BRITISH FORWARD MOVEMENT--BATTLE OF FESTUBERT
To aid the French in the Artois, the British made a forward movement
in the Festubert region in May, 1915. Its purpose was to prevent the
Seventh German Corps from sending troops and artillery to reenforce
Lens. Moreover the British, if they succeeded, would take the Aubers
ridge, which they had tried to gain in the battle of Neuve Chapelle.
If they could capture the Aubers ridge, the way would be opened to
Lille and La Bassée. The action began on Sunday morning, May 9,
1915, in the region between Bois Grenier and Festubert, and was
a part of the forward movement of the British from Armentières
to La Bassée. Part of the First Corps and the Indian Corps marched
forward on the right from the Rue du Bois toward the southern part
of the Bois du Biez, where there had been much fighting before.
The principal attack was made by the Eighth Division on Rouges
Banes, not far from Fromelies and the Aubers ridge, near where
the British had been stopped in the battle of Neuve Chapelle. At
approximately the same time that General Sir Douglas Haig with
the British First Army reached the slightly elevated plateau in
front of Lille, General Foch with a large body of French troops
made a desperate attack on the Germans on their front from La Bassée
to Arras. The French and British had joined their efforts here,
not only to relieve the pressure which was being exerted on Ypres
and to take Lille, which dominated a region rich in coal, but also
for the purpose of keeping the Germans so busy on the western front
that none could be sent to the eastern front and further embarrass
Russia. The artillery of both the British and French attempted to
wreck the German trenches before their infantry should be sent
against their foe. In this effort the British, using principally
shrapnel, made little headway; but their ally, using high-explosive
shells, such as they had been hurling at the Germans for weeks at
the rate of a hundred thousand a day, was successful. Soon the
Teutons' front was screened by clouds of yellow, green, black and
white smoke. But this was not to be a one-sided artillery engagement,
and the Germans soon had their artillery in action. They trained
it on their enemies' trenches, believing from the size of the
bombardment that an assault was soon to be made and that the trenches
would be filled with troops. Their surmise was correct, but the
Allies had suspected their opponents would reason thus, so the
French and British infantry were in covered positions. Of course
the Germans did not know how well their opponents were protected,
so they sent thousands of shells against the allied positions.
And again the allied artillerists replied in kind. This time they
caught the German reenforcements, with the result that many of
them were slain before they could reach their own front. In this
work the British shrapnel was more effective than the French
high-explosive shells.
The bombardment was continued vigorously for three-quarters of an
hour. That the allied range finders had been doing accurate work was
evidenced by the appearance of the German trenches when the British
and French fire was turned against the supporting German trenches;
but the Teutons' wire entanglements remained intact. Heretofore the
big guns had been able to sweep such obstructions away. When the
infantry reached the barbed wire, it found the Germans had improved
this particular method of defense by using specially manufactured
wire cable, well barbed, which was from one and one-half to two
inches in diameter. And, to protect their cable entanglements,
the Germans had built parapets in front of the entanglements. Their
enemy's charging infantry coming upon such an obstruction could
not cut it, and the only means of circumventing this new device
was for the attacking force to throw their overcoats on the
entanglements and crawl across the wire in the face of rifle and
machine-gun fire.
For a considerable distance along this part of the front the distance
between the German and British trenches was not more than two hundred
yards. At not a few sections the opposing trenches were near enough
to permit the soldiers to converse with their opponents. The trenches
for the most part were built on the marshland with sandbags, those
of the British being khaki-colored, and the German being black and
white. When the inevitable order to charge was given, the British
artillery shifted its range to the German rear and the Eighth Division
dashed over the black and white sandbags behind which the Germans
were crouching. Beyond them was a ridge, in horseshoe formation,
which was the last barrier that lay between the Allies and the
plains that led to Lille. This ridge trails off in a northeasterly
direction at Rouges Banes. Near the hamlet there was a small wood
which had been taken by the Pathans and Gurkhas before the cannonade
started. Among the regiments that led the attack of the Eighth
Division were the Kensington Battalion of the London Regiment,
the First Gloucesters, the Second Sussex, and the Northamptons.
They were supported by the Liverpool Territorials, the First North
Lancashires, the Second King's Royal Rifles, and the Sussex
Territorials. The Germans had large bodies of reenforcements held
at Lille, but they were unavailing; and the British took the first
line of trenches though it required fifteen and a half hours to do
it. Then they went on until they were on the slope of the ridge.
Beyond that, however, it seemed impossible to proceed, for the
Germans had such an array of machine guns trained on the approach
to their second line of trenches that no human being could live
in the face of their deadly fire. The British needed an equipment
with which to bombard their enemy with high-explosive shells. Such
an equipment they did not possess.
The German commander played a clever trick on the British when
their First Army Corps and their Indian Division attempted to make
progress in the triangle to the west of La Bassée. He evacuated
his first two lines of trenches while the artillery was doing what
it could to demolish his parapets; but his men were drawn up in
the third line of trenches waiting for the inevitable advance of
the British. This third line of trenches was protected with armor
plate and concrete. Moreover he had planted a large number of machine
guns in the brickfield near La Bassée. The British dashed forward
until they were in range of the machine guns. Then they suffered
such severe losses that they were forced to retreat, even though
they had almost taken the inviting German trenches. The Highlanders
and the Bedfords had made a gallant charge and felt especially
humiliated to have to withdraw when victory was about to perch
on their banners. They believed that a lack of reenforcements was
responsible for their nonsuccess.
The day's fighting ended with the First Army of the British driven
back except in the center. There the Kensington Territorial Battalion
made a remarkable record for itself. In the morning when the British
artillery ceased firing, the Kensington men dashed from their trenches
and captured three lines of the German trenches at the point of
the bayonet. A part of the battalion, in its eagerness to win the
day, went on up the ridge. At the same time one of its companies
turned to the left and another to the right, and with bayonet and
bomb drove the Germans from the trenches for a distance of 200
yards. The Kensingtons were doing the work that had been set for
them to do; but two regular battalions, one to their left and the
other to their right, were not as able to comply with the orders
they had received. The regulars were stopped by wire entanglements
that the artillery had failed to smash, and, at the same time,
they were raked by machine-gun fire. Hence they were unable to
keep up with the Territorials. In fact the regulars never got up
to the Kensington men; but were forced to retire. This left the
Territorials in a most precarious condition. They had gained such
an important point on the German line that a heavy fire was directed
against them. But the British would not give up what they had taken.
Instead of retiring, they sent for reenforcements which were promised
to them. In the meantime the Germans gave up trying to blow the
Kensingtons out of their position and made a counterattack. The
left wing of the plucky Territorial battalion used bombs effectively
to hold their enemy at bay. The right wing at the same time was
kept busy in its attempt to prevent being enveloped. In spite of
all the Germans could do with their artillery and their repeated
counterattacks the West London men maintained their small wedge in
the Teuton front. Finally trench mortars were brought against them.
Then the Kensington battalion, or what was left of it, received the
order to retire. To do that necessitated fighting their way back
through the thickening line of their enemy. Those British Territorials
had held their peculiar position several hours, and had suffered
severely in consequence; but their loss was undoubtedly much larger
when retiring to their former line. They fought the greater part of
the afternoon and well into the evening in endeavoring to get back;
and finally a comparatively few of them succeeded. The last dash to
the British trenches was made over a barren piece of ground which
was so flat that there was no opportunity for concealment. And
here the Germans raked what was left of the battalion with rifle
and machine-gun fire. Ultimately, however, a portion of the brave
band returned to the British trenches. Previous to withdrawing
the survivors from the front, General Sir Henry Rawlinson told
them that their gaining the position which they took and holding
it as long as they did had not only relieved the pressure on Ypres
but had aided General Foch's army to advance between Arras and La
Bassée. In conclusion he said: "It was a feat of arms surpassed
by no battalion in this great war."
The Sussex and Northampton troops made a desperate effort to get
into the German trenches on the morning in which this action started,
but they never got nearer than forty yards, being stopped by the
deluge of shrapnel, rifle, and machine-gun fire to which they were
subjected. When they were ordered to return to the British trenches,
those who remained able to make the attempt found it quite as dangerous
as trying to go forward. That afternoon the Black Watch and the
First Cameronians charged where the Sussex and Northamptons had
been repulsed, but the Scotchmen had but little more success. It
is true some of the men from the land of the heather got into the
German trenches; but they did not survive. The determination of
the British was shown when men, who had been wounded in the first
charge and been unable to return to their own line, joined the Scots
in their mad rush to death. Those men had lain under fire twelve
hours before making their dying assault on the German trenches.
It had been expected the Scotchmen would get into the opposing
trenches and bomb and bayonet the Teutons out. Then reenforcements
would be sent from the British line. But the artillery of King
George was unable to check the devastating work of the kaiser's
big guns and give the reenforcements a clear field through which
to go to the aid of the attacking force. The result was that the
Germans continued such a leaden hail between the lines that it
was sending soldiers to certain death to order them to cross the
zone of fire. The remnant of the Scottish regiments was recalled,
and it lost as many men on its return as it had in its desperate
struggle to reach the German trenches.
Both the Kensingtons and the Scots found groups of German machine
guns, doing most destructive work, that could have been rendered
useless if the British had had a supply of high-explosive shells.
Under the circumstances there was nothing for Sir Douglas Haig to
do but to order his men all along the line to retire. They obeyed
the order sullenly, and many of them were slain in their attempt to
get back to their own trenches. But their comrades felt they had
not died wholly in vain; for the woeful lack of lyddite shells thus
became known in England and the indignation thus aroused resulted
in the appointment of a minister of munitions who organized the
manufacture of the necessary explosives on a scale heretofore
unattempted by the British. A lesson had been learned, but at a
fearful cost to life.
The same lesson was being taught the British public at another
section of the battle front. Its soldiers not only were unable
to maintain a successful artillery fire, but the fact became so
impressed on the German mind that the Teutons in the Ypres and
Lille regions felt assured that their infantry had the British
at their mercy. Sir John French, however, had a clever knowledge
of human nature. He began his efforts to remedy the difficulty
by telling the war correspondents his troubles. They spread the
news. Then he secretly collected all of the available artillery
in the Ypres region, together with his limited supply of shells,
and was ready to deal such a blow to the Duke of Württemberg's
army when it marched on Ypres the latter part of May, 1915, that
it was necessary for the Germans to get reenforcements through
Belgium. This was a great surprise to the Teutons and cost them
dearly.
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