THE GREAT GERMAN ATTACK OF MARCH 21,
JANUARY, FEBRUARY, MARCH, 1918.
The French relieved on the St. Quentin front.--The calm before the
storm.--A golden age.--The Warwick raid.--The German attack
launched.--Defence of Enghien Redoubt.--Counter-attack by the
Royal Berks.--Holnon Wood lost.--The battle for the Beauvoir line.
--The enemy breaks through.
The Battalion's mid-winter respite was brief. On New Year's Eve, 1917,
the 2/4th Oxfords quitted the wretched Suzanne huts and marched
through Harbonnières to Caix. No 'march past' was necessary or would
have been possible, for so slippery was the road that the men had to
trail along its untrodden sides as best they could. Old 61st
Divisional sign-boards left standing nearly a year ago greeted the
return to an area which was familiar to many. The destination should
have been Vauvillers, but the inhabitants of that village were
stricken with measles. Better billets and freedom from infection
compensated for a longer march. At Caix the Battalion was comfortable
for a week.
The Division's move from the Bray-Suzanne area to south of the Somme
heralded a new relief of the French, whose line was now to be
shortened by the amount on its left flank between St. Quentin and La
Fère. About January 11 the Battalion found itself once more in Holnon
Wood, where a large number of huts and dug-outs had been made by the
French since last spring. The front line, now about to be held between
Favet and Gricourt, was almost in its old position. The outpost line
of nine months ago had crystallised into the usual trench system.
Those courteous preliminaries, so much the feature of a French relief,
were, on this re-introduction to scenes soon to become so famous--and
so tragic--a little marred by an untimely German shell which wounded
Weller, who had accompanied the Colonel to see the new line.
Industrious calm succeeded the relief. Since the Russian break-up and
the consequent liberation from the Eastern Front of fresh German
legions, the British army had been on the defensive. A big effort by
the enemy was expected, and when it came, the St. Quentin front was
not unlikely to receive the brunt of his massed attack. The months of
January and February and the first half of March were ominously quiet.
Shelling was spasmodic. After the artillery activity of the last
summer and autumn our guns seemed lazy. So quiet was it that Abraham
used to ride up to the two small copses that lay behind our front.
For the time being the 'offensive spirit' was in abeyance; our paramount
task was the perfection of our defensive system. By this time in the
war it was acknowledged that against attacks in weight no actual
line could be held intact. Faith in 'lines' became qualified in favour
of the series of 'strong points' or redoubts, which were constructed
to defend 'tactical features.' This policy, founded on our experience
of the German defence during the Third Battle of Ypres, was very
sound. All the redoubts constructed in the area occupied by the 184th
Brigade were so well sited and so strongly wired that the faith seemed
justified that they were part of one impregnable system. But against
loss of one important factor no amount of industry could serve to
insure. 'Strong points' must act in concert and for such mutual action
'on the day' good visibility was essential. As we shall see, this
factor was denied. In rear of these redoubts, which lay along the
ridge west of Fayet, a line known as the 'Battle Line' was fortified,
and in rear again a trench was dug to mark the 'Army Line,' where the
last stand would be made. These lines were strong, but more reliance
was apt to be placed upon their mere existence on the ground than, in
default of any co-existent scheme to fill them at a crisis with
appropriate garrisons, was altogether justified.[10]
[Footnote 10: For the _terrain_ referred to in this
chapter see the maps ante pp. 83 and 95.]
Early in the year the Bucks had been taken from the Brigade (now like
all Infantry Brigades reduced to three Battalions) and went to Nesle
to work as an entrenching Battalion. Many old friends, including
especially Colonel 'Jock' Muir, had to be parted with. The three
Battalions which remained were now arranged in 'depth,' a phrase
explained by stating that while one, say the Berks, held the front
line 'twixt Fayet and Gricourt, the Gloucesters as Support Battalion
would be in Holnon Wood and ourselves, the Oxfords, in reserve and
back at Ugny. When a relief took place the Gloucesters went to the
front line, ourselves to Holnon, and the Berks back to Ugny. The
Battalion holding the line was similarly disposed in 'depth,' for its
headquarters and one company were placed more than a mile behind the
actual front.
After the January frost and snow had gone, a period of fine, clement
weather set in. This, in a military sense, was a golden age. Boxing,
thanks to encouragement from the Colonel and Brown and under the
practical doctrine of 'Benny' Thomas, the Battalion pugilist,
flourished as never before. Each tour some officers, instead of going
to the line, were sent to worship at the shrine of Maxse. The
Battalion reached the zenith of its efficiency. Early in March some
reinforcements from the 6th Oxfords, who had been disbanded, arrived;
they numbered two hundred. Among the new officers who joined were
Foreshew, Rowbotham, and Cunningham. Foreshew received command of C
Company, whose commander Matthews went to England for a six months'
rest. To Hobbs also, our worthy quartermaster, it was necessary to bid
a reluctant farewell. His successor, Murray, a very able officer from
the 4th Gloucesters, arrived in time to check the table of stores
before the opening of the great offensive.
On the night of 18/19 March the Battalion went into the front line. C
Company was on the right, in front of Fayet; B Company, under the
command of Wallington, was on the left, just south of Gricourt. A went
to Fayet itself and D Company, commanded in Robinson's absence by
Rowbotham, provided the garrison of Enghien Redoubt, which was a
quarry near Selency Château; Battalion Headquarters also were at this
redoubt. During the night of March 20 a raid on the Battalion's right
was carried out near Cepy Farm by the 182nd Brigade. It was successful.
German prisoners from three divisions corroborated our suspicion that
the great enemy offensive was about to be launched. From headquarters
to headquarters throbbed the order to man battle stations. Ere dawn
was due to lighten the sky a dense mist shrouded everything and added
a fresh factor to the suspense.
Early on March 21, only a short time after the Colonel had returned
from visiting the front line posts, the ground shook to a mighty
bombardment. At Amiens windows rattled in their frames. Trench mortars
of all calibres and field guns, brought to closest range in the mist
and darkness, began to pound a pathway through our wire. Back in
artillery dug-outs the light of matches showed the time; it was 4.50
a.m. The hour had struck. Our guns, whose programme in reply was the
fruit of two months' preparation, made a peculiar echo as their shells
crackled through the mist. Some 'silent' guns[11] fired for the first
time.
[Footnote 11: Defensive artillery, whose inactivity
prior to the German attack was intended to ensure
against discovery by enemy sound-rangers and
observers.]
On all headquarters, roads, redoubts, and observation posts the
enemy's howitzer shells were falling with descending swoop, and battery
positions were drenched with gas.
In the back area the fire of long-range guns was brought with uncanny
accuracy to bear against our rest billets, transport lines, and dumps.
Cross-roads, bridges, and all vital spots in our communications, though
never previously shelled, were receiving direct hits within a short
time of the opening of the bombardment. The Berks had casualties at
Ugny. Some English heavy batteries, recent arrivals on the front and
seemingly undiscovered by the enemy, were now knocked out almost as
soon as they had opened fire. The Artillery level crossing was hit by
an early shell which blocked the road there with a huge crater. Never
in the war had the Germans flung their shells so far or furiously as
now.
By daylight all front line wire had been destroyed, and our trenches
everywhere were much damaged. The mist hung thick, but the Germans did
not yet attack. About 9.30 a.m. the barrage was felt to lift westwards
from Fayet and the fitful clatter of Lewis guns, firing in short bursts
with sometimes a long one exhausting a 'drum,' was heard. In the front
line showers of stick bombs announced the enemy's presence. Everywhere
it seemed that quick-moving bodies in grey uniforms were closing in
from either flank and were behind. In the mist our posts were soon
over-run. Few of our men were left to rally at the 'keeps.' A messenger
to A Company's platoons, which had been stationed in support at the
famous 'Sunken Road,' found that place filled with Germans. Before
noon the enemy had passed Fayet and his patrols had reached Selency
and the Cottages.
At Enghien Redoubt Battalion Headquarters had received no news of the
attack having begun; the dense mist limited the view to fifty yards.
The earliest intimation received by Colonel Wetherall of what was
taking place was enemy rifle and machine-gun fire sweeping the
parapet. At one corner of the redoubt some of the enemy broke in but
were driven out by D Company with the bayonet. Outside Headquarters
the first three men to put their heads over were killed by Germans,
who had crept close along the sunken road which leads from Favet to
Selency Château. The rifles and machine guns of the garrison opened up
and gained superiority. The defence, destined to last for many hours,
of Enghien Redoubt proved an important check to the enemy's advance
and helped to save many of our guns.
At 12 noon, after several patrols had failed to find out whether the
enemy had captured Holnon, the Colonel himself went out to see all that
was happening. He did not return, and shortly afterwards Headquarters
were surrounded by the enemy, who had made ground on either flank.
Nevertheless till 4.30 p.m. Cunningham, the officer left in command,
held out most manfully. Of all the companies, Jones and less than
fifty men had escaped capture. They reached the 'Battle Line' of
trenches east of Holnon Wood, and there joined the Gloucesters, who
had not yet been engaged in the fighting. The enemy, having captured
Maissemy, Fayet, and Holnon, paused to reorganise as evening fell.
Towards evening on the 21st the Berks, who were in reserve when the
attack started, were sent to counter-attack against Maissemy, which
had been lost by the division on our left. Near the windmill, which
stands on the high ground west of the village, Dimmer, the Berks V.C.
Colonel, was killed leading his men on horseback. This local attempt
to stem the German onslaught proved of no avail. At 10.30 a.m. on
March 22 the enemy, whose movements were again covered by mist,
pressed the attack against the Battle Line. Almost before the
Gloucesters knew they were attacked in front, they found themselves
beset in flanks and rear.
At noon the enemy from its north side had penetrated Holnon Wood.
Gloucesters and Oxfords fell back to join the garrison of the Beauvoir
Line, all parts of which were heavily engaged by evening. A gallant
resistance, in which the Gloucesters under Colonel Lawson were
specially distinguished, was made by the 184th Infantry Brigade. The
General encouraged the defence in person. But the line was too weakly
manned long to withstand the enemy; though parts of it held till after
8 p.m. on March 22, before midnight the whole of this last Army Line
had been lost. The enemy had 'broken through.'