points and was attacking the 50th Division heavily between Villéveque
and Boucly. Though holding an extended front of some 10,500 yards,
the Division succeeded in checking the enemy’s advance, and by a
successful counter-attack drove him temporarily from the village of
Coulaincourt. At the close of the engagement, however, the troops
of the 50th Division about Pœuilly had been forced back, and by
continued pressure along the south bank of the Omignon river the
enemy had opened a gap between their right flank and the troops of
the 61st Division.”... At this gap strong bodies of German troops
broke through the third defensive zone.
As all available reserves at the disposal of the Fifth Army had
been thrown into the fight, the Army Commander at 11 p.m. on the
22nd issued orders to withdraw to the Somme. Paragraph 23: “These
withdrawals were carried out under constant pressure from the enemy,
covered by rearguards of the 20th, 50th and 39th Divisions which were
continually in action with the German troops.”
Paragraph 24 shows that on the 23rd, the Fifth Army Commander issued
orders to cross to the west side of the Somme. In paragraph 26 it
is stated that “Further north the withdrawal to the west bank of
the Somme was carried out successfully during the morning and early
afternoon, effectively covered by troops of the 50th Division. By
3.15 p.m. all troops were across the river, and the bridges, for the
most part, destroyed.” The operations 21st to 23rd March are now
designated the Battle of St. Quentin.
Paragraph 43 deals with the fight for the Rosières line—the Battle
of Rosières—27th March. The 50th Division was in support of “a very
gallant and successful counter-attack” by troops of the 8th Division.
Paragraph 47 describes the fighting in the Avre and Luce valleys,
29th, 30th and 31st March, and says: “In the evening” of the 30th,
“a most successful counter-attack by troops of the 20th and 50th
Divisions re-established our line south of the Luce and captured a
number of prisoners.”
Mr. Sparrow in his _Fifth Army_ gives a very full account of the
invaluable work of the 50th. He indicates the opinion that their
task was made heavier than it need have been, through their having
been kept by G.H.Q. too far from the battle zone, and they had thus
to be thrown into a surging battle immediately after a long and most
exhausting march. Probably there were good reasons why they should
have been located where they were before the battle began. Mr.
Sparrow states that the line which had to be held by the Division,
22nd-23rd March, was 4000 yards longer than the frontage mentioned
in the despatch; at p. 108 he makes it 14,500 yards. The fighting
was so severe and continuous that, by the evening of the 27th, the
4th and 5th Northumberland Fusiliers together could only muster 200
rifles (see p. 129). Other units of the Division were also reduced
to mere shadows, which, however, struggled and fought till the line
stabilised, although scarcely able to keep their limbs moving or
their eyes open. Mr. Sparrow shows conclusively that never did human
beings make a finer effort than did the Fifth Army between 21st March
and the early days of April. That they were successful was almost a
miracle and is a lasting tribute to the spirit of officers and men
and the skill of their leader, General Gough.
When, in the beginning of April, it was seen that the German
offensive from St. Quentin had been stopped, several divisions,
including the 50th, which during the last ten days of March had never
been out of the awful struggle, were taken north to Flanders, as a
quieter part of the line, where they might recuperate and assimilate
their much needed drafts. Alas, they were to find themselves in
another furnace.
The Lys battles are dealt with in the despatch of 20th July, 1918,
and it will be remembered that these began with a great attack on
the Portuguese sector on 9th April, spreading to that of the 40th
Division on their left and that of the 55th at Givenchy on the right.
The 50th had arrived at Merville behind the Portuguese on the 8th.
Their artillery was not forward. The 51st, also just arrived from
the Somme, were behind the 55th. On the morning of the 9th the 50th
deployed and were soon engaged, the 51st also moved forward. After
the Portuguese front was broken in, the 55th succeeded in forming
a defensive flank which bending to the west established touch with
the 51st Division. On the left of the latter were the 50th, but this
division was unable to establish touch with the 40th.
In paragraph 51 Sir Douglas Haig said: “During the afternoon troops
of the 51st and 50th Divisions (chiefly composed of drafts hurriedly
sent up to join their regiments) were heavily engaged east of the
Lawe river and were gradually pressed back upon the river crossings.
The enemy brought up guns to close range, and in the evening crossed
at Estaires and Pont Riqueul, but in both cases was driven back by
counter-attacks.”
In paragraph 53, the struggle for Estaires, Sir Douglas said: “Early
in the morning of the 10th April the enemy launched heavy attacks
covered by artillery fire about the river crossings at Lestrem and
Estaires, and succeeded in reaching the left bank at both places; but
in each case he was driven back again by determined counter-attacks
by the 50th Division.
“The enemy continued to exercise great pressure at Estaires and
fierce street fighting took place, in which both sides lost heavily.
Machine guns mounted by our troops in the upper rooms of houses
did great execution on his troops as they moved up to the attack,
until the machine guns were knocked out by artillery fire. In the
evening the German infantry once more forced their way into Estaires,
and after a most gallant resistance the 50th Division withdrew at
nightfall to a prepared position to the north and west of the town.
East of Estaires” (apparently outside the area of the 50th) “the
enemy had already crossed the Lys in strength.”
In paragraph 56, as to events on the 11th, he said: “At Estaires,
the troops of the 50th Division, tired and reduced in numbers by
the exceptionally heavy fighting of the previous three weeks, and
threatened on their right flank by the enemy’s advance, south of
the Lys, were heavily engaged. After holding their positions with
great gallantry during the morning they were slowly pressed back in
the direction of Merville. The enemy employed large forces on this
front in close formation and the losses inflicted by our rifle and
machine-gun fire were unusually heavy. Our own troops, however, were
not in sufficient numbers to hold up his advance,” etc. Portions of
the Division continued in the fighting line throughout the 12th and
13th April.
Paragraph 58: “Though our troops had not been able to prevent the
enemy’s entry into Merville their vigorous resistance combined with
the maintenance of our positions at Givenchy and Festubert had given
an opportunity for reinforcements to build up our line in this
sector.”
The sacrifices of the 50th Division, which were again very great,
were not in vain.
In the supplementary despatch of 23rd April, 1918, as to work of
certain divisions, Sir Douglas Haig said: “The 50th Division,
though but recently withdrawn from a week of continuous fighting
south of the Somme, on April 9th and subsequent days held up the
enemy along the line of the Lys, and by the stubbornness of its
resistance at Estaires and Merville checked his advance until further
reinforcements could be brought up.”[4]
The despatch of 21st December, 1918, paragraph 10, shows that the
50th along with the 8th, 21st, 25th and 19th Divisions, all very
recently engaged in the struggles in northern France and Flanders,
composed largely of young drafts and “in no condition to take part
in major operations until they had had several weeks’ rest,” formed
the IX. British Corps which was sent to the Aisne in May 1918, and
was involved in the “intense fighting,” when the enemy, employing
28 divisions, commenced his attack on the French Sixth Army on
the 27th of that month. The attacks continued till 6th June, the
Franco-British line being forced back. “Throughout this long period
of incessant fighting against greatly superior numbers the behaviour
of all arms of the British forces engaged was magnificent. What they
achieved is best described in the words of the French General under
whose orders they came, who wrote of them: ‘They have enabled us to
establish a barrier against which the hostile waves have beaten and
shattered themselves. This none of the French who witnessed it will
ever forget.’”
In _The History of the 25th Division_, p. 250, speaking of their
arrival in Champagne, there occurs the following sentences: “To the
few in the 25th Division who had served with the original British
Expeditionary Force in August and September, 1914, the district
brought memories of the Battle of the Marne and the subsequent
advance to the Aisne; but no hint was given of the extent of the
tragedy shortly to be enacted over this historic ground.
“The front of about 24,000 yards held by the IX. British Corps ran
along the high ground about four miles north of the Aisne for the
first” (left) “16,000 yards gradually bending S.E., on its right,
to the important point of Berry-au-Bac, where the line crossed the
river and continued on S.E. in the direction of Rheims for another
8000 yards. The right sector south of the Aisne was held by the
21st Division, in touch with the 36th French Division on its right;
the 8th Division in the centre, and the 50th Division to the left,
joining up with the 22nd French Division of the XI. French Corps,
north of Craonne.”
The 50th, according to all accounts, put up a glorious defence. Its
position made a withdrawal impracticable, even if that had been
contemplated; it was overwhelmed where it stood. As a fighting force
the Division was practically destroyed; to it little more remained
than the splendid tradition it had created.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, vol. v., chapter xi., gives an excellent
description, with many interesting details, of the magnificent stand
made on 27th May, by the 50th, 8th, and 21st Divisions, aided each
by a brigade of the 25th, and of the intense fighting which occurred
down to 6th June when the enemy’s effort was spent. As on the Somme
and Lys, his losses had been enormous. The 19th Division came into
the line on the 29th May, when prospects were very gloomy, and their
presence did much to establish a new line. On 6th June the 4th
Shropshire, T.F., of the 19th Division gained the Croix de Guerre,
with palms for the recapture of Mont Bligny.
A well-founded claim might be put forward that history records no
instance where a large body of troops has come through, without loss
of morale or fighting spirit, three such ordeals, within less than
three months, as were endured by the divisions composing the British
IX. Corps on the Aisne. Although one of them, the 8th, had not been
on the Lys, it had very heavy fighting about Villers Bretonneux,
which it assisted to recapture 24th/25th April, three weeks after
the close of the March battle. The other divisions were in all three
struggles. Whereas in old days a battle ended within twelve, or on
exceptional occasions within forty-eight hours of its commencement,
the St. Quentin-Somme battle, generally known as the March Retreat,
raged night and day without cessation for ten days, that on the Lys
for nearly three weeks, and that on the Aisne for over a week. The
question will probably be discussed by the military historian or
essayist of the future.
Before the “Advance to Victory” was commenced the 50th Division had
been reconstituted. The battalions which had been destroyed were
replaced as follows:—149th Brigade: 3rd Royal Fusiliers, 13th Black
Watch, 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers; 150th Brigade: 2nd Northumberland
Fusiliers, 7th Wiltshire, 2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers; 151st Brigade:
6th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, 1st King’s Own Yorkshire Light
Infantry, 4th King’s Royal Rifle Corps. See _Story of the Fourth
Army_ (Hodder and Stoughton), p. 322.
The 50th was again to do fine work, the tradition held.
As part of the XIII. Corps, Fourth Army, the Division was employed
in the last great British offensive, and played a part worthy of its
past.
In the despatch of 21st December, 1918, paragraph 37, Sir Douglas
Haig said: “On the 3rd October the Fourth Army attacked between
Sequehart and Le Catelet and captured those villages and Ramicourt
(see 46th Division) together with the Beaurevoir-Fonsomme line on
that front. In this operation the 50th Division took Gouy and Le
Catelet after heavy and prolonged fighting, in which a number of
counter-attacks were beaten off.” This is now the “Battle of the
Beaurevoir Line,” 3rd-5th October, 1918.
The XIII. Corps was again employed in the “Battle of Cambrai, 1918,”
on 8th and 9th October, and the 50th was engaged.
Paragraph 46 shows that the XIII. Corps employed the 50th and 66th
Divisions in the successful “Battle for the Selle Crossings” 17th to
25th October. See also under 66th Division.
Paragraph 50, “The Battle of the Sambre,” 1st to 11th November,
states that the XIII. Corps was again engaged. On the 4th at 6.15
a.m. the Corps “attacked with the 25th, 50th and 18th Divisions and
quickly overran the enemy positions despite strong opposition which
at Preux-au-Bois was maintained until the village was completely
surrounded by our infantry and tanks.”
Major-General Montgomery in his _Story of the Fourth Army_ deals
with the fine work of the 50th on 3rd October, at p. 182, and as to
another attack by the Division and other troops on the 8th, which was
“an unqualified success,” at p. 196.
On the 4th-5th November, the “Battle of the Sambre,” the 50th had,
in the clearing of the southern portion of the Mormal Forest, a very
arduous task. It was difficult for the artillery to give adequate
support owing to their movement being hampered by tree stumps and
bogs.
After the 5th, the Division continued to advance. On the 7th,
the Division captured Dourlers and on the 8th took Semousies and
Floursies. On both days there was obstinate fighting. Regarding the
8th, Major-General Montgomery says, p. 259: “that the enemy selected
the line of the Avesnes-Maubeuge road as a rearguard position.
The vigour and determination of the attack, however, overcame all
resistance.” When the Armistice came on the 11th, the Division was
east of the Avesnes-Maubeuge road.
The 50th was along with the 25th and other divisions in the IX.
Corps on the Aisne, May 1918, and again were with the 25th in the
XIII. Corps in the “Advance to Victory.” There is much of interest
regarding the work of both divisions in these operations in the
excellent _History of the 25th_, by Colonel Kincaid-Smith (Harrison).
Apart from the first eight Regular divisions no British division had
a longer spell of fighting than the 50th had, was in more of the big
battles or came out of these with a better record.
The 1/9th Durham Light Infantry served with the 62nd Division in 1918
as Pioneers, but like other pioneer battalions, had frequently to use
their weapons as well as their tools. The battalion was chosen for
the Army of the Rhine, as was also the 1/5th Border Regiment which
was originally “Army troops,” but replaced the 1/7th Durham Light
Infantry, taken out of the 50th to be a pioneer battalion.
Northumbria raised an enormous number of units in the earlier years
of the war, and the second line Territorial Division was, like
several others, sacrificed for draft-finding purposes. A number of
garrison battalions, however, were formed and went abroad; of these
there were selected for the Armies of Occupation, etc.: Western
Front, the 2/6th Durham Light Infantry; the Near East, the 2/5th
and 2/9th Durham Light Infantry; Egypt, the 2/7th Northumberland
Fusiliers; North Russia, the 2/7th Durham Light Infantry; Bermuda,
the 2/4th East Yorkshire Regiment.
FOOTNOTES:
[4] As to the Lys battle see also 49th, 51st, 55th and 61st Divisions.
51ST (HIGHLAND) DIVISION
FIRST LINE
The Division left Britain at the end of April and beginning of
May 1915, and on arrival in France was immediately sent to the
neighbourhood of the firing line.
Early in the year the Division had been bereft of six individual
battalions for immediate service in France with regular divisions.
The battalions which went out separately were replaced by a brigade
of the 55th, West Lancashire, Division, which remained with the 51st
till January 1916, and by the 6th and 7th Black Watch, battalions
raised in the Highland divisional area but which, prior to 1914, were
Army Troops. The two latter battalions remained permanently in the
51st Division.
The 8th Royal Scots, which sailed on 4th November, 1914, joined the
7th Division with which they took part in the stiff battles of Neuve
Chapelle, 10th, 11th and 12th March, 1915, and Festubert, 15th to
18th May, 1915. For their good work on these and prior occasions six
officers and four men were mentioned in the despatch of 31st May,
1915. The battalion, in August 1915, joined the 51st Division as
pioneers. In the same despatch officers and men of the 4th Seaforths,
4th and 6th Gordon Highlanders and 4th Camerons were mentioned. The
last-named belonged to the Division but unfortunately did not serve
with it except for about a month in the beginning of 1916.
The despatch of 15th June, 1915 (as to the Second Battle of Ypres,
now “The Battles of Ypres, 1915,” which commenced with the great
gas attack on 22nd April and lasted till 25th May), paragraph 4,
shows that the 7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and 1st East
Lancashire Regiment (10th Brigade) made a successful counter-attack
on 8th May; for their good work two officers and three N.C.O.’s
and men of the Argylls were mentioned. On the 10th the 9th Royal
Scots, afterwards in the 51st, with other troops, repulsed with
heavy loss to the enemy an attack made under cover of gas. On the
11th “the Germans attacked in force and gained a footing in part of
the trenches, but were promptly ejected by a supporting company of
the 9th Royal Scots.” Unofficial writers have paid tribute to the
splendid fighting spirit of these two battalions, the 7th Argylls and
9th Royal Scots, but the price had to be paid. Sir A. Conan Doyle
remarks that on 24th May, 1915, towards the close of the battle, of
the 7th Argylls there remained only two officers and 76 other ranks.
On 24th May at 2.45 a.m. the 9th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
and other troops were “overcome with gas,” and pressed back, “in a
most determined attack.”
In the same despatch, paragraph 5, as to the advance near Neuve
Chapelle and Festubert, Sir John French remarked that on 17th May
he gave orders “for the 51st (Highland) Division to move into the
neighbourhood of Estaires to be ready to support the operations of
the First Army,” and that on the 19th the 2nd Division was relieved
by the 51st Division. On the 22nd the Division was “attached to the
Indian Corps.” Between the 18th May and the beginning of June the
Division worked hard at consolidating the ground recently gained.
On 15th June the 51st along with the Canadians and 7th Division took
part in an attack near Givenchy which met with little success. The
casualties of the Division could not be called slight.
In July 1915 the Division was ordered to join the X. Corps, Third
Army, and on the last days of the month took over from a French
Division a section about Hamel near the Ancre.
About this time the Division seems to have gained the confidence
of G.H.Q., as in August and later various New Army Divisions were
attached to it for instruction, including the 18th, 22nd, 32nd, etc.
In January 1916 the Lancashire Brigade left to join their own
Division and the 51st received the 9th Royal Scots, 4th Seaforths,
4th Gordon Highlanders and 7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.
Sir Douglas Haig’s despatch of 23rd December, 1916, which deals with
the Somme Battle, paragraph 17 (Dent’s edition), mentioned various
engagements, now called the “Battle of Bazentin Ridge,” in the
latter half of July. “That evening (24th July) after heavy artillery
preparation, the enemy launched two more powerful counter-attacks,
the one directed against our new position in and around High Wood
(51st Division, Major-General G. M. Harper) and the other delivered
from the north-west of Delville Wood. Both attacks were completely
broken up with very heavy losses to the enemy.” The Division had
attacked on the 22nd-23rd but had failed to gain much ground.
Paragraph 19 and note: Early in August the 51st, along with other
divisions, was in other operations “involving much fierce and
obstinate fighting,” by which the line was pushed forward. About the
7th of August the Division was relieved and taken to Armentières. In
the beginning of October the Division again went south, at first to
Hebuterne and on the 17th to Beaumont Hamel.
Paragraph 33 and note, also 35 and 36 of the despatch, show that the
51st along with other troops took part in the attack on the Beaumont
Hamel-St. Pierre Divion position on 13th November, now the “Battle
of the Ancre, 1916.” In a note to paragraph 33 it is remarked: “As
the season advanced and the bad weather continued the scope of our
plan had constantly to be reduced, until finally it was only possible
to undertake the much more limited operation of the 13th November
against Beaumont Hamel. The brilliant success of this attack, carried
out as it was under most difficult conditions of ground, affords
some indication of what might have been accomplished had the weather
permitted us to give fuller effect to our original plan.” The 51st
Division captured the village, which was very strongly fortified, and
over 2000 prisoners, their own losses being about 2500.
The “brilliant success” of the Division in the Beaumont Hamel battle
brought it fame which was to endure and increase as the years of the
war rolled on.
During December 1916, and part of January 1917, the Division was
in the Courcelette sector where things were far from peaceful and
hardships were extreme. In February they moved north to Arras, and
remained there till the Battle of Arras.
The despatch of 25th December, 1917, paragraphs 13 and 14, and note
to paragraph 13 (Dent’s edition), describes the opening stages of the
Battles of Arras which began on 9th April, 1917. The 51st, then in
the XVII. Corps, Third Army, attacked east of Roclincourt, north-east
of Arras; they were near the left of the line and next the Canadians
whose task it was to seize the main Vimy Ridge. The 51st and its
neighbour on the right, the 34th, had heavy fighting. “Their advance
was delayed, not checked.” The whole attack on the 9th was a great
success. The fighting between the 9th and 14th is now the First
Battle of the Scarpe, 1917. On the 12th the Division left the line,
re-entering it on the 15th-16th and remaining in the battle till the
24th-25th.
Paragraph 21 deals with a big attack which our troops made on 23rd
April on a front of nine miles, the Second Battle of the Scarpe,
1917. “North of the Scarpe Highland Territorials (51st Division)
were engaged in heavy fighting on the western outskirts of Rœux Wood
and the chemical works.” “During the afternoon many counter-attacks
developed all along the line and were repeated by the enemy with
the utmost determination regardless of the heavy losses inflicted
by our fire.” “North of the Scarpe fierce fighting continued for
the possession of Rœux, the chemical works and the station to the
north without producing any lasting change in the situation.” The
attack was renewed on the 24th and more progress was then made, the
enemy’s resistance weakening. For their “splendid” work on the 23rd,
the Division was thanked and congratulated by the Corps and Army
Commanders.
The losses of the Division during April amounted to about 4500.
Paragraph 27, as to the fighting in May, Third Battle of the
Scarpe, 1917: “On the night of the 13th-14th our troops (51st
Division) captured Rœux.” The Division drove back some very heavy
counter-attacks. Fighting continued for some days. The Army Commander
again wired to the Division his congratulations “on their great
gallantry at Rœux and the chemical works.”
The Division was relieved on the 31st May, and a few days later was
taken to the Ypres sector, there to refit and prepare for another
great battle.