explain the situation to the C. in C., who was most sympathetic and
promised that he would send all that he could spare of the Lahore
Indians to be at Estaires at eight o'clock next morning, with a rider
to the effect that they were not to be used except in emergency, as
they were destined for other work. As a matter of fact they were not
used, the 5th Division proving equal to the occasion without foreign
assistance.
Throughout the 23rd, 24th and 25th the Germans continued to attack
Givenchy with the utmost persistence, but without succeeding in
dislodging the Devons. That gallant regiment, however, was becoming
very weak in officers. During their three days at Canteleux, Captain
Chichester and Lieut. Ridgers had been killed, and Col. Gloster and
Lieut. Tillett wounded. Then on the 24th, Lieut. Ainslie was killed,
and on the following day Captain Besley and Lieut. Quick were killed,
the latter while running to the next regiment to tell them that the
Devons meant holding on and that they must do the same. On the 20th
they relieved the Manchesters at Festubert. The latter regiment, during
its occupation of Festubert, had held its difficult position with
magnificent determination and had won two Victoria Crosses, 2nd Lieut.
Leach and Sergt. Hogan being each awarded the Cross for valour.
On the following day, the whole line in the neighbourhood of Festubert
was subjected to a particularly infernal shelling, every known species
of missile being hurled against it. The Devons stood firm through it
all, but the regiment on their left--an Indian regiment for the first
time in the firing line--found it too much for them, and after having
lost most of their officers they retired, their trenches being at once
occupied by the enemy. This made the position of the Devons very
precarious. With as little delay as possible the reserve company of the
regiment under Lieut. Hancock and Lieut. Dunsterville was brought up,
and with great gallantry the company attacked and drove the Germans out
of the right-hand section of the lost trenches, the 58th Vaughan Rifles
at the same time retaking the left-hand section. Both Lieut. Hancock
and Lieut. Dunsterville were killed during the charge, and Lieut.
Ditmas thereupon took over command of the company, but he himself was
subsequently killed, after displaying conspicuous gallantry. On the
31st, as a part of the general process of transfer, the Devons were at
length relieved, after sixteen days of almost continuous fighting. They
received a great ovation from the other troops on their withdrawal.
Lieut.-Col. Gloster was given the C.M.G. and Lieut. Worrall the
Military Cross. Other officers who showed conspicuous ability and
daring were Lieuts. Lang, Prior and Alexander. Sergt.-Major Webb, who
on several occasions had given proof of remarkable courage and
coolness, got the D.C.M., as also did Lance-Corpl. Simmons and Pte.
Worsfold, the latter of whom greatly distinguished himself by carrying
numerous messages at Festubert after the telegraphic communication was
cut.
We have now, however, got considerably ahead of the general situation,
from which we digressed on October 22nd in order to keep in touch with
the position at and around Givenchy. We must therefore once more take
up the thread at that date.
During the 23rd, 24th and 25th there was no movement of marked
importance in the southern area, but continuous attacks all along the
line still further reduced the number and vitality of the 5th
Division, and by the evening of the 25th it was rapidly becoming
evident to all concerned that the condition of that division, and
indeed of the entire 2nd A.C. in greater or less degree, was extremely
serious. The casualties of this Army Corps since its arrival in
Flanders now amounted to 350 officers and 8,204 men, and those that
survived were in a state of extreme exhaustion both mental and
physical.
Sir Horace summoned General Maude, Col. Martyn (who had taken over
the command of the 13th Brigade when Col. Hickie had been invalided
home on October 13th), and Count Gleichen, the three Brigadiers of
the 5th Division, to meet General Morland, and all agreed that the
situation was very grave indeed, and that human endurance was nearly
at the breaking point. General Maude (14th Brigade), however,
reported that Col. Ballard was determined to hold the canal trenches
with the Norfolks to the last gasp, and that the Devons next the
Norfolks at Givenchy were equally resolute, though terribly thinned
by casualties. All, however, agreed that however willing the spirit
might be, the flesh was too weak to make any prolonged resistance.
The Generals themselves were well-nigh worn out with the ceaseless
strain, and with want of sleep, their nights being largely occupied
in motoring hither and thither for purposes of consultation with
other commanders. Two or three hours' sleep in a night was a luxury.
Luckily the Germans--accurate as their information usually was--seem
to have failed to realize the extreme exhaustion of the troops facing
them at this part of the line, otherwise the history of events might
have been different.
NEUVE CHAPELLE
The 3rd Division had perhaps, if anything, been so far less highly
tried in the way of ceaseless fighting against odds than the 5th
Division, but any deficiency in this respect was fully made up to them
by the fighting at Neuve Chapelle on the 25th, 26th and 27th.
This very costly three days' fighting opened on the night of the 25th,
during a heavy downpour of rain which succeeded a beautiful day, by a
furious attack, from the neighbourhood of the Bois de Biez, on the left
of the 7th Brigade and the right of the 8th Brigade. This wood, which
played a prominent part in these three days' fighting, lies about half
a mile to the south-east of Neuve Chapelle, in the centre of the
equilateral triangle formed by that place, Aubers and Illies. The
Germans advanced out of the wood with great courage and with every
appearance of meaning business, but the 7th Brigade and the 15th Sikhs,
who had taken over from Conneau's cavalry the day before, managed to
stand their ground, and in the end drove the enemy back with very heavy
loss, though themselves suffering severely, the Sikhs, who fought
superbly, alone losing 200 in officers and men.
The 8th Brigade was not so fortunate, the R. Irish Rifles, who were the
right-hand battalion, being driven out of their trenches, which lay
north of the La Bassee road on the east side of the village. The
situation for the moment was critical, but the lost trenches were very
gallantly retaken by the 4th Middlesex, led by Col. Hull, and the 4th
R. Fusiliers. The latter battalion suffered considerably in the
operation, Lieuts. Hope-Johnstone and Waller being killed. This
battalion had now only 200 men left. The whole of the 9th Brigade, in
fact, had been reduced to mere skeletons. This brigade (Shaw's) had a
magnificent record behind it.[6] From the time when, at Mons, it had
borne the brunt of the German attack and put up such a magnificent
defence, it had never failed in any task for which it had been called
upon; and it is possible that its great fighting reputation and the
cheerfulness with which it undertook any duty assigned it, coupled with
the undoubted military talents of its Brigadier, had earned for it
rather more than its fair share of difficult and dangerous work. During
the past fortnight it had fought with great gallantry and with
invariable success, and during that short period it had lost 54
officers and 1,400 men.
[6] 4th R. Fusiliers, 1st R. Scots Fusiliers, Northumberland
Fusiliers and the Lincolnshire Regiment.
On the following day the attack was renewed, the Germans suddenly
swarming once again out of the Bois de Biez opposite, and the R. Irish
Rifles were again driven in, their trenches being at once occupied by
the enemy, many of whom entered the town and remained there throughout
the day.
The 7th Brigade on the right and the 9th Brigade on the left now had
the Germans wedged in between them. The Northumberland Fusiliers (the
old Fighting Fifth) on the right of the 9th Brigade, now found the
position untenable in the weak numerical condition to which they had
been reduced, and they were compelled to withdraw to the western side
of the town. During this withdrawal, which was carried out in excellent
order, Corpl. Fisk found time to extinguish some flames which were
enveloping the limber of one of our guns--a gallant act performed under
very heavy fire for which he was given the D.C.M.
On the night of the 26th the position at Neuve Chapelle was a curious
one. The enemy were in possession of all the trenches on the north-east
side of the town, but on the south-east side the Wiltshire Regiment,
the R. West Kents, the K.O.Y.L.I. and the East Surrey were still
holding their ground, in advance of the town. The rest of the 3rd
Division were thrown back behind the town.
About 11 a.m. on the 27th the usual morning attack was made on the
Wiltshire Regiment, whose left flank was now, of course, quite
unprotected, and by noon they too had been forced to retire, the
Germans in great numbers following closely on their heels. The position
of the R. West Kents was now most precarious, as they had the enemy on
three sides of them, and it seemed inevitable that they must follow the
example of the several regiments on their left, who had been
successively forced to give way. Such, however, was not their opinion,
and, undismayed by the apparent hopelessness of their position, they
promptly set about preparing a defence which proved to be one of the
most remarkable of the campaign. Major Buckle, who was in command, on
seeing the Wiltshires forced back, at once made his way to the left of
his battalion in order to reorganize the formation so as to meet the
altered conditions, but he was almost immediately killed, Captain
Legard being killed at the same time and Lieuts. Williams and Holloway
wounded. All the company officers on the left flank were now down, but
the new movement was carried out under the direction of Sergt.-Major
Penny and Sergt.-Major Crossley, the reserve company wheeling to its
left, while the left of the firing line threw back its flank, so as to
present a convex face to the position now occupied by the enemy. All
this was carried out under a murderous fire. In this formation the
battalion held on till the evening, when our troops in rear of the town
counter-attacked with momentary success. This success was mainly
brought about by the 47th Sikhs and the 9th Bhopal Regiment, who made a
fine dash into the town from the direction of Croix Barbee, the
first-named regiment showing great courage, but they both suffered
heavy losses from the ubiquitous German machine-guns in the houses. At
the same time three groups of the French Cyclist Corps made an attack
from the Pont Logis side. The impetus of these combined attacks drove
the Germans back for the time being, and indeed for the whole of that
night, but their concealed machine-guns continued to play havoc in the
ranks of the assailants, and in the early morning of the 28th the
attacking force had to fall back, the Germans once more re-occupying
the town.
The position of the R. West Kents was now as bad again as ever, and
once more half the battalion had to face about to its left flank and
rear. The execution of this movement again took its toll of officers,
Captain Battersby and Lieut. Gore being killed, and Lieut.
Moulton-Barratt wounded. The battalion had now lost twelve out of the
fourteen officers with which it had gone into these trenches, 2nd
Lieut. White and 2nd Lieut. Russell alone being left, and on these two
it now devolved to maintain the spirit of the corps. The remarkable
position had by this time developed that practically the whole of Neuve
Chapelle was in the hands of the enemy, with the exception of the
little south-east corner by the La Bassee road, which was still
stubbornly held by the undefeated R. West Kents. On the other side of
the La Bassee road, and in the angle which that road makes with the
Richebourg road, the K.O.Y.L.I. were still standing firm with the East
Surrey beyond them, but these last two regiments were not so hardly
pressed, the main attack being always on the eastern side of the main
La Bassee road.
We must now take a glance at the Neuve Chapelle position from the
larger military point of view. The counter-attacks on the 27th had
failed mainly owing to the exhaustion and insufficiency of the troops
employed. The place, however, being of considerable strategic
importance (to us), the Divisional Head Quarters determined that it
could not be left in the hands of the enemy, and an attack on a more
important scale was therefore organized for the following day. Sir
Horace motored across at night and saw General Conneau, who told him
that in addition to the six hundred Chasseurs already in the line, he
could lend him a regiment of dismounted cavalry and nine batteries of
artillery. The C. in C. also sent him the 2nd C.B. under Col. Mullens,
of which the 4th Dragoon Guards arrived on the evening of the 27th, the
9th Lancers and 18th Hussars during the early part of the night. The
whole were placed under the command of General McCracken of the 7th
Brigade, to whom the details of the attack on the following day were
entrusted.
At 8 a.m. on the 28th, some two hours after the Indians and French
cyclists had been forced to retire, proceedings were started with a
general bombardment of the village. This was a matter of some little
delicacy on account of the position still held by the R. West Kents and
K.O.Y.L.I., and the difficulty was not made lighter by the fog which
lay thick on the plain in the early hours of the morning. In the
circumstances the accuracy of the French artillery was remarkable. The
north side of the village was given a great bombardment, and at eleven
o'clock the sun came through, the fog cleared, and the infantry attack
began. The artillery had now played its part, but, to assist in the
assault, one gun of the 41st Battery was pushed forward to the junction
of the Armentieres and La Bassee roads. From this point of vantage it
was able to work considerable execution on the German infantry massed
in the north-east corner of the village, but, as an inevitable
consequence, was itself singled out for special attention on the part
of the enemy. At the same time, as the attack became more general, its
sphere of usefulness became greatly circumscribed, and finally Lieut.
Lowell, who was in command, resolved to make an attempt to report the
position to his C.O. with a view to getting further instructions. To do
this, however, it was necessary to leave his shelter and negotiate a
hundred yards of bullet-swept road. He was hit almost at once, but kept
on his way till a second bullet brought him down in the road. A gunner
of the name of Spicer thereupon ran out to get him under cover, but was
himself at once knocked over, and subsequently died. Bomb. Bloomfield
then went out to the assistance of his officer and comrade, and was
fortunate enough to get them both under cover without himself being
wounded.
In the meanwhile, the infantry attack was gallantly pressed home, the
47th Sikhs and the 2nd C.B. (on foot) fighting splendidly from street
to street. In spite of all, however, the attack once more failed, and
at 5 p.m. the Germans were still in possession of the village, always
excepting the one small corner still held by the R. West Kents and
K.O.Y.L.I.
The anticlimax of the whole thing, and a cause for reflection as to the
objects for which modern armies fight one another, is furnished by the
fact that in the evening the Germans quietly vacated the town,
apparently realizing--after the sacrifice of some 5,000 men--that the
position was either untenable, or was not worth the cost of keeping.
Our losses in the last day's fighting alone amounted to 65 officers and
1,466 men. The heroes of the three days' fighting were of course the R.
West Kents, who immortalized themselves by a performance which in many
ways must be unique. The two surviving officers, 2nd Lieuts. White and
Russell, were each awarded the D.S.O., and were, in addition, the
subjects of some particularly flattering remarks on the part of Sir
Horace. The two Sergt.-Majors above referred to were each given the
D.C.M., as also was Sergt. Stroud and Pte. Alison. At 2 a.m. on the
29th, the battalion was finally relieved by the Seaforths, having lost
over 300 men in the Neuve Chapelle trenches.
This affair of Neuve Chapelle marks the close of the 2nd A.C.
operations in the La Bassee district. On the 31st the British troops
began to be formally relieved by General Willcocks and his Indians.
This corps had now been augmented by the arrival of the Ferozapore
Brigade, to be followed almost immediately by the Secunderabad Cavalry
Brigade and the Jodhpur Lancers. By 10 a.m. on the 31st the transfer of
positions was complete, and Sir Horace and his gallant but war-worn
A.C. withdrew to Hazebrouck. A certain proportion of the 2nd A.C. was
afterwards called upon to support General Willcocks, but for the most
part we shall, in the future, find them co-operating with the 1st A.C.
and the 7th Division in the neighbourhood of Ypres.
As far, then, as this record of events goes, we may now bid farewell to
the fighting area between Armentieres and La Bassee, and follow
exclusively the events east and south of Ypres. These were destined to
develop into a succession of battles, in which small numbers of British
troops successfully opposed large numbers of German troops, and the
details of which furnish, in the words of Sir J. French, "one of the
most glorious chapters in the annals of the British Army."
PILKEM
Having now taken a permanent farewell of the fighting in the La Bassee
area, with a view to following uninterruptedly the more exciting
situation which had gradually been developing around Ypres it becomes
necessary once more to pick up the thread of the northern doings where
it was dropped.
It will be remembered that on Oct. 19th, 20th and 21st there had been
very fierce fighting in and around Zonnebeke, where the enemy made
persistent efforts to break through to Ypres--efforts which were
frustrated by the timely arrival of the 1st A.C. on the night of the
20th, This Army Corps during the night took over the entire line from
Bixschoote to Zonnebeke, and on the 21st the Guards' Brigade, on the
right of this line, was able to contribute largely to the repulse of
the German attack.
On the 22nd the pressure was shifted to the left of the 1st A.C. line,
the 1st Brigade being attacked in great force at Pilkem from the
direction of Staden. The Germans advanced to their attack with the
utmost determination and with a complete disregard of danger, singing
"_Die wacht am Rhein_" and waving their rifles over their heads. The
focus-point of the attack was the position occupied by the Camerons,
who eventually, by sheer weight of numbers, were driven back, but not
before they had taken an appalling toll of the enemy, 1,500 of the
latter being found dead upon the ground the following day.
General Lomax, commanding the division, had no idea of leaving the
enemy in peace to enjoy this temporary triumph, and at nine o'clock on
the same evening the 2nd Brigade, which was billeted some eight or nine
miles to the south at the village of Boesinghe, received orders to
retake the lost trenches. The R. Sussex regiment was left at Boesinghe,
but the remaining three battalions, viz., the 1st Loyal N. Lancashires,
the 2nd K.R.R. (60th) and the 1st Northamptons, set out and marched all
night to the little village of Pilkem, which was reached at 5 a.m.
The brigade, which had had no food all night, was given no time for
rest or breakfast, but was ordered to attack the trenches at once. In
the brigade order of October 28th, dealing with this action, General
Bulfin, the Brigadier, singles out the 1st Loyal N. Lancashire Regiment
for special praise. It may, therefore, be allowable to confine our
description of the action to a brief review of the part played by this
battalion, which, it will be remembered, had behaved with such
remarkable gallantry at the battle of Troyon.
At 6 o'clock, in the dim light of an autumn morning, the brigade set
out from Pilkem. The lost trenches lay more or less parallel to the
Bixschoote to Langemarck road, a mile to the north of Pilkem. The
attacking troops advanced in line, the K.R.R. being on the left, the
Loyal N. Lancashires in the centre, with the Northamptons on the right.
The 2nd S. Staffords and the 1st Queen's (from the 3rd Brigade) were in
support. In this order they advanced to within 300 yards of the
trenches, where they began to come under a very heavy rifle fire. Major
Carter,[7] commanding the L. N. Lancashires, decided to charge at once
with the bayonet, and he sent a message to this effect to the K.R.R. on
his left, asking them to advance with him. This, however, they were
unable to do, and Major Carter accordingly decided to attack alone.
Captain Henderson, with the machine-gun section, pushed forward to a
very advanced position on the left, from which he was able to get a
clear field for his guns, and the battalion formed up for the attack.
Captain Crane's and Captain Prince's companies were in the first line;
the other two were in support. The order to fix bayonets was given; a
bugler sounded the "Charge," and with loud cheers the battalion dashed
forward, and in less than ten minutes had carried the trenches and
cleared them of the enemy. Six hundred prisoners were taken, a number
which might have been increased but that further pursuit was checked by
our own artillery.
[7] Major Carter, D.S.O., was killed on November 10th, 1914. He
was the third O.C. the Loyal N. Lancs, to be killed in action,
Col. Lloyd having fallen on September 14th and Col. Knight at
the battle of the Marne.
During this most gallant charge on the part of the Loyal N.
Lancashires, the Queen's and Northamptons on the right advanced and
occupied the inn at the cross-roads, where the road from Pilkem joins
the main road to Langemarck.
The victory was now complete. The L. N. Lancashires lost 6 officers and
150 men killed and wounded. They won, however, very high praise from
the Brigadier and from General Lomax, the Divisional General. Captain
Henderson was awarded the Military Cross for
"conspicuous gallantry and ability on Oct. 23rd, when, with his
machine-gun detachment, he performed most valuable services in the
final attack and charge, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy. He
pushed his guns close up to a flank, and helped in a great degree
to clear the enemy's trenches."
One cannot convey a sense of the really remarkable nature of this
performance better than by quoting the words of General Bulfin in the
G.O. already referred to. "In spite," it says, "of the stubborn
resistance offered by the German troops, the object of the engagement
was accomplished, but not without many casualties in the brigade. By
nightfall the trenches previously captured by the Germans had been
re-occupied, about 600 prisoners captured, and fully 1,500 German dead
were lying out in front of our trenches. The Brigadier-General
congratulates the L. N. Lancashires, the Northamptons and the K.R.R.
but desires especially to commend the fine soldierlike spirit of the L.
N. Lancashires, which advancing steadily under heavy shell and rifle
fire, and aided by its machine-guns, were enabled to form up within a
comparatively short distance of the enemy's trenches. Fixing bayonets,
the battalion then charged, carried the trenches, and then occupied
them, and to them must be allotted the majority of the prisoners
captured. The Brigadier-General congratulates himself on having in his
brigade a battalion which, after marching the whole of the previous
night, without food or rest, was able to maintain its splendid record
in the past by the determination and self-sacrifice displayed in this
action."
THE SECOND ADVANCE