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.
Having treated the successful advance made by Rawlinson's Fourth Army
upon September 15, it would be well before continuing the narrative
of their further efforts to return to Gough's Army upon the north,
the right Canadian wing of which had captured Courcelette, but which
was occupied in the main with the advance upon the Thiepval Ridge.
The actual capture of Thiepval was an operation of such importance
that it must be treated in some detail. The village, or rather the
position, was a thorn in the side of the British, as it lay with its
veteran garrison of Würtembergers, girdled round and flanked by
formidable systems of trenches upon the extreme left of their line.
Just above Thiepval was a long slope ending in a marked ridge, which
was topped by the Schwaben Redoubt. Both armies recognised the
extreme importance of this position, since its capture would mean a
fire-command over all the German positions to the north of the Ancre,
while {264} without it the British could never reap the full result
of their success in breaking the line upon July 1. For this reason,
instructions had been given to the picked German troops who held it
to resist at all costs, even to the death. They had massed at least
four hundred guns in order to beat down every assault. Yet the
attempt must be made, and it was assigned to Jacob's Second Corps,
the actual Divisions engaged being the Eighteenth and the Eleventh,
both of them units recruited in the South of England. The latter was
distinguished as the first English Division of the New Armies, while
the former had already gained great distinction in the early days of
the Somme battle when they captured Trones Wood. They were supported
in their difficult venture by a considerable concentration of
artillery, which included the guns of the Twenty-fifth and
Forty-ninth Divisions as well as their own. Jacob, their Corps
leader, was an officer who had risen from the command of an
Anglo-Indian Brigade to that of a Corps within two years. The whole
operation, like all others in this region, was under the direction of
Sir Hubert Gough.
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{265}
[Illustration: PLAN illustrating the Capture of THIEPVAL, September
26th, October 5th, 1916.]
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Every possible preparation was made for the assault, and all the
requirements of prolonged warfare were used to minimise the losses
and ensure the success of the storm-troops. Four tanks were brought
up to co-operate, and one of them, as will be shown, was of vital use
at a critical moment. Instructions were given to the advancing
battalions to let their own shrapnel strike within a few yards of
their toes as they advanced, huddling in a thick line behind the
screen of falling bullets which beat down the machine-guns in front.
With fine judgment in some cases the supports were taken out of the
advanced trenches and {266} concealed here or there so that the
answering barrage of the enemy fell upon emptiness. So war-wise were
the British, and so cool their dispositions, that certain enemy
trenches were actually exempted from bombardment, so that they might
form an intact nucleus of defence when the place was taken.
The Canadian Corps were to attack from Courcelette upon the right,
but their advance was only indirectly concerned with Thiepval
Village, being directed towards the ridge which runs north-west of
Courcelette to the Schwaben Redoubt. Next to the Canadians on the
left was the Eleventh Division, and on their left the Thirteenth,
which had been strengthened by the addition of the 146th Brigade of
the Forty-ninth Division. The latter brigade held the original
British front line during the action so as to release the whole of
the Eighteenth Division for the advance. The immediate objective of
this division was Thiepval Village, to be followed by the Schwaben
Redoubt. Those of the Eleventh Division on its right were Zollern
and Stuff Redoubts.
The Eighteenth Division assaulted with two brigades, the 53rd on the
right, the 54th on the left, each being confronted by a network of
trenches backed by portions of the shattered village. The advance
was from south to north, and at right angles to the original British
trench line. The hour of fate was 12.35 in the afternoon of
September 26.
The average breadth of No Man's Land was 250 yards, which was crossed
by these steady troops at a slow, plodding walk, the pace being
regulated by the searching barrage, which lingered over every
shell-hole in front of them. Through the hard work of the sappers
and Sussex pioneers, the assembly {267} trenches had been pushed well
out, otherwise the task would have been more formidable.
Following the fortunes of the 53rd Brigade upon the right, its
movements were supposed to synchronise with those of the 33rd Brigade
upon the left flank of the Eleventh Division. The right advanced
battalion was the 8th Suffolk, with the 10th Essex upon the left,
each of them in six waves. Close at their heels came the 8th
Norfolk, whose task was to search dug-outs and generally to
consolidate the ground won. The front line of stormers rolled over
Joseph Trench, which was the German advanced position, but before
they had reached it there was a strange eruption of half-dressed
unarmed Germans yelling with terror and bolting through the barrage.
Many of them dashed through the stolid Suffolks, who took no notice
of them, but let them pass. Others lost their nerve like rabbits at
a battue, and darted here and there between the lines until the
shrapnel found them. It was an omen of victory that such clear signs
of shaken moral should be evident so early in the day. There was
sterner stuff behind, however, as our men were speedily to learn.
The advance went steadily forward, cleaning up the trenches as it
went, and crossing Schwaben Trench, Zollern Trench, and Bulgar
Trench, in each of which there was sharp resistance, only quelled by
the immediate presence of our Lewis guns, or occasionally by the rush
of a few determined men with bayonets. It was 2.30 before the
advance was brought to a temporary stand by machine-gun fire from the
right. After that hour a small party of Suffolks under Lieutenant
Mason got forward some distance ahead, and made a strong point which
they held till evening, {268} this gallant young officer falling
under the enemy's fire.
The success of the Suffolks upon the right was equalled by that of
the Essex on the left, passing through the eastern portion of
Thiepval without great loss, for the usual machine-gun fire seemed to
have been stamped out by the British guns. The whole of this fine
advance of the 53rd Brigade covered about 1000 yards in depth and
accounted for a great number of the enemy in killed, wounded, and
prisoners. The advance made and the cost paid both showed that our
officers and soldiers were learning the lessons of modern warfare
with that swift adaptability which Britain has shown in every phase
of this terrific and prolonged test. This old, old nation's blood
has flowed into so many younger ones that her own vitality might well
be exhausted; but she has, on the contrary, above all the combatants,
given evidence of the supple elasticity of youth, moulding herself in
an instant to every movement of the grim giant with whom she fought.
Great as had been the success of the 53rd Brigade, it was not
possible for them to get on to the Schwaben Redoubt, their ultimate
objective, because, as will be shown, matters were more difficult
upon the left, and one corner of the village was still in German
possession. They ended the day, therefore, with two battalions
consolidating the Zollern Line, a third in support in the Schwaben
Trench, and a fourth, the 6th Berks, bringing up munitions and food
to their exhausted but victorious comrades. The front line was much
mixed, but the men were in good heart, and a visit from their
Brigadier in the early morning of the 27th did much to reassure them.
To carry on the story {269} of this brigade to the conclusion of the
attack it may be added that the whole of the 27th was spent on
consolidation and on a daring reconnaissance by a captain of the 53rd
Trench Mortar Battery, who crawled forward alone, and made it clear
by his report that a new concerted effort was necessary before the
Brigade could advance.
We shall now return to 12.35 P.M. on September 26, and follow the
54th Brigade upon the left. The advance was carried out by the 12th
Middlesex, with instructions to attack the village, and by the 11th
Royal Fusiliers, whose task was to clear the maze of trenches and
dug-outs upon the west of the village, while the 6th Northamptons
were to be in close support. So difficult was the task, that a
frontage of only 300 yards was allotted to the Brigade, so as to
ensure weight of attack--the Fusiliers having a front line of one
platoon.
The advance ran constantly into a network of trenches with nodal
strong points which were held with resolution and could only be
carried by fierce hand-to-hand fighting. Captain Thompson,
Lieutenants Miall-Smith and Cornaby, and many of their Fusiliers in
the leading company, were killed or wounded in this desperate
business. So stern was the fight that the Fusiliers on the left got
far behind their own barrage, and also behind their Middlesex
comrades on the right, who swept up as far as the château before they
were brought to a temporary halt. Here, at the very vital moment,
one of the tanks, the only one still available, came gliding forward
and put out of action the machine-guns of the chateau, breaking down
in the effort, and remaining on the scene of its success. Across the
whole front of the {270} advance there were now a series of small
conflicts at close quarters, so stubborn that the left wing of the
Fusiliers was held stationary in constant combat for the rest of the
day. Extraordinary initiative was shown by privates of both leading
battalions when left without officers in this scattered fighting, and
here, no doubt, we have a result depending upon the formed educated
stuff which went to the making of such troops as these London units
of the new armies. Private Edwards and Private Ryder each gained
their V.C. at this stage of the action by single-handed advances
which carried forward the line. Corporal Tovey lost his life in a
similar gallant venture, bayoneting single-handed the crew of a
machine-gun and silencing it. Fierce battles raged round garrisoned
dug-outs, where no quarter was given or taken on either side. One
considerable garrison refused to surrender and perished horribly in
the flames of their wood-lined refuge. Those who fled from their
refuges were cut down by Lewis guns, a lieutenant of the Fusiliers
getting 50 in this manner. This officer also distinguished himself
by his use of a captured map, which enabled him to lead his men to
the central telephone installation, where 20 operators were seized by
a corporal and two files of Fusiliers, who afterwards put the wires
out of gear.
These great results had not been obtained without heavy losses.
Colonel Carr of the Fusiliers, Major Hudson, and the Adjutant had all
fallen. About three in the afternoon the village had all been
cleared save the north-west corner, but the battalions were very
mixed, the barrage deadly, the order of the attack out of gear, and
the position still insecure. The 54th Brigade was well up with the
53rd upon the {271} right, but upon the left it was held up as
already described. The German egg bombs were falling in this area as
thick as snowballs in a schoolboy battle, while the more formidable
stick bombs were often to be seen, twenty at a time, in the air.
A great deal now depended upon the supports, as the front line was
evidently spent and held. The immediate support was the 6th
Northamptons. In moving forward it lost both Colonel Ripley and the
Adjutant, and many officers fell, two companies being left entirely
to the charge of the sergeants, who rose finely to their
responsibilities. When by four o'clock the battalion had got up
through the barrage, there were only two unwounded company officers
left standing, both second lieutenants. It was one more
demonstration of the fact that a modern barrage can create a zone
through which it is practically impossible for unarmoured troops to
move. The result was that the battalion was so weak by the time it
got up, that it was less a support to others than a unit which was in
need of support. The three depleted battalions simply held their
line, therefore, until night, and under the cover of darkness they
were all drawn off, and the remaining battalion, the 7th Bedfords,
took their place. That this could be done at night in strange
trenches within a few yards of the German line is a feat which
soldiers will best appreciate. The result was that as day broke on
the 27th the Germans were faced not by a fringe of exhausted men, but
by a perfectly fresh battalion which was ready and eager for
immediate attack.
The whole of Thiepval had been taken upon the 26th, save only the
north-west corner, and it was upon this that two companies of the
Bedfords were now {272} directed, their objectives being defined for
them by a captain who had fought over the ground the day before.
Thanks to the gallant leadership of another captain and of Lieutenant
Adlam (the latter gaining his Victoria Cross), the place was carried
at small loss, and this last refuge of the Thiepval Germans was
cleared out. It was a glorious achievement, for by it this very
strong point, held against all attacks, French or British, for two
years, passed permanently into our hands. The losses were not
excessive for such a gain, amounting to about 1500 men. Those of the
Germans were very much heavier, and included 600 prisoners drawn from
four different regiments. Over 1000 dead were counted.
We will now hark back to 12.35 P.M., the hour of assault, and follow
the fortunes of the Eleventh or first English Division of the New
Armies which was advancing upon the right of the Eighteenth Division.
Within half an hour of the assault the 33rd Brigade and the 34th had
crossed both the Joseph and the Schwaben Trenches, the 6th Borders,
9th Sherwood Foresters, 8th Northumberland Fusiliers, and 9th
Lancashire Fusiliers forming the front line. Keeping some sort of
touch with Maxse's men on the left they pushed on until their right
wing was held up by violent machine-gun fire from the Zollern Redoubt
and from Mouquet Farm, the losses falling especially upon the 5th
Dorsets. Between six and seven in the evening a mixed body of troops
from the division, assisted by the machine-guns of two stranded
tanks, attacked Mouquet and finally carried it.
The Eighteenth Division had still a very formidable task before it to
be undertaken with the co-operation of the Eleventh upon its right.
This was the capture {273} of the formidable stronghold, made up of
many trenches and called the Schwaben Redoubt. It was a thousand
yards distant up a long broken slope. No time was lost in tackling
this new labour, and at 1 P.M. on September 28 the troops moved
forward once again, the same brigades being used, but the worn
battalions being replaced by fresh units drawn from the 55th Brigade.
The 53rd Brigade on the right had the undefeatable Suffolks and the
7th Queen's Surreys in the van with Norfolks and Essex behind. The
54th upon a narrower front had the 7th Bedfords in front, with the
5th West Yorks from the Forty-ninth Division in immediate support,
the Buffs and East Surrey being in Divisional Reserve. The Germans
had got a captive balloon into the air, but their gunnery was not
particularly improved thereby.
At the first rush the Suffolk and Queen's on the right took Bulgar
and Martin Trenches, while the Eleventh Division took Hessian. By
2.30 Market Trench had also fallen. The troops were now well up to
Schwaben, and small groups of men pushed their way home in spite of a
furious resistance. The Eleventh Division had won home on the right,
and the Suffolks were in touch with them and with the Queen's, so
that the position before evening was thoroughly sound. Part of this
enormous stronghold was still in German hands, however, and all our
efforts could not give us complete control.
Upon the left the 7th Bedfords, leading the 54th Brigade, had made a
very notable advance, crossing Market Trench and getting well up to
the western face of the great Redoubt. The Reserves, however, lost
direction amid the chaos of shell-holes and trenches, drifting away
to the left. The Schwaben was occupied {274} at several points, and
the first-fruits of that commanding position were at once picked, for
the light machine-guns were turned upon the German fugitives as they
rushed with bent backs down the sloping trenches which led to St.
Pierre Divion. The West Yorkshires were well up, and for a time
these two battalions and the Germans seem to have equally divided
this portion of the trench between them. There was stark fighting
everywhere with bomb and bayonet, neither side flinching, and both so
mixed up that neither German nor British commanders could tell how
the units lay. In such a case a General can only trust to his men,
and a British General seldom trusts in vain.
As night fell in this confused scene where along the whole line the
Eighteenth Division had reached its objective but had not cleared it,
attempts were made to bring up new men, the Berkshires, a battalion
of young drafts, relieving the Suffolks on the right. In the morning
two local counter-attacks by the Germans succeeded in enlarging their
area. At the same time the 55th Brigade took over the front, the
four battalions being reunited under their own Brigadier. It was
clear that the German line was thickening, for it was a matter of
desperate urgency to them to recover the Redoubt. They still held
the northern end of the labyrinth. On September 30 the East Surreys,
moving up behind a massive barrage, took it by storm, but were driven
out again before they could get their roots down. The Germans,
encouraged by their success, surged south again, but could make no
headway. On October 1 the tide set northwards once more, and the
Buffs gained some ground. From then till October 5, when the
Eighteenth Division was relieved by the Thirty-ninth, there {275}
were incessant alarms and excursions, having the net result that at
the latter date the whole Redoubt with the exception of one small
section, afterwards taken by the Thirty-ninth, was in our hands. So
ended for the moment the splendid service of the Eighteenth Division.
Nearly 2000 officers and men had fallen in the Schwaben operations,
apart from the 1500 paid for Thiepval. It is certain, however, that
the Schwaben garrison had suffered as much, and they left 232
prisoners in the hands of the victors.
For the purpose of continuity of narrative, we have kept our
attention fixed upon the Eighteenth Division, but the Eleventh
Division, which we have left at Mouquet Farm some pages before, had
been doing equally good work upon the right. In the afternoon of
September 27 the 6th Borders, rushing suddenly from Zollern Trench,
made a lodgment in Hessian Trench, to which they resolutely clung.
On their left the 6th Yorks and 9th West Yorks had also advanced and
gained permanent ground, winning their way into the southern edge of
Stuff Redoubt. Here they had to face a desperate counter-attack, but
Captain White, with a mixed party of the battalions named, held on
against all odds, winning his V.C. by his extraordinary exertions.
During the whole of September 29 the pressure at this point was
extreme, but the divisional artillery showed itself to be extremely
efficient, and covered the exhausted infantry with a most comforting
barrage.
The 32nd Brigade was now brought up, and on September 30 the advance
was resumed, the whole of this brigade and the 6th Lincolns and 7th
South Staffords of the 33rd being strongly engaged. The results were
admirable, as the whole of Hessian Trench {276} and the south of
Stuff Redoubt were occupied. That night the Eleventh Division was
relieved by the Twenty-fifth, and it will now be told how the
conquest of the Ridge was finally achieved. The Eleventh withdrew
after having done splendid work and sustained losses of 144 officers
and 3500 men. Their prisoners amounted to 30 officers and 1125 of
all ranks, with a great number of machine-guns and trench mortars.
After the fall of Thiepval and the operations which immediately
followed it the front British line in this quarter ran approximately
east and west along the Thiepval-Courcelette ridge. As far as part
of the front was concerned we had observation over the Valley of the
Ancre, but in another part the Germans still held on to the Stuff
Redoubt, and thence for a stretch they were still on the crest and
had the observation. The Stuff Redoubt itself on the southern face
had been occupied by the Eleventh, when the Schwaben Redoubt was
taken by the Eighteenth Division, but the northern faces of both were
still in the hands of the enemy. These had now to be taken in order
to clear up the line. A further stronghold, called The Mounds,
immediately to the north, came also within the operation.
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{277}
[Illustration: STUFF REDOUBT SYSTEM showing Hessian, Regina and
Stuff.]
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The Twenty-fifth Division had, as stated, relieved the Eleventh, and
this new task was handed over to it. Upon October 9 the first attack
was made by the 10th Cheshires, and although their full objective was
not reached, the result was satisfactory, a lodgment being made and
100 of the garrison captured, with slight casualties to the stormers,
thanks to the good barrage and the workmanlike way in which they took
advantage of it. A strong attempt {278} on the part of the Germans
to prevent consolidation and to throw out the intruders was quite
unsuccessful.
The 8th North Lancs were now placed in the position of the Cheshires,
while the Thirty-ninth Division upon the left joined in the pressure.
Upon October 10 an attack was made by the 16th Sherwoods supported by
the 17th Rifles of the 117th Brigade; but it had no success. On the
12th there was a renewed attack by units of the 118th Brigade,
chiefly the 4th Black Watch. This succeeded in advancing the line
for a short distance, and upon October 15 it repulsed two local
counter-attacks. Upon the right the 8th North Lancs upon October 14
had a very successful advance, in which they carried with moderate
loss the stretch of line opposite, as well as the position called The
Mounds. Two machine-guns and 125 prisoners were taken.
The British now had observation along the whole ridge with a line of
observation posts pushed out beyond the crest. There were formidable
obstacles upon their right front, however, where the Regina Trench
and a heavily fortified quadrilateral system lay in front of the
troops already mentioned, and also of the Canadians on the
Courcelette line. In order to get ready for the next advance there
was some sidestepping of units, the hard-worked Eighteenth coming in
on the right next the Canadians, the Twenty-fifth moving along, and
the Thirty-ninth coming closer on the left. On October 8 the
Canadians had a sharp action, in which the Ontario, British Columbia,
Alberta, and Winnipeg Battalions showed their usual resolution, and
took a couple of hundred prisoners, but were unable to gain much
ground. A concerted movement of the whole line was now organised.
{279}
The great Stuff Trench, which was roughly a continuation of the
Regina, was opposite the centre of the attack, and was distant some
300 yards from the British front. The barrage arrangements
co-ordinated by the Second Corps (Jacob), to which these units now
belonged, worked most admirably. The attack was made all along the
line and was eminently successful. At 12.35 upon October 21 the
general advance began, and at 4.30 the whole objective, including
Stuff and Regina, was in the hands of the British and Canadians. It
was a fine victory, with 20 machine-guns and 1000 prisoners of the
5th Ersatz and Twenty-eighth Bavarian Divisions as trophies. So
rapid was the consolidation that before morning trenches were opened
out between the captured line and the old British position. A
curious incident in this most successful attack was that the 8th
Border Regiment advanced at least a thousand yards beyond its
objective, but was successful in getting back. By this brilliant
little action the enemy was finally driven down upon a three-mile
front north of Thiepval and Courcelette, until he had no foothold
left save the marshes to the south of the Ancre, where he cowered in
enfiladed trenches for that final clearing up which was only delayed
by the weather. It should be added that on this same date, October
21, the left of the British line, formed by the Thirty-ninth
Division, was attacked by storm-troops of the German Twenty-eighth
Reserve Division, armed with _flammenwerfer_ and supported by 60
light batteries. The attack was formidable, and twice got into the
British line, but was twice driven out again, leaving many prisoners
and trophies behind. The Sussex and Hampshire troops of the 116th
Brigade, aided by the 17th Rifles, {280} stood splendidly to their
work, and ended by holding every inch of their ground, and adding a
new German trench which was carried by the 14th Hants.
From this time onwards this northern section of the line was quiet
save for small readjustments, until the great effort upon November
13, which brought the autumn campaign to a close with the
considerable victory of Beaumont Hamel. From the point which the
Second Corps had now reached it could command with its guns the
Valley of the Ancre to the north of it, including some of those
positions which had repulsed our attack upon July 1 and were still in
German hands. So completely did we now outflank them from the south
that it must have been evident to any student of the map that Haig
was sure, sooner or later, to make a strong infantry advance over the
ground which was so completely controlled by his artillery. It was
the German appreciation of this fact which had caused their desperate
efforts at successive lines of defence to hold us back from gaining
complete command of the crest of the slope. It will be told in the
final chapter of this volume how this command was utilised, and a
bold step was taken towards rolling up the German positions from the
south--a step which was so successful that it was in all probability
the immediate cause of that general retirement of the whole German
front which was the first great event in the campaign of 1917.
{281}