Bulfin's 2nd Brigade, which had got as far as Moulins on the 13th, set
out at four o'clock on the following morning along the road to
Vendresse. This road runs between the wooded downs on either side, and
the idea was to bring the rest of the 1st Division along it as soon as
the heights to right and left had been cleared. Half a mile short of
Vendresse the R. Sussex, the 60th and the Northamptons scaled the downs
to the right of the road, and deployed in the order named, the Sussex
on the left, the 60th in the middle, and the Northamptons on the right,
just east of Troyon. Beyond the Northamptons were the 1st Coldstream,
who had been detached from the 1st Brigade. The Loyal N. Lancashire
Regiment remained in reserve down at Vendresse, and about six o'clock
the other three battalions of the 1st Brigade came marching through
them, along the road towards Cerny. About half a mile further on, these
three battalions scaled the heights on the left of the road, so as to
continue the line of the 2nd Brigade, which was on the right of the
road. Here they deployed and remained till the 3rd Brigade came up on
their left some three hours later.
The day was a particularly unpleasant one. There was a cold and
persistent rain from the north-west right in the faces of the British,
and accompanied by a kind of fog which made it impossible to see
clearly for more than a couple of hundred yards ahead, and which was
responsible for a good deal of unfortunate confusion through the day as
to the identity of friend and foe. It also, as may be supposed, greatly
increased the difficulty of our Gunners, who found it impossible to
locate the enemy accurately, or to get exact information as to the
correctness of their range.
Having dealt with the disposition of the three brigades of the 1st
Division, we can now turn to the actual fight at Troyon. The main
objective of our attack here was the Sugar Factory which stands near
the five cross-roads on the Chemin des Dames. The Factory itself was
very strongly held with machine-guns, and was flanked by two batteries
of artillery. For a quarter of a mile on each side of it were the
German trenches, on the one side running along the Chivy road, and on
the other along the Chemin des Dames, the two forming an obtuse angle
with the apex at the Factory itself. In addition, the enemy had four
big eleven-inch guns behind their line, the fire from which greatly
harassed our troops all through these operations as they completely
outranged our batteries. The approach to this position was over turnip
and beet fields, very wet and sticky with clay, and sloping gently
upwards towards the Factory. As long as the 2nd Brigade was on the
steep sides of the downs it was comparatively sheltered from the
enemy's fire, but the moment this sloping plateau was reached, a
tremendous fire burst upon it at close range from rifles, machine-guns,
and from two batteries of artillery, which were in position behind the
trenches along the Chemin des Dames.
It is difficult to conceive of conditions more unfavourable for attack:
a driving rain in the faces of the assailants, an entrenched enemy, and
an uphill approach across clay fields saturated with wet and two feet
deep in beet plants. However, the order was to advance, so undeterred
by the gaps ploughed in their ranks, the brigade pressed steadily on.
The objective of the R. Sussex on the left was the enemy's trenches
along the Chivy road. Towards this they pushed on at the slow plodding
tramp which was the best pace which could be raised in the
circumstances, till they reached the comparative shelter of a sunken
lane. In this lane the R. Sussex machine-gun section was able to get a
position from which it could partially enfilade the Chivy road
trenches, and so effective was its fire from this angle, that after a
time a white flag was raised, and several hundred Germans were seen
running forward with their hands up. Col. Montresor and many other
officers and men of the Sussex left the lane to accept this surrender,
whereupon the enemy, from the Factory itself and from the trenches to
right and left of it, poured a deadly fire into the confused mass of
Germans and British, mowing them down in scores. In this indiscriminate
massacre the R. Sussex lost very heavily, Col. Montresor, Maj. Cookson,
and Lieuts. Daun and Hughes being killed, and Captain Cameron wounded.
The Germans too suffered severely, but about 200 of them were got
safely into the lane and sent off to the rear with a platoon as escort.
The R. Sussex being now very considerably reduced in numbers, the Loyal
N. Lancashires were brought up from reserve, one company being sent to
support the Sussex, while two and a half companies came up on the right
of the 60th, _i.e._, between the 60th and the Northamptons. These
two and a half companies being fresh troops were now ordered to attack
the Sugar Factory. The position of the Factory and the lie of the
ground has already been described. The Loyal N. Lancashires, in order
to carry out the attack as ordered, had to advance over a quarter of a
mile of open ground under fire, not only from their front, but from
both flanks as well, on account of the angle formed by the German
trenches to right and left of the Factory. Their casualties during this
advance were terrible. The C.O., Maj. Lloyd, and his Adjutant, Captain
Howard-Vyse, were killed in the first rush. Fifty per cent. of the men
fell in crossing that fire-swept zone, but the remainder carried
steadily on and, at the point of the bayonet, drove out the enemy and
captured the Factory, an achievement which must undoubtedly rank as one
of the finest of the War.
The R. Sussex now pushed forward again, and Lieut. Dashwood, the
machine-gun officer, got his maxims into the Factory, and from there
enfiladed the two German batteries along the Chemin des Dames. At the
same time some of the R. Sussex and the 6oth crept up along the road
leading from Vendresse to the Factory, till they were in a position
to enfilade the German trenches to the east of it. This manoeuvre
produced an immediate surrender, the Germans leaving their trenches and
hoisting the white flag. Warned, however, by their experience earlier
in the day, the British remained prudently under cover of the road, and
it was as well they did, for the two German batteries in rear of the
trenches at once began bombarding this new situation at point-blank
range, with the result that, while the British in the road took no
harm, the unfortunate Germans who had tried to surrender were
practically wiped out by their own people.
This patriotic act was destined to be the last that these particular
batteries performed, for Lieut. Dashwood with the Sussex machine-guns
got on to them from the Factory and rendered them incapable of further
damage. The horses were all killed, and such gunners as survived made
off, abandoning the guns.
The Factory itself was not held, being of no military value and
presenting a first-class target for the German artillery. Lieut.
Dashwood withdrew his machine-guns to a farm-house some 200 yards down
the road, and from this point was able to do considerable execution on
the retreating enemy. He was soon, however, located, and Lieut. Pelham,
who was assisting him, was killed. The section, however, ultimately
managed to get away safely and rejoin its battalion. The vacated
Factory was at once heavily bombarded by the enemy, and our troops
derived no little satisfaction from seeing shell after shell drop where
they were not.
The victory of Troyon was now complete, and it was one of which the
troops engaged had every reason to be proud. The results, too, were
very far-reaching, the position thus gained being never afterwards
wrested from the British troops during their stay at the Aisne.
The casualty list in this sanguinary little fight was a heavy one. The
Loyal N. Lancashires lost 15 officers, including their C.O. and
Adjutant, and over 500 rank and file. The value of their gallant
performance was, however, officially recognized, and Captain Spread,
who displayed great courage throughout the day, received the Military
Cross. The R. Sussex lost 250 rank and file and 9 officers, also
including their Colonel, while in the 60th, Major Foljambe, Captain
Cathcart, Lieut. Bond and 2nd Lieuts. Forster, Thompson and Davison
were killed.
Whilst the 2nd Brigade plus the 1st Coldstream had been engaged with
the Factory and the German entrenchments along the Chemin des Dames
side of it, the Black Watch and Camerons were busy dislodging the
other German wing from their trenches along the Chivy road. This again
was a costly affair. The Camerons were enfiladed at close range by the
German artillery on the other side of the Factory, and had lanes torn
through their ranks. Col. Grant-Duff was killed while heading a
bayonet charge of the Black Watch, side by side with his Adjutant,
Captain Rowan Hamilton. The 1st Scots Guards, who were on the hill
between Vendresse and Troyon, also lost their C.O. as well as their
second in command, Col. Lowther being wounded and Major Garnier
killed, as were also Lieuts. Inigo Jones and Thornhill. Sir V.
Mackenzie and Lieut. Stirling-Stuart were wounded at the same time.
The Scotsmen, however, did not mean stopping that day, and in spite of
desperate losses the Chivy road trenches were finally carried at the
point of the bayonet and a number of prisoners taken. But it cost the
1st Brigade 49 officers and 1,100 rank and file.
Much of the success during this day was due to the gallant behaviour of
the 116th Battery R.F.A. attached to the 1st Brigade. At an early
period in the day this battery, for fear of misdirection in the mist,
had worked its guns up into a dangerously exposed position close to the
firing line. From here they were able to work great damage to the
German defences, but, as a natural consequence, themselves suffered
severely in the process. Major Nicholson, in command of the battery,
had been wounded early in the morning while reconnoitring for this
position, the command then devolving upon Captain Oliver, who took the
battery into action. Some 1,200 rounds were fired during the day, and
replenishment of ammunition had to be done entirely by hand, all spare
men and drivers being led up in relays by Lieut. Gardiner. The battery
remained exposed to a very galling fire till after nightfall, when it
was withdrawn by order of Col. Geddes, commanding the 25th Brigade
R.F.A., as its position was in front of the infantry line actually
occupied. Lieut. Simson, well known as a Rugby International, was
killed during the operation. Great courage and devotion to duty was
shown by Bombardier Collins, the battery telephonist, who, though
painfully wounded early in the proceedings, continued at his post
throughout the day. The battery was warmly thanked and praised by
General Maxse, commanding the 1st Brigade, for the assistance it had
given him.
By noon the 1st and 2nd Brigades were extended in a straight line
running east and west through the Factory. Eventually, however, the
line which was actually occupied and entrenched and maintained
throughout the Aisne period against incessant counter-attacks had its
right resting on the Chemin des Dames half a mile east of the Factory,
and from there inclined gradually backwards till it reached the river
east of Soissons. When we consider that the position won this day on
the Chemin des Dames was four miles north of the river, the oblique
line thereafter held by the British troops was a lasting monument to
the remarkable achievement of the 1st Division on September 14th.
There can be no shadow of doubt that the Germans were completely taken
by surprise by the unexpected rapidity of the 1st Division's advance.
It was a fine piece of generalship, and had Sir Douglas Haig only had
fresh troops to bring up from reserve, it is probable that the Germans
would have been swept back another mile or two.
Fresh reserve troops, however, were too great a luxury for our small
force. The Loyal N. Lancashires had in the morning been the reserve
battalion to the 2nd Brigade, and of these fifty per cent. had fallen.
Some of the R. Sussex and 1st Coldstream, as a matter of fact, did
penetrate as far as Cerny, following the road from Troyon which cuts
through the high ground beyond in a narrow defile. This road was
literally choked with the enemy's dead. At Cerny they found every
symptom of confusion and surprise, abandoned kits, baggage and
munitions, and no sign of organized resistance. The detachment,
however, was small, and as it was unsupported on either flank it was
deemed wise to retire.
VERNEUIL
We can now move across on to the next range of heights to the left, and
see how it there fared with the 3rd and 5th Brigades. Here matters were
neither so eventful nor so decisive as on the Troyon ridge. It was ten
o'clock before the 3rd Brigade came up into line, and was ordered to
extend to the left and join up with the right of the 2nd Division,
which was in the neighbourhood of Braye. While carrying out this order
and when within a mile or so of Verneuil, they suddenly came up against
two strong German columns which were advancing with some unknown
object. The rest of the day's proceedings in this quarter may be
briefly described as a series of attacks and counter-attacks, which
lasted all through the day, between these two German columns and our
3rd, 5th and 6th Brigades. In the fiercely contested combat between
these two forces honours were during the earlier part of the day fairly
easy, but towards dusk the Germans sensibly weakened, both in attack
and defence, and the British troops undoubtedly had the last word.
The most conspicuous episode in this section of the fighting was a
really great performance on the part of an Edinburgh man named Wilson,
in the Highland Light Infantry. That battalion had just made a most
successful and dramatic charge, led by Sir Archibald Gibson-Craig and
Lieut. Powell (both killed), and had established itself in a forward
position with its left on a small wood. From this wood a German
machine-gun began playing on the ranks of the battalion with such
disastrous accuracy that it soon became clear that either the
machine-gun must be silenced or the position evacuated. Pte. Wilson
thought the former alternative preferable, and, getting a K.R.R. man to
go with him, crept out towards the wood. The K.R.R. man was shot almost
at once, but, quite undeterred, Wilson went on alone, killed the German
officer and six men, and single-handed captured the machine-gun and two
and a half cases of ammunition. It need scarcely be said that he got
the Victoria Cross.
Another Victoria Cross earned this day by another Scotsman was little
less remarkable, though of an entirely different order.
Pte. Tollerton, a fine, powerful man in the Scottish Rifles, noticed an
officer fall badly wounded in the firing line. Though himself wounded
both in the head and hand, Tollerton carried the officer to a place of
safety, after which he himself returned to the firing line and there
remained fighting, in spite of his wounds, throughout the day. At dusk
he returned to the wounded officer. In the meanwhile the firing line
had fallen back, with the result that Tollerton and the officer were
left behind. The latter was quite incapable of moving, and Tollerton
remained with him for three days and nights, till eventually both were
rescued.
SOUPIR
Once more it is necessary to shift our scene still more to the left and
nearer again to the Aisne, where the Cour de Soupir farm stands on the
crest of the river bluff.
The capture of this position was the work of the Guards' Brigade. At 8
a.m., at the time when the 1st and 2nd Brigades were in the very thick
of their fight at Troyon, the 2nd Division, which was still on the
south side of the river, began to cross by the new pontoon bridge at
Pont d'Arcy, the 6th Brigade moving up the valley to Braye, while the
5th Brigade fought its way up the wooded slopes above Soupir. These
last two brigades, as we have seen, linked up with the 3rd Brigade in
the neighbourhood of Verneuil.
The 4th Brigade went down the right bank of the river as far as
Chavonne, where it remained till midday, when it got the order to scale
the heights in support of the 5th Brigade, which was reported in
difficulties. Accordingly the 3rd Coldstream and Irish Guards forced
their way up through the woods north of Soupir, while the 2nd
Grenadiers and two companies of the 2nd Coldstream made for the hamlet
of Les Grouins on the left, where the idea was that they were to get in
touch with the 1st Cavalry Division, which was also reported in
difficulties. The other two companies 2nd Coldstream stayed in reserve,
in a wood clearing on the bluff, half a mile south of La Cour de Soupir
farm.
The track from Chavonne to the farm zigzags steeply up the bluff above
the river through thick woods. Up this track, now ankle-deep in mud,
the Guards scrambled in column of fours till they reached the flatter
ground above, where they at once came under very heavy fire from the
neighbourhood of the farm. Col. Feilding, who was acting Brigadier,
thereupon deployed the two battalions to the left, and, as soon as the
Grenadiers had come up into line on their left flank, the three
battalions charged through the mist and rain in the direction of La
Cour de Soupir farm. As had been the case with the 2nd Brigade, they
were met by a very severe machine-gun and rifle fire at close range,
the moment they emerged on to the flatter ground above, and their
casualties were very considerable; but, notwithstanding, they kept
going, captured the farm and trenches and drove out the enemy with
heavy loss.
An unfortunate incident, very similar in many respects to that which
had befallen the R. Sussex at Troyon, occurred during the capture of
these trenches, and was responsible for the deaths of many good men.
Just to the left of the farm a number of Germans were seen advancing
with hands up and white flags. Some of the 3rd Coldstream went out to
accept the surrender, whereupon a second line of Germans sprang up,
and, firing on friend and foe alike, mowed them down indiscriminately.
There can be little doubt that both this and the Troyon incident on the
same day were not acts of deliberate treachery on the part of the
Germans, but were purely "no surrender" demonstrations, and were
probably aimed more at their compatriots than at the British.
In this engagement the 3rd Coldstream lost Captain Banbury, Lieut.
Ives, Lieut. Bingham, Lieut. P. Wyndham, Captain Vaughan and Lieut.
Fane, of whom the first four were killed, and 160 rank and file. The
position gained, however, was never afterwards lost, but, from
September 14th on, was held by the Guards' Brigade for twenty-nine
consecutive days, in the face of a rapid succession of counter-attacks
of the fiercest description, this position being singled out by the
Germans for their most determined efforts at recapture.
THE AISNE
The meteoric advance of the 1st A.C. on the 14th had left the western
wing of the British force far behind. Had the 2nd A.C. had the luck to
find a bridge which had defied destruction--as was the case at
Bourg--there is no knowing but that they might have pushed forward
shoulder to shoulder with the 1st A.C. and established themselves on
the heights beyond. No such good fortune, however, was theirs. At
Venizel, Missy and Vailly the bridges had been successfully demolished
and the approaches to the river were everywhere difficult, especially
at Missy, where for three-quarters of a mile the ground on the south
side of the river lies flat and exposed. The bridge at Conde, as has
already been explained, was intact--had, in fact, been designedly left
so by the enemy--and for that very reason was outside of consideration
as far as the problem of crossing the river was concerned. It became,
therefore, a matter for the R.E., and with characteristic promptitude
that indefatigable corps started in on its work of repair and
construction. The work had to be carried out under no small
difficulties, and to the accompaniment of a systematic shelling, the
enemy on the heights beyond having the exact range of the river. There
were considerable casualties among the Engineers. By midday, however,
on the 14th the work was practically completed, the road bridges at
Venizel, Missy and Vailly, and the railway bridge east of Venizel,
having been repaired, in addition to which eight pontoon bridges had
been thrown over the river at varying intervals. This was good work on
the part of the R.E., nor did their labours begin and end with the work
of repair and construction. Captain Johnstone[2] and Lieut. Flint
worked below Missy all through this day up to seven o'clock in the
evening, bringing back the wounded on rafts and returning with
ammunition--all the time under fire. The former got the Victoria Cross
for this; the latter the D.S.O.
[2] Killed June 6th, 1915.
Handicapped though they were in comparison with the 1st A.C. by the
lack of a negotiable bridge, the three divisions at the Soissons end of
the line were by no means disposed to sit still while the Sappers were
working at their pontoon. The 11th Brigade (in the 4th Division) got
itself ferried across below Venizel early in the day, and lost no time
in getting into its position to the west of Bucy, where it dug itself
in near St. Marguerite. At midday the 12th Brigade were able to cross
by the repaired road bridge at Venizel and they at once linked up with
the 11th Brigade at Bucy, just in time to take part in an attack which
was made upon the Vregny heights opposite at 2 p.m. Meanwhile a pontoon
bridge was being built close to the Venizel road bridge, and by 5.30
this, too, was finished, and the 10th Brigade crossed and completed the
concentration of the 4th Division.
A mile higher up, at Missy, the 5th Division was in the meantime
experiencing great difficulty in getting to the river, the flat ground
approaching it being swept by a murderous fire from the far side. The
13th Brigade, in fact, was foiled in all its attempts in this
direction, and remained throughout the day at Sermoise. The 14th
Brigade, however, managed to cross early in the afternoon at Moulins
des Roches and with all the speed possible linked up with the 4th
Division on its left, arriving at its post just in time to help in
repelling a strong German counter-attack, which was launched against
our lines at three o'clock. These two brigades in retaliation made
repeated attacks on the Chivres heights during the afternoon, but
without success, and at night they fell back to St. Marguerite.
The 3rd Division reached the river at Vailly. Here the bridge had been
blown up, but a single plank bridged the gap made at the north end, and
by this the 8th and 9th Brigades got across in single file. The 7th
Brigade in the meanwhile was getting across on rafts--three men at a
time--a slow and tiresome business, which occupied the whole day. It
was midday by the time the 9th Brigade, which followed the 8th, had
crossed by the single plank above-mentioned, but they pushed forward at
once and secured the heights opposite, the R. Fusiliers establishing
themselves well forward on the Maison Rouge spur to the left, and the
Lincolns on the Ostel spur, within half a mile of La Cour de Soupir
farm held by the Guards. Here they remained all night, but at seven
o'clock next morning the R. Fusiliers were heavily attacked and driven
back to the Maison Rouge farm, with the loss from among their officers
of Captain Byng, Captain Cole, Captain Attwood and 2nd Lieut. Hobbs.
The Northumberland Fusiliers, who had pushed forward along the road up
the wooded valley between the spurs, also had serious casualties, and
had to withdraw. The Lincolns at the same time were driven from the
Ostel spur and by 1 p.m. had re-crossed the river to the south side.
Once more, after another very wet night, the 5th Division on the 15th
attacked the Chivres heights, and, once more failing, had to fall back
to a line from St. Marguerite to the bank of the river between Sermoise
and Conde. There they dug themselves in and there they remained till
the end of the Aisne battle. The position was very bad from a strategic
point of view, as it was on the low ground by the river, with the
Germans only 400 yards away on the heights beyond; but it was the best
that could be done. The 5th Division was greatly upset at its second
failure to take the Chivres heights. It did not realize (as, indeed,
who did at that time?) that the Allied advance had reached its farthest
north, and that the Chivres heights were to remain untaken by either
French or English for very many months to come.