ATTACKS AT LA BASSEE
The British had discovered the futility of attempting to smash through
the German lines without an adequate supply of high-explosive shells
with which to destroy the heavy wire entanglements. Moreover, in
maintaining a curtain of fire between the German lines and potential
reenforcements, it was necessary to increase the artillery arm of the
service. At this time the Germans could fire four shells to one by the
British. Another very essential equipment in which the British were
lacking was machine guns. The German army had developed machine-gun
warfare apparently to its highest power. They not only used it to
increase their volume of fire, but also as a means of saving their
infantry. When, for any reason, it was found expedient to move
infantry, a few machine-gun crews would take the place of the soldiers
with the rifle and maintain a fire which would be almost as effective
in checking the British advance as the infantry had been. The British
had no such number of machine guns. They lacked this necessary part of
their equipment just as they lacked shells, cannon, aircraft, and
other war material which the Germans had developed and accumulated in
large quantities under the supervision of the German General Staff.
The German munition factories had been making and storing enormous
supplies for an army of several millions of men. On the other hand the
British had believed in the excellence of their comparatively small
army to such an extent that it required all of the fighting from the
time their troops landed on the Continent up to Festubert to convince
them that they must make and maintain a military machine at least
equal, if not superior, to the one her foes possessed. It is true the
British needed more men in the ranks, but what was needed more was
large additions to the supply of machine guns, artillery, and
ammunition.
For those reasons the British generals avoided clashes with the
Germans after the battle of Festubert, except when it was necessary to
hold as many of the Germans as possible to the British part of the
western front. This plan was maintained throughout the summer of 1915.
In the meantime the Germans were constructing, beyond their trenches,
the most elaborate series of field fortifications in the history of
warfare. The German staff realized that the time was coming when the
British would again take the offensive. When that time arrived the
Germans would thus be prepared to make every foot of ground gained as
costly as possible to their foes. In fact they had reason for
believing that it would be almost impossible for their opponents to
gain ground where it was held by such seemingly impregnable works.
An attack at La Bassee in the first weeks in June, 1915, started with
the British Second Army making a pretended advance in the Ypres
region. The British in the forest of Ploegsteert drove a mine into the
German lines and blew it up. The explosion followed by a British
charge, which resulted in the taking of a part of the German trenches.
This forest extended northwest of Lille and south of Messines. Under
the ground in this section the sappers had built a city, whose streets
were named for the thoroughfare of London. Thus there was "Regent
Street," "Piccadilly Circus," "Leicester Square," and many others.
There was also a "Kensington Garden," in which grew wild flowers
transplanted from the forest by the soldiers.
The Germans had been driven out of the forest in the fall of 1914 when
they made their dash to reach Calais; but their trenches were only
about 400 yards beyond the eastern edge. The earth here was especially
adaptable for mines, and both sides made many attempts to work
destruction by tunneling forward. In this activity it was soon found
necessary to have men in advanced positions in the tunnels to listen
to the mining operations of their opponents. As soon as such
operations were discovered, a countertunnel was driven in that
direction and a mine exploded, thereby destroying the enemy's tunnel
and burying his sappers. Sometimes, however, the men in the
countertunnel cut through to the other excavation and engaged in a
hand-to-hand conflict beneath the surface of the earth. Then primitive
methods were used. Though mining had taken place on other sections of
the western front, as at Hill 60, it was in this forest area that it
was probably brought to its highest development.
The British mine here, as noted above, on June 6, 1915, blew up the
German trenches, and the British charged into the crater and drove the
Germans out with bayonet and bomb. A similar crater was the result of
the mining at La Bassee. Five mines at the end of tunnels constructed
by the Germans did not go far enough toward the British trenches, and
when the explosions occurred the trenches remained intact.
The sappers, however, had other things to contend with; this was the
case when a tunnel was driven toward the German trenches between Rue
du Bois and Rue d'Ouvert, near the La Bassee Canal. Water was found
below the German intrenchments. The British managed to keep the water
out of the tunnel by using sandbags. Then they planted enough dynamite
to blow up a large part of the German force. The two trench lines were
very close together on this part of the front; and, to prevent
accidents, the British left their trenches near the mine before it was
fired.
On the night of June 6, 1915, the mine tore open the trenches of both
sides, and buried one of the British magazines which was filled with
hand grenades and killed several British bomb throwers. At about the
same moment another supply of British bombs was exploded when it was
struck by a shell from a German howitzer. This occurred at a place on
the line called Duck's Bill, and resulted in the British being without
an adequate supply of hand grenades. The British troops in this action
were the soldiers of a British division and a Canadian brigade. The
latter included the First Ontario Regiment, the Second and Fourth
Canadian Battalions, the Third Toronto Regiment, and the East
Yorkshires.
The Ontario regiment was directed against a fortified part of the
German line which was called Stony Mountain. To the south of Stony
Mountain, about 150 yards, was another fortified position called
Dorchester. This also was to be taken by the Ontario men. If they
succeeded in their work the right flank of the British division would
be protected. But it was Stony Mountain that was of most importance to
the British. Its machine guns and its northern defenses menaced the
route which the British must take to make an advance. In order to
prevent the Germans from giving their undivided attention to the
Canadians, the British division on the left made an advance against
the Teutons north of Stony Mountain. The British artillery had been
shelling this part of the German line day and night many days as a
preparation for this advance. Its projectiles crashed into the brick
fields near La Bassee, and in front of the wrecked village of Quinchy.
The German machine-gun crews were hidden behind the brick stacks which
were square blocks of burned clay upon which the British shells burst
without perceptible effect. The shells that went over the stacks,
however, did much damage. Beyond the brick field to the north were the
ruins of farm buildings which were also hiding places for the Germans
and their machine guns. All the buildings back of the German line had
been turned into fortresses whose underground works were concreted and
connected with their headquarters by telephone. While the British
artillery was attempting to destroy these fortresses it was also
hurling lyddite shells into the trenches.
The German artillery fire greatly exceeded the British in volume.
Nevertheless the British forces were in the more comfortable
position. They had comparatively little to do except wait until they
were needed, which would be when their artillery had completed the
preparation for the inevitable charge. On the other hand the German
soldier had a nerve-racking part to play. He knew from the preparation
that an attack in force was about to be made; but he did not know when
it would occur nor where. Hence it was necessary for him to be
constantly on the alert. Many of the Germans were under arms at all
hours of the day and night. In fact few of them on that part of their
line got any real rest during the week in which the bombardment
continued. The section between the two lines of trenches was
illuminated at night, and the cannonade kept up so that there was no
opportunity for the Germans to repair the havoc made by the British
shells.
The suspense was terminated on the evening of June 15, 1915, by an
additional flight of projectiles from the British guns. Every piece of
British ordnance on that part of the line was worked at top speed. The
Germans, knowing that this immediately preceded an infantry charge,
used their artillery to stop it. But the British charge formed in
their trenches, with the Canadians on their right. In addition to the
shrapnel the Germans made breaks in the lines of their foes by the use
of machine guns, but the breaks were quickly filled. On some parts of
the front the British and Canadians were successful and reached the
trenches. In all the captured trenches extended from Rue du Bois to
Rue d'Ouvert.
In the meantime those Canadians who had been directed against Stony
Mountain and Dorchester were doing heroic work. The First Company of
the Ontario Regiment charged through the debris of the mine explosion,
only to run into the deadly hail sent at them by the machine guns. But
the Canadians were determined to complete their task, and they took
Dorchester and the connecting trench. The fire was too heavy for them
to reach Stony Mountain. A group of bombers made a dash forward, but
were shot down before they could get near enough to use their weapons.
The second and third companies rushed forward, suffering severely from
the deluge of lead, but some of their men got into the German second
line and then began to bomb their way to right and left. The captured
first trench was utilized by the attacking force. From that vantage
the advance was led by a machine gun which was followed by a group of
bomb throwers. In working forward the machine-gun base became lost
when the man who had it was slain. Thereupon a Canadian "lumberjack"
named Vincent became the base, the machine gun being fired from his
back. But the German bomb throwers drove the attacking force out of
the trench. The Germans kept a rain of lead between the Canadians and
the British line of trenches with the result that it was almost
suicide for a man to attempt to return for bombs. Nevertheless many
braved the ordeal. Only one was successful. He, Private Smith of
Southampton, Ontario, seemed to bear a charmed life, for he made the
trip five times. The Third Canadian Battalion was sent forward to
reenforce the Ontario Regiment which had lost most of its officers,
but such a pressure of German forces were brought to bear on the
Canadians that the reenforcements were unavailing, and the Canadians
were forced to relinquish all they had gained, and return to their own
trenches that night.
The retreat was a desperate undertaking; the Germans then had the
Canadians in the open and added heavily to the Canadian's death roll.
On the other side of Stony Mountain the British had met with no better
success than the Canadians. Having started their enemies back, the
Germans massed for a counterattack and drove them back a mile, but not
without a terrific struggle. The battle field was lighted by the
peculiar fireworks used for such purposes and bursting of shells. Jets
of flame shot forth from machine guns and rifles. In many places the
intermittent light disclosed deadly hand-to-hand conflicts. Suddenly
the Germans concentrated their fire on a portion of their lost first
line of trenches, and the trenches of their enemies who held them were
no more. Having the British and Canadians defeated, as they believed,
the Germans proceeded to add to their victory by storming the British
and Canadian trenches. They met with resistance, however, that drove
them back.
At daybreak on June 16, 1915, the artillery on both sides resumed
firing on a large scale. Suddenly, in the afternoon, the British fire
increased preparatory to another charge. This time the British
commander had selected a smaller section for his attack. This was at
Rue d'Ouvert, and the men who had been selected to make the charge
were the Territorials and the Liverpool Irish. They got into the first
line of German trenches which the Teutons shelled to such an extent
that the remnant of the attacking force had to retreat. Then the
Second Gordon Highlanders and other Scotch soldiers made a gallant
charge at the same place, Rue d'Ouvert, on June 18, 1915, but were
forced to retire to their own trenches.
These attacks on this part of the German front resulted in repulses
for those who made them; but, at the same time, they helped the Allies
win victories elsewhere by keeping the German troops on that part of
the line from going to reenforce those who were being hard pressed by
the French. In this manner the British and Canadians, who fought so
valiantly and with so little apparent success at Stony Mountain and
Rue d'Ouvert, were in a measure responsible for the French victories
at Angres, Souchez, and the Labyrinth. The Crown Prince of Bavaria
could not hold out against both the French and British, but he
believed it was more important for him to check the British, because a
victory for them would threaten Lille to a greater extent.