ATTACKS AT LA BASSÉE
The British had discovered the futility of attempting to smash through
the German lines without an adequate supply of high-explosive shells
with which to destroy the heavy wire entanglements. Moreover, in
maintaining a curtain of fire between the German lines and potential
reenforcements, it was necessary to increase the artillery arm
of the service. At this time the Germans could fire four shells
to one by the British. Another very essential equipment in which
the British were lacking was machine guns. The German army had
developed machine-gun warfare apparently to its highest power.
They not only used it to increase their volume of fire, but also
as a means of saving their infantry. When, for any reason, it was
found expedient to move infantry, a few machine-gun crews would
take the place of the soldiers with the rifle and maintain a fire
which would be almost as effective in checking the British advance
as the infantry had been. The British had no such number of machine
guns. They lacked this necessary part of their equipment just as
they lacked shells, cannon, aircraft, and other war material which
the Germans had developed and accumulated in large quantities under
the supervision of the German General Staff.
The German munition factories had been making and storing enormous
supplies for an army of several millions of men. On the other hand
the British had believed in the excellence of their comparatively
small army to such an extent that it required all of the fighting
from the time their troops landed on the Continent up to Festubert
to convince them that they must make and maintain a military machine
at least equal, if not superior, to the one her foes possessed.
It is true the British needed more men in the ranks, but what was
needed more was large additions to the supply of machine guns,
artillery, and ammunition.
For those reasons the British generals avoided clashes with the
Germans after the battle of Festubert, except when it was necessary
to hold as many of the Germans as possible to the British part of
the western front. This plan was maintained throughout the summer
of 1915. In the meantime the Germans were constructing, beyond
their trenches, the most elaborate series of field fortifications
in the history of warfare. The German staff realized that the time
was coming when the British would again take the offensive. When
that time arrived the Germans would thus be prepared to make every
foot of ground gained as costly as possible to their foes. In fact
they had reason for believing that it would be almost impossible for
their opponents to gain ground where it was held by such seemingly
impregnable works.
An attack at La Bassée in the first weeks in June, 1915, started
with the British Second Army making a pretended advance in the
Ypres region. The British in the forest of Ploegsteert drove a
mine into the German lines and blew it up. The explosion followed
by a British charge, which resulted in the taking of a part of
the German trenches. This forest extended northwest of Lille and
south of Messines. Under the ground in this section the sappers
had built a city, whose streets were named for the thoroughfare
of London. Thus there was "Regent Street," "Piccadilly Circus,"
"Leicester Square," and many others. There was also a "Kensington
Garden," in which grew wild flowers transplanted from the forest
by the soldiers.
The Germans had been driven out of the forest in the fall of 1914
when they made their dash to reach Calais; but their trenches were
only about 400 yards beyond the eastern edge. The earth here was
especially adaptable for mines, and both sides made many attempts
to work destruction by tunneling forward. In this activity it was
soon found necessary to have men in advanced positions in the tunnels
to listen to the mining operations of their opponents. As soon as
such operations were discovered, a countertunnel was driven in
that direction and a mine exploded, thereby destroying the enemy's
tunnel and burying his sappers. Sometimes, however, the men in the
countertunnel cut through to the other excavation and engaged in
a hand-to-hand conflict beneath the surface of the earth. Then
primitive methods were used. Though mining had taken place on other
sections of the western front, as at Hill 60, it was in this forest
area that it was probably brought to its highest development.
The British mine here, as noted above, on June 6, 1915, blew up
the German trenches, and the British charged into the crater and
drove the Germans out with bayonet and bomb. A similar crater was
the result of the mining at La Bassée. Five mines at the end of
tunnels constructed by the Germans did not go far enough toward
the British trenches, and when the explosions occurred the trenches
remained intact.
The sappers, however, had other things to contend with; this was
the case when a tunnel was driven toward the German trenches between
Rue du Bois and Rue d'Ouvert, near the La Bassée Canal. Water was
found below the German intrenchments. The British managed to keep
the water out of the tunnel by using sandbags. Then they planted
enough dynamite to blow up a large part of the German force. The
two trench lines were very close together on this part of the front;
and, to prevent accidents, the British left their trenches near
the mine before it was fired.
On the night of June 6, 1915, the mine tore open the trenches of
both sides, and buried one of the British magazines which was filled
with hand grenades and killed several British bomb throwers. At about
the same moment another supply of British bombs was exploded when
it was struck by a shell from a German howitzer. This occurred at
a place on the line called Duck's Bill, and resulted in the British
being without an adequate supply of hand grenades. The British troops
in this action were the soldiers of a British division and a Canadian
brigade. The latter included the First Ontario Regiment, the Second
and Fourth Canadian Battalions, the Third Toronto Regiment, and
the East Yorkshires.
The Ontario regiment was directed against a fortified part of the
German line which was called Stony Mountain. To the south of Stony
Mountain, about 150 yards, was another fortified position called
Dorchester. This also was to be taken by the Ontario men. If they
succeeded in their work the right flank of the British division
would be protected. But it was Stony Mountain that was of most
importance to the British. Its machine guns and its northern defenses
menaced the route which the British must take to make an advance. In
order to prevent the Germans from giving their undivided attention
to the Canadians, the British division on the left made an advance
against the Teutons north of Stony Mountain. The British artillery
had been shelling this part of the German line day and night many
days as a preparation for this advance. Its projectiles crashed
into the brick fields near La Bassée, and in front of the wrecked
village of Quinchy.
The German machine-gun crews were hidden behind the brick stacks
which were square blocks of burned clay upon which the British
shells burst without perceptible effect. The shells that went over
the stacks, however, did much damage. Beyond the brick field to
the north were the ruins of farm buildings which were also hiding
places for the Germans and their machine guns. All the buildings
back of the German line had been turned into fortresses whose
underground works were concreted and connected with their headquarters
by telephone. While the British artillery was attempting to destroy
these fortresses it was also hurling lyddite shells into the trenches.
The German artillery fire greatly exceeded the British in volume.
Nevertheless the British forces were in the more comfortable position.
They had comparatively little to do except wait until they were needed,
which would be when their artillery had completed the preparation
for the inevitable charge. On the other hand the German soldier
had a nerve-racking part to play. He knew from the preparation
that an attack in force was about to be made; but he did not know
when it would occur nor where. Hence it was necessary for him to
be constantly on the alert. Many of the Germans were under arms
at all hours of the day and night. In fact few of them on that
part of their line got any real rest during the week in which the
bombardment continued. The section between the two lines of trenches
was illuminated at night, and the cannonade kept up so that there
was no opportunity for the Germans to repair the havoc made by
the British shells.
The suspense was terminated on the evening of June 15, 1915, by
an additional flight of projectiles from the British guns. Every
piece of British ordnance on that part of the line was worked at
top speed. The Germans, knowing that this immediately preceded an
infantry charge, used their artillery to stop it. But the British
charge formed in their trenches, with the Canadians on their right.
In addition to the shrapnel the Germans made breaks in the lines of
their foes by the use of machine guns, but the breaks were quickly
filled. On some parts of the front the British and Canadians were
successful and reached the trenches. In all the captured trenches
extended from Rue du Bois to Rue d'Ouvert.
In the meantime those Canadians who had been directed against Stony
Mountain and Dorchester were doing heroic work. The First Company
of the Ontario Regiment charged through the débris of the mine
explosion, only to run into the deadly hail sent at them by the
machine guns. But the Canadians were determined to complete their
task, and they took Dorchester and the connecting trench. The fire
was too heavy for them to reach Stony Mountain. A group of bombers
made a dash forward, but were shot down before they could get near
enough to use their weapons.
The second and third companies rushed forward, suffering severely
from the deluge of lead, but some of their men got into the German
second line and then began to bomb their way to right and left. The
captured first trench was utilized by the attacking force. From
that vantage the advance was led by a machine gun which was followed
by a group of bomb throwers. In working forward the machine-gun
base became lost when the man who had it was slain. Thereupon a
Canadian "lumberjack" named Vincent became the base, the machine
gun being fired from his back. But the German bomb throwers drove
the attacking force out of the trench. The Germans kept a rain
of lead between the Canadians and the British line of trenches
with the result that it was almost suicide for a man to attempt
to return for bombs. Nevertheless many braved the ordeal. Only
one was successful. He, Private Smith of Southampton, Ontario,
seemed to bear a charmed life, for he made the trip five times.
The Third Canadian Battalion was sent forward to reenforce the
Ontario Regiment which had lost most of its officers, but such a
pressure of German forces were brought to bear on the Canadians
that the reenforcements were unavailing, and the Canadians were
forced to relinquish all they had gained, and return to their own
trenches that night.
The retreat was a desperate undertaking; the Germans then had the
Canadians in the open and added heavily to the Canadian's death
roll. On the other side of Stony Mountain the British had met with
no better success than the Canadians. Having started their enemies
back, the Germans massed for a counterattack and drove them back
a mile, but not without a terrific struggle. The battle field was
lighted by the peculiar fireworks used for such purposes and bursting
of shells. Jets of flame shot forth from machine guns and rifles.
In many places the intermittent light disclosed deadly hand-to-hand
conflicts. Suddenly the Germans concentrated their fire on a portion
of their lost first line of trenches, and the trenches of their
enemies who held them were no more. Having the British and Canadians
defeated, as they believed, the Germans proceeded to add to their
victory by storming the British and Canadian trenches. They met
with resistance, however, that drove them back.
At daybreak on June 16, 1915, the artillery on both sides resumed
firing on a large scale. Suddenly, in the afternoon, the British
fire increased preparatory to another charge. This time the British
commander had selected a smaller section for his attack. This was
at Rue d'Ouvert, and the men who had been selected to make the
charge were the Territorials and the Liverpool Irish. They got
into the first line of German trenches which the Teutons shelled
to such an extent that the remnant of the attacking force had to
retreat. Then the Second Gordon Highlanders and other Scotch soldiers
made a gallant charge at the same place, Rue d'Ouvert, on June 18,
1915, but were forced to retire to their own trenches.
These attacks on this part of the German front resulted in repulses
for those who made them; but, at the same time, they helped the
Allies win victories elsewhere by keeping the German troops on
that part of the line from going to reenforce those who were being
hard pressed by the French. In this manner the British and Canadians,
who fought so valiantly and with so little apparent success at
Stony Mountain and Rue d'Ouvert, were in a measure responsible
for the French victories at Angres, Souchez, and the Labyrinth.
The Crown Prince of Bavaria could not hold out against both the
French and British, but he believed it was more important for him
to check the British, because a victory for them would threaten
Lille to a greater extent.
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