the 3rd Brigade, who had been having a rough time during the preceding
days, and these went back into reserve.
ZWARTELEN
November 6th saw a certain renewal of the enemy's activity. The day
opened very foggy, but by eleven o'clock there was a bright sun. In the
morning the French once more re-took Wytschate and Messines, but again
found them untenable, and in fact this was the last attempt on the part
of the Allies to occupy either of these two places.
The respite of the poor 22nd Brigade from the trenches was short-lived,
and the evening of the 6th saw them once more hurried up into the
firing line. This came about in the following way. The French had now
taken over all our trenches as far north as the Brown Road, our own
troops being pushed up to the left. North of the French were the Irish
Guards, and, beyond them, the 2nd Grenadiers. The French troops, who
had so far held their ground with splendid tenacity, now found the
position more than they could support. The German bombardment, with
which they as usual opened the day, was more than usually severe, and
lasted the whole morning, and about 2 p.m. it was followed by an
infantry attack before which the left of the French and the right of
the Irish Guards was driven in. As a result of this cave in the line,
the left of the Irish Guards, which remained in the trenches, suffered
considerably, Lord John Hamilton, Captain King-Harman and Lieut.
Woodroffe being killed. An urgent message was sent to Gen. Kavanagh to
bring up the 7th C.B., who were in readiness near Lord Cavan's Head
Quarters behind Zillebeke, and the 22nd Brigade was also wired for to
come up from Bailleul. The cavalry came galloping up to Zillebeke,
where they dismounted and advanced on foot along and astride of the
road from Zillebeke to Zwartelen, which runs along the foot of the
ridge ending in Hill 60. Just short of Zwartelen they deployed, the 1st
Life Guards on the left being told off to restore the Irish Guards'
position, while the 2nd Life Guards attacked the position from which
the French had been driven. The Blues were behind the centre of the
line in support.
The 1st Life Guards, under the Hon. A. Stanley, attacked the lost
trenches of the Irish Guards with the greatest vigour, and within an
hour had regained, at the point of the bayonet, the whole of the
position lost. The Hon. A. Stanley received the medal for Distinguished
Service for his conduct on this occasion, as did also Corpl. Baillie
and Corpl. Fleming. Sergt. Munn, of the Irish Guards, also got the
D.C.M. for rallying some men of his battalion and joining in the charge
of the 1st Life Guards.
In the meanwhile the Hon. Hugh Dawnay, commanding the 2nd Life Guards,
sent off "B" Squadron to connect up with the right of the 1st Life
Guards and clear the wood on the Klein Zillebeke ridge. "D" Squadron
was sent off to cover the right flank of the whole combined movement by
advancing along the edge of the Ypres to Armentieres railway, which is
separated from the wood by about 500 yards of open ground; while Major
Dawnay himself, with "C" Troop, attacked the village of Zwartelen, with
the Blues under Col. Wilson on his left, and some 300 of the French,
who--encouraged by the advance of the Household Cavalry--had reformed,
on his right, that is to say, between him and "D" Squadron on the
railway.
The whole scheme worked admirably. The attack by "B" Squadron on the
Klein Zillebeke ridge wood was entirely successful, the enemy being
driven out with loss and pursued for several hundred yards. The attack
on Zwartelen--though perhaps a more formidable undertaking--was no less
successful. The village was very strongly held, the houses in and
around being occupied and defended, and the Household Cavalry's advance
was met by a heavy rifle fire which caused many casualties, both Col.
Wilson and Major Dawnay being killed while leading their respective
regiments. In spite of heavy losses, however, the cavalrymen, with
great steadiness and determination, pressed home their attack, and, at
the point of the bayonet, carried the village and captured a number of
prisoners, "C" Troop of the 2nd Life Guards afterwards pushing right
through and occupying the trenches in the wood on the far side of the
village. Lieut. Stewart-Menzies, Corpl. Watt, Corpl. Moulsen and Corpl.
Anstice were all decorated for their gallantry during this brilliant
performance on the part of "C" Troop. The latter N.C.O. displayed the
greatest courage throughout the fight.
The success of the counter-attack was now to all appearances complete,
all the ground lost in the morning having been regained. At this
moment, however, the French on the right of "C" Troop again gave way,
leaving a gap into which the enemy at once pressed. The position of "C"
Troop was now greatly imperilled, and General Kavanagh ordered the
Blues, and "B" Squadron of the 2nd Life Guards, to cross the Verbranden
Molen road to its support. This was done, the Blues moving to the right
and occupying Zwartelen and Hill 60, and in these several positions the
combined force continued to fight out time; but some of the ground
which had been regained had to be abandoned.
The situation was saved by the arrival about 6 p.m. of the 22nd
Brigade, which had been hurried up from Bailleul in motor-buses. This
brigade now took over the Household Cavalry position at Zwartelen,
while the 2nd K.R.R., from the 2nd Brigade, relieved the squadron of
the 2nd Life Guards which was holding the railway on the right flank.
The Household Cavalry earned the very highest praise for their
performance on this afternoon. They were handled with great skill by
General Kavanagh, and the daring and dash of their advance undoubtedly
averted what might have proved a very serious calamity. They lost
seventeen officers during their advance, as follows:
In the 1st Life Guards the Hon. R. Wyndham (attached from the
Lincolnshire Yeomanry) was killed and the Hon. H. Denison, the Hon. E.
Fitzroy and Captain Hardy were wounded.
In the 2nd Life Guards the Hon. H. Dawnay, the Hon. A. O'Neill and
Lieut. Peterson were killed and the Hon. M. Lyon, Lieut. Jobson, Lieut.
Sandys and 2nd Lieut. Hobson were wounded.
In the Blues, Col. Wilson and Lieut. de Gunzberg were killed, and Lord
Gerard, Lord Northampton and Captain Brassey were wounded.
The enemy's bombardment of the morning, and the infantry attack of the
afternoon which followed, had by no means been confined to the area the
loss and recapture of which has just been described. The 2nd
Grenadiers, on the left of the Irish Guards, were as heavily attacked
as any, but they succeeded in maintaining their ground throughout both
morning and afternoon. Sergt. Thomas, who as Corpl. Thomas had so
distinguished himself at Chavonne, once again showed the material of
which he was made. His trench was subjected to a most appalling
shelling. Only two of his platoon remained unwounded; he himself had
twice been buried and the flank of his trench was exposed, but even in
this apparently impossible position he held on, and was still in proud
occupation of his trench when the arrival of the 7th C.B. and 22nd
Brigade once more drove back the enemy. Sergt. Holmes and Corpl.
Harrison in the same battalion also greatly distinguished themselves.
At daybreak on the 7th, in the dull, misty atmosphere of a November
morning, the 22nd Brigade deployed for an attempt to regain the
position of the day before. This brigade, owing to its depleted
condition, was now reduced to two composite battalions, the R. Welsh
Fusiliers and 2nd Queen's being amalgamated into one battalion under
the command of Captain Alleyne of the Queen's, and the Warwicks and S.
Staffords into the other, under the command of Captain Vallentin of the
S. Staffords. It is worthy of note that the brigade could furnish no
officers of higher rank than a Captain; also that both the officers
above-named fell on the second day of their command, Captain Alleyne
being badly wounded and Captain Vallentin killed. The latter was
posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for the great gallantry he had
displayed in the command of his composite battalion.
The brigade deployed in four lines, of which the first two were formed
by the 2nd Queen's, who now numbered about 400. In this formation they
advanced till within 300 yards of the enemy's position, when the first
two lines joined up and charged. In spite of a heavy machine-gun fire,
which still further reduced the 400, the Queen's charged right home and
in rapid succession carried first one and then a second line of
trenches, the defenders being all bayoneted or put to flight. The
second of these two positions--the same, in fact, as had been captured
by the 2nd Life Guards the day before--proved to be too far ahead of
the general line and had to be abandoned, as it was persistently
enfiladed by machine-gun fire from a farm-house on the left; but the
first line was successfully held till night, when the battalion was
relieved. During this charge of the Queen's Lieut. Haigh was killed and
Captain Alleyne, Captain Roberts, Lieuts. Lang-Browne, Collis and
Pascoe were wounded. Three machine-guns were captured.
The 22nd Brigade was now reduced to four officers, that is to say, one
to each battalion, and at night they were finally relieved, and allowed
to return to the retirement from which they had been so rudely
summoned.
During this same day there was some severe fighting in the Polygon
wood, the Connaught Rangers being driven back and their trenches
captured. The flank of the Coldstream Brigade thus became threatened,
and for a time the position promised to be serious, but the 6th Brigade
on the Zonnebeke road came to the rescue, the lost trenches were
regained, and the continuity of the line once more established.
The morning of the 8th saw a renewal of the attempt to break through
along the Menin road. At the first assault the French and two companies
of the Loyal N. Lancashire Regiment in the first line were driven back,
and the flank of the 1st Scots Guards became exposed. As a result the
enemy was able to rake the trenches of the latter regiment with
machine-guns and their casualties were heavy, Lieuts. Cripps,
Stirling-Stuart, Monckton and Smith being killed. The battalion,
however, held on till the morning position was once more restored by
the two reserve companies of the Loyal N. Lancashires, who,
counter-attacking with great spirit and determination, drove back the
enemy from the position they had temporarily won.
THE PRUSSIAN GUARD ATTACK
From November 8th to 11th there was little fighting. It had been
apparently realized at length by the German commanders that the troops
they were at present employing were incapable of breaking the British
line, but at the back of that admission there was evidently still the
belief that the task was possible, provided the troops employed were
sufficiently good. Accordingly the Prussian Guard was sent for. Pending
the arrival of that invincible body there was a lull in the ceaseless
hammer of battle; and in the meanwhile the weather changed for the
worse. By the time the Prussian Guard was ready for its enterprise,
that is to say by November 11th, it was about as bad as it could be. A
strong west wind was accompanied by an icy rain, which fell all day in
torrents. Luckily the wind and rain were in the faces of the enemy, a
factor of no little importance.
The battle of November 11th may be looked upon as the last attempt but
one of the Germans to break through to Calais during the 1914 campaign.
The actual last serious attempt was on November 17th. On the 11th the
cannonade began at daybreak and was kept up till 9.30. In violence and
volume it rivalled that of October 31st. The entire front from Klein
Zillebeke to Zonnebeke was involved, the enemy's design being--as on
the 31st--to attack all along the front simultaneously so as to hamper
and cripple the British commanders in the use of the very limited
reserves at their disposal.
The newly-arrived troops were the 1st and 4th Brigade Prussian Guard,
and some battalions of the Garde Jaeger, in all fifteen battalions, and
to these was entrusted the main attack on the key of the position,
_i.e._, along, and north of, the Menin road.
The Prussian Guard attacked through Veldhoek, and in their advance
displayed the invincible courage for which they have ever been famed.
Such courage, however--though sufficiently sublime from the spectacular
point of view--cannot fail to be expensive, and the losses among these
gallant men were prodigious. It was afterwards said by a prisoner that
they had been deceived by the silence in our trenches into thinking
that the bombardment had cleared them, and so came on recklessly.
However, in spite of their losses, by sheer intrepidity and weight of
numbers, they succeeded in capturing all the front line trenches of the
1st Brigade, who were astride the Menin road between Veldhoek and
Hooge. In three places large bodies of the enemy succeeded in breaking
through, and in each case their success furnished a subject for
reflection as to the why and the wherefore of battles. For, having
succeeded in doing that which they had set out to do, they stood
huddled together in the plainest uncertainty as to how next to act, a
point which was speedily settled by the arrival of our reserves, who
fell upon the successful invaders and promptly annihilated them. One
party of some 700 were accounted for to a man by the Oxfordshire Light
Infantry, led by Col. Davies.
Another party which had broken through in the Polygon wood was
similarly dealt with by the Highland Light Infantry under Col.
Wolfe-Murray, an operation during which Lieut. Brodie won the Victoria
Cross for exceptional gallantry. This was the second Victoria Cross to
fall to this battalion,[13] which had indeed never failed in any
situation which it had been called upon to face. Gen. Willcocks, in
subsequently addressing the battalion, alluded with pride to "the
magnificent glory" with which it had fought, and concluded with the
remarkable words: "There is no position which the Highland Light
Infantry cannot capture."
[13] Pte. Wilson had gained the honour on September 14th.
The nett result of the day's fighting was that the enemy gained some
500 yards of ground, which, from the military point of view, advantaged
them nothing, and the gaining of which had cost them some thousands of
their best men. The barrenness of the advance made cannot be better
illustrated than by the fact that it was the last step forward of the
invading army, till the asphyxiating gas was brought into play in the
spring of 1915.
On the 12th the 1st Brigade, which had borne the brunt of the Prussian
Guard attack, was taken back into reserve. It will be conceded that it
was about time.
This gallant Brigade, 4,500 strong in August, was now represented as
follows:
1st Scots Guards: Captain Stracey and 69 men.
Black Watch: Captain Fortune and 109 men.
Camerons: Col. McEwen,
Major Craig-Browne,
Lieut. Dunsterville and 140 men.
1st Coldstream: No officers and 150 men.
The 6th C.B. was now reinforced by the arrival of the North Somerset
and Leicestershire Yeomanry Regiments. This strengthening was sorely
needed, the brigade having been practically without rest since its
arrival in Flanders. By the irony of fate the Hon. W. Cadogan, the
Colonel of the 10th Hussars, was killed on the very day when these
reinforcements arrived.
With this addition to its strength the brigade was now required to
find 800 rifles for its line of trenches along the Klein Zillebeke
ridge, and in addition to furnish a reserve of 400, who--when not
required--lived in burrows in the railway cutting at Hooge. Within a
week, however, the reserve became a luxury of the past, and the
brigade was called upon to find 1,200 rifles for the trenches.
On November 17th we come to the last serious attempt of the enemy,
during the 1914 campaign, to break through to Calais by way of Ypres.
This final effort can be dismissed in a few words. It was made south of
the Menin road by the XV. German Army Corps, and it took the form of
two infantry attacks, one at 1 p.m. and another at 4 p.m.; and it
failed utterly, the Germans leaving thousands of dead and wounded on
the ground just in front of our trenches, to which they had been
allowed to approach quite close.
The signal failure of this last spasmodic effort, and the subsequent
passivity of the enemy, points with some significance to the conclusion
that the position to which we had now been driven back along the
Zillebeke--Zonnebeke ridge was impregnable, and was recognized as such
by the enemy.
The 6th C.B. and the 2nd Grenadiers were the most prominent figures in
this victory of November 17th. In the course of the second attack the
10th Hussars and 3rd Dragoon Guards allowed the enemy to come within a
few yards of their trenches before they opened fire and mowed them down
in masses. The 10th Hussars, however, again suffered somewhat severely
in officers, the Hon. A. Annesley, Captain Peto, and Lieut. Drake being
killed. The newly-arrived North Somerset Yeomanry, under Col. Glyn,
behaved with the coolness and steadiness of veterans, and contributed
in no small degree to the repulse of the enemy's second attack.
The 2nd Grenadiers received the highest praise from Lord Cavan for
their part in this day's fighting. This battalion had now lost 30
officers and 1,300 men since the beginning of the campaign, and on the
following day it was sent back into reserve to recoup and reorganize.
EPITAPH
With the German failure of November 17th the first chapter in the Great
War may be considered closed. The desperate and all but uninterrupted
fighting which, for three months, followed the defence of the Mons
canal, was succeeded by a long lull, during which both sides were
busily engaged fighting a common foe. The winter of 1914 proved the
wettest in the memory of man, and ague, rheumatism, frost-bite,
gangrene and tetanus filled the hospitals with little less regularity
than had the shot and shell of the autumn. Then came the great battle
of Neuve Chapelle, and in another part of the world the grim struggles
of the Dardanelles. These are another story, and some day this will be
told; but great as may have been--and undoubtedly has been--the glory
won in other fields, nothing can ever surpass, as a story of simple,
sublime pluck, the history of the first three months of England's
participation in the Great War. The word "pluck" is used with
intention, for it conveys, perhaps, better than any other word a sense
of that indomitable spirit which is superior to every rub of adverse
fortune. There were no War Correspondents present with the First
Expeditionary Force. There was no wrapping of specially favoured deeds
in tinsel for the eyes of a cheap gallery. Even if the wrappers had
been present, the general standard was too high for invidious
selection. A mole-hill stands out on a plain, but makes no show in the
uplands. V.C.'s, it is true, were won; but for every one given a
hundred were earned. Military honours are the fruit of recommendation;
but when Generals, Colonels, Company Officers and Sergeants are no
more, the deed must be its own record; there is none left to recommend.
The grandeur of the doings of those First Seven Divisions lies, it may
well be, in their immunity from the play of a cheap flashlight--a
flashlight which too often distorts the perspective, and so illuminates
the wrong spot. There is a gospel in the very reticence of the records
of the regiments concerned--in the dignity with which, without any
blare of trumpets, they tell of the daily answer to the call of a duty
which balanced them ceaselessly on the edge of eternity. But it is
always told as of a simple response to the call of duty, and not as a
thing to be waved in the faces of an audience.
But, though unflattered and unsung, those early deeds in France and
Flanders can boast an epitaph which tells no lies, and which, in its
simple tragedy, is more eloquent than a volume of strained panegyrics.
The register of "missing" is an enigma; it may mean many things. But
the register of killed and wounded is no enigma. It tells, in the
simplest terms, a tale of death and mutilation faced and found at the
call of duty. Let us leave it at that.
The First Expeditionary Force is no more. The distinctive names and
numbers of the units that composed it still face one from the pages of
the "Army List;" but of the bronzed, cheery men who sailed in August,
1914, one third lie under the soil of France and Flanders. Of those
that remain, some have been relegated for ever--and of a cruel
necessity--to more peaceful pursuits; others--more hopefully
convalescent--are looking forward with eagerness to the day when they
will once more be fit to answer the call of duty and of country.
THE END
_Printed at The Chapel River Press, Kingston, Surrey._
End of Project Gutenberg's The First Seven Divisions, by Ernest W. Hamilton