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.
Having described the Battle of Flers, which began upon September 15
and which extended over one, two, or three days according to the
completeness of the local victory, or the difficulty of reaching any
definite limit, we will now turn once more to the left of the line
(always excepting Gough's flanking army, which has been treated
elsewhere), and we shall follow the deeds of the successive divisions
in each sector up to the end of the operations. We will begin with
the Third Corps, who abutted upon the Canadians in the Martinpuich
sector, and covered the line up to Drop Alley, north-east of High
Wood, where they joined up with the Fifteenth Corps.
The line on this western section was less active than on the right,
where the great villages of Combles, Lesboeufs, and Morval were
obvious marks for the advance. After the battle of September 15, the
{282} Twenty-third Division, relieving the Fifteenth, took its
station at the extreme left of the line, just north of Martinpuich.
To the right of the Twenty-third, occupying the Starfish and Prue
system of trenches, was the Fiftieth Division. On their right was
the First, who had relieved the Forty-seventh Division, the victors
of High Wood. These three divisions, Twenty-third, Fiftieth, and
First, now formed the Third Corps. Their fighting patrols were
thrown well out during the days after the battle, and their front
posts were as far north as Crescent Alley and Hook Trench. The
general attack of September 25, which amounted to a considerable
battle, did not seriously affect this portion of the line. The only
operation of note before the end of the month was an attack upon a
farm in the front of their line by the 70th Brigade of the
Twenty-third Division--a brigade which had greatly distinguished
itself during the time it had fought with the Eighth Division upon
July 1. This attack failed the first time, but it was repeated with
success at dawn upon September 29, and the line moved forward to that
limited extent. Another small advance was made by the First Division
on the night of September 25, east of Eaucourt, when a piece of
trench was carried by the gallantry of a platoon of the 2nd Rifles,
consisting almost entirely of Rhodesian volunteers, samples of those
wandering Britons who have played a part in this War which can never
be chronicled. The way in which the distant sons, prodigal or
otherwise, came back to the help of their hard-pressed mother is one
of the most beautiful chapters in the history of the Empire.
The Flers front-line trench bends away from the British position as
it trends towards the north-west, {283} so that although it had been
made good over a large portion in the Battle of Flers, it was still
intact opposite the Third Corps. Upon October 1, however, it was
attacked, and was taken without any great difficulty, though the
Fiftieth in the centre had to fight hard for their section. The
storming battalions, after re-forming, continued their advance, and
occupied the line between Le Sars and Flers. The village of Eaucourt
lay in their path, and was well guarded upon the west by uncut wire,
but a tank rolled its majestic path across it and the shouting
infantry crowded close behind. The 141st Brigade of the
Forty-seventh Division, which had come back once again into the line,
was the first to enter this village, which was the sixteenth torn by
the British from the grip of the invaders since the breaking of the
line, while the French captures stood at an even higher figure.
There was a strong counter-attack upon Eaucourt during the night,
accompanied by a shortage of bombs owing to the fact that the store
had been destroyed by an unlucky shell. The Germans for the time
regained the village, and the ruins were partly occupied by both
armies until October 3, when the British line, once more gathering
volume and momentum, rolled over it for the last time. It had been
stoutly defended by men of a German reserve division, and its capture
had cost us dear. One of the mysteries of the fighting at this stage
was the very varied quality of the resistance, so that the advancing
British were never sure whether they would find themselves faced by
demoralised poltroons, capable of throwing up their hands by the
hundred, or by splendid infantry, who would fight to the death with
the courage of despair.
{284}
Having won Eaucourt, the next village which faced the British line in
this sector was Le Sars, immediately to the north-west. The advance
upon this was carried out amid rain and slush which made military
operations almost impossible. It was again found that the resistance
was very spirited, but the place was none the less carried and
consolidated upon October 7.
In the week preceding the final assault there was hard fighting,
during which the 70th Brigade won its way forward into a favourable
position for the attack. The 8th York and Lancasters particularly
distinguished themselves by their gallantry in clearing by bombing
the outlying German defences, Major Sawyer and Lieutenant de Burgh of
that battalion winning the Cross for their fine leadership upon that
occasion. The decisive attack was carried out by the other two
brigades of the Twenty-third Division, which advanced upon the
village, whilst the Forty-seventh Division made an attempt upon the
formidable Butte of Warlencourt. The latter venture met with no
success, but the former was brilliantly carried out. The advance was
made by the 68th Brigade upon the right and the 69th upon the left,
the Martinpuich-Warlencourt Road being the dividing line between the
two divisions. The attack was at 1.45 P.M., and in broad daylight
the battalions concerned, notably the 12th and 13th Durhams and the
9th Yorks, clambered over their sodden sandbags and waded through the
mud which separated them from the Germans. The numbers were so
reduced that the companies formed only two weak platoons, but none
the less they advanced very steadily. Captain Blake, leading the
first company of Durhams, was shot dead; {285} but another captain
took over both companies and led them straight at the village, both
the 12th Durhams and 9th Yorks reaching the sunken road in front of
the houses at about the same moment. They worked their way down this
and bombed many Germans in their dug-outs. Here, as elsewhere,
experience proved that this system of taking refuge from shell-fire
in deep burrows has very serious military disadvantages, not merely
on account of the difficulty of getting out, but from the more
serious objection that the men, being trained to avoid danger,
continued to shrink from it when it was essential that they should
rush out and face it. The yellow faces and flaccid appearance of our
prisoners showed also the physical results of a troglodytic life.
A single tank which had accompanied the advance was set on fire by a
shell, but the infantry pressed on undismayed, and well backed up by
the 10th and 11th Northumberland Fusiliers and 8th Seaforths, they
soon seized the whole village and firmly consolidated their position.
The success was partly due to the fine handling of machine-guns,
which turned the favourite weapon of the Germans against themselves.
Five of these guns, 8 officers, and 450 men were taken during the
operation.
The Forty-seventh Division, meanwhile, in attempting to make similar
progress upon the right was held up by very heavy rifle and
machine-gun fire. Immediately afterwards, this division, much worn
by its splendid service, was taken out of the line, being replaced by
the Ninth Scottish Division. Their companion Division, the
Fifteenth, had come back upon their left. The weather now became so
abominable and the mud so abysmal, that all prospect {286} of farther
progress in this section had to be abandoned. The old prehistoric
mark called the Butte of Warlencourt, which had long stood up as a
goal in front of the British trenches, proved really to be the final
mark of their advance until a new season should dawn. Upon October
12 there was an attempt to get forward, but the conditions were
impossible, and the results unsatisfactory. In this affair the
gallant Ninth Division had considerable losses, their advance being
conducted with the 26th Brigade upon the right and the South Africans
upon the left. Some small gain was achieved by the former, but the
latter were held up by a deadly machine-gun fire. The Thirtieth
Division was upon the right of the Ninth at this period, and twice
endeavoured to get forwards--once upon the 12th and once upon the
18th; but neither of these attempts had good success, partly owing to
the very bad weather, and partly to the excellent resistance of the
Sixth Bavarian Reserve Division, which is described by those who have
fought against it as one of the very best divisions in the German
army. On the 20th a fresh attack was made by the 27th Brigade with
no success and heavy losses to the 6th Scottish Borderers. Early in
November a renewed attempt was made by the Fiftieth Division to
advance in this quarter, but the country was a morass and no progress
was possible. The Canadians, Forty-eighth and Fiftieth Divisions,
who held the Le Sars front, were condemned to inactivity. From that
time onwards the line of the Third Corps was undisturbed, save for a
strong counter-attack upon November 6, which neutralised a small
advance made upon the 5th. Le Sars and Eaucourt were consolidated
and continued to be the British advanced posts in this quarter. The
{287} conditions of mud and discomfort can only be described as
appalling.
Having briefly traced the work of the Third Corps from the action of
September 15 to the coming of the winter, we shall now turn to the
Fifteenth Corps upon the right and follow their operations from the
same date. It will be remembered that the New Zealanders formed the
left-hand division, and that they had advanced so finely that by the
evening of September 16 they were up to, but not in, Goose Alley and
Factory Corner, from which they were within striking distance of the
Gird System.
Before attacking this, however, it was necessary to get a firmer hold
of Flers Trench, which in its western reaches was still in the hands
of the Germans. It was a desperate business of bombing from traverse
to traverse and overcoming successive barricades upon a very narrow
front where a few determined men could hold up a company. This
difficult business was taken in hand at 8.30 on the night of
September 21 by the 2nd Canterbury Battalion, who advanced down the
trench. It was a Homeric conflict, which lasted for the whole night,
where men stood up to each other at close quarters, clearing away the
dead and dying in order to make room for fresh combatants in the
front line. Down Flers Trench and Drop Alley raged the long
struggle, with crash and flare of bombs, snarl of machine-guns,
shrill whistles from rallying officers, and shouts from the furious
men. The New Zealand Black Watch had gained a portion of the trench,
but the German reinforcements streamed down a communication trench
which opened behind them, and found themselves between the two bodies
of New Zealanders. It was a great fight, but by morning {288} it had
been definitely decided in favour of the men from oversea. The long
section of Flers Trench was cleared and part of Goose Alley, opening
out of it, was held. No less than 350 German dead were picked up,
and a handful of prisoners were left with the victors. The New
Zealand losses were about 150 of all ranks.
On September 25 the New Zealanders tightened their grip upon Goose
Alley, which connects up the Flers and the Gird Systems of trenches.
In the meantime the divisions upon their right were moving to the
north-east of Flers towards the village of Guedecourt, which lay upon
the farther side of the Gird Trenches. The actual attack upon the
village was committed to the Twenty-first Division, who advanced on a
two-brigade front, the 110th Leicester Brigade making straight for
the village itself, while the 64th Brigade upon its right,
strengthened by the inclusion of the 1st Lincolns, was ordered to
occupy 1000 yards of front to the right. The two brigades were not
equally fortunate. The Leicester brigade, by a fine advance, pierced
the Gird Trench, and made their way beyond it. The 64th Brigade was
held up by uncut wire, which they could not penetrate. The result
was that the Leicesters, being heavily counter-attacked, and having
their flanks open, were forced back as far as the Gird Trench, to
which they clung. The position in the evening was a curious one, for
we held the Gird Trench at two different points, but between them lay
a stretch of 1000 yards still occupied by the Germans and faced with
uncut wire. Orders reached the Divisional General during the night
that at all costs the position must be carried. By a happy
inspiration he sent for a tank from Flers, {289} and ordered the
Leicesters to bomb down Gird Trench in co-operation with the tank,
which crawled along the parapet. A strong point had been erected at
the far end of the trench, and the Germans as they rushed away from
the danger ran into a deadly machine-gun fire. The upshot was that a
great number were killed, while 8 officers and 362 men were taken,
with a loss to the attackers of 5 wounded. To add to the quaintness
of the operation, an aeroplane flew low over the trench during its
progress, helping with its bombs to make the victory complete. The
result was far more than the capture of the trench, for the 64th
Brigade, led by the Durhams, at once swept forward and captured their
objective, while the 110th Brigade upon the left reached Guedecourt
under happier auspices and remained in possession of the village.
Although the Gird line had been pierced at this point, it was held in
its western length, and this was attacked upon September 27 by the
New Zealanders and the Fifty-fifth Lancashire Territorial Division,
both of which gained their objectives, so that the whole end of this
great trench system from a point north of Flers passed definitely
into the British possession.
On October 1 there was a fresh general advance which led to no great
change in this part of the line, save that both the New Zealanders
and the Twenty-first Division improved their position, the latter
getting as far as Bayonet Trench. Shortly afterwards the New
Zealanders were drawn out, having been 23 consecutive days in the
line, and earned themselves a great reputation. "The division has
won universal confidence and admiration," said Sir Douglas Haig. "No
praise can be too high for such troops."
We now turn to the Fourteenth Corps, which filled {290} the remainder
of the British line up to the point of its junction with the French.
During the battle the division of Guards had, as will be remembered,
held the left of this line, but on the day after it was replaced for
a short time by the Twentieth Division, whose 61st Brigade,
especially the 7th Cornwalls and 12th King's, were heavily engaged.
The 60th Brigade had pushed up into the fighting line, and received a
strong German counter-attack in the morning of the 17th, which broke
down before the rifles of the 6th Shropshire Light Infantry. In the
afternoon the 59th Brigade advanced upon the left and the 60th upon
the right, closing in upon the Morval position. The 12th King's
Royal Rifles of the latter brigade was held up by a strong point and
lost heavily, but the general effect was to bring the British line
nearer to the doomed village. Twice upon the 18th, German
counter-attacks swarmed down upon the exposed right flank of the 60th
Brigade, but each time they were blown back by the fire of the 12th
Rifle Brigade and the 12th Rifles. The 59th Brigade had made no
progress, the two Rifle Brigade battalions (10th and 11th) having
particularly heavy losses upon the 17th, but they were holding their
line strongly. It was impossible to do more for the moment, for the
Sixth Division upon their right was still hung up, as already
described, by the Quadrilateral. Shortly after that obstacle had
been overcome, the Guards took over once more from the Twentieth, and
were ready in conjunction with the Sixth and Fifth Divisions for a
serious advance upon Morval and Lesboeufs.
On September 22 the 3rd Guards Brigade was in touch with the
Twenty-first Division upon the left, which was now holding Gird
Trench and Gird Support {291} as far north as Watling Street. On
this day the 4th Grenadiers, reverting after centuries to the weapon
which their name implies, were bombing their way up Gas Alley, which
leads towards Lesboeufs. On the 23rd the Twenty-first on the left,
the Guards in the centre, and the Sixth Division were advancing and
steadily gaining ground to the north-east, capturing Needle Trench,
which is an off-shoot from the Gird System. On the 24th the Germans
counter-attacked upon the 16th Brigade, the blow falling upon the 1st
Buffs, who lost four bays of their trench for a short period, but
speedily drove the intruders out once more. The 14th Durham Light
Infantry also drove off an attack. The Fifth Division was now coming
up on the right of the Sixth, and played a considerable part in the
decisive attack upon September 25.
On this date an advance of the four divisions on this section of the
line carried all before it, the Twenty-first being north of Delville
Wood, the 3rd Brigade of the Guards operating on the German trenches
between Guedecourt and Lesboeufs, the 1st Brigade of Guards upon the
left of the village of Lesboeufs, the Sixth Division upon the right
of Lesboeufs, and the Fifth Division on Morval.
In this attack the 4th Grenadiers upon the extreme left of the Guards
were badly punished, for the Twenty-first upon their left had been
held up, but the rest came along well, the 1st Welsh forming a
defensive flank upon the left while the other battalions reached
their full objective and dug in, unmolested save by our own barrage.
The 1st Irish and 3rd Coldstream, who were on the left of the 1st
Brigade, also got through without heavy loss and occupied the
trenches to the immediate north and north-east of Lesboeufs. {292}
The 2nd Grenadiers, who led the right of the Brigade, with their
supporting battalion the 2nd Coldstream, headed straight for the
village, and were held up for a time by uncut wire, but the general
attack upon the right was progressing at a rate which soon took the
pressure off them.
The British infantry were swarming round Lesboeufs in the early
afternoon, and about 3.15 the 1st West Yorks of the 18th Brigade
penetrated into it, establishing touch with the Guards upon their
left. They were closely followed by their old battle companions, the
2nd Durham Light Infantry. The German resistance was weaker than
usual, and the casualties were not severe. On the Morval front the
15th Brigade of the Fifth Division, with the 95th Brigade upon their
right, were making a steady and irresistible advance upon Morval.
The 1st Norfolks and 1st Cheshires were in the front, and the latter
battalion was the first to break into the village with the 1st
Bedfords, 2nd Scots Borderers, and 16th Royal Welsh Fusiliers in
close support. The 1st Cheshires particularly distinguished itself;
and it was in this action that Private Jones performed his almost
incredible feat of capturing single-handed and bringing in four
officers and 102 men of the 146th Würtemberg Regiment, including four
wearers of the famous Iron Cross. The details of this extraordinary
affair, where one determined and heavily-armed man terrorised a large
company taken at a disadvantage, read more like the romantic exploit
of some Western desperado who cries "Hands up!" to a drove of
tourists, than any operation of war. Jones was awarded the V.C., and
it can have been seldom won in such sensational fashion.
{293}
Whilst the 15th Brigade of the Fifth Division attacked the village of
Morval the 95th Brigade of the same division carried the German
trenches to the west of it. This dashing piece of work was
accomplished by the 1st Devons and the 1st East Surreys. When they
had reached their objective, the 12th Gloucesters were sent through
them to occupy and consolidate the south side of the village. This
they carried out with a loss of 80 men. In the evening a company of
the 6th Argylls, together with the 2nd Home Company Royal Engineers,
pushed on past the village and made a strong point against the
expected counter-attack; while the 15th Brigade extended and got into
touch with the 2nd York and Lancasters of the Sixth Division upon
their left. It was a great day of complete victory with no regrets
to cloud it, for the prisoners were many, the casualties were
comparatively few, and two more village sites were included by one
forward spring within the British area. The Town Major of Morval
stood by his charge to the last and formed one of the trophies. On
the 26th the Germans came back upon the Guards at about one o'clock,
but their effort was a fiasco, for the advancing lines came under the
concentrated fire of six batteries of the 7th Divisional Artillery.
Seldom have Germans stampeded more thoroughly. "Hundreds of the
enemy can be seen retiring in disorder over the whole front. They
are rushing towards Beaulencourt in the wildest disorder." Such was
the report from a forward observer. At the same time a tank cleared
the obstacles in front of the Twenty-first Division and the whole
line was straight again. The British consolidated their positions
firmly, for it was already evident {294} that they were likely to be
permanent ones. The Guards and Fifth Division were taken out of the
line shortly afterwards, the Twentieth Division coming in once more
upon September 26, while upon September 27 the French took over part
of the line, pushing the Twentieth Division to the left, where they
took over the ground formerly held by the Twenty-first. Upon October
1 the 61st Brigade was ordered to push forward advanced posts and
occupy a line preparatory to future operations. This was well
carried out and proved of great importance when a week later attacks
were made upon Cloudy and Rainbow Trenches.
Leaving this victorious section of the line for the moment, we must
turn our attention to the hard-worked and splendid Fifty-sixth
Division upon their right, whose operations were really more
connected with those of the French on their right than with their
comrades of the Fourteenth Corps upon the left. By a happy chance it
was the French division of the same number with which they were
associated during much of the time. It will be remembered that at
the close of the Flers action (September 15 and on), the Fifty-sixth
Division was holding a defensive flank to the south, in the region of
Bouleaux Wood, part of which was still held by the Germans. They
were also closing in to the southwards, so as to co-operate with the
French, who were approaching Combles from the other side. On
September 25, while the Fifth were advancing upon Morval, the
Fifty-sixth played an important part, for the 168th, their left
brigade, carried the remainder of Bouleaux Wood, and so screened the
flank of the Fifth Division. One hundred men and four machine-guns
were captured in this movement. On the 26th, as the woods {295} were
at last clear, the division turned all its attention to Combles, and
at 3.15 in the afternoon of that day fighting patrols of the 169th
Brigade met patrols of the French in the central square of the town.
The Germans had cleverly evacuated it, and the booty was far less
than had been hoped for, but none the less its capture was of great
importance, for it was the largest place that had yet been wrenched
out of the iron grasp of Germany. After the fall of Combles the
French, as already stated, threw out their left wing upon that side
so as to take over the ground which had been covered by the
Fifty-sixth Division, and afterwards by the Fifth Division.
On September 30 the Fifty-sixth Division took over from the Guards,
and again found itself upon the right of the British line, and in
touch with the new dispositions of the French. On its left was the
Twentieth Division, and on their left the Sixth. These three
divisions now found themselves opposite to a long line of trenches,
to which various meteorological names had been given, though the
actual meteorological conditions at the time formed a greater
obstacle than the defences in front of them. A simple diagram (p.
296) will show more clearly than any words how these formidable
trenches lay with regard to the British advance.
It may well seem to the reader that the defenders are bound to have
the best of the argument when they can thus exchange one line for
another, and as quickly as they are beaten out of one set of
strongholds confront their enemy with another one. No doubt so long
as the lines are stoutly held this is true as regards the rate of
advance. But as far as it concerns the losses which mark that vital
attrition which was {297} wearing Germany to the bone it was very
different. These trenches were not like the old permanent
fortifications where German officers in a 30-foot dug-out could smile
over the caricatures in _Ulk_ and smoke an indolent cigarette, while
the impotent British shells pitted the earth-surface far above them.
There was no such shelter in these hastily-constructed burrows, while
the guns which raked and pounded them grew stronger and more numerous
from day to day. Let the machine-gun do its worst, the heavy gun is
still the master of the field, for the machine-gun can only levy its
toll when circumstances favour it, while day or night the heavy gun
is a constant dread. We have had to mourn the swathes of our dead in
the open, but the Germans lay as thick amid the clay and chalk of the
Picardy ditches. With fine manhood they clung to them and beat back
our infantry where they could, but the tales of deserters, the
letters found on the wounded, and the condition of the trenches when
taken, all told the same story of terrible loss.
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{296}
[Illustration: METEOROLOGICAL TRENCHES, September 30-November 6,
1916.]
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On October 7 there was an infantry attack upon this trench system in
which the Forty-first, Twelfth, Twentieth, and Fifty-sixth Divisions,
together with the French, all took part in the order named from the
left. The weather was most execrable, and its vileness told entirely
against the Allies, since it was they who had to move, and since the
superior gun-power needed for a modern attack was largely neutralised
by the difficulty in using aircraft observation. The attack was at
1.45 P.M., when the troops advanced under a heavy barrage along the
whole sodden and slippery front. The results were unequal, though
the infantry behaved everywhere with their wonted valour and
perseverance.
{298}
The 122nd Brigade upon the extreme left of the attack could only get
on about a hundred yards, so heavy was the fire; while the 124th to
the right of them could do little better, and eventually dug in at a
point 200 yards short of the Bayonet Trench, which was their
immediate objective. Seventy officers and nearly 1300 men fell
during this attack of the Forty-first Division, which was handicapped
in many ways, for the men were weary, it was too cloudy for
reconnaissance, the battalions were already depleted, and the enemy
was fresh and unshaken. The success of the Twelfth Division upon the
right of the Forty-first was little better. The 36th and 37th
Brigades endured heavy losses, especially in the case of the two
Royal Fusilier battalions and of the 6th Buffs, whose colonel greatly
distinguished himself. In spite of every effort and considerable
loss there were no permanent gains of importance at this point.
Things went better, however, with the Twentieth Division upon the
right. The two brigades in the front line were the 61st upon the
left and the 60th on the right. The leading battalions, counting
from the left, were the 7th Yorks Light Infantry, 12th King's
Liverpool, 6th Oxford and Bucks, and 12th Rifle Brigade. The troops
had to endure a considerable shelling before leaving their trenches,
but it seemed only to add additional fire to their advance, which
swept over the low ridge in front of them, and took a long stretch of
Rainbow Trench. The right attack was slower than the left, as it ran
into a dip of the ground in which the Germans had some cleverly-sited
wire entanglement, unseen and untouched by our guns. Nothing
daunted, the Oxford {299} and Bucks proceeded to cut lanes through
the wire under heavy fire, and one officer of the battalion had
actually succeeded in crawling under it when he was shot at
point-blank range from the German trench, The front line had now done
its work and rested in Rainbow, while the second line--consisting,
from the left, of the 7th Somersets, 7th Cornwalls, 6th Shropshires,
and 12th Rifles--swept onwards in splendid form, capturing both
Cloudy and Misty Trenches. There the victorious infantry dug
themselves in on the forward slope of the ridge. The brigades were
ahead of their comrades, with the result that their flanks were
exposed, they suffered from enfilade fire, and it was necessary to
form defensive flanks. Two counter-attacks were made during the day,
but both were beaten off. The prisoners captured in this fine
advance were 5 officers and 187 men, with 5 machine-guns and 2
trench-mortars. By the morning of the 8th strong points had been
made and the whole line was defiant of recapture.
The Fifty-sixth Division had advanced with equal valour upon the
right and had made good progress, though its gains had not been so
substantial as those of the Twentieth. The 167th Brigade had
attacked upon the left and the 168th upon the right. They ended with
the 7th Middlesex, their flank battalion upon the left in touch with
the Twentieth Division in Rainbow, while the London Scots on the
extreme right were in touch with the French in Hazy Trench. The
fighting was bitter, however, the men wearied, and the conditions
abominable. All the battalions lost heavily, the 4th London being
the chief sufferer, for it was on the left flank of the 168th Brigade
and was held up by a particularly murderous {300} machine-gun. In
the evening a strong German counter-attack, rushing in upon Hazy
Trench behind a thick shower of bombs, drove back both the 168th
Brigade and the French to their own original line. For the time the
advance had failed upon the right.
The 167th Brigade had held on to Rainbow and were now bombing their
way down Spectrum. They held their ground there during the night,
and on October 8 were still advancing, though the 3rd London coming
up to reinforce ran into a heavy barrage and were sadly cut up. The
British barrage was found to be practically useless because the guns
had been brought up too near. The 169th Brigade had come up on the
right and was hotly engaged, the London Rifle Brigade getting up
close to Hazy and digging in parallel to it, with their left in touch
with the Victorias. The Germans, however, were still holding Hazy,
nor could it be said in the evening that the British were holding
either of the more advanced trenches, Dewdrop or Rainy. In the
evening the London Rifle Brigade were forced to leave their new
trench because it was enfiladed from Hazy, and to make their way back
to their old departure trenches as best they could, dragging with
them a captured machine-gun as a souvenir of a long and bloody day's
work. On October 9 the British held none of the points in dispute in
this section on the right, save only a portion of Spectrum. There
was a pause in this long and desperate fight which was conducted by
tired infantry fighting in front of tired guns, and which left the
survivors of both sides plastered with mud from head to heel. When
it was resumed, the two British divisions, the Twentieth and
Fifty-sixth, which had {301} done such long service in the line, and
were greatly reduced, had been withdrawn. The Fourth Division had
taken the place of the Londoners, while the Sixth, itself very worn,
had relieved the Twentieth.
On October 12 both these divisions delivered an attack together with
the French and with the Fifteenth Corps upon their left. The 14th
Durham Light Infantry were in Rainbow on the left and were in touch
with the 1st West Yorks of the 18th Brigade upon their right, but
could find no one upon their left, while the German pressure was very
strong. The 18th Brigade worked along Rainbow, therefore, until it
got into touch with the Twelfth Division upon their left. The
Twelfth Division had been lent the 88th Brigade of the Twenty-ninth
Division, and this gallant body, so terribly cut up on July 1, had an
instalment of revenge. They won their objective, and it is pleasant
to add that the Newfoundlanders especially distinguished themselves.
The 16th Brigade upon the right attacked Zenith Trench, the 2nd York
and Lancaster leading the rush. The position could not be held,
however, by battalions which were depleted by weeks of constant
strain and loss. A report from a company officer says: "The few
unwounded sheltered in trench holes and returned in the dusk. The
fire was too strong to allow them to dig in. The Brigade line is
therefore the same as before the attack."
Whilst the Sixth Division had been making this difficult and
fruitless attack the Fourth Division upon their right had been
equally heavily engaged in this horrible maze of mud-sodden trenches,
without obtaining any more favourable result. The 12th Brigade
fought on the immediate right of the 16th, some of {302} them
reaching Spectrum, and some of them Zenith. The 2nd West Ridings and
2nd Lancashire Fusiliers were the heaviest sufferers, the latter
holding a line of shell-holes in front of Spectrum where they were
exposed to a terrible barrage. The 10th Brigade were on their right,
and one battalion, the 1st Warwick, reached Foggy, but was unable to
hold it under the crushing fire. By the evening of October 13,
however, the whole of Spectrum had at last been seized, and the
enemy, who attempted to bomb along it from Dewdrop, were repulsed.
On October 18, the 88th Brigade again had a success, the 2nd Hants
and 4th Worcesters doing particularly well. For a time the fighting
died down, the British licking their wounds and sharpening their
claws for a fresh grapple with these redoubtable trenches.
This came upon October 23, when there was an advance at 2.45 in the
afternoon by the Fourth Division upon the right and the Eighth
Division upon the left. The three-brigade front covered by the
Eighth Division is indicated by the fact that the 2nd East
Lancashires, the left battalion of the left brigade (24th), was
directed upon the junction between Mild and Cloudy, while the right
brigade (23rd) had Zenith for its objective. The first attack of the
left brigade failed, but the second brought them into Cloudy. By
4.15 the 2nd Scots Rifles of the 23rd Brigade had penetrated the
right of Zenith, and some small parties had even moved on to Orion
beyond. The central brigade (25th) had won its way up to Misty, the
2nd Lincolns, 2nd Berks, and 2nd Rifle Brigade in the lead. In the
meantime the East Lancashires on the left were endeavouring to bomb
their way down the maze of trenches, filled {303} with yard-deep mud,
which separated them from their comrades. The fighting was
desperate, however, and the losses considerable. The 2nd Lincolns
had got detached in the labyrinth, and were out of touch with their
companions. At 6.45 the Germans came again in strength and those of
the Scots Rifles who had gained Orion were driven back. The
casualties in this splendid battalion, which had suffered so often
and so much, were once again very severe.
The Fourth Division had also had a hard fight upon the right and had
made no great progress. The French upon their right had been held up
after an initial advance. The 12th Brigade attacked Dewdrop, but
were unable to hold it. The 11th had seized Hazy, but their grip of
it was still precarious. Every position was raked with machine-guns
and clogged with the all-pervading and often impassable morass. In
mud and blood and driving rain, amid dirt and death, through day and
night, the long death-grapple never ceased until exhaustion and
winter brought a short surcease.
Upon the 24th the hard-earned gains in these trenches were
consolidated. In the sector of the Eighth Division they were
substantial and justified the hope that this obdurate line would go
the way of all the others which had barred the army. Had it been
earlier in the season it would have been easy to wait for clear
weather, beat them into pulp with heavy guns, and then under a good
barrage capture them by assault. But this could not be done, for Sir
Douglas Haig could not afford to wait, with winter coming on and only
a few weeks or days left in which to bring his men forward to their
final line. The general position upon October 24 was that the 2nd
{304} Middlesex of the 24th Brigade held Zenith in part, that the
25th Brigade was in Gusty and held part of Misty, while the 23rd
Brigade had made no advance upon the right but their left was in
Cloudy and Mild.
Upon this date the Thirty-third Division came up to relieve the
Fourth, and upon September 28 it made a brilliant advance which
altered the whole situation in this section. At 7 A.M. on that date
the 4th King's Liverpool of the 98th Brigade by a sudden dash carried
the whole of Dewdrop, taking 100 prisoners. The 19th Brigade upon
the right kept up with the advance, and before evening Frosty,
Gunpits, and Dewdrop had all been included in the British line.
There was a pause after this advance, and then upon November 5 there
was another advance of the Thirty-third, together with the French.
Again there was a good gain, which was effected by the 100th Brigade
on the right, and the 19th upon the left. Mirage, Boritzka, and Hazy
were all reported as being at last in our hands. The 5th Scottish
Rifles, 16th King's Royal Rifles, and 20th Fusiliers all
distinguished themselves, and all--especially the last-named--met
with considerable losses in this attack. The Seventeenth Division,
which had for a few days taken the place of the Eighth, joined in
this advance and extended the ground upon their front, the fighting
falling chiefly to the 50th Brigade, in which the 7th York and 7th
East York were the principal sufferers. Great work was also done by
the 51st Brigade, the 7th Borders and the 7th Lincolns particularly
distinguishing themselves. These battalions not only cleared up
Zenith Trench, but upon the Germans countering they reserved their
fire until the stormers were within 40 yards of them, and {305} then
mowed down several hundreds of them. "The men marched back seven
miles last night," wrote one of the officers, "after fighting for
forty-eight hours without sleep, singing at the tops of their voices
all the way. Priceless fellows!"
On November 7 the Eighth Division was at work again, taking 1100
yards of front, 5 machine-guns, and 80 prisoners. The season was now
far advanced and prematurely wet and cold, so that winter lines were
formed by the British in this quarter with the village of Le Transloy
in their immediate front. Over the rest of the line facing north
there had been no serious attempt at advance during this period, and
the only fighting to be recorded was on the part of the Anzac Corps,
who came in at the end of October, and took over the whole front of
the Fifteenth Corps in the centre of the line. These troops joined
the attack already recorded upon November 5, and captured that
portion of Gird Support Trench which was not yet in our possession.
For a time they held Bayonet Trench, but were driven out by a strong
bombing attack by the 5th Regiment of the Fourth Prussian Guards
Division. The Australians and the 50th Brigade worked in close
co-operation during these hard days, and it is pleasing to find the
high opinion which they entertained of each other. "On several
occasions," says an Australian, "we had to rely on Yorkshire grit to
support our division at critical moments, and the Tikes never failed
us once. We owe a big debt to the East Yorkshires in particular. We
found them the most loyal of comrades." This sentiment was heartily
reciprocated by the Imperial troops.
The fighting now died down in this quarter and {306} the winter lull
had set in, leaving the front British trenches some hundreds of yards
from Le Transloy and the Bapaume Road. It would be an ungenerous
Briton who would not admit that in holding us off from it so long,
even if we make every allowance for the weather and its disastrous
consequences to the attack, the Germans performed a fine feat of
arms. It was done by fresh units which had not suffered from the
gruelling which their comrades had received upon the Somme, and which
would no doubt have been worn down in time, as the others had been,
but they fought with great tenacity and certainly prevented our
winter line from being as far forward as we had hoped.
Whilst giving the German army every credit for its tenacious
resistance and for the hard digging by which it constructed so many
lines of defence that five months of hard fighting and a dozen
separate victories had been unable to carry the attackers through
them, we must still insist upon the stupendous achievement of the
British. Nearly every division had passed through the fiery ordeal
of the Somme, many of them twice and thrice, and each had retired
with fresh honour and new records of victory. Apart from great days
of battle like July 1, July 14, September 15, and September 26, when
many miles of German trench were carried with a corresponding number
of prisoners and guns, there was a separate epic round each village
and wood, so that the names of many of them will find immortality in
military history. High Wood, Trones Wood, Mametz Wood, and Delville
Wood each represents a very terrible local battle. So, too, do such
village names as Ovillers, Contalmaison, Pozières, Thiepval,
Longueval, Ginchy, and especially Guillemont. {307} Every one of
these stern contests ended with the British infantry in its
objective, and in no single case were they ever driven out again. So
much for the tactical results of the actions. As to the strategic
effect, that was only clearly seen when the threat of renewed
operations in the spring caused the German army to abandon all the
positions which the Somme advance had made untenable, and to fall
back upon a new line many miles to the rear. The Battle of the Marne
was the turning-point of the first great German levy, the Battle of
the Somme that of the second. In each case the retirement was only
partial, but each clearly marked a fresh step in the struggle, upward
for the Allies, downward for the Central Powers.
In the credit for this result the first place must be given to the
efficiency of British leadership, which was admirable in its
perseverance and in its general conception, but had, it must be
admitted, not yet attained that skill in the avoidance of losses
which was gradually taught by our terrible experiences and made
possible by our growing strength in artillery. The severe
preliminary bombardment controlled by the direct observation which is
only possible after air supremacy has been attained, the
counter-battery work to reduce the enemy's fire, the creeping barrage
to cover the infantry, the discipline and courage which enable
infantry to advance with shrapnel upon their very toes, the use of
smoke clouds against flank fire, the swift advance of the barrage
when a trench has fallen so as to head off fugitives and stifle the
counter-attack, all these devices were constantly improving with
practice, until in the arts of attack the British Army stood ahead
even of their comrades of France. An intercepted communication in
the shape of a {308} report from General von Arnim, commanding the
Fourth German Army, giving his experience of the prolonged battle,
speaks of British military efficiency in every arm in a manner which
must have surprised the General Staff if they were really of opinion
that General Haig's army was capable of defence but not of attack.
This report, with its account of the dash and tenacity of the British
infantry and of the efficiency of its munitions, is as handsome a
testimonial as one adversary ever paid to another, and might be
called magnanimous were it not that it was meant for no eye save that
of his superiors.
But all our leadership would have been vain had it not been supported
by the high efficiency of every branch of the services, and by the
general excellence of the _materiel_. As to the actual value of the
troops, it can only be said with the most absolute truth that the
infantry, artillery, and sappers all lived up to the highest
traditions of the Old Army, and that the Flying Corps set up a fresh
record of tradition, which their successors may emulate but can never
surpass. The materiel was, perhaps, the greatest surprise both to
friend and foe. We are accustomed in British history to find the
soldier retrieving by his stubborn valour the difficulties caused by
the sluggish methods of those who should supply his needs. Thanks to
the labours of the Ministry of Munitions, of Sir William Robertson,
and of countless devoted workers of both sexes, toiling with brain
and with hand, this was no longer so. That great German army which
two years before held every possible advantage that its prolonged
preparation and busy factories could give it, had now, as General von
Arnim's report admits, fallen into the inferior place. It was a
magnificent {309} achievement upon which the British nation may well
pride itself, if one may ever pride oneself on anything in a drama so
mighty that human powers seem but the instruments of the huge
contending spiritual forces behind them. The fact remains that after
two years of national effort the British artillery was undoubtedly
superior to that of the Germans, the British Stokes trench-mortars
and light Lewis machine-guns were the best in Europe, the British
aeroplanes were unsurpassed, the British Mills bomb was superior to
any other, and the British tanks were an entirely new departure in
the art of War. It was the British brain as well as the British
heart and arm which was fashioning the future history of mankind.
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