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.
After the very hard fighting which accompanied and followed the big
attack of July 14, continuing without a real break to the end of the
month, there was a lull of a couple of weeks, which were employed by
the German commentators in consoling articles to prove that the
allied offensive was at an end, and by the Allies in bringing forward
their guns and preparing for a renewed effort. The middle of August
heard the drum fire break out again and the operations were
continued, but on a local rather than a general scale. Many isolated
positions had to be mastered before a general surge forward could be
expected or attempted, and experience was to prove that it is
precisely those isolated operations which are most difficult and
costly, since they always mean that the whole concentration of the
German guns can be turned upon the point which is endangered.
{207}
It will simplify the following operations to the reader if he will
remember that the whole left wing of the army is excluded, being
treated separately as Gough's flank advance. We only deal therefore
with Rawlinson's Army. The front which faces us may be divided into
several well-defined areas, each of which is in turn subjected to
attack. There is High Wood on the extreme left, with the
Intermediate Trench and the Switch Trench within it, or to its north.
There is the line of trenches, Switch Trench, Wood Trench, Tea
Trench, etc., linking up High Wood with Delville Wood. There is the
north-eastern fringe of Delville Wood, there are the trenches between
Delville Wood and Ginchy, there is Ginchy itself, there are the
trenches between Ginchy and Guillemont, there is Guillemont itself,
and finally there is a stretch of trench between Guillemont and the
French left at Falfemont. This is the formidable barrier which was
attacked again and again at various points between August 1 and
September 15 as will now be told.
August 16 witnessed another attack by the Thirty-third Division upon
High Wood, a position which had once already been almost entirely in
their hands, but which had proved to be untenable on account of the
concentration of fire which the German guns could bring to bear upon
its limited space. None the less, it was determined that it should
be once again attempted, for it was so situated that its machine-guns
raked any advance between it and Delville Wood. The attack upon this
occasion was carried out on the eastern side by the 98th Brigade,
strengthened for the work by the addition of the 20th Royal Fusiliers
and a wing of the 1st Middlesex. It might well seem depressing to
the soldiers to be {208} still facing an obstacle which they had
carried a month before, but if this portion of the British line was
stationary it had gained ground upon either wing, and it might also
be urged that in a combat destined to be ended by military exhaustion
it is the continued fighting rather than the local result that
counts. If High Wood had cost and was to cost us dearly to attack,
it assuredly was not cheap to defend; and if their artillery had made
it too deadly for our occupation our own guns must also have taken
high toll of the German garrison. Such broader views are easy for
the detached reasoner in dug-out or in study, but to the troops who
faced the ill-omened litter of broken tree-trunks and decaying bodies
it might well seem disheartening that this sinister grove should
still bar the way.
At 2.45 in the afternoon the infantry advanced, the 4th King's
Liverpool upon the left and the 4th Suffolks on the right, keeping
well up to the friendly shelter of their own pelting barrage. The
enemy, however, had at once established a powerful counter-barrage,
which caused heavy losses, especially to the King's, most of whose
officers were hit early in the action. The two leading company
commanders were killed and the advance held up. The Suffolks had got
forward rather better, and part of them seized the German trench
called Wood Lane to the south-east of the wood, but unhappily the
only surviving officer with the party was killed in the trench, and
the men being exposed to bombing attacks and to heavy enfilade fire
from the eastern corner of High Wood were compelled to fall back
after holding the trench for fifty minutes.
These two battalions had attacked upon the flank {209} of the wood.
The wood itself was entered by three companies of the Argyll and
Sutherlands, who found it laced with wire and full of machine-guns.
The Highlanders stuck gamely to their task, and some of them--little
groups of desperate men--actually crossed the wood, but their losses
were heavy and, as is usual in forest fighting, all cohesion and
direction became impossible. The whole attack was hung up. The 20th
Royal Fusiliers, one of the public school battalions, was sent
forward therefore to get the line moving once again. They shared in
the losses, but were unable to retrieve the situation. So worn were
the battalions that there was some question whether the 98th Brigade
could hold its own line if there should be a vigorous counter-attack.
The 19th Brigade was therefore brought up to support and eventually
to relieve their comrades. The losses of the 98th amounted to over
2000 men, showing how manfully they had attempted a task which the
result showed to be above their strength. The causes of the failure
were undoubtedly the uncut wire in the wood, and that our gunners had
been unsuccessful in beating down the machine-guns of the enemy.
Whilst the Thirty-third Division had been making these vigorous
attacks upon High Wood, a corresponding movement had taken place upon
the north side of the wood, where the First Division had come into
line upon August 15, taking the place of the Thirty-fourth Division.
They plunged at once into action, for the 2nd Brigade upon August 16
made a successful advance, the 1st Northants and 2nd Sussex pushing
the line on for some hundreds of yards at considerable cost to
themselves, and driving back a half-hearted {210} counter-attack,
which endeavoured to throw them out of their new gains. This attack
was renewed with much greater weight, however, upon August 17, and
both the 1st and 2nd Brigades were driven back for a few hours. In
the afternoon they rallied and regained most of the lost ground.
Immediately in front of them stretched a long German trench termed
the Intermediate Trench, being the chief one between the second and
third lines. Towards evening the 1st Brigade attacked this trench,
the 1st Black Watch being the most advanced battalion. There was a
hard fight, but the position was still too strong. Next morning,
August 18, the gallant Highlanders were back at it once more, but the
day was very misty, and the advance seems to have lost its exact
bearings. The left company stumbled upon a pocket of 30 Germans,
whom it took or killed, but could not find the trench. The right
company got into the trench, but were not numerous enough to resist a
very vigorous bombing attack, which re-established the German
garrison. The 8th Berkshires pushed forward to try their luck, but a
smoke cloud thrown out by a division on the left came drifting down
and the attack was enveloped in it, losing both cohesion and
direction. The Intermediate Trench was still German in the evening.
Although the 1st Brigade had been held up at this point the 2nd
Brigade had made some progress upon their right, for a successful
attack was made by the 1st Northamptons and by the 1st North
Lancashires upon a German trench to the north-west of High Wood.
Colonel Longridge of the staff, a valuable officer, was killed in
this affair, but the place was taken, and a strong point established.
During the {211} night two platoons of the Northamptons made an
audacious attempt to steal an advance by creeping forwards 400 yards
and digging in under the very noses of the Germans, on a small ridge
which was of tactical importance. There was a considerable bickering
all day round this point, the Sussex endeavouring to help their old
battle-mates to hold the fort, but the supports were too distant, and
eventually the garrison had to regain their own line.
Upon August 20 there was a severe German attack upon the line of the
First Division, which was held at the time by the 1st Northamptons
and the 2nd Rifles. The advance developed in great force, driving in
the outpost line and part of the Northamptons. The brave old
"Cobblers" were a very seasoned battalion, and took a great deal of
shifting from their shallow trench, hand-to-hand fighting taking
place along the line. With the help of two companies of the Rifles
the advance was stayed on the Northampton front; but a second attack
developed out of High Wood upon the right flank of the Rifles. Two
platoons under Lieutenant Stokes showed great gallantry in holding up
this sudden and dangerous incursion. The platoons were relieved by
the Gloucesters, but as there was no officer with the relief, Stokes
remained on with the new garrison, and helped to drive back two more
attacks, showing a splendid disregard for all danger, until he was
finally killed by a shell. Captain Johnstone, who had led the
Riflemen in their relief of the Northamptons, was also killed, while
Major Atkinson and 130 men of the Rifles were hit. The losses of the
Northamptons were even more heavy, but the German advance came to
nought.
At the risk of carrying the account of the {212} operations near High
Wood and between High Wood and the west edge of Delville Wood to a
point which will compel a considerable return in order to bring up
the narrative of the rest of the line, we shall still continue them
to the date of the great advance of September 15, when the whole vast
array from Pozières upon the left to Leuze Wood upon the right heaved
itself forward, and local attacks gave place to a big concerted
movement. We shall therefore continue to follow the fortunes of the
First Division in their hard task in front of the Intermediate
Trench. After the failure of their attempt to get forward upon
August 19 the action died down, and for four days there was no fresh
advance. The 3rd Brigade had come up into the front line, and upon
August 24 the Munsters made an attempt upon the German trench without
success. Colonel Lyon lost his life in this affair. Upon August 25
another battalion of the Brigade, the South Wales Borderers, made a
bombing attack, and again were in the trench and once again were
driven out. They were not to be denied, however, and upon August 26
actually occupied 180 yards of it, taking one of the deadly guns
which had wrought such damage. On the 27th a German counter-attack
was heavily repulsed, but an attempt of the South Wales Borderers to
improve their success was also a failure. On the evening of this day
the Fifteenth Scottish Division took over the position in front of
the Intermediate Trench, the First Division moving to the right and
enabling the Thirty-third Division upon its flank to move also to the
right. The Fifteenth Division was able in very tempestuous weather
partly to outflank the Intermediate Trench, with the result that upon
the afternoon of August 30 {213} the remains of the garrison, finding
that they were in a trap, surrendered. Two machine-guns with 140 men
were taken.
Upon August 12 the Fourteenth Light Division, which in spite of its
initial misfortune at Hooge had won the name of being one of the
finest divisions of the New Army, came up into line. Its first
station was in the Delville Wood area, which was still a most
difficult section, in spite of our occupation of the wood. Orchards
lay upon its fringes, and the German trenches around it swept the
edges with fire, while several German strong points lay just outside
it. An attempt was made by the Fourteenth Division to enlarge an
area outside Longueval upon August 18. At 2.45 that day the 41st
Brigade advanced upon the right of the Thirty-third Division with
Orchard Trench as an objective, while the 43rd Brigade kept pace with
them to the north and east of the wood. The German front trenches
were carried without much difficulty, but, as usual, the process of
consolidation was an expensive one. The men in small groups dug
themselves in as best they could under fire from both flanks. The
7th Rifle Brigade upon the extreme left of the line was in the air,
and their left company was almost entirely destroyed. The new line
was held, however, and knotted together with three strong points
which defied German attack. This was attempted upon the 19th, but
was a total failure. In these operations the Fourteenth Division
took 279 prisoners.
For the sake of consecutive narrative, the doings in the High Wood
and Delville Wood district have been given without a break, but in
order to bring the rest of the chronicle level one has to turn back a
few {214} days and turn our attention to the long right flank of the
army, from Longueval in the north to Falfemont, where we joined on to
the French in the south. The northern angle of this position was, as
has already been explained, extremely disadvantageous to us, forming
an almost fantastic peninsula, which jutted out into the German
positions. Even if their infantry could not carry it, their guns
could at all times rake it from three sides, and could command the
whole Montauban valley, along which our supplies were bound to pass.
Therefore it became very necessary to get more elbow-room along this
line.
South-east of Delville Wood was the strongly-fortified village of
Ginchy, and between the wood and the village were what may be called
the Alcoholic system of trenches, where the long and powerful Beer
Trench, stretching a few hundred yards north of the wood, was
connected up with Vat Alley, Hop Alley, and Ale Alley, the whole
forming a formidable labyrinth. To the south of Ginchy lay the very
strongly organised village of Guillemont, which could not be
approached save over a long quarter of a mile of open ground. Ginchy
and Guillemont were linked up in a strong line, of which Waterlot
Farm and Guillemont Station were two nodal points. South of
Guillemont came Wedge Wood and finally Falfemont Farm, where the
right of Rawlinson's Fourth Army joined on to the French. The whole
of this long line was most powerfully defended, both by material
appliances and by that constant human valour without which all
appliances are useless. How to push it back was the pressing and
difficult question which now faced the British commanders.
Guillemont had already been attacked upon {215} July 30 by the
Thirtieth Division as described in a previous chapter. This attack
had been most valiantly urged, but the losses had been heavy, and the
gains small. The Second Division had relieved the Thirtieth on this
point, and were in turn relieved upon August 10 by the Twenty-fourth,
a division which had seen a good deal of rough service in that famous
forcing-house for young soldiers--the Ypres salient.
A few days later it closed in upon Guillemont with orders to
reconnoitre and then attack. A partial attack was made upon August
16 upon the outskirts of the village by the 72nd Brigade, which was
rather in the nature of a reconnaissance in force. The place was
found to be very strong and the advancing troops drew off after
incurring some losses, which were heaviest in the 9th East Surreys,
who came under a blast of machine-gun fire, and dropped nine officers
and over 200 men. The division drew off, broadened their front of
attack, and came on again upon August 18 in a wide advance which
covered the whole enemy line, striking not only at the village
itself, but at the station, quarry, and farm to the north of it,
covering a front of nearly a mile.
The 73rd Brigade attacked the village and the quarry. The right
attack was led by the 13th Middlesex and supported by the 2nd
Leinster, but it had no success, and ended in heavy losses,
especially to the English regiment. The men who got across were
unable to penetrate, and after a hand-to-hand fight were driven back.
Upon the left of the brigade things went better. The attack upon
that side was led by the 7th Northants, supported by the 9th Sussex.
The Cobblers had lost their colonel from a {216} wound in the
morning. This colonel was the famous international three-quarter
Mobbs, who gave one more illustration of the fact that the fine
sportsman turns rapidly into the fine soldier. His successor had
only been a few hours in command. The direction of the fight was
none the less admirable. The Midlanders dashed with great fire
across the 300 yards of open which separated them from the Quarries,
while the Sussex crowded up into the advanced trenches, sending on
company after company in response to demands for help. The British
barrage had lifted, and it was no easy matter in face of the flank
fire to get the men across, so that only a percentage reached the
hard-pressed firing-line upon the other side. The colonel of the
Sussex held back therefore, and sent his third company over as dusk
fell, so that they came in on the flank of the Northamptons with
little loss, while the fourth followed later with supplies. The
lodgment made by the leading battalions was secured, and some ground
to the north of the village passed into British hands.
Although Guillemont itself remained for the moment with the Germans,
the assault of the Twenty-fourth Division had a success along the
whole of the rest of the line and greatly improved the position of
the British upon this flank. The 17th Brigade had attacked the
station and after a severe fight had captured it, the 3rd Rifle
Brigade especially distinguishing itself in this affair. Farther
still to the north the line of trenches leading up to and in front of
Waterlot Farm had fallen also to the 17th Brigade, the 8th Buffs
having the heavier share of the work. These attacks, which cost the
division {217} more than 3000 men, were carried out in co-operation
with French attacks to the south and east of Guillemont, the net
result being partly to isolate that stubborn village and turn it into
a salient on the German line.
The Twenty-fourth Division was now drawn out for a short period, and
the Twentieth replaced it and held firmly to the conquered line.
The Germans were acutely uneasy as to the erosion of their line which
was going on from Longueval to Guillemont, and upon August 23
endeavoured to win back the ground gained at Guillemont Station, but
their counter-attack, stronger as usual in its artillery preparation
than in its infantry advance, had no success, though it cost the
Twentieth Division some heavy losses. It was one clear sign of the
degeneration of the German soldier that the overture should so
continually be better than the performance. The machines were as
formidable as ever, but the human element was slowly wilting, and
that subtle sentiment was developing upon either side which means the
ascendancy of one and the decline of the other. The ease with which
the prisoners surrendered, the frequent failure to hold ground and
the constant failure to gain it, all pointed to the same conclusion.
Upon August 24 a very widespread and determined attempt was made by
the British to enlarge their area on the right wing, and the attack
extended along the whole line to the north of Guillemont. It was
carried out by three divisions, the Thirty-third which had
side-stepped to the right, and now covered the ground to the
immediate left of Delville Wood, the Fourteenth Light Division which
covered the north of Delville Wood and the Alcohol system of
trenches, and finally {218} the Twentieth Division covering Ginchy
and the rest of the line down to Guillemont.
Describing these operations from the left of our line the first unit
of attack was the 100th Brigade, which had for its objective Tea
Trench and other German defences which were to the north-west of
Delville Wood. The Longueval-Flers road separated their right flank
from the left flank of the 42nd Brigade of the Fourteenth Division.
In order to carry out the attack the three leading battalions of the
Brigade had to be crowded forward into a narrow front before daylight
upon August 24.
All day they lay there, but towards evening the bombardment which
they endured changed into an immense barrage which fell like a steel
guillotine in front of our line, the British counter battery work
being unable to check it. Shortly before 7 o'clock in the evening
the leading companies of the attack belonging from the left to the
1st Queen's, 16th Rifles and 2nd Worcesters, crept forward until they
were on the edge of the barrage. At 7 o'clock they took the plunge,
advancing with brisk alacrity into that terrible pelt of missiles.
By 7.30 the Queen's had established themselves in the German position
and were bombing their way up Wood Lane Trench. The other two
battalions had also at that hour got well forward, and the 42nd
Brigade of the Fourteenth Division upon the right had been equally
successful. The new positions were at once consolidated by the 9th
Highland Light Infantry and by parties of the 222nd Field Company,
together with the 18th Middlesex pioneers, under a very heavy fire.
The Worcesters were in good touch with the 16th Rifles upon their
left, but a considerable and dangerous gap had formed {219} between
the left of the Rifles and the right of the Queen's--a gap which
might have let in a fatal counter-attack had it not been for the
admirable barrage of the artillery, which beat down each attempted
advance. A trench was at once put in hand to link up the new line,
the sappers labouring at it during the night, but the gap had not
been entirely closed by the morning. The assaulting battalions were
then relieved, and the 98th Brigade took the place of their comrades
of the 100th. Thus ended this very successful little advance, the
result being to push forward and strengthen our position between the
two woods. The casualties were not high, and this fact was due to
the fine co-operation of the guns, and to a very effective smoke
barrage thrown out between the left wing of the attack and the
machine-guns of High Wood.
The Fourteenth Division had advanced upon the immediate right of the
Longueval-Flers road, the 42nd Brigade upon the left keeping in touch
with the 100th, while the 41st Brigade upon the right had not only to
reach its own objective, but to act as a protective flank against the
Germans in the village of Ginchy. The 43rd Brigade was in reserve,
but contributed one battalion, the 6th Yorkshire Light Infantry, to
strengthening the reserve of the 42nd Brigade, whose formidable task
was the carrying of the outlying fringe of Delville Wood. At last
that tragic grove, the scene of such a prolonged struggle, was to be
utterly cleared from our front. Three gallant battalions of the 42nd
Brigade--the 5th Oxford and Bucks on the left, the 5th Shropshires in
the centre, and the 9th Rifles upon the right--swept forward with the
bayonet in the good old {220} style and cleared it from end to end,
helped greatly by the accurate barrage behind which they advanced.
The German counter-barrage was heavy, but the troops tramped through
it with no more deflection than if it had been a rainstorm, though a
trail of dead and wounded marked their path. Every officer of the
Rifle battalion was hit. The first barrier was a trench cut 150
yards from the north of the wood and called Inner Trench. This was
taken at the first rush, the enemy surrendering freely. Two gallant
N.C.O.'s of the Rifles, Sergeant Hamp and Corporal Ord, rushed up a
machine-gun at the cost of their own lives. One party of 50 men of
the enemy seem to have taken up arms again after three of the
storming lines had passed, and to have blazed into their backs with a
machine-gun, but a fourth line swept over them and all were engulfed.
The Oxford and Bucks on the left of the line moved forward
splendidly, picking up 200 prisoners as they passed, clearing the
edge of the wood and digging in about 200 yards to the north of it,
the 89th F Company Royal Engineers and the 11th King's Liverpool
consolidating the position. The enemy's opposition upon the right
flank had, however, been very much sterner and more successful, so
that the flank battalion of the 42nd Brigade and the Rifle battalions
of the 41st Brigade had all fallen short of their final objectives.
Altogether the day was a great success, for the losses were not
excessive, and the gains though not sensational were general all
along the line and prepared the way for the successful assaults of
the next week. The fact that the right flank had not come on as far
as the left, caused each successive battalion to find itself with its
right flank exposed, but the line {221} was held by a clever
readjustment under heavy fire, by which the flank battalions faced
half right with the Oxfords still in the advanced position joining up
with the Thirty-third Division, while the line slanting, but
unbroken, sloped backwards to Inner Trench upon the right.
The eastern corner of Delville Wood was still dominated by a strong
point, but upon the rain-swept evening of August 27 this was finally
cleared out by the 43rd Brigade of the Fourteenth Division, the 6th
Somerset, Yorkshire and Cornwall battalions of light infantry,
together with the 10th Durhams, all doing good service.
The remains of the hard-worked Seventh Division had been thrust in
front of those Alcohol trenches which still remained intact, filling
up the gap separating Delville Wood from Ginchy. The 22nd Brigade
was on the left, and shared in the advance of the 43rd, the 1st Welsh
Fusiliers capturing Hop Alley, Beer Trench, and part of Vat Alley.
The impending attack upon Ginchy, which was to co-operate with the
attack upon Guillemont farther south, was forestalled and postponed
by a very strong advance of the German infantry upon the north and
north-east of Delville Wood. The 91st Brigade had relieved the 22nd,
and the brunt of this attack outside the wood fell upon the 1st South
Staffords, who repulsed the onslaught on three separate occasions,
enduring a heavy shelling between each German advance. Upon the
fourth attack the persevering German infantry succeeded in
penetrating the north-east corner of the wood and regaining Hop
Alley. The 2nd Queen's relieved the exhausted Staffords, and at noon
of September 2 made a vigorous bombing attack which had some {222}
success, though the assailants were considerably mystified by the
appearance of a party of Germans who had dressed themselves in the
khaki and helmets taken the night before. This powerful attack fell
also upon the Twentieth Division, and upon the Fourteenth to the
right of the Seventh, but although it inflicted heavy losses,
especially upon the 60th Brigade of the Twentieth Division, it failed
to gain any ground or to obtain any strategic advantage.
On September 3 at noon the attack upon Ginchy was carried out by the
22nd Brigade, the 1st Welsh Fusiliers attacking to the north of the
village, the 20th Manchesters moving on to the village itself, and
the 2nd Warwicks on to the trenches to the west of the village. The
Manchesters succeeded about one o'clock in forcing their way into the
village, sending back 200 of the garrison as prisoners. The first
rush behind the barrage sustained few casualties, and it was not
until the Manchesters in their fiery eagerness began to push on
beyond their mark that they ran into a very severe fire from the
north, which mowed down their ranks, including nearly all their
officers. The Welsh Fusiliers upon the left had been unable to get
forward, and as a consequence the Manchester men were in so
precarious a position and so reduced in numbers that they had to fall
back through the village, while the 2nd Royal Irish, who had passed
on as far as Ginchy Telegraph, had now to retire, as their rear was
in danger. The 2nd Warwicks, however, held on to the south of the
village, and refused to be dislodged, keeping their position there
against all attacks until the night of September 5. In the
afternoon, two companies of the Irish attempted to retrieve the
situation by a renewed advance upon the {223} village, but their
losses were heavy, and they could not get farther than the western
outskirts. The casualties during the day were severe, and in the
night it was thought advisable to replace the 22nd by the 20th
Brigade. The latter made a fresh attack upon the village at eight in
the morning of September 4 by the 9th Devons, but again it was found
impossible, in the face of the inexorable machine-guns, to effect a
permanent lodgment. The 2nd Queen's, however, on the left of the
Brigade, improved our position at the north-eastern corner of
Delville Wood. There was a short lull in the fighting, and then at
5.30 A.M. upon the 6th the 2nd Gordons stormed into the orchards
round the village, but had to dig themselves in upon the western
edge. At 2 P.M. they again attacked, aided by two companies of the
9th Devons, getting as far as the middle of the village, and
capturing some prisoners, but the Germans came back with so heavy a
counter-attack that the evening found our troops back in their own
front line once more. On the night of September 7 the division was
taken out--the 16th (Irish) and 55th moving up to the Ginchy Front.
This severe fighting by the Seventh Division from the 3rd onwards was
an excellent example of how a force may be called upon to sacrifice
itself without seeing the object of its sacrifice until it learns the
general plans of the Commander. The assaults upon Ginchy,
unsuccessful at the moment, were of the greatest value as leading to
the capture of Guillemont in the south. The task allotted to the
Seventh Division was a very difficult one, involving an advance from
a salient with the left flank exposed, and the magnitude of this task
was greatly increased by the truly execrable weather. If no
successful efforts were {224} made to counter-attack upon Guillemont,
the reason undoubtedly lay in the absorption of the German strength
at Ginchy.
On this same day the battle raged from Ginchy along the whole right
of our line through Waterlot Farm, Guillemont and Falfemont Farm to
the left flank of the French. The annexed diagram will give some
idea of the forces engaged and their several objectives on September
3.
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{225}
[Illustration: ATTACK ON GERMAN LEFT FLANK September 3, 1916.]
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As will be seen by this plan, the Fifth Division formed the unit next
to the French, and the 13th Brigade were ordered to help our gallant
allies in attacking the extreme southern point at Falfemont, while
the 95th Brigade covered the ground between their comrades of the
13th and the village of Guillemont. The advance was made shortly
after mid-day, and though the operations were long, bloody, and
difficult, the famous old division, inheritors of the glories of Mons
and Le Cateau, was not to be denied. The resistance was very
strenuous, and only the most devoted constancy could have eventually
overcome it. To follow the fortunes of the 13th Brigade first it may
be briefly stated that upon Sunday, September 3, they first gained
the Falfemont Farm, and then lost it again. That night they were
reinforced by three battalions of the 15th Brigade, and were able
next day to push in between the Farm and Guillemont, pressing the
defenders upon every side. It was a widespread building, with many
loopholed outhouses, and one of these fell after the other until only
the central ruin, still spouting fire like an anchored battleship,
remained in the hands of the defenders. Their position was hopeless,
however, and by the morning of September 5 the changes in the line to
the north {226} of them, and especially the loss of Guillemont,
caused them to evacuate the position.
The advance of the 95th Brigade upon the left of the Fifth Division
had been a very gallant one, though the objectives which they so
bravely won were nameless lines of trenches and a sunken road. The
first line of the attack was formed by the 1st Duke of Cornwall's on
the left, and the 12th Gloucesters upon the right, closely followed
by the 1st Devons and 1st East Surreys. They were in close touch
with the 59th Brigades of the Twentieth Division, who were attacking
Guillemont upon their left. Within two hours of the first attack all
three objectives had been captured, and the remains of the victorious
battalions were digging in upon the line Ginchy-Wedge Wood. The
losses were heavy in each battalion, but particularly so in the 12th
Gloucesters. For a time they were under fire from both the British
and the German batteries. Yet they held on to their ultimate
objective, and the following extract from the impression which they
produced upon an experienced regular colonel is worth quoting, if
only to show the pitch of soldiership to which our amateur volunteers
had reached. "The battalion came on in their extended lines as
steadily as on parade, and, without wavering, though suffering heavy
losses, passed through a hot German barrage in the most gallant
manner. The lines were also much troubled by long-range machine-gun
fire from the direction of Falfemont, but although gaps appeared and
the lines were rapidly thinning out, I never saw the slightest sign
of wavering. No troops could have carried through such a difficult
task with more indifference to consequences." Gloucestershire was
once the favourite forcing-ground for the champions {227} of the
British ring. The old fighting breed still lives. Altogether the
95th Brigade advanced 3000 yards in this action, and was responsible
for the capture both of Wedge Wood and of Leuze Wood.
Upon the left of the Fifth Division the difficult task of storming
Guillemont had been entrusted to the Rifle and Rifle Brigade
battalions of the 59th Brigade upon the right, and to the 47th
Brigade of the Sixteenth Irish Division. This brigade had come
temporarily under the command of General Douglas Smith upon the left,
taking the place of the 60th Brigade, which had lost heavily in
strength from cold, wet, and continual German gassing and
bombardment. The 61st was in divisional reserve. The attack was
ordered for noon. Profiting by previous experiences it was planned
that the whole village should not be rushed at once, but that the
attack should proceed with method in three definite stages. The guns
of the Sixth and of the Twenty-fourth Divisions joined in the
preliminary bombardment. At noon, the infantry leapt over their
parapets and charged home. The enemy was taken unawares. The 10th
and 11th Rifle Brigade with the 10th and 11th King's Royal Rifles,
supported by the 6th Oxford and Bucks, carried all before them on the
south and west of the village, while the Leinsters, Connaughts, and
Royal Irish did as much in the north. The Quarries, which was a nest
of machine-guns, was taken in their stride. No more valiant or
successful advance had been seen during the War, and it may take a
place beside the attack of the 36th Brigade at Ovillers as a
classical example of what British infantry can do with all the odds
against them. The Riflemen fought in grim silence, but the Irish
went through with a wild Celtic {228} yell which, blending with the
scream of their pipes, must have added one more to the horrors of the
shaken and hard-pressed garrison. Neck and neck the two brigades,
English and Irish, went through the German line. Hand-to-hand fights
took place in the village, but all resistance was soon beaten down.
By 12.30 the first objectives were solid, and at 1.20 the whole
village was taken and the survivors of the enemy streaming out to
eastward. The English losses were heavy and equally distributed.
The Irish were also heavy, especially in the case of the 6th
Connaughts, who also lost their colonel. At this time, through the
failure of recruiting in Ireland, these brave battalions were below
full strength, in spite of which within six days they stormed or
helped to storm two of the strongest villages upon the line. One
hardly knows which emotion is stronger--one's pride in those who
went, or one's contempt for those who bided at home. No one admired
the splendid dash of the Irish stormers more heartily than the
British Riflemen, who kept pace with them in their desperate venture.
Equally brave, they were more deliberate in their methods, with the
result that more than once pockets of fighting Germans who had been
overrun by the Irish, but were still venomous, were cleared up by the
Riflemen on the flank. So infectious, however, was the fiery dash of
the Irish, that Mr. Philip Gibbs has left it on record in one of his
admirable letters that an English sergeant of Rifles complained that
he had almost blown his teeth away in whistling his men back from
overrunning their objectives. The garrison, it may be remarked, were
chiefly Hanoverian, and once again our men were amused and amazed to
see "Gibraltar" printed upon their hats, a reminiscence {229} of the
days when they formed part of the British army.
Whilst the attack had been in progress, two battalions of the 61st
Brigade, the 7th Somersets and 12th King's Liverpools, were in close
support, advancing steadily through the German barrage. The enemy
were, as already shown, strongly held at Ginchy on the left flank of
the Guillemont advance, but in spite of their preoccupations they
made strong attempts at a counter-attack from this direction, which
fell upon the Connaughts, who had been reinforced by two companies of
the 12th King's. This small flanking force pushed out posts which
behaved with great gallantry, holding off the enemy until evening,
though at considerable loss to themselves. One of these posts, under
Sergeant Jones of the 12th King's, was cut off by the Germans and
held out for two days without food or water--a deed for which the
sergeant received the Victoria Cross. On September 4 the positions
were put into a state of defence, and on the 5th the Twentieth
Division drew out of the line after their fine deed of arms.
The Fourteenth Division had been in support upon the left during the
attack upon Guillemont, and the 43rd Brigade had moved up to the
northern edge of the village itself, losing a number of officers and
men, including the colonel of the 6th Somersets, who, though badly
wounded, remained with his battalion until it had consolidated its
new position. A German advance was attempted at this point about 8
P.M., but the 43rd Brigade helped to drive it back. It may be said
that the whole of September 3 was a series of small victories, making
in {230} the aggregate a very considerable one, and breaking down the
whole of the flank German defences.
The Irish Division was now brought up to face Ginchy, the one point
still untaken upon the German second line, whilst the Fifth Division
pursued its victorious way up to Leuze Wood and to the lower corner
of Bouleaux Wood, always in close touch with the French upon their
right. The 47th Brigade of the Irish had already lost near half its
numbers, and other units of the division, both infantry and sappers,
especially the 7th and 8th Irish Fusiliers, had lost heavily in
supporting the Fifth Division in its attack, but the battalions were
still full of fight.
In the late afternoon of September 9 the final attack upon Ginchy by
the Irish tore that village from the close grip of its Bavarian and
Pomeranian garrison. The Fifty-fifth Division made a supporting
attack upon the left, but the main advance was left for the now
depleted but indomitable division. It dashed forward upon a
two-brigade front, the 47th upon the right and the 48th upon the
left, the brigades being strengthened by three battalions of the
49th, so that practically all the reserves were in the line from the
start, but the commander had the comforting assurance that the Guards
were moving up in his rear. On the right the first wave consisted of
the 6th Royal Irish and the 8th Munsters, who dashed forward with
great gallantry but were held up by machine-guns. The same fire held
up the 1st Munsters upon the right of the 48th Brigade, but some
natural cover was found which enabled them to continue to advance.
On their left the 7th Irish Rifles and 7th Irish Fusiliers had broken
into the German line in the first determined advance. {231} By six
in the evening the 8th and 9th Dublins had reinforced the attack and
had pushed on into the village, where the 156th Field Company Royal
Engineers at once consolidated--a swift measure which was fully
justified since two attacks stormed out of the darkness of the night
and were beaten back into it again. Next morning the Sixteenth
Division was relieved by the Guards and returned for the time from
the line which they had so materially helped to enlarge and
consolidate. Their losses had been heavy. Five battalion commanders
were among the casualties. They fell out of the line upon September
10. A few days earlier the Fifth Division had been relieved by the
Fifty-sixth.
The total effect of these operations had been to extend the whole
British position for several thousand yards in frontage and nearly a
mile in depth. At least 2000 more prisoners had fallen into our
hands. The attack of July 14 had broken in the centre of the German
second line, but the two flanks had held firm. The fall of Pozières
upon our left before the Australians and the Forty-eighth Division,
and of Guillemont upon our right before the Twentieth and Fifth,
meant that the flanks also had gone, and that the whole front was now
clear. A third strong line ran through Warlencourt and Le Transloy,
but very numerous impediments--woods, villages, and trenches--lay in
front of the army before they could reach it. It proved, however,
that the worst impediment of all--vile weather and a premature
winter--was to be the only real obstacle to the complete success of
the army.
In order to complete this description of these widespread operations,
which are difficult to {232} synchronise and bring into any settled
plan, one must return to what was going on upon the left of Delville
Wood. Towards the end of August the Thirty-third Division, which had
covered the line between Delville and High Woods, was relieved by the
Twenty-fourth. Upon the left of the Twenty-fourth the First Division
was still continuing that series of operations upon High Wood which
have been already described. On their left in turn was the Fifteenth
Scottish Division, the left unit of Rawlinson's Army. They were busy
from this time onwards in digging their assembly trenches for the
great assault.
The first incident which calls for attention was a very sudden and
violent German attack upon August 31 upon the Twenty-fourth Division.
The German onslaught met with some success at first, as it burst
through the line of the 13th Middlesex, a battalion which had lost
heavily in the attack upon Guillemont ten days before, and was for
the moment more fit for a rest-camp than the forefront of the battle.
The 9th Sussex, who were on the right of the Middlesex, stood firm,
and the German advance, which had penetrated some distance down the
long communication trench which is known as Plum Street, was
eventually brought to a halt. This result was partly brought about
by the initiative and determination of a 2nd Lieutenant of the
Middlesex, "a little pale-faced fellow," who carried off a Lewis gun,
and worked it from different positions down the trench, continually
holding up the Germans and giving time for the Sussex men to gather
such a force at the end of Plum Street as prevented the Germans from
debouching into the larger trenches which led down towards Longueval.
The attack had been equally {233} severe upon the 72nd Brigade, who
held the right of the division, which included the northern end of
Delville Wood. They entirely repulsed the Germans with great loss,
the 8th Queen's Surrey being the battalion which bore the brunt of
the fight.
On the next day, September 1, the 17th Brigade came up to restore the
situation on the left, and by evening the position had been almost
cleared. On the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th there were fresh German attacks,
but the line was now firmly held and no impression was made. None
the less, the fighting had been costly, and the depleted division had
2000 more names upon its roll of honour. It was drawn out shortly
afterwards, but its artillery, which was left in the line, had the
misfortune to lose its distinguished chief, General Phillpotts, upon
September 8.
We shall now move a mile eastwards to follow the First Division in
its difficult and, as it proved, impossible task of improving our
position as regards High Wood, a spot which caused us more delay and
loss than any other upon the German line.
On September 3 a strong attack by the whole of the 1st Brigade was
made upon the wood, which was gridironed with trenches and studded
with strong points. The immediate objectives were the main trench in
the wood and the trenches to the south-east of the wood. The 1st
Camerons, supported by the 8th Berks, advanced upon the right, the
Black Watch, supported by the 10th Gloucesters, on the left. The
attack had considerable success, which could not, however, be
maintained. The battalions on the right won home, but the
consolidating parties were delayed. On the left, the attack was only
partially successful, being held up at a large mine-crater. When
{234} eventually a strong German counter-attack swept forward from
the north-east of High Wood, the British had to fall back to their
own original line, taking, however, 80 German prisoners with them.
The ground had been won, but there had not been weight enough to hold
it. The losses of the two Highland battalions were severe.
On September 8 the 3rd Brigade penetrated into the western part of
High Wood, but again it was found impossible to make more than a
temporary lodgment. The 2nd Welsh, 1st South Wales Borderers and 1st
Gloucesters were all involved in this affair, as was the 9th Black
Watch of the Fifteenth Division, who played a very gallant part.
Next day the attack was renewed with the 2nd Brigade upon the right,
the 3rd upon the left. In the centre the 1st Northants captured the
crater, but were driven out of it later in the day, after a hard
fight. On the left the Munsters and Gloucesters were held up by
machine-gun fire. On the right the advance of the 2nd Sussex and of
the 2nd Rifles met with gratifying success. The important trench
called Wood Lane was stormed, with a loss to the assailants of a
couple of hundred men, after the hostile machine-guns had been deftly
put out of action by our trench-mortars. The Rifles were in touch
not only with their comrades of Sussex upon the left, but with the
5th King's Liverpool upon the right, so that the line was complete.
It was consolidated that night by the 1st North Lancashires and was
permanently held, an attempt at counter-attack next day being crushed
by our barrage. After this little victory the First Division was
relieved upon the evening of September 10 by the New Zealanders.
{235}