THE GREAT GERMAN OFFENSIVE
"_There is but one task for all,
For each one life to give,
Who stands, if freedom fall?
Who dies, if England live?_"
KIPLING.
[Sidenote: Jan. 1918.]
On the 9th January Divisional Headquarters moved to Victory Camp, near
Roclincourt, and I assumed command of the artillery in the line, the
56th Divisional Artillery.
Our own artillery relieved the 56th on the 15th. The front we now
covered ran roughly from Gavrelle to Oppy. The 310th Brigade, which
formed the right group, occupied positions on or about the southern end
of the Vimy Ridge, with one advanced battery, B/310, close to Arleux,
and only about a thousand yards from the Boche front line; this battery
was so sited as to enfilade a long portion of the enemy's trenches; and
though in what was apparently a dangerously forward position, it was so
well concealed in a hollow of the ground that it came in for no greater
attention than did the other batteries much further in rear.
The 312th Brigade was the left group; two of its batteries, B/312 and
D/312, were in the shattered ruins of Bailleul village; this was a
most unpleasant spot, and I don't think I've ever seen a village which
bore the signs of such serious and constant shell fire.
We now belonged to the 13th Corps, which consisted of the 31st and 56th
Divisions, in addition to our own. A system of reliefs was arranged
under which two divisions should hold the line and one division remain
at rest, and it was hoped that divisional artilleries would get about
three weeks' rest for every six weeks spent in action. No one, however,
believed in his heart that this scheme would prove a lasting one.
There were many indications that the enemy was preparing for a great
offensive, and indeed it was now obvious that his only chance would
be to strike, and strike hard, before the full weight of American
intervention should be thrown into the balance.
The next few weeks were comparatively quiet ones, and a tremendous lot
of work was done in improving the very indifferent positions which we
had taken over. These positions, it is only fair to state, had not been
occupied for more than ten days or so by the 56th Divisional Artillery,
who were in no way to blame for their unsatisfactory condition.
Two Regular Majors were posted to us about this time, Majors M. R. H.
Crofton, D.S.O., and J. F. K. Lockhart, who took over command of C/312
and A/310 respectively.
The experiment was now made of employing Indian drivers in ammunition
columns, and on the 26th January I inspected those who had been sent to
the 62nd D.A.C. There were about 130 of them, all Mussulmans, and they
looked a useful lot of men; they proved to be so as it turned out, and
did very good work for the rest of the war.
[Sidenote: Feb. 1918.]
On February 1st our heavy trench mortar battery, which, under command
of Capt. S. V. Bowden, had done much good service, was transferred
to the Corps, as it was now decided that divisional artillery should
only have medium trench mortars. Capt. Bowden himself remained in the
Division with the latter.
I have described this period as a comparatively quiet one, but that is
not to say that the batteries were left alone by the Boche artillery.
Shelling of a desultory sort was always going on, and most of the
batteries came in for an occasional bombardment--a _daily_ bombardment
it would be more correct to say in the case of the two batteries in
Bailleul. Fortunately the shooting was strangely ineffective. D/310,
for instance, was heavily shelled on the evening of the 23rd January;
but though there were three direct hits on emplacements and the whole
position was deeply pitted with shell craters, no damage was done to
men or material. A/310 was less fortunate on the 5th February, when,
unhappily, two sergeants and a signaller were killed, though no guns
were put out of action. B/310 was shelled the same day at Arleux, and
on this occasion one officer was wounded, Lieut. C. R. Witcher.
On the 16th February the artillery withdrew from the line into billets
in and around Aubigny, Caucourt, and Frevin Capelle, the headquarters
being in the chateau at Berles. This was the only rest we were to get
under the scheme mentioned above.
[Sidenote: March, 1918.]
On the 6th and 7th March we went into the line in relief of the 31st
Division, against an enemy front of about 4000 yards, stretching from
Oppy to Acheville; the 310th was again on the right, and the 312th
on the left, batteries being mostly in or about Willerval and Farbus.
Headquarters were at Roclincourt.
It now seemed certain that a big German offensive was brewing, and
henceforth practically all our firing was done by detached sections,
while the main positions remained silent, and every possible artifice
was employed to conceal them from detection by the enemy. At the same
time several single guns were distributed along the front for defence
against tanks, being so sited that every possible approach by a hostile
tank would be under fire from one or more of the guns.
Some experimental firing by single guns was carried out on the
afternoon of the 10th March near Souchez. A dummy tank, about
three-quarters real size, was drawn across an open space at about a
thousand yards from the gun. Detachments from various divisions engaged
it in turn, and the results were most reassuring, two or three direct
hits being very quickly scored in nearly every case; it seemed to
prove that an anti-tank gun well handled ought to be able to knock out
several tanks in a minute or two.
On the 11th Divisional Headquarters were persistently shelled by a 13
cm. gun firing from a range of about 14,000 yards. Information had been
received that the long expected offensive was to begin on the 13th, and
as the enemy's attacks were often heralded by long range firing into
the back areas, it seemed likely that the report might in this case be
correct, and all preparations were made accordingly. The bombardment
was repeated on the night of the 12th, and all troops, artillery and
infantry, were standing-to from an hour before dawn on the 13th.
Nothing unusual, however, happened, although the long range activity
against our headquarters became a regular nightly occurrence from now
on. As it was important to find out what was brewing, it was decided
to carry out a raid with the object of taking prisoners and getting
such information out of them as might be possible. The raid was carried
out by a battalion of the 186th Infantry Brigade. At 10.50 p.m. on
the 17th March, two batteries of the 56th Divisional Artillery opened
on the Boche front about a thousand yards south of the part we were
raiding. The enemy at once sent up S.O.S. signals, and his artillery
put down a barrage on that part of the front--which was exactly what we
wanted. At 11 p.m. all our guns opened fire on the real front for five
minutes, and then, lifting off the part that was to be raided, formed a
box barrage all round it. Our raiding party, consisting of 2 officers
and 70 men, then went over the top, passing through gaps in the wire
which had previously been cut by the trench mortars and by Bangalore
torpedoes. At 11.25 they returned, having killed several Huns and taken
five prisoners. The guns kept up the barrage till 11.40, and one of
the howitzer batteries fired a screen of smoke shell along the edge of
Fresnoy Park from 11.25 to 11.40, to screen our men as they returned.
The whole thing went off like clockwork, and our infantry only had
three men slightly wounded.
I received the following letter next day from the G.O.C. 186th Infantry
Brigade:
"The raiders wish me to say that the barrage was perfect. Would you
please accept for yourself and your batteries their thanks for the
large part you contributed towards the success of the show. To show
the accuracy of the shooting, the Bangalore torpedoes were inserted
in the wire while the barrage was still on the front line. This and
the absence of casualties from short shooting, and the fact that the
garrison was discovered prostrate on the floor of the trench, I think
speaks for itself.
"J. G. BURNETT,
"Brig.-General."
And also the following from Lieut.-Colonel Thackeray, who commanded the
battalion that carried out the raid:
"Both the officers and men who took part in the raid last night are
loud in their praise of the wonderful accuracy of the barrage. It gave
them the greatest confidence...."
I may say here that the infantry were always most generous in their
acknowledgment of our support, and there was the best possible
feeling between the two arms in our Division. We all had the greatest
admiration for our wonderful infantry, and it was a great gratification
to us to know that they appreciated _our_ efforts.
Eight Military Medals were awarded while we were in action in this part
of the line (v. Appendix).
Early on the morning of the 21st March the enemy began a tremendous
bombardment on our front, and we could hear the thunder of his guns
extending apparently for many miles to either flank. The great
offensive had evidently begun, and we received orders to be prepared
to withdraw from our part of the line, which was to be taken over by a
Canadian Division, and to become G.H.Q. reserve.
Lieut. H. G. Goldsmith was wounded this day.
It was sometime before we could get any news of what was taking place,
but on the 23rd we learned that the Boche had opened an attack with
45 divisions along a front of 50 miles, from the Oise to the Sensèe,
and thence to the Scarpe, that he had retaken Ecoust, Noreuil, and the
Mort Homme heights, and that the 17th Corps on our right had evacuated
the important height of Monchy. Further news came at mid-day that our
5th Army was retiring on Peronne, and that the 3rd Army was also being
pressed back by sheer weight of numbers. Two batteries of the 312th
Brigade, A and B, withdrew from the line that night, and went into
action on the 24th in positions close to Beaurains to support the 17th
Corps. My headquarters moved on the same day to Warlus, and the 310th
Brigade, and the remainder of the 312th, were ordered to withdraw from
the line that night and march to the Warlus area.
Events, however, were moving rapidly, and at midnight on the 24th I
received instructions to concentrate at Ayette. The previous orders
were at once countermanded; the batteries at Beaurains were ordered
to withdraw from action forthwith and to march on Ayette, where they
were to be joined by the rest of the artillery, which had just arrived
at the Roclincourt wagon lines. I left myself at 6 a.m. on the 25th
and met the G.O.C. at Ayette. Here we found orders awaiting us to push
on to Bucquoy. Our infantry began to arrive there about mid-day, and,
tired as they were after marching all through the night, were at once
thrown into the line from Logeast Wood to Achiet-le-Petit, where the
Boche was attacking in great strength.
The scene in Bucquoy that morning and all through the day was a
remarkable one, never to be forgotten. For hour after hour one
continuous unbroken stream of transport belonging to several
different divisions passed through the village retiring west towards
Hannescamps. Everything had to move along one rather narrow road
which, in bad enough condition to start with, became execrable later on
in the day, and one bad breakdown of a lorry or wagon might have led
to a disastrous block and the ultimate loss of thousands of vehicles.
Fortunately the traffic control was admirably managed, and the shells,
which as the day wore on began to fall with more and more frequency
in the village, never happened to find out the crowded road, so that
_that_ particular disaster was averted. We moved on to the high ground
just east of Bucquoy, and were able to get a good view of the general
situation. We joined the Headquarter Staffs of two other Divisions
there, and heard from them that our troops were still falling slowly
back under great and increasing pressure, and that there was actually a
large gap on the right through which our flank was in imminent danger
of being turned. As it was obvious that my guns could be of no use in
Bucquoy, and would only make the confusion in the crowded village worse
confounded, General Braithwaite directed me to divert their march if
still possible, and to put them into action near Monchy au Bois. The
advanced parties arrived about noon, and were sent back to Ayette,
where they were just in time to stop the brigades and turn them off to
the positions ordered.
General Braithwaite now assumed command, and we found ourselves
responsible for a tremendous number of guns, consisting of several
divisional artilleries. Nobody seemed to know where they all were, some
batteries being in action, some on the move, and some in positions of
observation or readiness in rear. FitzGibbon, however, did wonders,
and, with the help of Trench, the Signalling Officer, and Anderson the
R.O., at last succeeded in locating and establishing communication
with the majority of them.
As night fell the shelling of Bucquoy grew very severe, and orders
were received from Corps Headquarters to retire the infantry to a line
covering Bucquoy, while the Divisional Headquarters moved back to
Foncquevillers. It was a night of great stress and anxiety during which
there was no sleep for anyone; the artillery was safely withdrawn,
and positions were taken up in the area between Hannescamps and Les
Essarts, my own weary batteries having to move up from the positions
they had just occupied near Monchy. When the morning of the 26th dawned
the infantry were holding their new line, and the guns were nearly
all in action. There was desperate fighting throughout this day,
in the course of which our right was pressed back out of Puisieux.
Headquarters was shelled constantly, as was the whole area occupied by
the artillery. Fortunately the enemy had not yet had time to locate the
battery positions, and the shelling, being distributed over the whole
country side, caused fewer casualties than might have been expected.
The situation was most critical, as the gap on our right flank still
lay open to the enemy who kept pressing up into it and actually got up
to the outskirts of Hebuterne in the afternoon. It seemed as though
he would succeed in getting round the rear of the division, and many
alarmist reports were rife as to the presence of Huns in all sorts of
unlikely places behind us. These reports spread back for miles and
caused a good deal of commotion in the back area. It was believed that
they were propagated by German spies, and it may well have been so.
Certainly many suspicious cases were reported of orders having been
given to various units to retire at once by red-tabbed officers who
could never be identified afterwards as belonging to the staff of
any of the divisions engaged. At least one such case occurred in the
Divisional Artillery; a Staff Officer hurried up to Major Jephson,
and, telling him that the enemy was working round behind his Division,
advised him to retire his battery, C/310, before it should be too late.
Jephson, of course, declined to adopt the suggestion, and reported the
matter by telephone to Headquarters. He was from there told to arrest
the Staff Officer, but unfortunately by the time the order got through
to him the bird had flown.
That evening as the dusk was falling a group of us were standing at
a corner of Foncquevillers watching Hebuterne rather anxiously, when
an officer called out that he could see a crowd of Huns on our side
of that village. Glasses were levelled on the place, and a very brief
inspection served to show that the men were moving into and not out of
the village. A moment later, and a sharp-eyed officer declared that
he could make out the familiar slouched hats of the Australians. In
the gathering darkness it was hard to make certain of this, but the
arrival of an Australian Staff Officer a few minutes later dispelled
all doubts. The infantry brigade to which he belonged had been rushed
up to the critical point, and by 8 p.m. it had occupied Hebuterne and
driven back the Hun patrols in front of that village, thereby greatly
easing the situation. Later on in the night the New Zealand Division
arrived after a wonderful 29 mile march, and filled up the gap still
further to our right, from east of Colincamps to Beaumont Hamel.
The Military Cross was won this day by Lieuts. F. Abrahams and A. C.
Murray:
"As Battery Signalling Officer, Lieut. Abrahams, regardless of
personal safety, superintended the mending of wires under heavy shell
fire, encouraging the signallers and men of the battery in their task
by his example of energy and devotion to duty."
"When the line between the receiving station and the guns, some 300
yards, was broken, Lieut. Murray volunteered to take the orders from
the station up to the guns. He did this again and again under very
heavy fire. On a later date he carried out most useful observation from
an O.P., in spite of continual shelling."
Bitter fighting went on on the 27th, when we beat off five separate
attacks, all made in great strength, and killed large numbers of Huns.
The hostile artillery fire was again very intense on Headquarters
and the area occupied by the batteries. Lieut. W. P. Holt gained his
Military Cross for the following action:
"Finding that he could see little from his O.P., Lieut. Holt worked
forward to the infantry, and, returning, sent back messages which
obtained artillery support for a counter-attack. He displayed marked
courage and enterprise in moving over the open under heavy fire and
keeping touch with the fighting infantry. The information he sent back
was most valuable."
Next day, the 28th, four attacks were made from the direction of
Puisieux. One especially, launched at 10 a.m. against the 5th Duke of
Wellington's, was delivered in tremendous strength, but the attacking
enemy troops were nearly annihilated, and the battalion not only
held its own, but captured some twenty prisoners. The shelling of
Foncquevillers had now grown so severe that it became impossible to
keep Divisional Headquarters there any longer and still maintain
communication with the troops in front and the Corps Headquarters in
rear. We consequently moved to Souastre, leaving an advanced signal
station in Foncquevillers, at which one officer of my staff always
remained, taking it in turns among them to do each a 24-hour spell of
duty there.
On this day Lieuts. L. C. Gane, M.C., and C. V. Montgomery were
wounded, and Capt. A. Senior was awarded the Military Cross for
"conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty"; this decoration was also
gained by Capts. H. de B. Archer, Adjutant 310th Brigade, and J. Miles,
its Signalling Officer:
"On the 26th, 27th and 28th March, 1918, during operations round
Bucquoy, Capt. Archer sat, practically in the open, for 72 hours by
the telephone, receiving and sending messages. He was constantly under
shell fire, and had to carry the telephone from spot to spot, to be
able to carry on. His coolness and thoroughness throughout this period
greatly helped and encouraged the batteries. On the 25th and 26th March
he also carried out most useful reconnaissances under constant heavy
shell fire."
"On the 26th, 27th and 28th March, during operations near Bucquoy,
Capt. Miles established and maintained a complete system of
communication to all batteries of the brigade, and all neighbouring
formations taking part in the operations. During the whole of this time
he was continuously laying or mending wires; where the shelling was
most severe he had to go oftenest, and did so with entire disregard for
his personal safety. His work (and the results of it) and his behaviour
were beyond all praise."
On the 29th fighting was still very severe, but our front line was
now more firmly consolidated, and it began to look as though the
tremendous onslaught had been checked not only here but all along
the British front. This was Good Friday, and it seemed very fitting
that the day which already means so much for humanity should be still
further consecrated as marking the first serious check received by the
opponents of all that Christianity stands for. The following Divisional
Order was issued:
"The Divisional Commander knows that all ranks are cheerfully bearing
the strain of the prolonged fighting, and he is proud of their
endurance and fine fighting spirit.
"The Division is performing a very important rôle of holding up the
German advance in this part of the battlefield, and the very heavy
casualties inflicted on the enemy are an earnest of their determined
fighting.
"He congratulates all troops on their splendid gallantry, and is
confident in the continuation of the fine resistance they are making to
the enemy's attempts to break our line.
"Well done, 62nd (West Riding) Division!
"WALTER BRAITHWAITE,
"29/3/18. Major-General."
Lieut. G. A. Ellis was this day awarded the Military Cross:
"He maintained communication and observed for his battery throughout
the day, though his O.P. was spotted by the enemy and subjected to
continuous rifle fire and shelling. He twice mended the wire, which was
cut by shell fire, in the open."
Fifteen Military Medals were gained in the Divisional Artillery during
the fighting from the 21st to the end of the month (v. Appendix).
During these strenuous days I had seven brigades of Field Artillery
under my command, disposed as follows:
Right group. 93rd and 235th Brigades.
Centre " 187th, 236th and 310th Brigades.
Left " 190th and 312th Brigades.
And also the 54th, 71st, and 92nd Brigades of Heavy Artillery.
On the 30th March Lieut. C. R. Witcher was again wounded.
[Sidenote: April 1918.]
On the 1st April the 37th Division relieved our infantry but the
artillery remained unchanged, the batteries of the relieving division
not having arrived yet in the area.
On the 3rd April, Major J. Willey, Commanding A/312, was killed, to the
great sorrow of all who knew him. He was a gallant, unassuming officer,
with a rather diffident and altogether charming manner, and the loss of
so able a battery commander at this critical time was felt severely.
Early on the morning of April 5th the 37th Division carried out an
attack on Rossignol Wood and a position running thence westwards, under
cover of a barrage from the guns, which was kept up from 5.30 to 7.30
a.m. The enemy answered with a very heavy fire on all the batteries,
and especially on the headquarters of the right group at Chateau la
Haie. Here the Adjutant of the 235th Brigade was wounded, and there
were several casualties among the telephonists. About 130 prisoners
were captured, including four officers. It soon appeared, however, that
this local operation had merely forestalled another tremendous German
attack, which reached its full force at about 10.45 a.m., and was kept
up all through this and the following day. The Boche bombardment was
extraordinarily intense, and stretched far into the back area. It
included a large amount of gas shell, concentrated chiefly on the 312th
Brigade, which was in action along a hedge close to and south-west of
Les Essarts. The brigade fought with magnificent courage, and though
inundated with gas shell the batteries never failed to fire when called
upon throughout the day; there was scarcely a man but had his hands
badly blistered by the foul mustard gas, while many officers and men
were temporarily blinded by it. C/312 had a particularly terrible
experience. All the six officers with the guns, including Major M. R.
H. Crofton, D.S.O., were wounded or gassed, and the majority of the
gunners, while several guns were knocked out. In fact by the evening
the battery had ceased to exist as a fighting unit, and it was about a
fortnight before it could take an active share again in the fighting.
Much sympathy was felt for the gallant Battery Commander, Major
Crofton. He had already been three or four times wounded during the
war, and on this day orders arrived appointing him to the command of a
brigade, a promotion which he was unable to avail himself of owing to
this fresh wound. It was particularly bad luck, as he had once before
missed promotion in Mesopotamia for the same reason, having been badly
wounded on the day on which he was appointed to a command.
The enemy suffered a sanguinary defeat, being repulsed by our troops
with tremendous loss at all points, except that he gained possession of
a small corner of Bucquoy.
Major G. A. Swain was awarded the Military Cross for his gallant
behaviour on the 5th. His battery, D/312, fired no less than 2600
rounds while under the heavy gas bombardment referred to above.
During the two days' fighting the following officers were wounded in
addition to Major Crofton:
Lieut. H. F. Nowill, M.C. }
" F. G. Sharpling } A/310.
Capt. A. Senior }
Lieut. J. B. Boden, M.C. }
" S. A. Rissik } all of C/312.
" E. W. Puttock }
" A. E. Stuttle }
Although the Boche had failed so disastrously on this occasion, his
resources in men and guns seemed to be unlimited, and he still kept up
his daily attacks with unremitting vigour. Our troops were exhausted
almost beyond the limits of human endurance, and the first three
weeks of the great offensive seemed to us like as many months--a
period of constant danger and anxiety, unceasing hardships, and utter
fatigue. The news from other fronts was of so sinister a nature
that it might well have driven even the bravest of men to despair.
Amongst our splendid troops, however, there was never any thought
of further retreat, and the following stirring order, issued by the
Commander-in-Chief on the 11th April, only served to confirm the
resolution already taken by every officer and man in the British army
to hold back the hated enemy as long as there was a gun or rifle left
to fire at him:
"To all ranks of the British army in France and Flanders.
"Three weeks ago to-day the enemy began his terrific attacks against us
on a fifty-mile front. His objects are to separate us from the French,
to take the Channel ports, and destroy the British army.
"In spite of throwing already 106 Divisions into the battle, and
enduring the most reckless sacrifice of human life, he has as yet made
little progress towards his goal.
"We owe this to the determined fighting and self-sacrifice of our
troops. Words fail me to express the admiration which I feel for the
splendid resistance offered by all ranks of our army under the most
trying circumstances.
"Many amongst us now are tired. To those I would say that victory will
belong to the side which holds out the longest. The French army is
moving rapidly and in great force to our support.
"There is no other course open to us but to fight it out. Every
position must be held to the last man; there must be no retirement.
With our backs to the wall, and believing in the justice of our cause,
each one of us must fight on to the end. The safety of our homes and
the freedom of mankind alike depend upon the conduct of each one of us
at this critical moment.
"D. HAIG,
"Commander-in-Chief British Armies in France."
Divisional Headquarters were now at Henu, and on the 18th a
readjustment of the artillery took place, bringing back the 310th to
cover their own instead of the 37th Division. The right group now
consisted of the 310th and 312th Brigades, and the 187th Brigade,
while the 26th, 295th and 296th Brigades formed the left group. The
headquarters of the right group was established in a dug-out at Chateau
la Haie, and the batteries of the 62nd Divisional Artillery, which
had been in the Essarts area, were now distributed about between
Foncquevillers and Sailly au Bois. This was not quite so unpleasant an
area as the one they had left, and things gradually became a little
less strenuous. By the 19th April a French army had arrived in our
support, and though it was not brought into action, the knowledge of
its presence in close proximity to us was very reassuring.
The infantry of the Division was withdrawn from the line for a rest on
the 24th April, and our headquarters moved back to Pas en Artois. The
artillery remained in action, and had settled down by the end of the
month to the old familiar routine of trench warfare. We had six more
officers wounded during April, viz.:
Lieut. E. H. Vanderpump April 7th.
Major E. W. Jephson, M.C. " 8th (for the third time).
Lieut. E. J. C. Sheppard " 11th.
" J. E. McIlroy " 18th.
Major W. F. Tuthill " 22nd.
Lieut. A. E. Cockerell " 22nd.
Twenty-four Military Medals were awarded during the month (v. Appendix).
I insert here a message received from Her Majesty the Queen. The
generous sympathy shown for us by all at home, and their unshaken
confidence in the army had been a source of great comfort and support
to us all during the ordeal we had passed through, and Her Majesty's
gracious and touching words were highly appreciated:
"From H.M. the Queen to F.M. Sir Douglas Haig.
"29/4/18.
"To the men of our Navy, Army, and Air Force, I send this message to
tell every man how much we, the women of the British Empire at home,
watch and pray for you during the long hours of these days of stress
and endurance. Our pride in you is immeasurable, our hope unbounded,
our trust absolute. You are fighting in the cause of righteousness and
freedom, fighting to defend the children and women of our land from
the horrors that have overtaken other countries, fighting for our very
existence as a people at home and across the seas. You are offering
your all. You hold back nothing, and day by day you show a love so
great that no man can have greater. We, on our part, send forth with
full hearts and unfaltering will the lives we hold most dear. We, too,
are striving in all ways possible to make the war victorious. I know
that I am expressing what is felt by thousands of wives and mothers
when I say that we are determined to help one another in keeping your
homes ready against your glad home-coming. In God's name we bless you,
and by His help we, too, will do our best.
"MARY R."
The following special order of the day was published on the 9th May:
[Sidenote: May 1918.]
"I wish to convey to all ranks of the Royal Regiment of Artillery my
deep appreciation of the splendid service rendered by them in all
stages of the Somme and Lys battles since the opening of the enemy's
attack.
"The difficult conditions imposed by a defensive fight against greatly
superior numbers have been faced with the same skill, courage and
devotion to duty which characterised the work of all branches of the
artillery through the offensive battles of 1917. With less constant
and loyal co-operation on the part of both field, heavy, and siege
batteries, the great bravery and determination of the infantry could
scarcely have availed to hold up the enemy's advance. The infantry are
the first to admit the inestimable value of the artillery support so
readily given them on all occasions.
"The knowledge possessed by each arm, doubly confirmed by the severe
tests already passed through successfully, that it can rely with
absolute confidence upon the most whole-hearted and self-sacrificing
co-operation of the other, is the greatest possible assurance that
all further assaults of the enemy will be met and defeated. I thank
the artillery for what it has already done, and count without fear of
disappointment upon the maintenance of the same gallant spirit and high
standard of achievement in the future.
"D. HAIG, F.M.,
"Commander-in-Chief British Armies in France."
Lieut. J. Owen was wounded on the 10th May by a shell that entered his
dug-out at Sailly au Bois.
[Sidenote: June 1918.]
During May and June there was not much activity on our front. We got
many warnings from prisoners and other sources of the imminence of a
further offensive, and on the 26th May especially an unusually severe
bombardment, extending to the back areas, seemed to presage a fresh
German effort. Nothing however came of it, except that on this latter
date a big attack was started against the French near Reims. Our
Headquarters came in for a good deal of unpleasant attention, chiefly
from a high velocity gun firing from near Bapaume which bombarded us
with especial intensity on the 18th and 19th May, and on the 9th June.
We were also considerably annoyed by bombing aeroplanes at night, and
early in the morning of the 17th June several bombs fell very close
to the chateau in which we lived. One bomb on this occasion burst ten
yards from a small shanty in which two men were sleeping. Fortunately
the inside of the hut had been dug down about 2½ feet, and the men were
lying below the ground level, with the happy result that although the
hut was blown to fragments the men inside were absolutely unhurt. The
batteries were subjected to a good many bombardments, but generally
without much effect. D/310, however, had an unfortunate experience on
the 11th June. A 5.9 shell penetrated one of their dug-outs, going
through 12 feet of earth before it burst and killing all the six men
who were inside it at the time. Major Foot, who commanded this battery,
was at the time studying the duties of Brigade Major at headquarters,
and I may mention here that, in order to have understudies always ready
to take the place of any Staff Officer who might become casualties,
there was generally a Regimental Officer attached to my headquarters to
learn the work. We had a good many officers in the Divisional Artillery
who had been trained in this way, and who were quite competent to take
on the respective duties at a moment's notice. Majors Eeles and Foot,
and Capts. Archer and Middleton did particularly good work of this sort
at one time or another.
Several raiding operations were carried out by us. On the night of the
25th May our guns supported the 57th Division in a raid which resulted
in the capture of eleven prisoners, and at 1 a.m. on the 18th June
we fired off a thousand gas projectors at Ablainzeville, the guns
and trench mortars firing a barrage through the village at the same
time. The mortars that took part in this operation were firing from a
position barely 400 yards from the Boche line, which had been selected
by Bottomley, who had succeeded Powell as Trench Mortar Officer. It was
a very dangerous and badly "strafed" place, but the risk was well worth
taking, and the mortars were a constant thorn in the enemy's side.
For obvious reasons the results of operations of this sort could very
rarely be ascertained, but in this instance we were more fortunate for
we learned from a document, captured in the following August, that the
Germans lost in this gas attack two officers and 51 men killed, and 66
gassed, all of the 12th Bavarian R.I.R.
There were two rather notable events in the wagon lines during this
period. On the 19th May, Whit-Sunday, General Braithwaite attended
a parade service there and presented a large number of Military
Medals. He took the occasion to make us a very graceful speech and to
congratulate all ranks on their courage and fine behaviour during the
trying days of the great offensive.
On the 16th June he inspected the D.A.C. and presented three
Distinguished Service Medals which had been won by Indian drivers. The
Indians, as I have said before, were a very useful lot of men, and
could always be counted upon to obey orders, however difficult and
dangerous the execution of them might be. In fact, as the following
incident shows, the literal way in which they tried to obey their
orders was sometimes carried to excess. Sometime during April, when
the fighting was at its hottest, some wagons of the D.A.C., driven by
Indian drivers, were carrying ammunition up to a battery near Essarts.
The drivers of one of the wagons were making their first trip up to the
battery area, and one of the instructions given them was that they must
on no account leave anything behind them when they returned, however
heavily they might be shelled. As luck would have it this wagon had a
very bad time of it, the British N.C.O. with it being badly wounded,
and two out of the six mules being killed. The drivers behaved very
well, finished their job of delivering ammunition, and brought back
the wounded man safely. They were, however, full of apologies on their
return to camp; they had done their utmost, they said, to load up the
two dead mules on to the wagon, but although they had tried their
hardest for about an hour under heavy fire, they had had to give it up
at last as beyond their powers.
On the 14th June a rather disturbing order came out, reducing our
establishment of horses and mules; the first line wagons and all the
ammunition wagons of the D.A.C. were henceforth to be drawn by four
instead of six horses. No doubt this step was unavoidable owing to the
shortage of animals, but it added enormously to the difficulties of
ammunition supply for the rest of the war.
On the 18th the 312th Brigade, which had been supporting the Division
on our right for some time past, moved across to the neighbourhood of
Foncquevillers and joined its own division again.
In the _Gazette_ of the 3rd June, Lieut.-Colonel F. A. Woodcock and
Major C. A. Eeles were awarded the D.S.O.
Nine Military Medals were awarded during May and June (v. Appendix),
and two Military Crosses--to Lieuts. H. O. Schofield on the 9th June
and Harold Smith on the 23rd:
"When a shell burst in a gun pit, set the camouflage on fire and
damaged the gun, Lieut. Schofield, with a non-commissioned officer
(Corpl. Edwin Burton, D.C.M.) rushed to the spot, and, despite
continuous enemy shelling and the dangerously overheated condition
of the ammunition, they removed the clinometer and a large number of
rounds to a place of safety and put out the fire, thereby saving much
ammunition."
"During a destructive shoot on the battery, Lieut. H. Smith, with the
assistance of a N.C.O., removed all dial sights from the guns, carrying
them to a place of safety. Later, when the camouflage on the pit caught
fire from a direct hit, he, with the help of two men, cleared the
burning stuff away and removed ammunition whilst rounds were exploding
and the battery was still under heavy fire. He eventually put out the
fire, and thereby saved a gun from destruction."
On the 25th June the Division withdrew from the line to go into G.H.Q.
reserve, and the sorely tried batteries at last got a brief spell of
peace, and went into rest billets in and about Orville, Amplier, and
Sarton.