was deeply indented
over a front of 6 miles and to a depth of 4.1; miles.
More than 5000 prisoners with many guns had been
taken. The famous Hindenburg Line had been
severed. The villages of Havrincourt, Graincourt,


THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI
253
Ribecourt, Marcoing, Noyelle, and. Mesnieres were
all in British hands.
good that it was determined not to suspend the
operations, but to try the results of a second day and
see what could be attained before the arrival of the
full German supports. Even with their excellent
rear organisation and their great junction at Cambrai,
it was hoped that a clear forty-eight hours must pass
from the opening of the battle before they could
build up a really formidable line. > ' i
There were no operations of any importance during
the night of the 20th, but early upon November 21 the
British line began to move forward once more, the
same divisions being engaged in the advance. In the
north the Ulstermen, who had attained the line of
the Cambrai—Bapaume Road, crossed that boundary
and pushed onwards up the slope for about a mile
until they reached the outskirts of the village of
Moeuvres which they were unable to retain. It was
soon apparent, both here and at other points along
It was a good beginning, so'
CHAPTER
X.

The
Battle of
Cambrai.
First
Phase.
Nov. 21.
the line, that the Germans with their usual military _
efﬁciency had brought up their reserves even more
rapidly than had been expected, and the resistance at
Moeuvres was so determined that the tired division
was unable to overcome it. The 169th Brigade of the
Fifty-Sixth Division pushed up on the left of the Ulster-
men and occupied the German outpost line, from which
they were able later to attack the main Hindenburg
Line.
The Sixty-second Division upon the right of- the
Ulstermen had got to the edge of Anneux upon the
night before, and now the 2/4th West Ridings were
able to complete their conquest. The 186th Brigade
then drove across the Cambrai Road and reached the


254
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CBLPIIB
X.

The
Battle of
Cambrai.
First
Phase.
Nov. 21.
edge of the considerable plantation called Bourlon
Wood which rises upon a swelling hill, the summit
being so marked in that gently undulating country
that it becomes a landmark in the distance. Here
there was very strong opposition, with so murderous
a machine-gun ﬁre that all progress was arrested,
though a number of tanks drove their way in among
the trees in an effort to break down the resistance.
In the meantime the ﬂank of the Yorkshiremen had
been protected by the capture of the village of Cantaing
with several hundred more prisoners.
Early in the day the Fifty-ﬁrst had got round the
northern edge of Flesquiéres, the village which had
held up the centre of the advance upon the ﬁrst day.
As a consequence it fell and the front was cleared for
a further advance. The Scotch infantry was then
able to make a rapid advance of nearly three miles,
taking Cantaing with 500 prisoners upon the way,
and winding up in front of the village of Fontaine-
Notre-Dame, which they stormed in a very brilliant
fashion with the aid of tanks and of some squadrons
of the First Cavalry Division as already noted.
Farther south the Sixth and Twenty-ninth Divi-
sions acting in close co-operation had pushed their
way through Mesniéres, where they met and defeated
a counter-attack from the direction of Rumilly. It
was clear that every hour the German line was thicken-
ing in this quarter, Whilst the Sixth cleared the
ground upon the left, the Twenty-ninth pushed forward
and- reached Noyelle, where with the aid of those
useful allies, the dismounted troopers of the First
and Fifth Cavalry Divisions, including the Umballa
Brigade of Indians, they made good the village as
already described.


THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI 255
In the meantime the 10th Riﬂe Brigade of the Gamma
Twentieth Division upon the right had ﬁrst taken and x'
then lost Les Rues des Vignes, an important position The
upon the British side of the canal. In the afternoon gigiirg.
the 11th Riﬂe Brigade managed to cross the canal Eff;
and endeavoured to push up towards Crevecoeur, Nov. 21.
' but at this point the river Scheldt ran on the farther
side and offered an impediment which could not be
crossed. Orders were issued by General Byng that a
fresh attempt should be made next morning, but the
troops were weary and the losses heavy so the instruc-
tions were cancelled and the line remained unaltered
at this point.
The end of the second day of battle found the
British Command faced with a difﬁcult problem, and
we have the Field-Marshal’s own lucid analysis of the
alternative courses open, and as to the reasons which
prompted his decision. The capture of Cambrai had
never been the goal of the operations, though a cavalry
raid which would have disorganised the communica-
tions through that town had at one time seemed
possible. A turning of the line to the south with the
co—operation of some French divisions which were
ready upon the spot, was part of the original concep-
tion, and was baulked by the insuﬁicient hold estab-
lished upon the farther side of the Canal de l’Escaut.
But the central idea had been the capture of the high
ground of Bourlon Hill and Wood for with this in
British possession a considerable stretch of the
defensive German line would lie open to observed
artillery ﬁre, and its retention would probably mean \
a fresh withdrawal to the east. It had been hoped
that the goal would have been attained within forty-
eight hours, but this time had elapsed and the


Anneux


Graincourt I Marcoin g
' l
. I .
Mmuvres Havrincourt Flesquieres Ribecourt Mesnieres Welsh Ridge Lateau Wood
l
36 6 2 5 1 6 29 2O 1 2
BATTLE LINE OF THIRD ARMY
November 20, 1917


THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI
261
many notable deeds of valour was that of Sergeant-
Major Davies of the 18th Welsh, who knelt down in
the open and allowed his shoulder to be used as the
rest for a Lewis gun, until a bullet struck him down.
It was clear that the Germans would make every
effort to regain the wood, and immediate steps were
taken to strengthen the defence, which was already
ﬁrmly established. The 14th Argyll and Sutherlands
were sent up to thicken the line, as were the 15th
Hussars, who were doing great service as a mobile foot
battalion. More machine-guns Were also pushed to the
front. The result of these measures, all taken before
nightfall, was that the inevitable counter-attacks,
which materialised before dawn, were shot back by a
blaze of ﬁre from the fringe of brushwood. Early in
the morning of November 24, a resolute endeavour of
the German stormers gained a lodgment for them to
the right of the British line, where they captured some
of the machine-guns. During the whole of this day
the enemy pressed hardly upon the weakening line,
and at three in the afternoon had pushed 	hem back
from the whole of the right half of the wood, but
Welshmen, Highlanders, and Hussars gathered them-
selves for a supreme effort, and dashing at the Germans
swept them back once more to their old position.
We shall leave the 119th Brigade still holding fast
upon the evening of the 24th to their advanced
position, while we follow the fortunes of the 121st
Brigade from the time of the original attack upon
November 23.
This Brigade had, as already stated, advanced
upon the village of Bourlon with the 20th Middlesex
upon the right and the 13th Yorkshires upon the
left, the latter in close touch with the 107th Brigade
CHAPTER

The
Battle of
Cambrai.
First
Phase.
Nov. 24.


262 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
Cums of Ulstermen upon the west of their front, the whole
X.
The
Battle of
Cambrai.
First
Phase.
Nov. 24.
line to swing round and attack the western edge of
the village. The 21st Middlesex were in close support
to give weight to the left of the line, while the 12th
Suffolks were in reserve. The Ulstermen had been
held up by heavy machine-gun ﬁre which exposed
the left ﬂank of the Yorkshires, who in turn could
not get forward. This in turn brought the two
Middlesex battalions to a halt, who were already Well
up to the village. Three out of six tanks upon this
ﬂank were put out 'of action by armour-piercing
bullets. After a pause both the Yorkshires and some
of the Middlesex got into the village, but their ﬂank
was always bare, and the best they could do was to
hold on to the southern edge. None the less the line
was ﬁrm and formidable, as was found by a German
attack carried out by the 9th Grenadier Regiment
in the late afternoon, which was swept back by'the
British ﬁre. All day the enemy strove hard to clear
the village, and all day the 121st Brigade held
splendidly to its gains. Where all were ﬁne the non-
commissioned ofﬁcers were particularly splendid.
Sergeant-Major Hall of the 21st Middlesex, three
times wounded and still rallying his company, was
but one of many. Some critic has ﬁnely said that
if the Day of Judgment were to come a British non-
commissioned ofﬁcer would still be found imploring
his neighbours not to get the wind up. It is an
interesting fact that the attack by the 121st Brigade
had been countermanded, but the wires were broken
r and the message miscarried, so that the whole ﬁne
episode was strictly unofﬁcial.
During the night the hard-pressed line was
thickened by the arrival of the 19th Hussars and


THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI 263
- Bedford Yeomanry, who took over the left of the
position. The 14th H.L.I. were also brought up from
the reserve brigade, and twelve more tanks came into
line. The 12th Su'ffolks had formed upon the left
of the Highlanders, and these two battalions with
the cavalry and tanks made a united attack upon
the remaining portion of the village of Bourlon on
the morning of the 24th, which was countered by
the Germans in the afternoon. In the confusion
of house-,to—house combat the two battalions were
separated, the Suffolks getting penned in at the
south corner of the village, while the Highlanders,
' who had made a splendid advance, were isolated in
the north-east. The situation was serious, and two
reserve battalions, the 13th Surreys and 12th Royal
Lancasters, were brought up 'after dusk. A body of
dismounted cavalry drawn from the 2nd and 5th
Dragoon Guards and the 11th Hussars were also
' pushed into the ﬁght. With these troops the
Brigadier made a strong attempt upon the morning
of November 25 to force his way through the village,
which was now mostly in German hahds, but the
tanks which he had expected did not arrive, and his
infantry were not strong enough for the task. Colonel
Battye of the Highlanders had been killed, and
Colonel Warden of the East Surreys, who had assumed
’ local command, did all that a man could do, but the
losses were too heavy, and the Highlanders were
seen no more. Up to the 26th Colonel Warden, With his
headquarters in the ﬁring line, was able to send up
rations to the survivors of the three isolated companies
who had made a wonderful resistance for nearly two
days. In the end it was only by great skill that his
own battalion, the East Surreys, were rescued from
CHAPTER
X.

The
Battle of
Cambrai.
First
Phase.
Nov. 25.


264 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
Caama
X.

The
Battle of
Cambrai.
First
Phase.
Nov. 25.
their dangerous position, for the forces of the Germans
were in overwhelming strength, and overlapped the
village upon both sides. Some of the East Surreys
were cut off for two days in the south-eastern part
of the village before the survivors could be got
clear. Colonel Warden received the D.S.O. for his
splendid work.
In the meantime, from the morning of the 25th,
the 119th Brigade had made a splendid ﬁght
in the wood against ﬁerce attacks which beat up
against their right ﬂank. The Guards had come up
to relieve the 51st Highlanders, and on this date
three battalions of the 3rd Guards Brigade, the 2nd
Scots Guards, 1st and-4th Grenadier Guards, were
thrown in to help the Fortieth Division in its heavy
task. Two companies of the 11th Royal Lancasters
were also brought forward, and succeeded in doing
some very brilliant work. The ﬂank was held
during the day. Upon that night the weary divi-
sion was drawn out, being relieved by the Sixty—
second Yorkshire Division, which by some miracle
after only two days of ’rest was judged to be
battleworthy once more. It was indeed a case of
the tired relieving those who were only a little less
tired than themselves, but the line had to be held
and not another man was available. The artillery of
the Fortieth Division, which had shown remarkable
efﬁciency and co-operated very closely with the
infantry, remained in action. During its brilliant
spell of service the Fortieth Division had taken 750
prisoners, but its casualties were very heavy, amount-
ing to 172 ofﬁcers and more than 3000 men.
The British position was now a difﬁcult one, for
the enemy held the ridge above Fontaine and also the


266 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
> X.
The
Battle of
Cambrai.
First
Phase.
Nov. 27.
attack was carried out by the 2nd Irish, while the
3rd Grenadiers, 1st Coldstream, and 1st Scots were
respectively upon the left, centre, and right of the
advance upon the village, which came down the line
of the Cambrai Road.
The attack started at 6.20 in the morning after
a night of snow and tempest. The ﬂank battalion
of Scots Guards by the use of a sunken road got well
up to the village without heavy loss, but a blast of
machine-gun ﬁre from a small house about 200 yards
away played havoc with the 3rd Grenadiers, who
none the less rushed forward, stormed the house, and
secured their ﬁrst objective. The Coldstreams also
suffered heavily from machine—gun ﬁre from a post
- north of the railway, and half their numbers were
on the ground before they also reached their objective.
The remains of these two gallant battalions cleared
the whole village and captured about a thousand
prisoners, but were unable to get more than six
hundred to the rear. By ten o’clock the whole
position had been taken, but the victors had suffered
so severely that they were unable to cover so large a
perimeter, and about eleven o’clock the Germans,
passing through the numerous gaps in the defence,
bade fair to cut oﬁc the. whole British force. The
4th Grenadiers of the 3rd Brigade was sent up under
Lord Gort to reinforce, and the remains of the 2nd
Brigade was drawn clear of the village and settled
into trenches in front of it. The attack was in many
ways a very difﬁcult one, for the village Was strongly
fortiﬁed, there was much wire intact south of the
Cambrai road, and the machine-gun ﬁre from La
Folie Wood swept all the approaches. Eventually
the force of the enemy was so strong, and‘it had


268
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER

The
Battle of
Cambrai.
First
Phase.
Nov. 27.
promise and full performance. “ He had the dash
and enthusiasm of youth tempered by the'knowledge
and experience which comes to most men only with
later years.” So wrote his immediate commander.
England could ill spare such a man at such a time.
All was quiet for the next few days, during which
the Fifty-ninth Division relieved the Guards, while
the Forty-seventh Division relieved the Sixty-second
Yorkshiremen.


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270 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917 I
CHAPTER.
XI.
The
Battle of
Cambrai.
Second '
Phase.
Nov. 30.
'the defenders had it in their power to adopt.
of action. This experienced leader took every step
which could be thought of, but he was sadly handi-
capped by the state of his division which had been so
severely hammered at Ypres, and had in the last few
days had one brigade knocked to pieces at Knoll.
With only two brigades, full of young troops who had
taken the place of the casualties incurred in the north,
he had to cover at least 10,000 yards of ground. His
line was stretched until it was little more than a string
of sentries with an occasional strong point dotted up
and down. We‘will begin by endeavouring to follow
what occurred in this southern sector, and then turn
to the equally important, though less dramatic,
doings in the north.
The attack in the south was delivered upon a front
of ten miles from Vendhuille in the south to Mesnieres
in the north. To take a single comprehensive view
of it, it hardly affected the Twenty-fourth Division
upon the right of Snow’s Seventh Corps, it crashed
with full force upon the Fifty-ﬁfth Division, especially
the left brigade, it swept impetuoust upon the
Twelfth and Twentieth Divisions, driving in part of
the line of each of these units, and ﬁnally it raged with
equal fury but less success against the Twenty-ninth-
Division, in the region of lMesnieres. The weight and
swiftness of the blow, coming with the shortest
possible artillery preparation, and strongly supported
by low—ﬂying aeroplanes, must-add to the reputation
of General von Marwitz who planned it. It was a
success, and it is difficult to see how it'could‘have been
prevented from being a success by any means which
The
undulating country in which 'troOps could assemble,
and the morning mist which screened them from


THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI '
271
observation were two factors which contributed to the
result. >
Shortly after seven in the morning the tempest
suddenly broke loose. The surprise was so well
carried out that though the British General was ex-
pecting an attack, and though he had his wire patrols
pushed up to the German trenches only a hundred
yards oﬁ', still their reports at dawn gave no warning
of any sound to herald the coming rush. It came like
a clap of thunder. An experienced ofﬁcer in the front
British trench said: “ My ﬁrst impression was that
of an earthquake. Then it seemed to me that an
endless procession of aeroplanes were grazing my head
with their wheels. On recovering from the ﬁrst shock
of my surprise the Germans were far behind me.”
There was no question of protective barrage, for the
quickest answer to the most urgent S.O.S. would have
been too late to help. ‘
This account refers particularly to the 166th
Brigade, upon the left of the Fifty-ﬁfth Division, which
got the full blast of the storm. It and the guns
behind it were overrun in an instant by the weight
and speed of the advance. The General in cemmand
. , did all that could be done in such an emergency, but
it was impossible to form a ﬁxed line. The alternative
was to swing back hingeing upon the right of the
CHAPTER
XI.

The
Battle of
Cambrai.
Second
Phase.
Nov. 30.
division, and this was done so that there was always a ' -
ﬂank formed upon the left of the stormers. There
was a ravine, called Ravine 22 upon the maps, which
ran doyvn between the Fifty-ﬁfth and Twelfth Divi-
sions. With the terriﬁc force of a ﬂood the Germans
poured down this natural runway, destroying the
British' formations upon each side of it. The Fifty-
ﬁfth Division was shattered to pieces at this point by


272 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
XI.

The
Battle of
Cambrai.
Second
Phase.
Nov. 30.
so terriﬁc an impact upon their feeble line, but the
small groups into which they were broken put up as
good a ﬁght as they could, while the line formed'
anew between the village of Villers-Guislain and
the farm Vaucelette which was a strong pivot of
resistance. In this part of the ﬁeld units of the
165th Brigade of Liverpool battalions, together with
the 5th Royal Lancasters and the 10th Liverpool
Scottish of the 166th Brigade, stood stoutly to their
work, and though the enemy after penetrating the
lines were able to get the village of Villers-Guislain',
which they had turned and surrounded, they were
never able to extend their advance to the south on
account of this new line of defence through Vaucelette,
though it was composed entirely of infantry with no
artillery support. However, even with this limitation
the situation was bad enough, since the 166th Brigade
was almost out to pieces, and so complete was the
destruction upon the extreme left that one battalion,
the 5th South Lancashires, was entirely destroyed,
and nothing heard of it until its leader, Colonel James,
was reported as a badly wounded prisoner in Germany.
Of the division generally it was said _by a higher General
that “ they fought like tigers,” as might be expected
of men who had left a great name on the battle of
‘Ypres, and who were destined for even greater fame
when four months later they held Givenchy at the
critical moment of the terrible battle of Armentieres.
Here, as always, it is constancy in moments of ad-
versity and dour refusal to accept defeat which
distinguish both the British soldier and his leaders.
We shall now see what happened to the Twelfth
Division upon the left of the Fifty-ﬁfth. When the
German stormers poured down Ravine 22 their left-


274 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER.
XI.

The
Battle of
Cambrai.
Second
Phase.
Nov. 30.
for the British gunner does not lightly take leave of
his piece. Many were fought to the last instant with
their crews hacking at them with pickaxes and trench-
ing tools to disable them even while the Germans
swarmed in. Lieut. Wallace, of the 363rd Battery,
with ﬁve men served three guns point-blank, their
trails crossing as they covered three separate ﬁelds of
ﬁre. Each of this band of heroes received a decora-
tion, their leader getting the V.C. The 92nd R.F.A.
near La Vacquerie also repulsed four separate attacks,
ﬁring with open sights at ~a range of 200 yards, before
they were forced. to dismantletheir guns and retire.
The 7th Norfolks on the left edge of the 35th
Brigade were farthest from the storm-centre, and
stoutly beat off all attacks. Only one lieutenant was
left upon his feet at the end of the day. Separated
from their comrades the Norfolks were rather part of
the 36th Brigade upon their left, who were also ﬁercely
attacked, but were more happily situated as regarded
their ﬂank. The 9th Royal Fusiliers were pushed back
to the Cambrai Road on the north, but with some of
the N orfolks built up a solid line of resistance there.
Next to them upon the left the two companies of the
8th Royal Fusiliers which were in the line, were
practically annihilated in spite of a splendid attempt
to rescue them made by the other two companies led
by their heroic Colonel Elliott Cooper. In this brave
effort the leader gained his Victoria Cross, but also
unhappily a wound from which he eventually died.
This counter-attack drove the Germans back for the
ﬁrst time in this terrible morning, but their lines
were reinforced and they came on once more.
The 37th Brigade upon the left had their own
set of troubles to contend with. The Germans had


THE BATTLE or CAMBRAI
275
beaten hard upon the neighbouring Twentieth Divi-
sion, breaking into their line upon the right of their
ﬂank 59th Brigade. In this way they got into Lateau
' Wood and on to the Bonavis Ridge, which placed them
‘ upon the left rear of the 37th Brigade. The unit was
' ' in imminent danger of being cut off, but held strongly
to its line, the pressure falling particularly heavily
upon the 7th East Surreys and upon the 6th Buﬂs.
Pam-Pam Farm was the centre of some very desperate
ﬁghting on the part of these two units. The Brigade
was sorely tried and forced backwards but still held
its own, facing upon two and even three different
fronts, as the enemy drifted in from the north and
east.
In the meantime a train of independent circum-
stances had built up a reserve line which was destined
to be of great importance in limiting the German
advance until reinforcements could arrive. Their
stormers had within an hour or two reached not only
Villers-Guislain and Gonnelieu, but had even entered
Gouzea-ucourt, three miles deep in the British line.
CHAPTER ‘
XI.

The
Battle of
Cambrai.
Second
Phase.
Nov. 30.
This village, or rather a quarry upon its eastern edge, _
was the Headquarters of the Twenty-ninth Division,
and the Germans were within an- ace of capturing
General de Lisle, its famous commander. The amazed
Commandant of the local hospital found a German-
sentry at his door instead of a British one, and with
the usual British good-humour sent him out a cup
of tea. No doubt he did the same to the Irish
Guardsmanwho in turn relieved the German in the
afternoon. The G.R.A. of the Twenty-ninth Division
was wounded and taken, and Captain Crow of the
Staff was killed. General de Lisle with quick decision
organised a temporary defence for the south end of the


276 A THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
XI.

The
Battle of
Cambrai.
Second
Phase.
Nov. 30.
village, and then hurried up to join his hard-pressed
men at Marcoing. The General of the Twelfth Division
had energetically hurried up the two battalions which he
held in reserve. They were the 6th West Surreys and
the 11th Middlesex. Some hundred of odds and ends
near Headquarters were also formed into a unit and
pushed to the front. These went forward towards the
ﬁring with the vaguest notion of the situation, meeting
broken groups of men and catching occasional glimpses
of advancing Germans. The Brigadier of the 35th
Brigade had been nearly caught in Gonnelieu, and
found the enemy between him and his men. As he
came back with his staff, still very lightly clad, pausing
occasionally to ﬁre at the advancing Germans, he
passed Ganche Wood and there met the .advancing
battalions, which he helped to marshal along a low
ridge, the Revelon Ridge. The Northumberland
Hussars lined up on the right of these troops and two
brigades of cavalry coming up from the south formed
on the left of them at a later hour. The whole held
ﬁrm against all enemy attacks and made a bulwark
until the time when the Guards advanced in the after-
noon. As will afterwards be described, when that
event occurred this Revelon line formed roughly a
prolongation of the new line established by the Guards
and Cavalry, so that a long dam was formed.
Commanding ofﬁcers in this critical part of the ﬁeld
gave a sigh of relief in the early afternoon as they
realised that the worst was over.
The Twentieth »Light Division was on the left of
the Twelfth, and its experience was equally trying.
It was upon the Riﬂemen of the 59th Brigade that the
main shock fell, and it came with such sudden violence
that the Germans were through the right unit and in


THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI 277
the rear of the rest before the situation was fully
realised. The 61st Brigade upon the left had also
a most desperate time, their ﬂank being penetrated
and turned so that for a time they were out off from
their comrades of the Twenty-ninth Division at
Mesnieres. By this determined German attack the
south bank of the canal was partially cleared for their
advance, which put them in the position that they
could possibly push along that bank and get hold of
Les Rues Vertes and the southern ends of the bridges
so as to cut off those British troops who were across
the canal. In this dangerous movement they nearly
had success, and it was only the desperate ﬁghting of
some of the 86th Brigade which saved the situation.
The prospects were even worse upon the right of the
Division for the Germans broke through Lateau Wood,
and so got completely behind the 10th K.R.R., who
were the ﬂank battalion. From the desperate struggle
which ensued only 4 ofﬁcers and 16 Riﬂemen'ever
emerged, for the battalion was attacked on three sides
and was overwhelmed after a long and splendid
defence, which twice repulsed heavy frontal attacks
before the ﬂank advance rolled up the line. The
battalion got separated from its own headquarters in
Lateau Wood, and Colonel Sheepshanks with the
twenty odd men who composed the Staff fought a
little battle of its own against the stormers coming
down towards the Bonavis—Mesniéres Road. The
survivors of the brigade rallied upon the reserve
battalion, the 11th R.B. on the Hindenburg Line.
The 11th K.R.R. on the left of the brigade front had
endured a similar experience but their losses were not
so terribly severe. The aeroplane attack worried the
troops almost as much as the infantry, so that it is no
CHAPTER
XI.

The
Battle of
Cambrai.
Second
Phase.
Nov. 30.


278 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
XI.

The
Battle of
Cambrai.
Second
Phase.
Nov. 30.
exaggeration to say that there were times when they
were assailed fromfour sides, the front, each ﬂank
and above at the same instant. These aeroplanes
gave the impression of being armour-clad and in-
vulnerable to riﬂe-ﬁre. _
Upon the left of the Twentieth Division, with its
centre at the village of Mesnieres, was the Twenty-
ninth Division, a good unit to have in the heart of .
such a crisis. The Twenty-hinth and Sixth Divisions
held the centre of the British line that day, and
were the solid nucleus upon which the whole battle
hinged both to left and right of them. Both divisions
“were seriously compromised by the push-back to the
south of them, and their battery positions were taken
in reverse, but they held the whole of their ground
without giving an inch and completely beat off every
German attack. A Guernsey battalion made its
mark in the ﬁghting that day and rendered most
excellent service, as did the Newfoundlanders; but
the main strength of the divisions lay of course in
their disciplined British veterans, men whose war-
hardened faces, whether in Gallipoli or Flanders, had
' never been turned from an enemy. It is no light
matter to drive such a force, and the four German
divisions who drove in from Mesnieres to Bauteaux
were unable to make even a dint in that formidable
line. For two days the villages, both Marcoing and
Mesnieres, were ﬁrmly held, and when at last a re-
adjustmentof the line was ordered it Was carried
out voluntarily and deliberately in accordance with
the new plans made necessary by the events in north
and south. -
_ In this great ﬁght the 86th Brigade was on the
right at Mesnieres with the 16th Middlesex upon the


280 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
XI.
The
Battle of
Cambrai.
Second
Phase.
Nov. 30.
attack after another, their dwindling line fraying to
the last degree, but never breaking before the enemy.
Les Rues Vertes became a Golgotha of Germans, but
it was still in the evening safe in the hands of the
British defenders. _One of the classical 'examples of
British courage and discipline during the war, ﬁt to
rank with Colonel Pears and his cancer at Ovillers,
was furnished by Colonel Forbes Robertson of the
16th Middlesex, now a V.C., who, stricken in both
eyes and temporarily blind, was still led by his orderly
up and down the line in order to steady it. Let such
a story help our descendants to realise the kind of
men who stood between Germany and the conquest
of the world.
Next morning saw no surcease of the ﬁghting in
this quarter of the ﬁeld. If anything, the ranks of
the assailants were thicker and their rushes more
insistent upon the morning of the 21st. But the
Twenty-ninth had called up its reserves, and stood
with every bristle on end across the German path.
The trouble behind the line had greatly weakened
the artillery support, but the trench-mortars gave all
the help possible to the hard—worked infantry. The
villages were knocked to pieces by the enemy guns,
but the British stuck like leeches to the ruins. The
General of the 86th Brigade was among his men in
the front of the battle, encouraging them to dwell
upon their aim and steadying their weary ranks. The
87th Brigade in the north, though itself attacked,
spared some reinforcements for the hard—pressed men
in the south. Once Les Rues Vertes was lost, but
a counter-attack led by the Brigade-Major won it
back again. This was still the position when on the
night of December 1 the orders were given for the


282 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CnAn'sa
XI.

The
Battle of
Cambrai.
Second
Phase.
. Nov. 30.
general readjustment of the line by the evacuation
of the Mesnieres salient. Well might Sir Douglas
Haig senda special order to General de Lisle thanking
him for the magniﬁcent services rendered during two
days and a night by the Twenty-ninth Division.
It has been stated that the Mesnieres salient was
evacuated, but two battalions of the Twenty-ninth
Division, the N ewfoundlanders and the South Wales
Borderers, had been left upon the north bank of the
canal—with them was the 16th Brigade of the Sixth
Division who had been sent up to aid and relieve the
Twenty-ninth. These troops had a cruel experience,
as the enemy upon December 3 concentrated so heavy
a ﬁre_ upon them that they were driven back across
the canal, the 16th Brigade being partly broken by
the severity of the attack. This incident led to a
retraction of the line in this quarter.
For the sake of continuity of narrative we shall
now, before turning to the very important episodes
in the .north, show how the Guards came up in the
south and how the new line was ﬁrmly established
in this critical quarter of the ﬁeld. The reader will
therefore carry back his mind to that fateful hour
when the left of the Fifty-ﬁfth had been swept away,
the Twelfth and Twentieth shattered, and the Twenty-
ninth was holding on with all its strength in the ﬁrst
spate of the German ﬂood.
The Guards, who had been drawn out after their
hard spell of service in the Bourlon attack, were moving
into a rest camp behind the lines when they were
stopped by the amazing tidings that the British line
was broken and that the Germans were scattered
anywhere over the undulating country in front of
them. It was 11.15 and they were marching from


THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI 283
the hamlet of Metz when the ﬁrst news of disaster CRAP?“
reached them—news which was very quickly followed
by signs as gunners were met coming back with the Efﬁe of
sights and sometimes the broken breech-blocks of embas-
their abandoned guns in their hands. Qver the ridge Film.
between Metz and the Gouzeaucourt Wood a number Nov- 30-
of gunners, sappers, and infantry came in driblets,
none of them hurrying, but all with a bewildered air
as ‘though uncertain what to do. To these worried
and broken people the sight of the taut lines of the
Guards must indeed have been a great stay in their
trouble. “ There were a good many men,” says one
ofﬁcer, “ coming towards us without arms or equip-
ment, but these I presumed to belong to some unit
resting in the vicinity.” It is only fair to state that
several labour companies had been caught in the
sudden storm and that many of the broken formations
seem to have been fromtheir ranks, though others
behaved with extraordinary valour, and exchanged
their spades for riﬂes with the greatest alacrity. The
Guards moved forward in the direction of the turmoil, --
but their progress was slow, as there were gun-teams
upon .the narrow road. The 1st Brigade under
General de Crespigny was leading, being the unit which
had suffered least in the Bourlon ﬁghting. The young
Brigadier, a famous sportsman as well as a dashing
but cool-headed soldier, galloped ahead in an effort
to clear up the situation, and after doing a mile. or $0
across country he suddenly saw the grey coats of
German infantry among the trees around him. Riding
back he halted his brigade in a hollow by Gouzeau-
court Wood, ﬁxed bayonets, and then, deploying
them into the line, advanced them in extended order
across the ﬁelds. There was no artillery support at


284 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
XI.

The
Battle of
Cambrai.
Second
Phase.
Nov. 30.
all, but from the front there came an occasional shell,
with,the constant cracking of machine-guns, which
increased as they topped the low ridge before them.
“ We advanced into the blue in perfect lines,” says
one who was present. Once under ﬁre the brigade
went forward in short rushes of alternate companies.
“ Our fellows were not shouting,” says the same
witness, “ but chatting among themselves, and smiling
in a manner that boded ill for the Huns.” The
2nd Coldstreams were on the right, the 2nd in the
centre, and the 1st Irish upon the left, with the 2nd
Grenadiers in close support. As de Crespigny’s
brigade came upon the fringes of the German advance
they swept them up before them, keeping the Metz—
Gouzeaucourt Road as their right boundary, while a
force of dismounted cavalry moved up upon the
farther side. The Irish upon the left passed through
the wood and broke with a yell about 2 P.M. into
Gouzeaucourt village, which was not strongly held.
The Germans bolted from the eastern exits and the
Guardsmen passing through made a line beyond,
getting in touch upon the left with the 4th Grenadier
Guards of the 3rd Brigade, which formed up and
advanced upon that side. They were aidedin this
advance by a small detached body representing the
Headquarters’ Guard of the Twenty—ninth Division
and by a company of North Midland R.E. who held
their post inviolate all day, and were now very glad
to join in an offensive. As the line advanced beyond
the village they came into a very heavy ﬁre, for the
St. Quentin Ridge faced them, and it bristled with
machine-guns. Field-guns and 59’s were also playing
upon them, but nothing could check that ﬁne advance,
which was in time to save a number of heavy guns
n


THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI
285
- which could by no possibility be removed. It was itself
aided in the later stages by the 20th Hussars upon
the right and by a brigade of guns of the Forty-seventh
London Division which swung into action straight
from the line of march and did good service in sup—
porting the attack. By nightfall the total ground
gained was over two miles in depth, and a deﬁnite
line of Guardsmen and cavalry of the Second and
Fifth Divisions covered all this section of the ﬁeld,
limiting and deﬁning the German advance. General
Byng must surely have breathed more freely when
the good news reached his Headquarters for, but for
this energetic operation, there was nothing to prevent
the Germans ﬂooding into the country behind and
getting to the rear of the whole northern portion of
the Third Army.
The real work of the Guards had been done when
once they had dammed the stream, and their strength
after their recent labours was hardly sufﬁcient to
carry them through a long battle, but in spite of this
CHAPTER
XI.

The
Battle of
Cambrai.
Second
Phase.
Nov. 30.
1
they Were advancing once more upon the morning of ‘
December 1. The same two brigades were in front,
but the 2nd Grenadiers and 3rd Coldstreams formed
the ﬁghting line cf the 1st Brigade, joining up on the
left with the Welsh Guards of the 3rd Brigade.
Cavalry was moving on the right of them, while on
the left they were in touch with the Riﬂe battalions
of the 60th Brigade covering the village of La
Vacquerie. The two brigades had different objectives,
the left brigade being directed upon Gonnelieu,
while the right moved upon Ganche Wood, the
divisional tanks supporting the advance. The ﬁrst
brigade advanced with the battalions already named,
and they swept in magniﬁcent order up to the


286
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPan
XI.

The
Battle of
Cambrai.
Second
Ph ane.
Nov. 30.
fringe of the wood where they were met by two
successive counter-attacks which they repelled. The
wood was cleared but there .were many snipers
in the trees, and the losses of ofﬁcers and N.C.O.’s
were proportionately high. The tanks were held up
by the denseness of the forest. Cavalry came up
upon the right, and with their assistance the wood
was ﬁnally secured, together with some guns and
several hundred prisoners. It was a ﬁne feat of
arms.
The 2nd Brigade had a difﬁcult task at Gonnelieu
and the Quentin Ridge. _ The 1st Welsh on the right
and the 4th Grenadiers on the left headed the advance,
but they were held up at once by machine-guns on the
right until a tank lumbered up and saved the situation.
Isolated parties of the 2nd Grenadiers forced their
way into the village, but it bristled with machine-guns
and could not be held. Finally the line was formed
200 yards from the western edge.
That night the Guards were drawn out after their
onerous and splendid service, being relieved by the
Ninth Division. In the week they had lost 125
ofﬁcers and 3000 men, but they had turned the tide
of battle upon the critical instant of a critical day,
when, amid commencing disorganisation, the presence
of the most highly disciplined and steadiest force
in the British Army wasparticularly needed. Few
of our units can be fairly said to have added to their
laurels in this sector of the second phase of Cambrai,
but at least the Twenty-ninth Division and the
Guards can look back to it with every satisfaction.
At La Vacquerie village and its environs, to the
left of the Guards’ advance, some very ﬁerce ﬁghting
had broken out upon the morning of December 1.


288 THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
CHAPTER
XI.
The
Battle of
Cambrai.
Second
Phase.
7 N cv. 30.
ment of the British line the village of La Vacquerie
remained with the Germans.
The enemy had suffered heavily, and as will be
shown gained absolutely nothing in the north, but
in the south it must be admitted that he had sub-
stantial trophies, including a strip of British line,
some thousands of prisoners, and about 100 guns.
It was the ﬁrst truly successful offensive on a
large scale which he had made since the gas attack
upon April 22, 1915, nearly two and a half years
before, and it would be a sign of a poor spirit if we
did not admit it, and applaud the deftness and courage
of the attack.
After several days of quiet the Germans tried one
other taste of the quality of the Guards by a sudden
assault upon their new line on December 5. They
advanced bravely in two lines from Gonnelieu, but
were beaten off by close riﬂe-ﬁre. As they turned
their ﬂight was greeted with a volley of bombs from
their own people behind them. It was observed that
the stormers upon this occasion carried their packs
as though they meant to stay. A good many of them
did so. Next day the Guards were relieved by the
Ninth Division.
We shall now turn to Woolcombe’s Fourth Corps
in the northern sector which extends from Tadpole
Copse upon the left to that solid centre of resistance
furnished by the two veteran divisions at Marcoing
and at Mesnieres. It was upon the left of this curve
that the German attack broke upon November 30
from the Hindenburg Line to the village of Fontaine,
a front of about six miles, the object being to cut off
the whole Bourlon salient. The attack, which began
about nine o’clock, differed from that on the south,


THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI 289
\
because the element of surprise was wanting and
because the ground was such that the attacking
troops could be plainly seen. The ﬁnal result was
to push back the British line, but this was mainly as
a readjustment to correspond to the change in the
south. To effect this small result all accounts are
agreed in stating that the Germans incurred such
murderous losses that it is improbable that any have
been more severe since the early days of the war.
If, on the balance, the British lost the day in the
south, they gained it in the north, for with limited
loss to themselves they inﬂicted most severe punish-
_ ment upon the enemy.
The arrangement of the troops upon the northern
curve of the battle line was as follows. Forming a
defensive ﬂank between the old British line and
Tadpole Copse was the 168th Brigade, and to its right,
facing Moeuvres, the 169th Brigade, both of them of
the Fifty-sixth London Territorial Division, which
had been a week in the ﬁghting line and was very worn.
Next to them upon the right was the Second Regular
Division under General Pereira, from Moeuvres to
Bourlon, with elements of the 5th, 6th, and 99th
Brigades in front. Upon their right was the Forty-
seventh London Territorial Division occupying the
line drawn through Bourlon Wood. Upon their
right again was the Fifty-ninth South Midland
Territorials near Fontaine, who in turn linked up
with the left of the Sixth Division, thus completing
the semicircle of battle.
After a short but very severe bombardment the
German infantry advanced upon the line from Tadpole
Copse to Bourlon Wood, a front of about four miles.
There were four fresh German divisions, with three
U
CHAPTER
XI.

The
Battle of
Cambrai. -
Second
Phase.
Nov. 30.


THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI “293
hands and sought refuge in the British lines. Battalion
after battalion was thrown in at this point, until the
best part of a division was spread bleeding over some
twenty acres of ground. The three battalions chieﬂy
engaged, the 1st Berkshires, 17th Royal Fusiliers, and
1st Riﬂes from right to left, had such a day as trench
warfare could never afford.
At the outset the force of the attack pressed back
the 1st Berkshires upon the right, together with the
left wing of the Forty-seventh Division. For a few
moments the situation was alarming. However, after
three hours of ding-dong ﬁghtingthe volume of ﬁre
was too much for the stormers and they fell back.
At the same time the 17th Royal Fusiliers, who had
rallied under cover of their outposts, shot down every—
thing in front of them. The 1st K.R. Riﬂes had
a day of wonderful ﬁghting—snipers, riﬂe grena-
diers, Lewis gunners, and machine-gunners were all
equally glutted with slaughter. “ The Germans in
mass formation came on in waves offering a splendid
target at a range from 1500 to point-blank. In ad-
dition they were'enﬁladed by the machine-gunners
and subjected to very heavy ﬁre from our guns
for two and a half hours. The second attempt
never looked like succeeding and was smothered
in a very short timel” _
The 17th Royal Fusiliers have been mentioned as
being in the line at this point though they really be-
longed to the 5th Brigade. The fact was that in a pre-
vious operation they had won a long trench advanc-
ing at right angles to the British position and leading
up to the Germans. This was called the “ Rat’s Tail”
on account of its shape, and it was still occupied
by the Royals when the attack broke out, so that they
CHAPTER
XI.

The
Battle of
Cambrai.
Second
Phase.
Nov. 30.


THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI - 295
gloriously, for in almost every case the British dead
were ringed round with the bodies of their assailants.
Among the many epics of these isolated posts none
is more glorious than that of a platoon of the 17th
Fusiliers under the two Company Oﬂicers, Captain
Stone and Lieut. Benzeery, both mentioned in de-
Spatches, who fought absolutely to the last man in
order to give time for the main body behind them to
get ready for the assault. The official report of the
ofﬁcer commanding says: “ The rearguard was seen
ﬁghting with bayonet, bullet, and bomb to the last.
There was no survivor.” The annals of war can give
few ﬁner examples of military virtue.
Another splendid epic had been furnished by the
CHAPTER
XI.
_—
The
Battle of . -
' Cambrai.
Second
Phase.
Nov. 30.
posts of the 1st Berkshire battalion upon the right of,
the Second Division. They were all drawn from one
Company under the command of Lieut. Valentin, also
mentioned for his gallantry. The Germans surged in
upon them in the afternoon, and there was- a most
grim and terrible ﬁght. Three of the posts were de-
stroyed, but when the ground was regained it was
difﬁcult to 'ﬁnd the British bodies on account of the
piles of German dead which were heaped round and
over them; Six other posts remained intact after six
hours of close ﬁghting, in which they were continually
attacked by superior numbers who fell in heaps before
the steady ﬁre of these experienced soldiers. Rapid
ﬁre had been brought to perfection by the training
Y system of the Second Division,-and General Pereira was
justiﬁed of his wisdom. The six weary posts which
remained intact after the storm had passed are said
to have killed not less than ﬁve hundred of their
assailants. v
Gorringe’s Forty-seventh London Territorial


INDEX
Abadie, Colonel, 124, 126, 127
Aisne, French attack upon the, 64;
victory, 234
Alderman, Major, 251
Allenby, General Sir Edmund, 2, 16,
20
America breaks oﬁ diplomatic rela-
tions with Germany, 18
Ancre, British advance on the, 5-8
Antoine, General, 134, 156, 179
Archibald, Lieutenant, 67
Arras, 9, 10, 11, 22, 30
Arras, battle of: preparations pre-
ceding the battle, 20-24;
attack of the Seventh Corps,
25-30; capture of Neuville
Vitasse, 27; and of the Ibex
Trench, 28; general advance
of the Sixth Corps, 30-36;
attack of the Seventeenth Corps,
3641; Canadian success at
Vimy Ridge, 41-43; review of
ﬁrst day’s ﬁghting, 43-44;
capture of Monchy, 46-48;
practical results of battle, 56;
work of the airmen, 57; ﬁght
of the Australians at Bulle-
court and Lagnicourt, 58-61;
- object of battle attained, 62;
stand by the Middlesex and
Argylls, 66-67 ; Fifteenth Divi-
sion capture Guémappe, 68-69;
storming of Gavrelle, 69-70;
H.A.C. at 'Gavrelle, 74-76;
loss of Fresnoy, 83-84; capture
of Roeux, 84-85; capture of
Bullecourt, 90-92
Arras-Soissons front, German re-
Itreat on, 8-16
Avion, 117, 121 '

Babington, General Sir J., 108, 188
Bagdad, British enter, l7
Baillescourt Farm, action at, 6
Bainbridge, General Sir E., 99
Ball, Captain Albert, 57
Bapaume occupied, 10
Basset, M. Serge, 117
Battye, Colonel, 263
Bavaria, Prince Rupprecht of, 98
Bean, Mn, Australian chronicler,
quoted, 91, 175, 220
Beaumont Hamel, 3, 5, 37
Bellewarde Ridge, 151
Belsham, Captain, 67
Benzeery, Lieutenant, 295
Berners, Brigadier-General, 85
Birdwood, General Sir William, 4
Bixschoote, 137, 156
Bols, General Sir L., 109
Bourlon, 238, 257, 258, 261, 262,
263, 264, 265, 269, 282, 283,
289, 290, 292
Bourlon Wood, 251, 254, 255, 256,
257, 258, 259, 260, 264, 267,
289, 296
Bowel], Lieutenant, D.S.O., 119
Bradford, General, 267
Braithwaite, General, 243, 245
British extend their front in France,
1
British Armies, general disposition
of, in beginning of 1917, 2
Broodseinde, 195, 206, 211, 212, 222
Brown, Brigadier-General, 99
Brusiloﬁ, General, 132
Bullecourt, ll, 58, 87, 90-92, 237,
239, 252
Burstall, General, 41
Byng, General Sir Julian, 21, 115,
238, 255, 285, 296, 297, 298
301


INDEX
. 303
Graham, Major, 119
Graincourt, 244, 252
Greer, Colonel, 140
Guémappe, 47, 49, 52, 68, 70
Gwynn, Mr. Stephen, M.P., 103
Haig, Field-Marshal Sir Douglas, 4,
16, 20, 56, 62, 64, 92, 133, 134,
135,155, 162,179,194, 212, 213,
222, 225, 233, 237, 244, 255, 256,
282, 299 ‘ *
Haine, Lieutenant, V.C., 74, 75, 76
Haking, General Sir R., 237
Haldane, General Sir J., 21, 30, 36,
40, 238, 239, 241
Hall, Sergeant-Major, 262
Harper, General, 145
Harrison, Lieutenant, V.C., 82
Harston, Captain, 204
Havrincourt, 244, 252
Henderson, Lieutenant, V.C., 67
Henty, Major, 273
Hermies, 242
Hermon, Colonel, 39
Hickie, General Sir W., 102
Higgins, Brigadier-General, 183
Hindenburg, Marshal von, 15
Hindenburg Line, the, 45, 56, 59, 66,
l 87, 90, 91, 92, 237, 239, 242, 243,
i 245, 246, 247, 250, 253, 257, 265,
267, 277, 288, 290, 297, 298
Hindenburg Line, the, deﬁned, 11
Hitchings, Lieutenant, 82 ,
Hoare, Captain, 250
Holland, General, 41, 55, 115
Holmes, General, 101
Home, General Sir H., 2, 20, 115' I
Houthulst Forest, 134, 137, 202, 214,
226
Hull, General, 27
Inverness Wood,'l54, 159, 160, 162,
173, 175, 176, 189
Isonzo front, successful attack on,
by the Italians, 178
Italy: successful attack on the
Isonzo front, 178; disaster at
Caporetto, 234, 236; effect of
collapse on Western oﬂensive,
236; French and British send
help, 236, 237
Jacob, General Sir C., 4, 8, 137, 150,
151, 162, 172, 231

James, Colonel, 272
Jarvis, Colonel, 190
Jenkinson, Sergeant, 221
J eudwine, General Sir Hugh, 269
Johnson, General Bulkeley, 48
Kennedy, Brigadier-General, 296
Kennedy, Colonel, 260 '
Kettle, Professor, 103
Kincaid-Smith, General, 99
Knapp, Father, 140
Korniloﬁ, General, 132
Kut, recapture of, 17
La Basseville, 131, 132, 155
Laﬁert, General von, 98
Lagnicourt, 58, 60, 90
Lambton, General, 37
Langemarck, 164, 166, 167, 181, 203
La. Vacquerie, 249, 250, 274, 285,
286, 287, 288
Leadbeater, Sergeant, 118
Lees, Captain David, 140
Legg, Sergeant, 291
Lens, 20, 54, 56, 89, 226, 232
Lens, operations round, 115-123
Les Rues Vertes, 247, 277, 279, 280
Leveson-Gower, Brigadier-General,
168
Lipsett, General, 41
Lloyd, Captain, 287
Lodge, Sergeant, 291
Lomax, Lieutenant, 13, 14
Lukin, General, 36
Lumsden, Major, V.C., 13, 14
McCracl'zen, General Sir F., 21, 54
Macdowell, Major, V.C., 42
McGowan, Captain, 90
McGrady, Private, 128
MacNamara, Major, 90
MacReady-Diarmid, Captain, V.C.,
292
Marcoing,.247, 248, 253, 273, ,276,
278, 288
Martin, Captain, 129
Marwitz, General von, 270
Matheson, General, 203
Maude, General Sir F. S., 17
Maxse, General Sir Ivor, 21, 137, 145,
162, 167, 183, 195, 216, 217,
223, 226, 227
Menin Road, 153, 179, 190, 193, 194,
_ 195, 198, 199, 202, 209, 210, 211,
222, 228


304
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917
Mesnieree, 247, 248, 249, 253, 254,
270, 273, 277, 278, 282, 288
Mesopotamia, operations in: re-
capture of Kut, 17 ; capture of
Bagdad, l7
Messines, 44, 57, 95, 97, 98, 115, 134,
135, 179
Messines, battle of: preparations
for the battle, 96; composition
of British line, 96-97 ; advance
of Australians and New Zea-
landers, 97-99; capture of
Messines village, 98; Wyt-
schaete captured by the Irish
Divisions, 102-104; general
advance and capture of Messines
Ridge, 106-110; results of
battle, 110-112
Monash, General Sir John, 97
Monchy, 35, 44, 46-48, 49, 50, 51,
52
Morland, General Sir T., 96, 107, 138,
155, 190, 208, 210
Moeuvres, 257, 258, 289, 290
Nicholson, General, 37
Nieuport, 123, 130
Norman, Colonel, 144
Nugent, General, 102
O’Brien, Lieutenant, 74
Oppy, 54, 65, 73, 76, 81, 117
Osmond, Major, 74, 76
Page, Colonel, 146
Parsons, Sergeant, 291
Paschendaale, 200, 211, 213, 217,
220, 222, 225, 230, 231, 238
Pears, Colonel, 280 .
Peddie, Major, 223
Pereira, General, 53, 289, 295
Peronne, capture of, 10
Phillips, Mr. Percival, quoted, 279
Phillips, Sergeant, 291
. Pilkem, 142, 143, 144, 156
Pinney, General, 46, 66, 193
Ploegstrate, 94
Plumer, General Sir Herbert, 2, 95,
96, 110, 115, 134, 138, 154, 155,
162, 179, 181, 187, 212, 237 ‘
Poelcapelle, 203, 204, 213, 216, 224
Polderhoek, 209, 210, 222, 228, 232,
298 .
Pollard, Lieutenant, V.C., 74, 75, 76

Polygon Wood, 188, 193, 196, 200,
208, 209 '
Pope, Lieutenant. 60
Prioleau, Colonel, 166
Pulteney, General Sir W., 238, 252
Radice, Colonel, 144
Rawlinson, General Sir Henry, 1, 2,
4, 8, 61, 114
Redmond, Major W., M.P., 103
Reed, General, 149
Regiments:
Artillery-—
R.F.A., 13, 104, 274
Honourable Artillery Company,
74, 221
Cavalry—
Royal Horse Guards, 47
2nd Dragoon Guards, 262
4th Dragoon Guards, 252
2nd Dragoons, 263
5th Dragoons, 263
5th Lancers, 251
10th Hussars, 47
11th Hussars, 244, 263
15th Hussars, 261
19th Hussars, 262
20th Hussars, 285
Bedford Yeomanry, 263
Essex Yeomanry, 47
Fort Garry Horse, 246
King Edward’s Horse, 244
Lucknow Cavalry Brigade, 10
Northumherland Hussars, 276
Umballa Brigade, 254 _
Guards-—
Coldstream, 138, 139, 140, 215,
266, 284, 285
Grenadier, 139, 140, 141, 264, 266,
284, 285, 286
Irish, 138, 139, 140,141,215, 266,
267, 284
. Scots, 139, 140, 264, 266
Welsh, 139, 285, 286
Infantry—
Argyll and Sutherland High-
landers, 31, 66, 67, 193, 198, 261
Bedford, 26, 74, 75, 160, 161
Berkshire, 12, 146, 147, 174, 250,
273, 293, 295 '
Black Watch, 31, 92, 146, 147,
199 . '
Border, 15, 92, 100, 104, 113, 131,
208, 228, 279


306
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN, 1917

Regiments:
' Infantry—
Royal Scots, 33, 78, 186
Royal Scots Fusiliers, 31, 152, 186
Royal West Kent, 190, 209, 228,
251
Seaforth Highlanders, 38, 39, 80,
81, 186, 203
Sherwood Foresters, 14, 70, 104,
105,118,119,152,159, 190, 225,
246
Shropshire, 33, 166, 175, 176
Somerset Light Infantry, 40, 80,
175, 203, 210 v
South Lancashire, 100, 113, 184,
185, 272, 273
South Staﬂordshire, 8, 104, 117,
208, 228, 291
South Wales Borderers, 106, 113,
143, 161, 231, 260, 279, 282
Suffolk, 32, 88, 198, 224, 250, 262,
263, 273
Sussex, 31, 55, 79, 125, 164, 193,
199, 250
Tyneside Scottish, 53
Warwick, 204, 221, 228
Welsh, 106, 142, 143, 191, 260, 261
Welsh Fusiliers, 31, 32, 66, 106,
141, 142, 143, 144, 197, 260
West Riding, 40, 81, 189, 244, 253,
254, 265 , >
West Yorkshire, 32, 49, 82, 172,
189, 217, 256 .
Wiltshire, 100, 191 ,
Worcester, 50, 51, 100, 161, 191,
194, 204, 214, 216
York and Lancaster, 82, 217, 244,
256
I Yorkshire, 189, 261, 262
Yorkshire Light Infantry, 15, 166,
209, 217, 244
Royal Engineers, 47, 101, 104,"
105, 141, 161, 216, 241, 284
Tunnelling Companies, 22, 241 '
Royal Naval Division, 53, 54, 70,
74, 226, 227, 298
1st Marines, 55, 74, 75
Overseas Forces—
Australians, 5, 10, 11, 14, 58, 59,
60, 61, 76, 90, 91, 92, 97, 98, 101,
127, 128, 156, 187, 188, 193, 194,
196, 197, 198, 205, 206, 220, 223,
227, 229

Regiments:
Overseas Forces—
New Zealanders, 97, 98, 99,_ 101,
114,131, 132, 155,156, 205, 211,
‘ 223, 224, 299
Canadians, 21, 38, 41, 42, 43, 54,
55, 73, 82, 83, 84, 116, 117, 121,
122, 123, 226, 227 , 228, 229, 230,
231, 232
Newfoundland Regiment, 50, 215,
216, 248,278, 282 '
South Africans, 37, 52, 53, 185,
186, 187 -
Reutel, 208, 209, 210, 221
Ritchie, General, 195
Ritchie, Captain, 141
Robertson, Colonel Forbes, V.C.,
51, 280 _
Robinson, Captain, 291
Roeux, 48, 52, 65, 68, 72, 73, 80, 84,
85
Romilly, Colonel, 140
Russell, General Sir A., 98
Russia : revolution in, 17, 65 ;
collapse of, before Central
Powers, 132; effect of revolu-
tion in, on Allied oﬁensive in
the West, 235
Rutter, Lieutenant, 67
St. Eloi, 97
St. Julien, 145, 146, 147, 156, 158,
174, 182, 192, 195
St. Rohart, 76, 78, 79
Sanctuary Wood, 150, 152
Scarpe River, 31, 36, 37, 40, 50, 52,
68, 69, 72, 76, 78, 79, 84, 86
Selency, capture of guns at, 12-14
Sensée River, 66, 87
Serre, 6, 7 ‘
Sheepshanks, Colonel, 277
Shepherd, Private, V.C., 250
Shute, General, 106, 124, 131
Sinai Peninsula, progress in, 17
Slade, Captain, 164
Smith, Colonel, 27
Snow, General Sir T., 21, 25, 45, 65,
76, 238, 252, 269, 270
Soissons, 9, 10
Souchez River, 115, 121
Steenbeek, the, 143, 146, 147, 163,
166, 184, 189
Stone, Captain, 295
Stonebanks, Lieutenant, 176


INDEX
307
Strachan, Lieutenant Henry, V.C.,
246
Strickland, General, 123, 124
Symon, Captain, 159
Taylor, Colonel, 144
Tollemache, Colonel, 129
Valentin, Lieutenant, 295
Vendhuille, 270, 298
Verdun, French victory at, 178
Villers-Guislain, 237, 272, 273, 275
Vimy Ridge, 21, 41-43, 54, 94, 134.
Wallace, Lieutenant, V.C., 274
Wambach, Private, 129
Ward, Captain, 129
Ward, Lieutenant, 13, 14
Warden, Colonel, D.S.O., 263, 264
Watson, General, 41
Watts, General Sir H., 137, 145, 147,
149, 162, 167 _
Westhoek, 151, 159, 160, 161, 162
Wiart, Colonel Carton de, 85
Williams, General, 109
Wilson, President, 18
Woolcombe, General, 238, 288, 296
Woolley,’ Lieutenant, 190
Wytschaete, 94, 97, 103
Ypres, 57, 94, 95, 133, 134, 154, 162
Ypres, third battle of : British
and German preparation before
the battle detailed, 133-136;
French co-operation, 134, 137,
156; advance of the Guards,
138-141 ; advance of the Welsh
Division and capture of Pilkem

village, 141-145 ; capture of St.
Julien, 146, 147 ; advance of
Fifty-ﬁfth and Fifteenth Divi-
sions, 147-150; of Second
Army Corps, 150-155; ﬁrst
day’s operations reviewed, 156-
_ 157; German counter-attacks,
158-159, 160-161; attack of
Fourteenth Corps, 163-167;
capture of Langemarck, 164;
losses of the Irish Divisions,
168-172; work of the Field
Artillery, 175; engagement of
the Second Army, 179; Sep-
tember 20, 180-192; advance
of the Fifty-ﬁfth Division, 183-
185; advance of the Ninth
Division, 185-187; of the
Australians, 187-188; German
counter-attack, 192-195; ad-
vance renewed on September
26, 195-200; attack of October _
4, 202-212; further British
advance, 213-222; advance of
Territorials, 218-220; H.A.C.
at Reutel, 221'; action of
- October 12, 222-224; action
of October 26, 225; ﬁne ﬁght-
ing by the Canadians, 226-231 ;
capture of Paschendaale, 230;
general results of the third
battle of Ypres, 232-233
Yser River, ﬁght of the King’s
Royal Riﬂes and the. North-
amptons at, 123-130
Zonnebeke, 169, 170, 172, 181, 202,
214
THE END
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