BRITISH FORWARD MOVEMENT--BATTLE OF FESTUBERT
To aid the French in the Artois, the British made a forward movement
in the Festubert region in May, 1915. Its purpose was to prevent the
Seventh German Corps from sending troops and artillery to reenforce
Lens. Moreover the British, if they succeeded, would take the Aubers
ridge, which they had tried to gain in the battle of Neuve Chapelle.
If they could capture the Aubers ridge, the way would be opened to
Lille and La Bassee. The action began on Sunday morning, May 9, 1915,
in the region between Bois Grenier and Festubert, and was a part of
the forward movement of the British from Armentieres to La Bassee.
Part of the First Corps and the Indian Corps marched forward on the
right from the Rue du Bois toward the southern part of the Bois du
Biez, where there had been much fighting before. The principal attack
was made by the Eighth Division on Rouges Bancs, not far from
Fromelles and the Aubers ridge, near where the British had been
stopped in the battle of Neuve Chapelle. At approximately the same
time that General Sir Douglas Haig with the British First Army reached
the slightly elevated plateau in front of Lille, General Foch with a
large body of French troops made a desperate attack on the Germans on
their front from La Bassee to Arras. The French and British had joined
their efforts here, not only to relieve the pressure which was being
exerted on Ypres and to take Lille, which dominated a region rich in
coal, but also for the purpose of keeping the Germans so busy on the
western front that none could be sent to the eastern front and
further embarrass Russia. The artillery of both the British and French
attempted to wreck the German trenches before their infantry should be
sent against their foe. In this effort the British, using principally
shrapnel, made little headway; but their ally, using high-explosive
shells, such as they had been hurling at the Germans for weeks at the
rate of a hundred thousand a day, was successful. Soon the Teutons'
front was screened by clouds of yellow, green, black and white smoke.
But this was not to be a one-sided artillery engagement, and the
Germans soon had their artillery in action. They trained it on their
enemies' trenches, believing from the size of the bombardment that an
assault was soon to be made and that the trenches would be filled with
troops. Their surmise was correct, but the Allies had suspected their
opponents would reason thus, so the French and British infantry were
in covered positions. Of course the Germans did not know how well
their opponents were protected, so they sent thousands of shells
against the allied positions. And again the allied artillerists
replied in kind. This time they caught the German reenforcements, with
the result that many of them were slain before they could reach their
own front. In this work the British shrapnel was more effective than
the French high-explosive shells.
The bombardment was continued vigorously for three-quarters of an
hour. That the allied range finders had been doing accurate work was
evidenced by the appearance of the German trenches when the British
and French fire was turned against the supporting German trenches; but
the Teutons' wire entanglements remained intact. Heretofore the big
guns had been able to sweep such obstructions away. When the infantry
reached the barbed wire, it found the Germans had improved this
particular method of defense by using specially manufactured wire
cable, well barbed, which was from one and one-half to two inches in
diameter. And, to protect their cable entanglements, the Germans had
built parapets in front of the entanglements. Their enemy's charging
infantry coming upon such an obstruction could not cut it, and the
only means of circumventing this new device was for the attacking
force to throw their overcoats on the entanglements and crawl across
the wire in the face of rifle and machine-gun fire.
For a considerable distance along this part of the front the distance
between the German and British trenches was not more than two hundred
yards. At not a few sections the opposing trenches were near enough to
permit the soldiers to converse with their opponents. The trenches for
the most part were built on the marshland with sandbags, those of the
British being khaki-colored, and the German being black and white.
When the inevitable order to charge was given, the British artillery
shifted its range to the German rear and the Eighth Division dashed
over the black and white sandbags behind which the Germans were
crouching. Beyond them was a ridge, in horseshoe formation, which was
the last barrier that lay between the Allies and the plains that led
to Lille. This ridge trails off in a northeasterly direction at Rouges
Bancs. Near the hamlet there was a small wood which had been taken by
the Pathans and Gurkhas before the cannonade started. Among the
regiments that led the attack of the Eighth Division were the
Kensington Battalion of the London Regiment, the First Gloucesters,
the Second Sussex, and the Northamptons. They were supported by the
Liverpool Territorials, the First North Lancashires, the Second King's
Royal Rifles, and the Sussex Territorials. The Germans had large
bodies of reenforcements held at Lille, but they were unavailing; and
the British took the first line of trenches though it required fifteen
and a half hours to do it. Then they went on until they were on the
slope of the ridge. Beyond that, however, it seemed impossible to
proceed, for the Germans had such an array of machine guns trained on
the approach to their second line of trenches that no human being
could live in the face of their deadly fire. The British needed an
equipment with which to bombard their enemy with high-explosive
shells. Such an equipment they did not possess.
The German commander played a clever trick on the British when their
First Army Corps and their Indian Division attempted to make progress
in the triangle to the west of La Bassee. He evacuated his first two
lines of trenches while the artillery was doing what it could to
demolish his parapets; but his men were drawn up in the third line of
trenches waiting for the inevitable advance of the British. This third
line of trenches was protected with armor plate and concrete. Moreover
he had planted a large number of machine guns in the brickfield near
La Bassee. The British dashed forward until they were in range of the
machine guns. Then they suffered such severe losses that they were
forced to retreat, even though they had almost taken the inviting
German trenches. The Highlanders and the Bedfords had made a gallant
charge and felt especially humiliated to have to withdraw when victory
was about to perch on their banners. They believed that a lack of
reenforcements was responsible for their nonsuccess.
The day's fighting ended with the First Army of the British driven
back except in the center. There the Kensington Territorial Battalion
made a remarkable record for itself. In the morning when the British
artillery ceased firing, the Kensington men dashed from their trenches
and captured three lines of the German trenches at the point of the
bayonet. A part of the battalion, in its eagerness to win the day,
went on up the ridge. At the same time one of its companies turned to
the left and another to the right, and with bayonet and bomb drove the
Germans from the trenches for a distance of 200 yards. The Kensingtons
were doing the work that had been set for them to do; but two regular
battalions, one to their left and the other to their right, were not
as able to comply with the orders they had received. The regulars were
stopped by wire entanglements that the artillery had failed to smash,
and, at the same time, they were raked by machine-gun fire. Hence they
were unable to keep up with the Territorials. In fact the regulars
never got up to the Kensington men; but were forced to retire. This
left the Territorials in a most precarious condition. They had gained
such an important point on the German line that a heavy fire was
directed against them. But the British would not give up what they had
taken. Instead of retiring, they sent for reenforcements which were
promised to them. In the meantime the Germans gave up trying to blow
the Kensingtons out of their position and made a counterattack. The
left wing of the plucky Territorial battalion used bombs effectively
to hold their enemy at bay. The right wing at the same time was kept
busy in its attempt to prevent being enveloped. In spite of all the
Germans could do with their artillery and their repeated
counterattacks the West London men maintained their small wedge in the
Teuton front. Finally trench mortars were brought against them. Then
the Kensington battalion, or what was left of it, received the order
to retire. To do that necessitated fighting their way back through the
thickening line of their enemy. Those British Territorials had held
their peculiar position several hours, and had suffered severely in
consequence; but their loss was undoubtedly much larger when retiring
to their former line. They fought the greater part of the afternoon
and well into the evening in endeavoring to get back; and finally a
comparatively few of them succeeded. The last dash to the British
trenches was made over a barren piece of ground which was so flat that
there was no opportunity for concealment. And here the Germans raked
what was left of the battalion with rifle and machine-gun fire.
Ultimately, however, a portion of the brave band returned to the
British trenches. Previous to withdrawing the survivors from the
front, General Sir Henry Rawlinson told them that their gaining the
position which they took and holding it as long as they did had not
only relieved the pressure on Ypres but had aided General Foch's army
to advance between Arras and La Bassee. In conclusion he said: "It was
a feat of arms surpassed by no battalion in this great war."
The Sussex and Northampton troops made a desperate effort to get into
the German trenches on the morning in which this action started, but
they never got nearer than forty yards, being stopped by the deluge of
shrapnel, rifle, and machine-gun fire to which they were subjected.
When they were ordered to return to the British trenches, those who
remained able to make the attempt found it quite as dangerous as
trying to go forward. That afternoon the Black Watch and the First
Cameronians charged where the Sussex and Northamptons had been
repulsed, but the Scotchmen had but little more success. It is true
some of the men from the land of the heather got into the German
trenches; but they did not survive. The determination of the British
was shown when men, who had been wounded in the first charge and been
unable to return to their own line, joined the Scots in their mad rush
to death. Those men had lain under fire twelve hours before making
their dying assault on the German trenches. It had been expected the
Scotchmen would get into the opposing trenches and bomb and bayonet
the Teutons out. Then reenforcements would be sent from the British
line. But the artillery of King George was unable to check the
devastating work of the kaiser's big guns and give the reenforcements
a clear field through which to go to the aid of the attacking force.
The result was that the Germans continued such a leaden hail between
the lines that it was sending soldiers to certain death to order them
to cross the zone of fire. The remnant of the Scottish regiments was
recalled, and it lost as many men on its return as it had in its
desperate struggle to reach the German trenches.
Both the Kensingtons and the Scots found groups of German machine
guns, doing most destructive work, that could have been rendered
useless if the British had had a supply of high-explosive shells.
Under the circumstances there was nothing for Sir Douglas Haig to do
but to order his men all along the line to retire. They obeyed the
order sullenly, and many of them were slain in their attempt to get
back to their own trenches. But their comrades felt they had not died
wholly in vain; for the woeful lack of lyddite shells thus became
known in England and the indignation thus aroused resulted in the
appointment of a minister of munitions who organized the manufacture
of the necessary explosives on a scale heretofore unattempted by the
British. A lesson had been learned, but at a fearful cost to life.
The same lesson was being taught the British public at another section
of the battle front. Its soldiers not only were unable to maintain a
successful artillery fire, but the fact became so impressed on the
German mind that the Teutons in the Ypres and Lille regions felt
assured that their infantry had the British at their mercy. Sir John
French, however, had a clever knowledge of human nature. He began his
efforts to remedy the difficulty by telling the war correspondents his
troubles. They spread the news. Then he secretly collected all of the
available artillery in the Ypres region, together with his limited
supply of shells, and was ready to deal such a blow to the Duke of
Wuerttemberg's army when it marched on Ypres the latter part of May,
1915, that it was necessary for the Germans to get reenforcements
through Belgium. This was a great surprise to the Teutons and cost
them dearly.