THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN
IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS
1916
BY
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
AUTHOR OF
'THE GREAT BOER WAR,' ETC.
HODDER AND STOUGHTON
LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO
MCMXVIII
SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE'S
HISTORY OF THE WAR
Uniform with this Volume.
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS
1914
THE BREAKING OF THE PEACE.
THE OPENING OF THE WAR.
THE BATTLE OF MONS.
THE BATTLE OF LE CATEAU.
THE BATTLE OF THE MARNE.
THE BATTLE OF THE AISNE.
THE LA BASSÉE-ARMENTIÈRES OPERATIONS.
THE FIRST BATTLE OF YPRES.
A RETROSPECT AND GENERAL SUMMARY.
THE WINTER LULL OF 1914.
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS
1915
THE OPENING MONTHS OF 1915.
NEUVE CHAPELLE AND HILL 60.
THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES.
THE BATTLE OF RICHEBOURG-FESTUBERT.
THE TRENCHES OF HOOGE.
THE BATTLE OF LOOS.
With Maps, Plans, and Diagrams,
6s. net each Volume.
HODDER AND STOUGHTON
LONDON, NEW YORK, AND TORONTO
{v}
PREFACE
In two previous volumes of this work a narrative has been given of
those events which occurred upon the British Western Front during
1914, the year of recoil, and 1915, the year of equilibrium. In this
volume will be found the detailed story of 1916, the first of the
years of attack and advance.
Time is a great toner down of superlatives, and the episodes which
seem world-shaking in our day may, when looked upon by the placid
eyes of historical philosophers in days to come, fit more easily into
the general scheme of human experience. None the less it can be said
without fear of ultimate contradiction that nothing approaching to
the Battle of the Somme, with which this volume is mainly concerned,
has ever been known in military history, and that it is exceedingly
improbable that it will ever be equalled in its length and in its
severity. It may be said to have raged with short intermissions,
caused by the breaking of the weather, from July 1 to November 14,
and during this prolonged period the picked forces of three great
nations were locked in close battle. The number of combatants from
first to last was between {vi} two and three millions, and their
united casualties came to the appalling total of at least
three-quarters of a million. These are minimum figures, but they
will give some idea of the unparalleled scale of the operations.
With the increasing number and size of the units employed the scale
of the narrative becomes larger. It is more difficult to focus the
battalion, while the individual has almost dropped out of sight.
Sins of omission are many, and the chronicler can but plead the great
difficulty of his task and regret that his limited knowledge may
occasionally cause disappointment.
The author should explain that this volume has had to pass through
three lines of censors, suffering heavily in the process. It has
come out with the loss of all personal names save those of casualties
or of high Generals. Some passages also have been excised. On the
other hand it is the first which has been permitted to reveal the
exact identity of the units engaged. The missing passages and names
will be restored when the days of peace return.
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
_February_ 3, 1918.
{vii}
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
JANUARY TO JULY 1916
General situation--The fight for the Bluff--The Mound of St.
Eloi--Fine performance of Third Division and Canadians--Feat of the
1st Shropshires--Attack on the Irish Division--Fight at Vimy
Ridge--Canadian Battle of Ypres--Death of General Mercer--Recovery of
lost position--Attack of Thirty-ninth Division--Eve of the Somme
CHAPTER II
THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME
Attack of the Seventh and Eighth Corps on Gommecourt,
Serre, and Beaumont Hamel
Line of battle in the Somme sector--Great preparations--Advance of
Forty-sixth North Midland Division--Advance of Fifty-sixth
Territorials (London)--Great valour and heavy losses--Advance of
Thirty-first Division--Advance of Fourth Division--Advance of
Twenty-ninth Division--Complete failure of the assault
CHAPTER III
THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME
Attack of the Tenth and Third Corps, July 1, 1916
Magnificent conduct of the Ulster Division--Local success but general
failure--Advance of Thirty-second Division--Advance of Eighth
Division--Advance of Thirty-fourth Division--The turning-point of the
line
{viii}
CHAPTER IV
THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME
The Attack of the Fifteenth and Thirteenth Corps, July 1, 1916
The advance of the Twenty-first Division--Of the 64th Brigade--First
permanent gains--50th Brigade at Fricourt--Advance of Seventh
Division--Capture of Mametz--Fine work by Eighteenth
Division--Capture of Montauban by the Thirtieth Division--General
view of the battle--Its decisive importance
CHAPTER V
THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME
From July 2 to July 14, 1916
General situation--Capture of La Boiselle by Nineteenth
Division--Splendid attack by 36th Brigade upon Ovillers--Siege and
reduction of Ovillers--Operations at Contalmaison--Desperate fighting
at the Quadrangle by Seventeenth Division--Capture of Mametz Wood by
Thirty-eighth Welsh Division--Capture of Trones Wood by Eighteenth
Division
CHAPTER VI
THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME
The Breaking of the Second Line. July 14, 1916
The great night advance--The Leicester Brigade at Bazentin--Assault
by Seventh Division--Success of the Third Division--Desperate fight
of Ninth Division at Longueval--Operations of First Division on
flank--Cavalry advance
CHAPTER VII
THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME
July 14 to July 31
Gradual advance of First Division--Hard fighting of Thirty-third
Division at High Wood--The South Africans in Delville Wood--The great
German counter-attack--Splendid work of 26th Brigade--Capture of
Delville Wood by 98th Brigade--Indecisive fighting on the Guillemont
front
{ix}
CHAPTER VIII
THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME
The Operations of Gough's Army upon the Northern Flank
up to September 15
Advance, Australia!--Capture of Pozières--Fine work of Forty-eighth
Division--Relief of Australia by Canada--Steady advance of Gough's
Army--Capture of Courcelette
CHAPTER IX
THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME
August 1 to September 15
Continued attempts of Thirty-third Division on High
Wood--Co-operation of First Division--Operation of Fourteenth
Division on fringe of Delville Wood--Attack by Twenty-fourth Division
on Guillemont--Capture of Guillemont by 47th and 59th
Brigades--Capture of Ginchy by Sixteenth Irish Division
CHAPTER X
THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME
Breaking of the Third Line, September 15
Capture of Martinpuich by Fifteenth Division--Advance of Fiftieth
Division--Capture of High Wood by Forty-seventh Division--Splendid
advance of New Zealanders--Capture of Flers by Forty-first
Division--Advance of the Light Division--Arduous work of the Guards
and Sixth Divisions--Capture of Quadrilateral--Work of Fifty-sixth
Division on flank--Debut of the tanks
CHAPTER XI
THE GAINING OF THE THIEPVAL RIDGE
Assault on Thiepval by Eighteenth Division--Heavy
fighting--Co-operation of Eleventh Division--Fall of Thiepval--Fall
of Schwaben Redoubt--Taking of Stuff Redoubt--Important gains on the
Ridge
{x}
CHAPTER XII
THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME
From September 15 to the Battle of the Ancre
Capture of Eaucourt--Varying character of German resistance--Hard
trench fighting along the line--Dreadful climatic conditions--The
meteorological trenches--Hazy Trench--Zenith Trench--General
observations--General von Arnim's report
CHAPTER XIII
THE BATTLE OF THE ANCRE
November 13, 1916
The last effort--Failure in the north--Fine work of the Thirty-ninth,
Fifty-first, and Sixty-third Divisions--Surrounding of German
Fort--Capture of Beaumont Hamel--Commander Freyberg--Last operations
of the season--General survey--"The unwarlike Islanders"
INDEX
{xi}
MAPS AND PLANS
Approximate Positions of British Line at the Battle of the Somme
British Battle Line, July 1, 1916
Quadrangle Position, July 5-11, 1916
Mametz Wood
Trones Wood: Attack of 54th Brigade, July 13, 1916
The Second German Line, Bazentins, Delville Wood, etc.
Map of Delville Wood
Attack on German Left Flank, September 3, 1916
Final Position at Capture of Martinpuich
Attack on Quadrilateral, September 15, 1916
Plan illustrating the Capture of Thiepval, September 26, October 5,
1916
Stuff Redoubt System, showing Hessian, Regina, and Stuff
Meteorological Trenches, September 30-November 6, 1916
Map to illustrate the British Campaign in France and Flanders
[Transcriber's note: this map was omitted from the etext because its
size and fragility made it impractical to scan.]
[Illustration: APPROXIMATE POSITIONS OF BRITISH LINE AT THE BATTLE OF
THE SOMME]
{1}
CHAPTER I
JANUARY TO JULY 1916
General situation--The fight for the Bluff--The Mound of St.
Eloi--Fine performance of Third Division and Canadians--Feat of the
1st Shropshires--Attack on the Irish Division--Fight at Vimy
Ridge--Canadian Battle of Ypres--Death of General Mercer--Recovery of
lost position--Attack of Thirty-ninth Division--Eve of the Somme.
The Great War had now come into its second winter--a winter which was
marked by an absolute cessation of all serious fighting upon the
Western front. Enormous armies were facing each other, but until the
German attack upon the French lines of Verdun at the end of February,
the infantry of neither side was seriously engaged. There were many
raids and skirmishes, with sudden midnight invasions of hostile
trenches and rapid returns with booty or prisoners. Both sides
indulged in such tactics upon the British front. Gas attacks, too,
were occasionally attempted, some on a large scale and with
considerable result. The condition of the troops, though it could
not fail to be trying, was not so utterly miserable as during the
first cold season in the trenches. The British had ceased to be a
mere fighting fringe with nothing behind it. The troops were
numerous and eager, so that reliefs were frequent. All sorts of
devices were {2} adopted for increasing the comfort and conserving
the health of the men. Steadily as the winter advanced and the
spring ripened into summer, fresh divisions were passed over the
narrow seas, and the shell-piles at the bases marked the increased
energy and output of the workers in the factories. The early summer
found everything ready for a renewed attempt upon the German line.
The winter of 1915-16 saw the affairs of the Allies in a condition
which could not be called satisfactory, and which would have been
intolerable had there not been evident promise of an amendment in the
near future. The weakness of the Russians in munitions had caused
their gallant but half-armed armies to be driven back until the whole
of Poland had fallen into the hands of the Germanic Powers, who had
also reconquered Galicia and Bukovina. The British attempt upon
Gallipoli, boldly conceived and gallantly urged, but wanting in the
essential quality of surprise, had failed with heavy losses, and the
army had to be withdrawn. Serbia and Montenegro had both been
overrun and occupied, while the efficient Bulgarian army had ranged
itself with our enemies. The Mesopotamian Expedition had been held
up by the Turks, and the brave Townshend, with his depleted division,
was hemmed in at Kut, where, after a siege of five months, he was
eventually compelled, upon April 26, to lay down his arms, together
with 9000 troops, chiefly Indian. When one remembers that on the top
of this Germany already held Belgium and a considerable slice of the
north of France, which included all the iron and coal producing
centres, it must be admitted that the Berlin Press had some reason
upon its side when it insisted that it had {3} already won the War
upon paper. To realise that paper, was, however, an operation which
was beyond their powers.
What could the Allies put against these formidable successes? There
was the Colonial Empire of Germany. Only one colony, the largest and
most powerful, still remained. This was East Africa. General Smuts,
a worthy colleague of the noble Botha, had undertaken its reduction,
and by the summer the end was in sight. The capture of the colonies
would then be complete. The oceans of the world were another asset
of the Allies. These also were completely held, to the absolute
destruction of all German oversea commerce. These two conquests, and
the power of blockade which steadily grew more stringent, were all
that the Allies could throw into the other scale, save for the small
corner of Alsace still held by the French, the southern end of
Mesopotamia, and the port of Salonica, which was a strategic
checkmate to the southern advance of the Germans. The balance seemed
all against them. There was no discouragement, however, for all
these difficulties had been discounted and the Allies had always
recognised that their strength lay in those reserves which had not
yet had time to develop. The opening of the summer campaign of 1916,
with the capture of Erzeroum, the invasion of Armenia, and the
reconquest of Bukovina, showed that the Russian army had at last
found its second wind. The French had already done splendid work in
their classical resistance at Verdun, which had extended from the
last weeks of February onwards, and had cost the Germans over a
quarter of a million of casualties. The opening of the British
campaign in July found the whole {4} army most eager to emulate the
deeds of its Allies, and especially to take some of the weight from
the splendid defenders of Verdun. Their fight against very heavy
odds in men, munitions, and transport, was one of the greatest deeds
of arms, possibly the greatest deed of arms of the war. It was
known, however, before July that a diversion was absolutely
necessary, and although the British had taken over a fresh stretch of
trenches so as to release French reinforcements, some more active
help was imperatively called for.
Before describing the summer campaign it is necessary to glance back
at the proceedings of the winter and spring upon the British line,
and to comment upon one or two matters behind that line which had a
direct influence upon the campaign. Of the minor operations to which
allusion has already been made, there are none between the Battle of
Loos and the middle of February 1916 which call for particular
treatment. Those skirmishes and mutual raidings which took place
during that time centred largely round the old salient at Ypres and
the new one at Loos, though the lines at Armentières were also the
scene of a good deal of activity. One considerable attack seems to
have been planned by the Germans on the north-east of Ypres in the
Christmas week of 1915--an attack which was preceded by a formidable
gas attack. The British artillery was so powerful, however, that it
crushed the advance in the trenches, where the gathered bayonets of
the stormers could be seen going down before the scourging shrapnel
like rushes before a gale. The infantry never emerged, and the
losses must have been very heavy. This was the only considerable
attempt made by either side during the winter.
{5}
At the time of Lord French's return another change was made at home
which had a very immediate bearing upon the direction of the War.
Britain had suffered greatly from the fact that at the beginning of
hostilities the distinguished officers who composed the central staff
had all been called away for service in the field. Lord Kitchener
had done wonders in filling their place, but it was impossible for
any man, however great his abilities or energy, to carry such a
burden upon his shoulders. The more conscientious the man the more
he desires to supervise everything himself and the more danger there
is that all the field cannot be covered. Already the recruiting
service, which had absorbed a great deal of Lord Kitchener's energies
with most splendid results, had been relegated to Lord Derby, whose
tact and wisdom produced fresh armies of volunteers. Now the
immediate direction of the War and the supervision of all that
pertained to the armies in the field was handed over to Sir William
Robertson, a man of great organising ability and of proved energy.
From this time onwards his character and judgment bulked larger and
larger as one of the factors which made for the success of the Allies.
In January 1916 Britain gave her last proof of the resolution with
which she was waging war. Already she had shown that no question of
money could diminish her ardour, for she was imposing direct taxation
upon her citizens with a vigour which formed the only solid basis for
the credit of the Allies. Neither our foes nor our friends have
shown such absolute readiness to pay in hard present cash, that
posterity might walk with a straighter back, and many a man was
paying a good half of his income {6} to the State. But now a
sacrifice more intimate than that of money had to be made. It was of
that personal liberty which is as the very breath of our nostrils.
This also was thrown with a sigh into the common cause, and a
Military Service Bill was passed by which every citizen from 19 to 41
was liable to be called up. It is questionable whether it was
necessary as yet as a military measure, since the enormous number of
5,000,000 volunteers had come forward, but as an act of justice by
which the burden should be equally distributed, and the shirker
compelled to his duty, it was possible to justify this radical
departure from the customs of our fathers and the instincts of our
race. Many who acquiesced in its necessity did so with a heavy
heart, feeling how glorious would have been our record had it been
possible to bring forward by the stress of duty alone the manhood of
the nation. As a matter of fact, the margin left over was neither
numerous nor important, but the energies of the authorities were now
released from the incessant strain which the recruiting service had
caused.
The work of the trenches was made easier for the British by the fact
that they had at last reached an equality with, and in many cases a
superiority to, their enemy, in the number of their guns, the
quantity of their munitions, and the provision of those smaller
weapons such as trench mortars and machine-guns which count for so
much in this description of warfare. Their air supremacy which had
existed for a long time was threatened during some months by the
Fokker machines of the Germans, and by the skill with which their
aviators used them, but faster models from England soon restored the
balance. {7} There had been a time also when the system and the
telescopic sights of the German snipers had given them an ascendancy.
Thanks to the labours of various enthusiasts for the rifle, this
matter was set right and there were long stretches of the line where
no German head could for an instant be shown above the parapet. The
Canadian sector was particularly free from any snipers save their own.
The first serious operation of the spring of 1916 upon the British
line was a determined German attack upon that section which lies
between the Ypres-Comines Canal and the Ypres-Comines railway on the
extreme south of the Ypres salient; Hill 60 lies to the north of it.
In the line of trenches there was one small artificial elevation, not
more than thirty feet above the plain. This was called the Bluff,
and was the centre of the attack. It was of very great importance as
a point of artillery observation. During the whole of February 13
the bombardment was very severe, and losses were heavy along a front
of several miles, the right of which was held by the Seventeenth
Division, the centre by the Fiftieth, and the left by the
Twenty-fourth. Finally, after many of the trenches had been reduced
to dirt heaps five mines were simultaneously sprung under the British
front line, each of them of great power. The explosions were
instantly followed by a rush of the German infantry. In the
neighbourhood of the Bluff, the garrison, consisting at that point of
the 10th Lancashire Fusiliers, were nearly all buried or killed. To
the north lay the 10th Sherwood Foresters and north of them the 8th
South Staffords, whose Colonel, though four times wounded, continued
{8} to direct the defence. It was impossible, however, to hold the
whole line, as the Germans had seized the Bluff and were able to
enfilade all the trenches of the Sherwoods, who lost twelve officers
and several hundred men before they would admit that their position
was untenable. The South Staffords being farther off were able to
hold on, but the whole front from their right to the canal south of
the Bluff was in the hands of the Germans, who had very rapidly and
skilfully consolidated it. A strong counter-attack by the 7th
Lincolns and 7th Borders, in which the survivors of the Lancashire
Fusiliers took part, had some success, but was unable to permanently
regain the lost sector, six hundred yards of which remained with the
enemy. A lieutenant, with 40 bombers of the Lincolns, 38 of whom
fell, did heroic work.
The attack had extended to the north, where it had fallen upon the
Fiftieth Division, and to the Twenty-fourth Division upon the left of
it. Here it was held and eventually repulsed. Of the company of the
9th Sussex who held the extreme left of the line, a large portion
were blown up by a mine and forty were actually buried in the crater.
Young Lieutenant McNair, however, the officer in charge, showed great
energy and presence of mind. He held the Germans from the crater and
with the help of another officer, who had rushed up some supports,
drove them back to their trenches. For this McNair received his
Victoria Cross. The 3rd Rifle Brigade, a veteran regular battalion,
upon the right of the Sussex, had also put up a vigorous resistance,
as had the central Fiftieth Division, so that in spite of the sudden
severity of the attack it was only at the one {9} point of the Bluff
that the enemy had made a lodgment--that point being the real centre
of their effort. They held on strongly to their new possession, and
a vigorous fire with several partial attacks during the next
fortnight failed to dislodge them.
Early in March the matter was taken seriously in hand, for the
position was a most important one, and a farther advance at this
point would have involved the safety of Ypres. The Seventeenth
Division still held the supporting trenches, and these now became the
starting-point for the attack. A considerable artillery
concentration was effected, two brigades of guns and two companies of
sappers were brought up from the Third Division, and the 76th Brigade
of the same Division came up from St. Omer, where it had been
resting, in order to carry out the assault. The general commanding
this brigade was in immediate command of the operations.
The problem was a most difficult one, as the canal to the south and a
marsh upon the north screened the flanks of the new German position,
while its front was covered by shell-holes which the tempestuous
weather had filled with water. There was nothing for it, however,
but a frontal attack, and this was carried out with very great
gallantry upon March 2, at 4.30 in the morning. The infantry left
their trenches in the dark and crept forward undiscovered, dashing
into the enemy's line with the first grey glimmer of the dawn. The
right of the attack formed by the 2nd Suffolks had their revenge for
Le Cateau, for they carried the Bluff itself with a rush. So far
forward did they get that a number of Germans emerged from dug-outs
in their rear, and were organising a dangerous attack when they were
pelted back {10} into their holes by a bombing party. Beyond the
Bluff the Suffolks were faced by six deep shelters for machine-guns,
which held them for a time but were eventually captured. The centre
battalion consisted of the 8th Royal Lancasters, who lost heavily
from rifle fire but charged home with great determination, flooding
over the old German front line and their support trenches as well as
their immediate objective. The left battalion in the attack were the
1st Gordon Highlanders, who had a most difficult task, being exposed
to the heaviest fire of all. For a moment they were hung up, and
then with splendid spirit threw themselves at the hostile trenches
again and carried everything before them. They were much helped in
this second attack by the supporting battalion, the 7th Lincolns,
whose bombers rushed to the front. The 10th Welsh Fusiliers, who
were supporting on the right, also did invaluable service by helping
to consolidate the Bluff, while the 9th West Ridings on the left held
the British front line and repulsed an attempt at a flanking
counter-attack.
In spite of several counter-attacks and a very severe bombardment the
line now held firm, and the Germans seem to have abandoned all future
designs upon this section. They had lost very heavily in the
assault, and 250 men with 5 officers remained in the hands of the
victors. Some of the German trench taken was found to be untenable,
but the 12th West Yorkshires of the 8th Brigade connected up the new
position with the old and the salient was held. So ended a
well-managed and most successful little fight. Great credit was due
to a certain officer, who passed through the terrible {11} German
barrage again and again to link up the troops with headquarters.
Extreme gallantry was shown also by the brigade-runners, many of whom
lost their lives in the all-important work of preserving
communications.
Students of armour in the future may be interested to note that this
was the first engagement in which British infantry reverted after a
hiatus of more than two centuries to the use of helmets. Dints of
shrapnel upon their surfaces proved in many cases that they had been
the salvation of their wearers. Several observers have argued that
trench warfare implies a special trench equipment, entirely different
from that for surface operations.
In the middle of March the pressure upon the French at Verdun had
become severe, and it was determined to take over a fresh section of
line so as to relieve troops for the north-eastern frontier. General
Foch's Tenth Army, which had held the sector opposite to Souchez and
Lorette, was accordingly drawn out, and twelve miles were added to
the British front. From this time forward there were four British
armies, the Second (Plumer) in the Ypres district, the First (Monro)
opposite to Neuve Chapelle, the Third (Allenby) covering the new
French sector down to Arras, the Fourth (Rawlinson) from Albert to
the Somme.
A brisk skirmish which occurred in the south about this period is
worthy of mention--typical of many smaller affairs the due record of
which would swell this chapter to a portentous length. In this
particular instance, a very sudden and severe night attack was
directed by the Germans against a post held by the 8th East Surreys
of the Eighteenth {12} Division at the points where the British and
French lines meet just north of the Somme. This small stronghold,
known as Ducks' Post, was at the head of a causeway across a
considerable marsh, and possessed a strategic importance out of all
proportion to its size. A violent bombardment in the darkness of the
early morning of March 20 was followed by an infantry advance, pushed
well home. It was an unnerving experience. "As the Huns charged,"
says one who was present, "they made the most hellish screaming row I
ever heard." The Surrey men under the lead of a young subaltern
stood fast, and were reinforced by two platoons. Not only did they
hold up the attack, but with the early dawn they advanced in turn,
driving the Germans back into their trenches and capturing a number
of prisoners. The post was strengthened and was firmly held.
The next episode which claims attention is the prolonged and severe
fighting which took place from March 27 onwards at St. Eloi, the
scene of so fierce a contest just one year before. A small salient
had been formed by the German line at this point ever since its
capture, and on this salient was the rising known as the Mound (not
to be confounded with the Bluff), insignificant in itself since it
was only twenty or thirty feet high, but of importance in a war where
artillery observation is the very essence of all operations. It
stood just east of the little village of St. Eloi. This place was
known to be very strongly held, so the task of attacking it was
handed over to the Third Division, which had already shown at the
Bluff that they were adepts at such an attack. After several weeks
of energetic preparation, five {13} mines were ready with charges
which were so heavy that in one instance 30,000 pounds of ammonal
were employed. The assault was ordered for 4.15 in the morning of
March 27. It was known to be a desperate enterprise and was
entrusted to two veteran battalions of regular troops, the 4th Royal
Fusiliers and the 1st Northumberland Fusiliers. A frontal attack was
impossible, so it was arranged that the Royals should sweep round the
left flank and the Northumberlands the right, while the remaining
battalions of the 9th Brigade, the 12th West Yorks and 1st Scots
Fusiliers, should be in close support in the centre. At the
appointed hour the mines were exploded with deadly effect, and in the
pitch darkness of a cloudy rainy morning the two battalions sprang
resolutely forward upon their dangerous venture. The trenches on
each flank were carried, and 5 officers with 193 men of the 18th
Reserve Jaeger fell into our hands. As usual, however, it was the
retention of the captured position which was the more difficult and
costly part of the operation. The Northumberlands had won their way
round on the right, but the Fusiliers had been partially held up on
the left, so that the position was in some ways difficult and
irregular. The guns of the Third Division threw forward so fine a
barrage that no German counter-attack could get forward, but all day
their fire was very heavy and deadly upon the captured trenches, and
also upon the two battalions in support. On the night of the 27th
the 9th Brigade was drawn out and the 8th took over the new line, all
access to it being impossible save in the darkness, as no
communication trenches existed. The situation was complicated by the
fact that although the British {14} troops had on the right won their
way to the rear of the craters, one of these still contained a German
detachment, who held on in a most heroic fashion and could not be
dislodged. On March 30 the situation was still unchanged, and the
76th Brigade was put in to relieve the 8th. The 1st Gordons were now
in the line, very wet and weary, but declaring that they would hold
the ground at all costs. It was clear that the British line must be
extended and that the gallant Germans in the crater must be
overwhelmed. For this purpose, upon the night of April 2, the 8th
Royal Lancasters swept across the whole debatable ground, with the
result that 4 officers and 80 men surrendered at daylight to the
Brigade-Major and a few men who summoned them from the lip of the
crater. The Divisional General had himself gone forward to see that
the captured ground was made good. "We saw our Divisional General
mid-thigh in water and splashing down the trenches," says an
observer. "I can tell you it put heart into our weary men." So
ended the arduous labours of the Third Division, who upon April 4
handed over the ground to the 2nd Canadians. The episode of the St.
Eloi craters was, however, far from being at an end. The position
was looked upon as of great importance by the Germans, apart from the
artillery observation, for their whole aim was the contraction, as
that of the British was the expansion, of the space contained in the
Ypres salient. "Elbow room! More elbow room!" was the hearts' cry
of Plumer's Second Army. But the enemy grudged every yard, and with
great tenacity began a series of counter-attacks which lasted with
varying fortunes for several weeks.
{15}
Hardly had the Third Division filed out of the trenches when the
German bombers were buzzing and stinging all down the new line, and
there were evident signs of an impending counter-attack. Upon April
6 it broke with great violence, beginning with a blasting storm of
shells followed by a rush of infantry in that darkest hour which
precedes the dawn. It was a very terrible ordeal for troops which
had up to then seen no severe service, and for the moment they were
overborne. The attack chanced to come at the very moment when the
27th Winnipeg Regiment was being relieved by the 29th Vancouvers,
which increased the losses and the confusion. The craters were taken
by the German stormers with 180 prisoners, but the trench line was
still held. The 31st Alberta Battalion upon the left of the position
was involved in the fight and drove back several assaults, while a
small French Canadian machine-gun detachment from the 22nd Regiment
distinguished itself by an heroic resistance in which it was almost
destroyed. About noon the bombardment was so terrific that the front
trench was temporarily abandoned, the handful of survivors falling
back upon the supports. The 31st upon the left were still able to
maintain themselves, however, and after dusk they were able to
reoccupy three out of the five craters in front of the line. From
this time onwards the battle resolved itself into a desperate
struggle between the opposing craters. During the whole of April 7
it was carried on with heavy losses to both parties. On one occasion
a platoon of 40 Germans in close formation were shot down to a man as
they rushed forward in a gallant forlorn hope. For three days the
struggle went on, at the end of {16} which time four of the craters
were still held by the Canadians. Two medical men particularly
distinguished themselves by their constant passage across the open
space which divided the craters from the trench. The consolidation
of the difficult position was admirably carried out by the C.R.E. of
the Second Canadian Division.
The Canadians were left in comparative peace for ten days, but on
April 19 there was a renewed burst of activity. Upon this day the
Germans bombarded heavily, and then attacked with their infantry at
four different points of the Ypres salient. At two they were
entirely repulsed. On the Ypres-Langemarck road on the extreme north
of the British position they remained in possession of about a
hundred yards of trench. Finally, in the crater region they won back
two, including the more important one which was on the Mound. Night
after night there were bombing attacks in this region, by which the
Germans endeavoured to enlarge their gains. New Brunswick and Nova
Scotia were now opposed to them and showed the same determination as
the men of the West. The sector held by the veteran First Canadian
Division was also attacked, the 13th Battalion having 100 casualties
and the Canadian Scots 50. Altogether this fighting had been so
incessant and severe, although as a rule confined to a very small
front, that on an average 1000 casualties a week were recorded in the
corps. The fighting was carried on frequently in heavy rain, and the
disputed craters became deep pools of mud in which men fought waist
deep, and where it was impossible to keep rifle or machine-gun from
being fouled and clogged. Several of the smaller craters were found
{17} to be untenable by either side, and were abandoned to the
corpses which lay in the mire.
The Germans did not long remain in possession of the trench which
they had captured upon the 19th in the Langemarck direction. Though
it was almost unapproachable on account of the deep mud, a storming
column of the 1st Shropshires waded out to it in the dark up to their
waists in slush, and turned the enemy out with the point of the
bayonet. Upon April the 21st the line was completely re-established,
though a sapper is reported to have declared that it was impossible
to consolidate porridge. In this brilliant affair the Shropshires
lost a number of officers and men, including their gallant Colonel,
Luard, and Lieutenant Johnstone, who was shot by a sniper while
boldly directing the consolidation from outside the parapet without
cover of any kind. The whole incident was an extraordinarily fine
feat of arms which could only have been carried out by a highly
disciplined and determined body of men. The mud was so deep that men
were engulfed and suffocated, and the main body had to throw
themselves down and distribute their weight to prevent being sucked
down into the quagmire. The rifles were so covered and clogged that
all shooting was out of the question, and only bombs and bayonets
were available for the assault. The old 53rd never did a better
day's work.
During the whole winter the Loos salient had been simmering, as it
had never ceased to do since the first tremendous convulsion which
had established it. In the early part of the year it was held by
cavalry brigades, taking turns in succession, and during this time
there was a deceptive quiet, which {18} was due to the fact that the
Germans were busy in running a number of mines under the position.
At the end of February the Twelfth Division took over the north of
the section, and for ten weeks they found themselves engaged in a
struggle which can only be described as hellish. How constant and
severe it was may be gauged from the fact that without any real
action they lost 4000 men during that period. As soon as they
understood the state of affairs, which was only conveyed to them by
several devastating explosions, they began to run their own mines and
to raid those of their enemy. It was a nightmare conflict, half
above ground, half below, and sometimes both simultaneously, so that
men may be said to have fought in layers. The upshot of the matter,
after ten weeks of fighting, was that the British positions were held
at all points, though reduced to an extraordinary medley of craters
and fissures, which some observer has compared to a landscape in the
moon. The First Division shared with the Twelfth the winter honours
of the dangerous Loos salient.
On April 27 a considerable surface attack developed on this part of
the line, now held by the Sixteenth Irish Division. Early upon that
day the Germans, taking advantage of the wind, which was now becoming
almost as important in a land as it had once been in a sea battle,
loosed a cloud of poison upon the trenches just south of Hulluch and
followed it up by a rush of infantry which got possession of part of
the front and support lines in the old region of the chalk-pit wood.
The 49th Brigade was in the trenches. This Brigade consisted of the
7th and 8th Inniskillings, with the 7th and 8th Royal Irish. It was
upon the first two battalions that the cloud of {19} gas descended,
which seems to have been of a particularly deadly brew, since it
poisoned horses upon the roads far to the rear. Many of the men were
stupefied and few were in a condition for resistance when the enemy
rushed to the trenches. Two battalions of Dublin Fusiliers, however,
from the 48th Brigade were in the adjoining trenches and were not
affected by the poison. These, together with the 8th Inniskillings,
who were in the rear of the 7th, attacked the captured trench and
speedily won it back. This was the more easy as there had been a
sudden shift of wind which had blown the vile stuff back into the
faces of the German infantry. A Bavarian letter taken some days
later complained bitterly of their losses, which were stated to have
reached 1300 from poison alone. The casualties of the Irish Division
were about 1500, nearly all from gas, or shell-fire. Coming as it
did at the moment when the tragic and futile rebellion in Dublin had
seemed to place the imagined interests of Ireland in front of those
of European civilisation, this success was most happily timed. The
brunt of the fighting was borne equally by troops from the north and
from the south of Ireland--a happy omen, we will hope, for the future.
Amongst the other local engagements which broke the monotony of
trench life may be mentioned one upon May 11 near the Hohenzollern
Redoubt where the Germans held for a short time a British trench,
taking 127 of the occupants prisoners. More serious was the fighting
upon the Vimy Ridge south of Souchez on May 15. About 7.30 on the
evening of that day the British exploded a series of mines which,
either by accident or design, were short of {20} the German trenches.
The sector was occupied by the Twenty-fifth Division, and the
infantry attack was entrusted to the 11th Lancashire Fusiliers and
the 9th North Lancashires, both of the 74th Brigade. They rushed
forward with great dash and occupied the newly-formed craters, where
they established themselves firmly, joining them up with each other
and cutting communications backwards so as to make a new observation
trench.
The Twenty-fifth Division lay at this time with the Forty-seventh
London Division as its northern neighbour, the one forming the
left-hand unit of the Third Army, and the other the extreme right of
the First. Upon the 19th the Londoners took over the new position
from the 74th, and found it to be an evil inheritance, for upon May
21, when they were in the very act of relieving the 7th and 75th
Brigades, which formed the front of the Twenty-fifth Division, they
were driven in by a terrific bombardment and assault from the German
lines. On the front of a brigade the Germans captured not only the
new ground won but our own front line and part of our supporting
line. Old soldiers declared that the fire upon this occasion was
among the most concentrated and deadly of the whole War. With the
new weapons artillery is not needed at such short range, for with
aerial torpedoes the same effect can be produced as with guns of a
great calibre.
In the early morning of April 30, there was a strong attack by the
Germans at Wulverghem, which was the village to the west of Messines,
to which our line had been shifted after the attack of November 2,
1914. There is no doubt that all this bustling upon the part of the
Germans was partly for the purpose {21} of holding us to our ground
while they dealt with the French at Verdun, and partly to provoke a
premature offensive, since they well knew that some great movement
was in contemplation. As a matter of fact, all the attacks,
including the final severe one upon the Canadian lines, were dealt
with by local defenders and had no strategic effect at all. In the
case of the Wulverghem attack it was preceded by an emission of gas
of such intensity that it produced much sickness as far off as
Bailleul, at least six miles to the west. Horses in the distant
horse lines fell senseless under the noxious vapour. It came on with
such rapidity that about a hundred men of the Twenty-fourth Division
were overcome before they could get on their helmets. The rest were
armed against it, and repelled the subsequent infantry attacks
carried out by numerous small bodies of exploring infantry, without
any difficulty. The whole casualties of the Fifth Corps, whose front
was attacked, amounted to 400, half by gas and half by the shells.
In May, General Alderson, who had commanded the Canadians with such
success from the beginning, took over new duties and gave place to
General Sir Julian Byng, the gallant commander of the Third Cavalry
Division.
Upon June 2 there began an action upon the Canadian front at Ypres
which led to severe fighting extending over several weeks, and put a
very heavy strain upon a corps the First Division of which had done
magnificent work during more than a year, whilst the other two
divisions had only just eased up after the fighting of the craters.
Knowing well that the Allies were about to attack, the Germans were
exceedingly anxious to gain some success which would {22} compel them
to disarrange their plans and to suspend that concentration of troops
and guns which must precede any great effort. In searching for such
a success it was natural that they should revert to the Ypres
salient, which had always been the weakest portion of the line--so
weak, indeed, that when it is seen outlined by the star shells at
night, it seems to the spectator to be almost untenable, since the
curve of the German line was such that it could command the rear of
all the British trenches. It was a region of ruined cottages,
shallow trenches commanded by the enemy's guns, and shell-swept woods
so shattered and scarred that they no longer furnished any cover.
These woods, Zouave Wood, Sanctuary Wood, and others lie some hundred
yards behind the front trenches and form a rallying-point for those
who retire, and a place of assembly for those who advance.
The Canadian front was from four to five miles long, following the
line of the trenches. The extreme left lay upon the ruined village
of Hooge. This part of the line was held by the Royal Canadian
Regiment. For a mile to their right, in front of Zouave and
Sanctuary Woods, the Princess Patricia's held the line over low-lying
ground. In immediate support was the 49th Regiment. These all
belonged to the 7th Canadian Brigade. This formed the left or
northern sector of the position.
In the centre was a low hill called Mount Sorel, in which the front
trenches were located. Immediately in its rear is another elevation,
somewhat higher, and used as an observing station. This was
Observatory Hill. A wood, Armagh Wood, covered the slope of this
hill. There is about two hundred yards {23} of valley between Mount
Sorel and Observatory Hill, with a small stream running down it.
This section of the line was essential for the British, since in the
hands of the enemy it would command all the rest. It was garrisoned
by the 8th Brigade, consisting of Canadian Mounted Rifles.
The right of the Canadian line, including St. Eloi upon the extreme
limit of their sector, was held by troops of the Second Canadian
Division. This part of the line was not involved in the coming
attack. It broke upon the centre and the left, the Mount Sorel and
the Hooge positions.
The whole operation was very much more important than was appreciated
by the British public at the time, and formed a notable example of
anticipatory tactics upon the part of the German General Staff. Just
as they had delayed the advance upon the west by their furious
assault upon Verdun on the east, so they now calculated that by a
fierce attack upon the north of the British line they might disperse
the gathering storm which was visibly banking up in the Somme Valley.
It was a bold move, boldly carried out, and within appreciable
distance of success.
Their first care was to collect and concentrate a great number of
guns and mine-throwers on the sector to be attacked. This
concentration occurred at the very moment when our own heavy
artillery was in a transition stage, some of it going south to the
Somme. Hardly a gun had sounded all morning. Then in an instant
with a crash and a roar several mines were sprung under the trenches,
and a terrific avalanche of shells came smashing down among the
astounded men. It is doubtful if a more hellish {24} storm of
projectiles of every sort had ever up to that time been concentrated
upon so limited a front. There was death from the mines below, death
from the shells above, chaos and destruction all around. The men
were dazed and the trenches both in front and those of communication
were torn to pieces and left as heaps of rubble.
One great mine destroyed the loop of line held by the Princess
Patricia's and buried a company in the ruins. A second exploded at
Mount Sorel and did great damage. At the first outburst Generals
Mercer and Williams had been hurried into a small tunnel out of the
front line, but the mine explosion obliterated the mouth of the
tunnel and they were only extricated with difficulty. General Mercer
was last seen encouraging the men, but he had disappeared after the
action and his fate was unknown to friend or foe until ten days later
his body was found with both legs broken in one of the side trenches.
He died as he had lived, a very gallant soldier. For four hours the
men cowered down in what was left of the trenches, awaiting the
inevitable infantry attack which would come from the German lines
fifty yards away. When at last it came it met with little
resistance, for there were few to resist. Those few were beaten down
by the rush of the Würtembergers who formed the attacking division.
They carried the British line for a length of nearly a mile, from
Mount Sorel to the south of Hooge, and they captured about 500 men, a
large proportion of whom were wounded. General Williams, Colonel
Usher, and twelve other officers were taken.
When the German stormers saw the havoc in the trenches they may well
have thought that they had {25} only to push forward to pierce the
line and close their hands at last upon the coveted Ypres. If any
such expectation was theirs, they must have been new troops who had
no knowledge of the dour tenacity of the Canadians. The men who
first faced poison gas without masks were not so lightly driven. The
German attack was brought to a standstill by the withering rifle-fire
from the woods, and though the assailants were still able to hold the
ground occupied they were unable to increase their gains, while in
spite of a terrific barrage of shrapnel fresh Canadian battalions,
the 14th and 15th from the 3rd Canadian Brigade, were coming up from
the rear to help their exhausted companions.
The evening of June 2 was spent in confused skirmishing, the advanced
patrols of the Germans getting into the woods and being held up by
the Canadian infantry moving up to the front. Some German patrols
are said to have got as far as Zillebeke village, three-quarters of a
mile in advance of their old line. By the morning of June 3 these
intruders had been pushed back, but a counter-attack before dawn by
the 9th Brigade was held up by artillery fire, Colonel Hay of the
52nd (New Ontario) Regiment and many officers and men being put out
of action. The British guns were now hard at work, and the
Würtembergers in the captured trenches were enduring something of
what the Canadians had undergone the day before. About 7 o'clock the
2nd and 3rd Canadian Brigades, veterans of Ypres, began to advance,
making their way through the woods and over the bodies of the German
skirmishers. When the advance got in touch with the captured
trenches it was held up, for the Würtembergers stood to it {26} like
men, and were well supported by their gunners. On the right the 7th
and 10th Canadians got well forward, but had not enough weight for a
serious attack. It became clear that a premature counter-attack
might lead to increased losses, and that the true method was to
possess one's soul in patience until the preparation could be made
for a decisive operation. The impatience and ardour of the men were
very great, and their courage had a fine edge put upon it by a
churlish German official communiqué, adding one more disgrace to
their military annals, which asserted that more Canadian prisoners
had not been taken because they had fled so fast. Canadians could
smile at the insult, but it was the sort of smile that is more
menacing than a frown. The infantry waited grimly while some of the
missing guns were recalled into their position. Up to this time the
losses had been about 80 officers and 2000 men.
The weather was vile, with incessant rain which turned the fields
into bogs and the trenches into canals. For a few days things were
at a standstill, for the clouds prevented aeroplane reconnaissance
and the registration of the guns. The Corps lay in front of its lost
trenches like a wounded bear looking across with red eyes at its
stolen cub. The Germans had taken advantage of the lull to extend
their line, and on June 6 they had occupied the ruins of Hooge, which
were impossible to hold after all the trenches to the south had been
lost. In their new line the Germans awaited the attack which they
afterwards admitted that they knew to be inevitable. The British
gunfire was so severe that it was very difficult for them to improve
their new position.
On the 13th the weather had moderated and all {27} was ready for the
counter-attack. It was carried out at two in the morning by two
composite brigades. The 3rd (Toronto) and 7th Battalions led upon
the right, while the 13th (Royal Highlanders) and 16th (Canadian
Scots) were in the van of the left, with their pipers skirling in
front of them. Machine-guns supported the whole advance. The right
flank of the advance, being exposed to the German machine-guns, was
shrouded by the smoke of 200 bombs. The night was a very dark one
and the Canadian Scots had taken advantage of it to get beyond the
front line, and, as it proved, inside the German barrage zone, so
that heavy as it was it did them no scathe. The new German line was
carried with a magnificent rush, and a second heave lifted the wave
of stormers into the old British trenches--or the place where they
had been. Nine machine-guns and 150 prisoners from the 119th, 120th,
125th, and 127th Würtemberg Regiments were captured. To their great
joy the Canadians discovered that such munitions as they had
abandoned upon June 2 were still in the trenches and reverted into
their hands. It is pleasant to add that evidence was found that the
Würtembergers had behaved with humanity towards the wounded. From
this time onwards the whole Canadian area from close to Hooge (the
village still remained with the enemy) across the front of the woods,
over Mount Sorel, and on to Hill 60, was consolidated and maintained.
Save the heavy reciprocal losses neither side had anything to show
for all their desperate fighting, save that the ruins of Hooge were
now German. The Canadian losses in the total operations came to
about 7000 men--a figure which is eloquent as to the severity of the
fighting. They emerged {28} from the ordeal with their military
reputation more firmly established than ever. Ypres will surely be a
place of pilgrimage for Canadians in days to come, for the ground
upon the north of the city and also upon the south-east is
imperishably associated with the martial traditions of their country.
The battle just described is the most severe action between the epic
of Loos upon the one side, and that tremendous episode in the south,
upon the edge of which we are now standing.
There is one other happening of note which may in truth be taken as
an overture of that gigantic performance. This was the action of the
Seventeenth Corps upon June 30, the eve of the Somme battle, in which
the Thirty-ninth Division, supported by guns from the Thirty-fifth
and Fifty-first Divisions upon each side of it, attacked the German
trenches near Richebourg at a spot known as the Boar's Head. The
attack was so limited in the troops employed and so local in area
that it can only be regarded as a feint to take the German attention
from the spot where the real danger was brewing.
After an artillery preparation of considerable intensity, the
infantry assault was delivered by the 12th and 13th Royal Sussex of
the 116th Brigade. The scheme was that they should advance in three
waves and win their way to the enemy support line, which they were to
convert into the British front line, while the divisional pioneer
battalion, the 13th Gloster, was to join it up to the existing system
by new communication trenches. For some reason, however, a period of
eleven hours seems to have elapsed between the first bombardment and
the actual attack. The latter was delivered at three {29} in the
morning after a fresh bombardment of only ten minutes. So ready were
the Germans that an observer has remarked that had a string been tied
from the British batteries to the German the opening could not have
been more simultaneous, and they had brought together a great weight
of metal. Every kind of high explosive, shrapnel, and trench mortar
bombs rained on the front and support line, the communication
trenches and No Man's Land, in addition to a most hellish fire of
machine-guns. The infantry none the less advanced with magnificent
ardour, though with heavy losses. On occupying the German front line
trenches there was ample evidence that the guns had done their work
well, for the occupants were lying in heaps. The survivors threw
bombs to the last moment, and then cried, "Kamerad!" Few of them
were taken back. Two successive lines were captured, but the losses
were too heavy to allow them to be held, and the troops had
eventually under heavy shell-fire to fall back on their own front
lines. Only three officers came back unhurt out of the two
battalions, and the losses of rank and file came to a full two-thirds
of the number engaged. "The men were magnificent," says one who led
them, but they learned the lesson which was awaiting so many of their
comrades in the south, that all human bravery cannot overcome
conditions which are essentially impossible. A heavy German
bombardment continued for some time, flattening out the trenches and
inflicting losses, not only upon the 39th but upon the 51st Highland
Territorial Division. This show of heavy artillery may be taken as
the most pleasant feature in the whole episode, since it shows that
its object was attained at least to the very important {30} extent of
holding up the German guns. Those heavy batteries upon the Somme
might well have modified our successes of the morrow.
A second attack made with the same object of distracting the
attention of the Germans and holding up their guns was made at an
earlier date at a point called the triangle opposite to the Double
Grassier near Loos. This attack was started at 9.10 upon the evening
of June 10, and was carried out in a most valiant fashion by the 2nd
Rifles and part of the 2nd Royal Sussex, both of the 2nd Brigade.
There can be no greater trial for troops, and no greater sacrifice
can be demanded of a soldier, than to risk and probably lose his life
in an attempt which can obviously have no permanent result, and is
merely intended to ease pressure elsewhere. The gallant stormers
reached and in several places carried the enemy's line, but no
lasting occupation could be effected, and they had eventually to
return to their own line. The Riflemen, who were the chief
sufferers, lost 11 officers and 200 men.
A word should be said as to the raids along the line of the German
trenches by which it was hoped to distract their attention from the
point of attack, and also to obtain precise information as to the
disposition of their units. It is difficult to say whether the
British were the gainers, or the losers on balance in these raids,
for some were successful, while some were repelled. Among a great
number of gallant attempts, the details of which hardly come within
the scale of this chronicle, the most successful perhaps were two
made by the 9th Highland Light Infantry and by the 2nd Welsh
Fusiliers, both of the Thirty-third Division. In both of these cases
very extensive damage was done and numerous prisoners were taken.
{31} When one reads the intimate accounts of these affairs, the
stealthy approaches, the blackened faces, the clubs and revolvers
which formed the weapons, the ox-goads for urging Germans out of
dug-outs, the dark lanterns and the knuckle-dusters--one feels that
the age of adventure is not yet past and that the spirit of romance
was not entirely buried in the trenches of modern war. There were 70
such raids in the week which preceded the great attack.
Before plunging into the huge task of following and describing the
various phases of the mighty Battle of the Somme a word must be said
upon the naval history of the period which can all be summed up in
the Battle of Jutland, since the situation after that battle was
exactly as it had always been before it. This fact in itself shows
upon which side the victory lay, since the whole object of the
movements of the German Fleet was to produce a relaxation in these
conditions. Through the modesty of the British bulletins, which was
pushed somewhat to excess, the position for some days was that the
British, who had won everything, claimed nothing, while the Germans,
who had won nothing, claimed everything. It is true that a number of
our ships were sunk and of our sailors drowned, including Hood and
Arbuthnot, two of the ablest of our younger admirals. Even by the
German accounts, however, their own losses in proportion to their
total strength were equally heavy, and we have every reason to doubt
their accounts since they not only do not correspond with reliable
observations upon our side, but because their second official account
was compelled to admit that their first one had been false. The
whole affair may be summed up by saying that after making an
excellent {32} fight they were saved from total destruction by the
haze of evening, and fled back in broken array to their ports,
leaving the North Sea now as always in British keeping. At the same
time it cannot be denied that here as at Coronel and the Falklands
the German ships were well fought, the gunnery was good, and the
handling of the fleet, both during the battle and especially under
the difficult circumstances of the flight in the darkness to avoid a
superior fleet between themselves and home, was of a high order. It
was a good clean fight, and in the general disgust at the flatulent
claims of the Kaiser and his press the actual merit of the German
performance did not perhaps receive all the appreciation which it
deserved.
{33}