THE SECOND BATTLE OF THE SOMME
Attack on the Fourth and Fifth Corps
Attack on Sixth and Fifty-first Divisions--Engagement of the
Twenty-fifth and Forty-first Divisions--Attack on Forty-seventh,
Sixty-third, Second, and Nineteenth Divisions--The German
torrent--Serious situation--Arrival of Sixty-second
Division--Fighting before Albert--Gallant defence by Twelfth
Division--Arrival of the New Zealanders, of the Australians, of the
Thirty-fifth Division--Equilibrium.
[Sidenote: Fourth Corps. March 21.]
To the immediate south of the Sixth Corps the front line upon March
21 was held by Harper's Fourth Corps, which consisted of the Sixth
Division (Harden) opposite to Lagnicourt with the Fifty-first
Highland Division to the right of them, which famous unit was now
under the command of General Carter-Campbell, whose name has been
recorded in a previous volume as the only officer left standing in
his battalion after the action of Neuve Chapelle. To the south of
the Fourth Corps was the Fifth Corps (Fanshawe) with the Seventeenth
Division (Robertson) on the left, the Sixty-third (Lawrie) in the
centre, and the Forty-seventh (Gorringe) on the right covering the
whole Cambrai salient from Flesquières in the north to the point near
Gouzeaucourt Wood where the Third Army met the left flank of the
Fifth. The line took a considerable bend at this point, marking the
{48} ground gained at the battle of Cambrai, and it was part of the
German scheme to break through to the north and south, so that
without attacking the Fifth Corps they would either cause it to fall
back or else isolate and capture it. Had their advance been such as
they had hoped for, they would certainly have placed it in great
peril. Even as it was, it was necessary to withdraw the line, but
without undue haste or confusion. Great pressure was laid upon the
Fifth Corps in later stages of the battle, but beyond a considerable
shell-fall and demonstration there was no actual attack upon March
21. It was by holding certain sections of the line in this fashion
that the Germans were able to pile up the odds at those places which
were actually attacked.
It will be possible to describe the sequence of events with
considerably less detail in this and other sectors of the line, since
the general conditions of attack and defence may be taken as similar
to that already described. Here also the bombardment began with its
full shattering force of high explosive, blue cross invisible gas,
mustard gas, phosgene, and every other diabolical device which the
German chemist has learned to produce and the British to neutralise.
In the case of the British infantry, many of them had to wear their
gas masks for eight hours on end, and the gunners were in even worse
plight; but these appliances, which will no doubt find a place in the
museums of our children, were of a surprising efficiency, and
hampered the experienced soldier far less than would have been
thought.
The infantry advance was at 9.45, the Germans swarming in under the
cover of Nature's smoke barrage, for here, as in several other parts
of the line, {49} a thick morning mist greatly helped the attack and
screened the stormers until they were actually up to the wire, which
had usually been shattered in advance by the trench-mortars. The
line from Flesquières to Dernicourt in the region of the Fifty-first
Division was less seriously attacked, and remained inviolate, but the
northern stretch from Dernicourt to Lagnicourt was struck with
terrific impact, and gave before the blow to very much the same
extent as the divisions to the immediate north. The 71st Brigade in
the Lagnicourt sector was especially hard hit, and was very violently
assailed by a strong force of Germans, which included the 1st
Prussian Guard. This famous regiment was at one time all round the
9th Norfolks, who succeeded at last in fighting themselves clear,
though their Colonel, Prior, and the great majority of the officers
and men in the battalion were killed or wounded. Even these wounded,
however, were safely carried off, thanks to the devotion of Captain
Failes and a handful of brave men. In this desperate struggle the
whole brigade was decimated. The 16th and 18th Brigades had also
suffered severely, but the division, in spite of its losses, was
splendidly solid, and fell back slowly upon the support of the 75th
Brigade of the Twenty-fifth Division, which had hastened up to the
danger point. By evening, the Germans, advancing in great numbers
and with fine resolution, had occupied the four villages of Doignies,
Boursies, Louverval, and Lagnicourt, their total penetration from
Boursies in the south to Ecoust in the north, a stretch of seven
miles, averaging about 3000 yards. This advance had completely
turned the left wing of the Fifty-first, which was compelled to fall
back in consequence, {50} after stopping several attacks from across
the Canal du Nord. All three brigades of the Fifty-first Division
were in line, and of the three the left and centre had been seriously
engaged, the enemy entering the front line of both before mid-day,
and finally reaching the second system between Louverval and
Lagnicourt, so that the defence lay along the Beaumetz-Morchies line.
The Nineteenth Division was in general support in this quarter, and
the 57th Brigade became practically the right of the Fifty-first
Division. About 7 P.M. in the evening two battalions of it, the 8th
Gloucesters and 10th Worcesters of the 57th Brigade, tried to turn
the tide of fight by a counter-attack, with the aid of tanks, against
the village of Doignies. This attack was successful in retaking half
the village, but in the course of the night it was found necessary to
withdraw before the increasing pressure of the enemy, who brought
many machine-guns into the village. During the night it was arranged
that the Fifth Corps should fall back from its dangerous position in
the Cambrai salient, and by eleven next day the divisions which
composed it were ranged from Highland Ridge, through Havrincourt and
Hermies, in touch with the Fourth Corps in the north and with the
left of the Fifth Army in the south. Whilst this very heavy attack
had been made upon the Fourth Corps, Bainbridge's Twenty-fifth
Division had been in close support of the two divisions in the front
line. While the 75th Brigade, as already stated, was pushed up under
very heavy fire to strengthen the Sixth Division in their desperate
resistance, the 74th was allotted to the Fifty-first Division, which
was in less serious need of help during the day. Griffin's 7th
Brigade {51} remained in reserve in front of Morchies, where upon the
following morning its presence was invaluable as a solid unshaken
nucleus of resistance. Eight German divisions were identified that
day among those which attacked the two British divisions in the front
line of the Fourth Corps.
[Sidenote: Fourth and Fifth Corps. March 22.]
There was no attack during the night, but the Germans thickened their
advanced line and were all ready for another strenuous day, while the
British, though hustled and overborne by the tremendous onslaught
which had pushed them back, were still within their battle positions
and as doggedly surly as British infantry usually are in hours of
stress and trial. Three strong attacks were made in the morning and
early afternoon between Hermies and Beaumetz, all of which were
driven back. There is no method of gauging the losses of the enemy
upon such occasions, but when one knows that the machine-guns fired
as many as 9000 rounds each, and that a single Lewis gun discharged
30,000 bullets, one can say with certainty that they were very heavy.
These attacks fell upon the Highlanders on the right, the 7th Brigade
in the centre, and the remains of the Sixth Division upon the left.
Unhappily, a chain of defence is no stronger than its weakest link,
which finds itself so often at points of juncture. Upon this
occasion the Germans, continually filtering forward and testing every
possible orifice, found a weakness between the 120th Brigade of the
Fortieth Division in the north and the Sixth in the south. This weak
point was to be mended by the Forty-first Division, which had been
hurried up from Favreuil, but the time was too short, or the rent was
too wide, so that the Germans pushed rapidly through and {52} seized
the village of Vaulx-Vraumont, separating the Fourth Corps from the
Sixth. It was an anxious moment, and coupled with the German success
at Henin Hill in the north it might have meant the isolation of the
Sixth Corps; but the necessary changes were rapidly and steadily
effected, so that before evening the Highlanders of the 120th Brigade
feeling out upon their right and fearing all would be void, joined
hands suddenly with the 15th Hampshires of the Forty-first Division
in the neighbourhood of Beugnâtre. Before night had fallen upon
March 22 the line had been restored and built up once more, though
some five thousand yards westward of where it had been in the
morning. That evening the Sixth Division was drawn out, weak and
dishevelled, but still full of fight. With all the hammering and
hustling that it had endured, it had saved its heavy guns and nearly
all its field batteries. The Forty-first Division took its place,
and incorporated for the time the 7th Brigade, a unit which had
endured hard fortune, for it had held its ground splendidly with
little loss until, after the fashion of modern war, events upon the
other side of the horizon caused it to get the order to retire, an
order which could not be obeyed without complete exposure and very
heavy casualties, including Colonel Blackall of the 4th South
Staffords. Each day of arduous battle was followed by a no less
arduous night, during which, under heavy fire and every conceivable
difficulty the various divisions were readjusted so that the morning
light should show no impossible salients, no outlying indefensible
positions, no naked flanks, and no yawning gaps. How easy are such
exercises over a map upon a study table, and how difficult when
conducted by dazed, {53} over-wrought officers, pushing forward their
staggering, half-conscious men in the darkness of a wilderness of
woods and fields, where the gleam of a single electric torch may mean
disaster to all! And yet, as every morning dawned, the haggard
staff-captain at the telephone could still report to his anxious
chief that all was well, and his battle-line still intact between the
Hun and his goal.
On the morning of the battle the general disposition of the Fifth
Corps had been that the Seventeenth Division (Robertson) was in the
line on the left, the Sixty-third Naval Division (Lawrie) in the
centre, and the Forty-seventh Division (Gorringe) on the right, being
the southern unit of the Third Army, in close liaison with the Ninth
Division, the northern unit of the Fifth Army. Two divisions were in
close reserve, the Second (Pereira) on the right, and the Nineteenth
(Jeffreys) on the left.
[Sidenote: Fourth and Fifth Corps. March 21.]
The Forty-seventh Division was in a particularly important position,
since it was the flank unit and the liaison between the two armies
depended upon it. It had only come into line the day before the
battle, taking the place of the Second Division, which was now in
immediate support. On March 21 the 140th Brigade covered the right
of the divisional front, and the 141st the left, the sector being
that of La Vacquerie. In view of the menacing attitude of the enemy
both the 142nd Brigade and the 4th Welsh Fusiliers Pioneer Battalion
were brought nearer to the front line. So heavy was the gas
bombardment in the morning that the front battalion of the 140th
Brigade, the 17th London, had to evacuate some advanced trenches and
to wear their gas masks for hours on end. The front line trenches
were blown {54} to fragments, and so also were many of their
garrison. The following infantry advance, however, though vigorously
conducted, had no great weight, and seems to have been the work of
two battalions carrying out a subsidiary attack. By a counter-attack
of the 19th London they were driven out once more.
Whilst this partial attack had been made upon the Forty-seventh
Division, similar assaults had been made upon the Sixty-third in the
centre, and upon the Seventeenth in the northern sector of the Fifth
Corps. None of them made more than petty gains, but in each case the
bombardment was formidable, chiefly with trench-mortar bombs and with
gas. In the case of the Forty-seventh Division there was a
considerable interval between the front brigades, because a number
both of the 18th and 17th London had been absolutely destroyed,
together with their trench. There were several other partial attacks
during the day, but the pressure was never extreme, and the
withdrawal to Highland Ridge after dusk was carried out on account of
the general tactical position. All wounded men were carried back,
and no booty left to the enemy.
Meanwhile the left flank of the Fifth Corps had been covered by the
58th Brigade of the Nineteenth Division, the 9th Welsh Fusiliers
being heavily engaged. During March 22, Havrincourt, Herrmies, and
the Beaumetz-Hermies line were held by the Seventeenth, Nineteenth,
and Fifty-first divisions against repeated German attacks, and in the
evening the Nineteenth was in touch with the Forty-first on its left
and with the Second on its right.
[Sidenote: Fourth and Fifth Corps. March 22.]
On this night of March 22 the principal change was this movement
backwards of the whole Fifth {55} Corps. The retirement of the Fifth
Corps continued during the day of March 23, and was caused by the
necessity of conforming with the Seventh Corps to the south of it
which, after valiant exertions, soon to be described, had lost Nurlu,
so placing the enemy upon the right rear of the divisions in the
north. Fins had also been taken in the same neighbourhood, The Fifth
Corps was now heavily pressed in its retreat, all five divisions
enduring considerable losses and having the menace of the enemy
constantly upon their right flank. At noon the general line was east
of Equancourt, and this line was held for a time, but the enemy was
still thundering on in the north, his fresh divisions rolling in like
waves from some inexhaustible sea. At 1.30 they were pushing their
attack most desperately upon the weary fringes of riflemen and groups
of tired machine-gunners, who formed the front of the Forty-first
Division between Beugny and Lebucquière. In all, this division, with
the Nineteenth and Fifty-first upon their right, sustained five
strong attacks in the afternoon of this day, most of them from
Vaulx-Vraumont. Eventually Lebucquière was taken, the enemy breaking
their way at this point through the line of the exhausted Fifty-first
Division, who had fought with splendid resolution. This German
success placed the Nineteenth Division south of Beaumetz and at
Beugny in a very serious position, as the enemy infantry got behind
the 9th Welsh Fusiliers and 6th Wiltshires, who were only saved from
total destruction by the staunch support of the 9th Welsh at Beugny,
who held on desperately until the remains of the 58th Brigade could
get back to them. These remains when the three battalions {56} were
reunited were only a few hundred men. The case of the 57th Brigade,
which was fighting a hard rearguard action all afternoon, was little
better, and both the 8th Gloucesters and 10th Worcesters were almost
overwhelmed by the swarms of Germans who poured up against their
front and flank. A splendid stand was made by this brigade
north-east of Velu, in which the men of Gloucester especially
distinguished themselves, Captain Jones of A Company receiving the
V.C. for his heroic resistance. Colonel Hoath of the 10th Warwicks
conducted this arduous retreat, and his own battalion shares in the
honours of a fight which was tragic in its losses, but essential for
its effect upon the fortunes of the army. Captain Gribble of this
battalion also received the V.C., his D Company falling to the last
man after the best traditions of the British army. The 5th Brigade
of the Second Division, upon the right of the Nineteenth Division,
shared in the honours of this desperate business, the 2nd Oxford and
Bucks being very heavily engaged. After the prolonged action the
final line of the Nineteenth Division ran west of Bertincourt, the
movement of retreat being to the south-west. So confused had been
the fighting of the last two days that the Nineteenth Division which
had been on the right of the Fifty-first was now upon their left.
Still keeping a closely-knit line and their faces to the foe, the
Third Army stretched that night from Sailly in the south to the west
of Henin and Monchy. The Fourth Corps, which had been so badly
mauled, was strengthened that evening by the inclusion of the
Forty-second Division. The towers of Bapaume in the rear showed how
far across the {57} ravaged and reconquered land the British line had
retreated.
The pressure here described had been upon the left of the Fifth
Corps, but the situation upon its right flank had also been very
awkward. The terrific weight thrown upon the Ninth Division had, as
will be described, driven them farther westward than their left-hand
companions of the Forty-seventh Division. The result was a most
dangerous gap which exposed the whole rear of the Third Army. The
99th Brigade in the Equancourt district endeavoured after the fall of
Fins to fill this front, but they were not nearly numerous enough for
the purpose. The result was that the Forty-seventh Division, which
moved back on the night of March 22 from Highland Ridge to the
Metz-Dessart Wood line, had to reach out more and more upon the right
in order to save the situation. In this operation two battalions,
the 4th Welsh Fusiliers Pioneers and the 23rd London, sustained most
of the attack and suffered very heavily upon March 23, while in the
preliminary fighting upon March 22 the 18th London had many losses.
By the morning of March 24, the Forty-seventh, beating off all
attacks and keeping their position in the unbroken line, had fallen
back to a new position, the 142nd Brigade, which formed the
rearguard, fighting hard in its retreat, and having to brush aside
those groups of Germans who had slipped in at the rear.
[Sidenote: Fourth and Fifth Corps. March 24.]
The morning of March 24 found the German torrent still roaring
forward in full spate, though less formidable than before, since the
heavier guns were far to the rear. Their light artillery,
trench-mortars, and machine-guns were always up with the storming
{58} columns, and the latter were relieved in a manner which showed
the competence of their higher command. It was a day of doubt and
difficulty for the British, for the pressure was everywhere severe,
and the line had frayed until it was very thin, while officers and
men had reached the last limits of human endurance. At 8.30 in the
morning the enemy was pressing hard upon the Seventeenth and
Forty-seventh Divisions in the region of Bus and Le Mesnil, where
they were endeavouring to keep in touch with the worn remains of the
heroic Ninth Division on the left of the Seventh Corps. Sailly
Saillisel was still clear of the enemy, but the tide was flowing
strongly towards it. The 51st Brigade of the Seventeenth Division
occupied this village and threw out its left to the Londoners on the
north of them. Bertincourt, which had become a dangerous salient,
was evacuated, and the line now ran east of Haplincourt and
Rocquigny, the three brigades of the Seventeenth Division occupying
this latter village, Barastre, and Villers-au-Flos. On their north
were two brigades of the Forty-seventh, the remaining brigade being
south of Le Transloy. North of the Forty-seventh Division the
Sixty-third Naval Division and the Second Division carried the line
on to the junction with the Fourth Corps, where the exhausted
Nineteenth Division lay across the Cambrai Road, with the even more
shattered Fifty-first Division at Riencourt to the north of them.
There was some very furious fighting in front of Rocquigny about
mid-day, in which the 12th Manchesters of the Seventeenth Division,
and the three battalions (18th, 19th, 20th London) of the 141st
Brigade made a very desperate resistance. The fighting was continued
until the {59} defenders found themselves in danger of being
surrounded, when they were withdrawn. The 140th Brigade, under
Colonel Dawes, also did great service that day in holding the Germans
from getting behind the line. The enemy was so far round that there
was the greatest difficulty in clearing the transport, which was only
accomplished by the fine rearguard work of the 4th Welsh Fusiliers,
aided by the 11th Motor Machine-gun Battery, and 34th Brigade R.F.A.
It was, however, to the south, where the Third and Fifth Armies were
intermittently joined and vaguely interlocked, that the danger
chiefly lay. About noon, the enemy, finding the weak spot between
the two armies, had forced his way into Sailly Saillisel in
considerable force, and pushed rapidly north and west from the
village. So rapid was the German advance upon the right rear of the
Fifth Corps that Rancourt and even Combles were said to have fallen.
In vain the Seventeenth Division overstretched its wing to the south,
trying to link up with the Seventh Corps. Early in the afternoon
Morval and Les Bœufs had gone, and the troops were back upon the
mud-and-blood areas of 1916. For the moment it seemed that the
British line had gone, and it was hard to say what limit might be put
to this very serious advance. By midnight the enemy were north of
Bapaume, and had reached Ervillers, while in the south they had taken
Longueval, the key village of Delville Wood. It was indeed a sad
relapse to see all that the glorious dead had bought with their
hearts' blood reverting so swiftly to the enemy. In the north,
however, as has already been shown in the story of the Sixth Corps,
the enemy's bolt was shot, {60} and in the south his swift career was
soon to be slowed and held.
In the Favreruil, Sapignies, and Gomiecourt district, north of
Bapaume, the advance was mainly accomplished through the pressure of
fresh German forces upon the exhausted and attenuated line of the
Forty-first Division, which still struggled bravely, and in the end
successfully, against overwhelming odds. In the effort to hold a
line the divisions which had been drawn out as too weak for service
turned back once more into the fray like wounded men who totter
forward to strike a feeble blow for their comrades in distress. The
Sixth Division was led in once more, and sustained fresh and terrible
losses. Its left fell back to Favreuil, exposing the right wing of
the Fortieth Division. The Twenty-fifth Division to the east of
Achiet found itself also once more overtaken by the battle. By
evening the line had been built up again in this quarter, and the
dead-weary British infantry snatched a few hours of sleep before
another day of battle. The Nineteenth Division, reduced to 2000
rifles, lay from Le Barque to Avesnes, with the Second upon their
right and the Forty-first upon their left, while the whole of this
difficult retreat had been covered by the weary but indomitable
Highlanders of the Fifty-first.
The really serious situation was to the south of Bapaume upon the old
Somme battle-field, where the Germans had made sudden and alarming
progress. Their temporary success was due to the fact that the
losses in the British lines had contracted the ranks until it was
impossible to cover the whole space or to prevent the infiltration of
the enemy between the units. The situation required some complete
and {61} vigorous regrouping and reorganisation if complete disaster
was to be avoided. Up to this point the British Higher Command had
been unable to do much to help the two hard-pressed armies, save to
supply them with the scanty succours which were immediately
available. Now, however, it interfered with decision at the vital
spot and in the vital moment. To ensure solidity and unity,
Congreve's Seventh Corps, which had been the northern unit of the
Fifth Army, became from this time onwards the southern unit of the
Third Army, passing under the command of General Byng. With them
went the First, Second, and Third Cavalry Divisions, which had been
doing really splendid service in the south. Everything north of the
Somme was now Third Army. At the same time the three fine and fresh
Australian Divisions, the Third, Fourth, and Fifth, were assembling
near Doullens in readiness to strike, while the Twelfth British
Division was also hurried towards the place of danger. The future
was dark and dangerous, but there were also solid grounds for hope.
[Sidenote: Fourth and Fifth Corps. March 21.]
On the morning of March 25 the line of the Third Army, which had
defined itself more clearly during the night, ran from Curlu near the
Somme, east of Bazentin, west of Longueval, east of Martinpuich,
through Ligny Thilloy, Sapignies, Ervillers, and hence as before.
The enemy, whose cavalry were well up and in force, at once began his
thrusting tactics in the southern section of the field, and may have
expected, after his advance of the day before, to find some signs of
weakening resistance. In this he was disappointed, for both the 47th
Londoners in front of Contalmaison and the Second Division at Ligny
Thilloy beat off several attacks with {62} very great loss to the
assailants. The units were much broken and mixed, but the spirit of
the individuals was excellent. The pressure continued, however, to
be very great, and in the afternoon the line was once more pushed to
the westwards. There was severe fighting between Bapaume and
Sapignies, where mixed and disorganised units still held the Germans
back, but in the late afternoon three distinct gaps had appeared in
the line, one between the Seventh and Fifth Corps, one in the Fifth
Corps itself in the Pozières area of the Sixty-third Division, and
one between the Fifth and the Fourth Corps. Fortunately, the
resistance had been so desperate that by the time the Germans had
their opportunity they were always so bedraggled themselves that they
could not take full advantage of it. The general order of divisions
in this area, counting from the south of Contalmaison, was
Seventeenth, Forty-seventh, Sixty-third, Second, upon the morning of
March 25.
The Seventh Corps, the previous adventures of which will be described
under the heading of the Fifth Army, had now become the right wing of
the Third Army. It had been strengthened by the advent of the
Thirty-fifth Division, and this unit now covered from west of Curlu
to east of Maricourt, where it touched the right of the Ninth
Division--if the thin ranks of that gallant band can be dignified by
so imposing a title. The Highlanders covered the front to Montauban,
where they touched the First Cavalry Division, but beyond that the
enemy were pouring round their flank at Bernafoy and Mametz Woods.
It was under these trying conditions that the Twelfth Division was
ordered up, about noon, to secure the {63} left of the Seventh Corps
and entirely stopped the dangerous gap.
Another had formed farther north. The Seventeenth Division, who were
on the right of the Fifth Corps, held from Mametz to Contalmaison.
Thence to Pozières was held by the Forty-seventh. A gap existed,
however, upon their left, between them and the Sixty-third Division,
who were gradually falling back upon Courcelette. The left of the
Naval Division was also in the air, having lost touch with the right
of the Second Division who were covering Le Sars. North of them the
Nineteenth Division extended from the west of Grevillers to the south
of Bihucourt. The 57th Brigade in the north, under the local command
of Colonel Sole, fought a fine rearguard action as the enemy tried to
debouch from Grevillers. Considering how terribly mauled this
brigade had been a few days before, this was a really splendid
performance of these brave Midlanders, and was repeated by them more
than once during the day. From their left flank to the north
stretched a new division, Braithwaite's Sixty-second, which had
upheld the honour of Yorkshire so gloriously at Cambrai. Their line
ran west of Sapignies and joined the Forty-second Division at the
point where they touched the Sixth Corps, east of Ervillers.
The front of the Sixty-second stretched from Bucquoy to Puisieux.
The enemy kept working round the right flank, and the situation there
was very dangerous, for everything to the immediate south was in a
state of flux, shreds and patches of units endeavouring to cover a
considerable stretch of all-important country. South of Puisieux
there was a gap of four or five miles before one came to {64} British
troops. Into this gap in the very nick of time came first the 4th
Brigade of the Second Australian Division, and later the New Zealand
Division in driblets, which gradually spanned the vacant space. It
was a very close call for a break through without opposition. Being
disappointed in this the Germans upon March 26 spent the whole
afternoon in fierce attacks upon the Sixty-second Division, but got
little but hard knocks from Braithwaite's Yorkshiremen. The 186th
Brigade on the right threw back a flank to Rossignol Wood to cover
the weak side.
Meanwhile the enemy had made a spirited attempt to push through
between the Seventh Corps and the Fifth. With this design he
attacked heavily, bending back the thin line of the Ninth Division,
who were supported by the Twenty-first Division, numbering at this
period 1500 men. At four in the afternoon the German stormers got
into Maricourt, but they were thrust out again by the Thirty-fifth
Division. They had better success farther north, where in the late
evening they got round the left flank of the Forty-seventh Division
and occupied Pozières. The Londoners threw out a defensive line to
the north and awaited events, but the general position between the
Fifth and Fourth Corps was serious, as the tendency was for the gap
to increase, and for the Fourth Corps to swing north-west while the
other turned to the south-west. The Twelfth Division was transferred
therefore from the Seventh to the Fifth Corps, and was given a line
on the west bank of the Ancre from Albert to Hamel. This move proved
in the sequel to be a most effective one. In the evening of this
day, March 25, the line from Bray to Albert exclusive was allotted to
the Seventh Corps, {65} which was directed to leave a covering party
as long as possible on a line from the River Somme to Montauban, in
order to safeguard the retirement of the Fifth Army. Then came the
Twelfth Division covering Albert, then the remains of the
Forty-seventh and of the Second from Thiepval to Beaumont Hamel, all
moving across the Ancre. It is said that during the retreat from
Moscow an officer having asked who were the occupants of a certain
sledge, was answered: "The Royal Regiment of Dutch Guards." It is in
a somewhat similar sense that all mentions of battalions, brigades,
and divisions must be taken at this stage of the battle. The right
of the Fourth Corps was threatened by an irruption of the enemy at
Pys and Irles, who threatened to get by this route round the flank of
the Sixty-second Division, but found the Twenty-fifth Division still
had vitality enough left to form a defensive flank looking south. At
the same time the Forty-second Division had been driven back west of
Gomiecourt, and was out of touch with the right of the Sixth Corps.
Things were still serious and the future dark. Where was the retreat
to be stayed? Was it destined to roll back to Amiens or possibly to
Abbeville beyond it? The sky had clouded, the days were mirk, the
hanging Madonna had fallen from the cathedral of Albert, the troops
were worn to shadows. The twilight of the gods seemed to have come.
It was at that very moment that the first light of victory began to
dawn. It is true that the old worn divisions could hardly be said
any longer to exist, but the new forces, the Yorkshiremen of the
Sixty-second in the north, the New Zealanders and the Twelfth in the
centre, and very particularly the {66} three splendid divisions of
Australians in the area just south of Albert, were the strong
buttresses of the dam which at last held up that raging tide. Never
should our British Imperial troops forget the debt which they owed to
Australia at that supreme hour of destiny. The very sight of those
lithe, rakish dare-devils with their reckless, aggressive bearing, or
their staider fresh-faced brethren with the red facings of New
Zealand, was good for tired eyes. There was much still to be done
before an equilibrium should be reached, but the rough outline of the
permanent positions had even now, in those hours of darkness and
danger, been traced across the German path. There was but one gap on
the morning of March 26, which lay between Auchonvillers and
Hebuterne, and into this the New Zealand Division and one brigade of
the Second Australians were, as already stated, hurriedly sent, the
New Zealanders supporting and eventually relieving the Second British
Division, while the Australians relieved the Nineteenth. The line
was attacked, but stood firm, and the New Zealanders actually
recaptured Colincamps.
[Sidenote: March 26.]
The chief fighting both of this day and of the next fell upon Scott's
Twelfth Division, which lay before Albert, and was occupying the
western side of the railway line. So vital was the part played by
the Twelfth in this quarter, and so strenuous their work, that a
connected and more detailed account of it would perhaps not be out of
place. The 37th Brigade was in the north-east of Mesnil and Aveluy
Wood, the 36th in the centre, and the 35th on the west bank of the
Ancre, with outposts to cover the crossings at Albert and Aveluy.
{67} The men were fresh and eager, but had only their rifles to trust
to, for they had neither wire, bombs, rifle-grenades, Very lights, or
signals, having been despatched at the shortest notice to the
battle-field. Their orders were to hold their ground at all costs,
and most valiantly they obeyed it. It is only when one sees a map of
the German forces in this part of the field, with the divisions
marked upon it like flies upon fly-paper, that one understands the
odds against which these men had to contend. Nor was the efficiency
of the enemy less than his numbers. "The Germans scouted forward in
a very clever manner, making full use of the old chalk trenches,"
says an observer. In the north upon the evening of March 26 the
enemy crept up to Mesnil, and after a long struggle with the 6th
Queen's forced their way into the village. Shortly after midnight,
however, some of the 6th Buffs and 6th West Kents, together with part
of the Anson battalion from the Sixty-third Division, won back the
village once more, taking twelve machine-guns and a number of
prisoners. The other two brigades had not been attacked upon the
26th, but a very severe battle awaited them all upon March 27. It
began by a heavy shelling of Hamel in the morning, by which the
garrison was driven out. The Germans then attacked southwards down
the railway from Hamel, but were held up by the 6th West Kents. The
pressure extended, however, to the 9th Royal Fusiliers of the 36th
Brigade upon the right of the West Kents, who had a long, bitter
struggle in which they were assisted by the 247th Field Company of
the Royal Engineers and other elements of the 188th Brigade. This
brigade, being already worn to a shadow, was {68} withdrawn, while
another shadow, the 5th Brigade, took its place, one of its
battalions, the 24th Royal Fusiliers, fighting stoutly by the side of
the West Kents. There was a time when the pressure was so great that
all touch was lost between the two brigades; but the line was held
during the whole of the day and night of the 27th and on into the
28th. At eleven o'clock in the morning of this day a new attack by
fresh troops was made upon the West Kents and the 7th Sussex, and the
men of Kent were at one time driven back, but with the aid of the
24th Royal Fusiliers the line was entirely re-established. The whole
episode represented forty-eight hours of continual close combat
until, upon March 29, this front was relieved by the Second Division.
Apart from the heavy casualties endured by the enemy, this gain of
time was invaluable at a crisis when every day meant a thickening of
the British line of resistance.
[Sidenote: Fourth and Fifth Corps. March 27.]
The fight upon the right wing of the 36th Brigade had been equally
violent and even more deadly. In the fight upon March 27, when the
Royal West Kents and 9th Fusiliers were so hard pressed in the north,
their comrades of the 5th Berks and 7th Sussex had been very heavily
engaged in the south. The Germans, by a most determined advance,
drove a wedge between the Berkshires and the Sussex, and another
between the Sussex and the Fusiliers, but in each case the isolated
bodies of men continued the desperate fight. The battle raged for a
time round the battalion headquarters of the Sussex, where Colonel
Impey, revolver in hand, turned the tide of fight like some leader of
old. The losses were terrible, but the line shook itself clear of
Germans, and though they attacked again upon the morning of March 28,
{69} they were again beaten off, and heavily shelled as they plodded
in their sullen retreat up the hillside to La Boisselle.
[Sidenote: Fourth and Fifth Corps. March 26.]
Meanwhile, the 35th Brigade had also been fighting for its life to
the south. Albert had fallen to the Germans, for it was no part of
the plan of defence to hold the town itself, but the exits from it
and the lines on each side of it were jealously guarded. At 7 P.M.
on March 26 the Germans were in the town, but they had practically
reached their limit. Parties had crossed the Ancre, and there were
attacked by the 7th Norfolks, who were supported in a long fight upon
the morning of the 27th by the 9th Essex and the 5th Northants
Pioneer Battalion. The line was held, partly by the aid given by the
51st Brigade of the Seventeenth Division, who numbered just 600 men
and were led by Major Cubbon. Whilst the line was held outside
Albert, the Germans in the town had a very deadly time, being fired
at at short ranges by the 78th and 79th Brigades Royal Field
Artillery. The 7th Suffolks were drawn into the infantry fight,
which became a more and more desperate affair, involving every man
who could be thrown into it, including two battalions, the 1st
Artists and 10th Bedfords from the 190th Brigade of the Sixty-third
Division. These latter units suffered very heavily from machine-gun
fire before ever they reached the firing-line. At 8 A.M. upon March
28 the Germans were still pouring men through Albert, but were
utterly unable to debouch upon the other side under the murderous
fire of the British. A single company of the 9th Essex fired 15,000
rounds, and the whole slope which faced them was dotted with the
German dead. The town of {70} Albert formed a covered line of
approach, and though the British guns were still pounding the
buildings and the eastern approaches, the Germans were able to
assemble in it during darkness and to form up unseen in great numbers
for the attack. At ten in the morning of the 28th another desperate
effort was made to get through and clear a path for all the hordes
waiting behind. The British artillery smothered one attack, but a
second broke over the 7th Norfolks and nearly submerged them. Both
flanks were turned, and in spite of great work done by Captain
Chalmers with his machine-guns the battalion was nearly surrounded.
The losses were terrible, but the survivors formed up again half a
mile to the west, where they were again attacked in the evening and
again exposed to heavy casualties, including their commanding
officer. Few battalions have endured more. Late that night the 10th
West Yorkshires of the Seventeenth Division came to their relief.
The whole of the Twelfth Division was now rested for a time, but they
withdrew from their line in glory, for it is no exaggeration to say
that they had fought the Germans to an absolute standstill.
We shall now return to March 26, a date which had been darkened by
the capture of Albert. Apart from this success upon the German side,
which brought them into a town which they had not held for years, the
general line in this quarter began to assume the same outline as in
1916 before the Somme battle, so that Hebuterne and Auchonvillers
north of Albert were in British hands, while Serre and Puisieux were
once more German. The existence of the old trenches had helped the
weary army to hold this definite line, and as already shown it had
received {71} reinforcements which greatly stiffened its resistance.
The dangerous gap which had yawned between the Fourth and Fifth Corps
was now successfully filled. In the morning of March 27 all was
solid once more in this direction. At eleven on that date, an
inspiriting order was sent along the line that the retreat was over
and that the army must fight out the issue where it stood. It is the
decisive call which the British soldier loves and never fails to
obey. The line was still very attenuated in parts, however, and it
was fated to swing and sway before it reached its final stability.
[Sidenote: Fourth and Fifth Corps. March 27.]
The fighting upon the front of the Sixty-second Division at Bucquoy
upon March 27 was as heavy as on the front of the Twelfth to the
south, and cost the Germans as much, for the Lewis guns had wonderful
targets upon the endless grey waves which swept out of the east. The
5th West Ridings, east of Rossignol Wood, were heavily engaged, the
Germans bombing their way very cleverly up the old trenches when they
could no longer face the rifle-fire in the open. There were three
separate strong attacks on Bucquoy, which covered the slopes with
dead, but the persistent attempts to get round the right wing were
more dangerous. These fell chiefly on the 2/4 Yorks Light Infantry
between Rossignol Wood and Hebuterne, driving this battalion in. A
dangerous gap then developed between the British and the Australians,
but a strong counter-attack of the 5th Yorkshire Light Infantry after
dark, with the Australians and four tanks co-operating, recovered
nearly all the lost ground.
[Sidenote: Fourth and Fifth Corps. March 28.]
On March 28 there was again a very heavy attack upon the 186th
Brigade. The stormers surged right {72} up to the muzzles of the
rifles, but never beyond them. Over 200 dead were found lying in
front of one company. One isolated platoon of the 5th West Ridings
was cut off and was killed to the last man. Farther to the right
there were several determined attacks upon the 187th Brigade and the
4th Australian Brigade, the latter being under the orders of the
Sixty-second Division. These also were repulsed in the open, but the
bombing, in which the Germans had the advantage of a superiority of
bombs, was more difficult to meet, and the 5th Yorkshire Light
Infantry were driven from Rossignol Wood and the ground which they
had so splendidly captured the night before.
About 11 A.M. on this day the Forty-first Division had been ordered
up to man the east of Gommecourt. A brigade of this division, the
124th, co-operated with the 8th West Yorkshires and some of the
Australians in a fresh attack upon Rossignol Wood, which failed at
first, but eventually, after dark, secured the north end of the wood,
and greatly eased the local pressure. On March 29 and 30 the
positions were safely held, and the attacks less dangerous. On the
evening of the latter date the Sixty-second Division was relieved by
the Thirty-seventh.
Whilst these events had occurred upon the front of the Sixty-second
Division, Russell's New Zealanders were holding the line to the south
in their usual workmanlike fashion. From March 26 they held up the
Germans, whose main attacks, however, were north and south of them,
though March 27 saw several local advances against the Canterburys
and the Rifles. On March 30 the New Zealanders hit {73} back again
at La Signy Farm, with good results, taking 295 prisoners. It was a
smart little victory at a time when the smallest victory was indeed
precious.
[Sidenote: Fourth and Fifth Corps. March 21.]
Reverting now to the general situation upon March 27, the weak point
was north and south of the Somme to the south of Albert. Between the
river and Harbonnière the left wing of the Fifth Army had been
broken, as will be told when we come to consider the operations in
that area. The German advance was pouring down the line of the river
with the same fierce rapidity with which it had recently thundered
forward over the old Somme battle-fields. Having annihilated the
local resistance on the left bank of the river, where Colonel Horn
and 400 nondescripts did all that they could, they were pushing on
from Cerisy to Corbie. General Watts of the Nineteenth Corps, whose
defence was one of the outstanding features of the whole operations,
was hard put to it to cover his left wing, so in loyal co-operation
the Third Army north of the river detached the hard-worked Cavalry
Corps, who were always called upon at moments of supreme crisis, and
who never failed to answer the call. It was actually engaged to the
north of the river at the time, but disengaged itself in part, though
the enemy was holding Cerisy and Chipilly and had got a bridge across
the river which would enable them to get to the rear of General
Watts' Corps. The means by which this very dangerous German move was
kept within bounds comes within the history of the Fifth Army.
Suffice it to say that the cavalry passed over the river and that the
Seventh Corps, north of the river, extended to cover the {74} wider
front, throwing out a defensive flank along the north bank from
Sailly-le-Sec to Aubigny.
Along the whole line to the north the pressure was great all day upon
March 27, but the attacks upon the Fourth Corps, which were
particularly severe, were repulsed with great loss at Beaumont Hamel,
Bucquoy, north of Puisieux, and at Ablainzeville. Near Bucquoy the
Sixty-second Division in these two days repelled, as already
narrated, eight separate German attacks. This fighting has to be
fitted in with that recounted in the previous chapter near Ayette, in
connection with the Thirty-first Division, in order to get a complete
view of the whole German effort and the unbroken British line. Hamel
was the only fresh village to the north of Albert which was taken by
the Germans that day.
[Sidenote: Fourth and Fifth Corps. March 21.]
March 28 was remarkable for the very desperate engagement upon the
front of the Sixth and Seventeenth Corps, which has been already
described, and which marked the limit of the whole German advance in
the northern area. The Fourth Corps farther south had its own share
of the fighting, however, as already told in connection with the
defence of Bucquoy by the Sixty-second Division. The line was held,
however, and save for a small strip of Rossignol Wood, no gain at all
came to solace the Germans for very heavy losses.
All through these operations it is worthy of note that an important
part was played by reorganised bodies of men, so mixed and broken
that no name can be assigned to them. Officers stationed in the rear
collected these stragglers, and led them back into gaps of the line,
where their presence was sometimes of vital importance. A divisional
general, {75} speaking of these curious and irregular formations,
says: "There was no panic of any kind. The men of all divisions were
quite willing to halt and fight, but as the difficulty of orders
reaching them made them uncertain as to their correct action, they
came back slowly and in good order. Once they received some definite
orders they fell into line and dug themselves in at once." At one
point 4000 men were collected in this fashion.
In the Australian area the enemy occupied Dernancourt, but otherwise
the whole line was intact. It was still necessary, however, to keep
a defensive line thrown back along the north bank of the Somme, as
the situation to the south, especially at Marcelcave, was very
dangerous. Thus, the Seventh Corps covered this flank from Corbie to
Sailly, and then ran north to Treux on the Albert-Amiens Railway.
The arrival of the cavalry to the south of the river had spliced the
weak section, so that on the morning of March 29 the British
commanders from north to south had every cause to be easier in their
minds. An inactive day was the best proof of the severity of the
rebuff which the Germans had sustained the day before, nor were
matters improved from their point of view when upon March 30 they
attacked the Australians near Dernancourt and lost some thousands of
men without a yard of gain, or when the New Zealanders countered
them, with the capture of 250 prisoners and many machine-guns.
This small chronicle of huge events has now brought the southern half
of the Third Army to the same date already reached in the previous
chapter by the northern half. The narrative has by no means reached
the limit of the fighting carried on {76} by this portion of the
line, but equilibrium has roughly been attained, and if the story be
now continued it leaves too wide a gap for the reader to cross when
he has to return to the history of the Fifth Army upon the 21st of
March. Therefore we shall leave the Third Army for the time and only
return to it when we have followed the resistance of the Fifth Army
up to the same date.
[Sidenote: Third Army. March 28.]
Before starting upon this new epic, it would be well to remind the
reader of the general bearing of the events already described, as it
is very easy in attention to detail to lose sight of the larger
issues. The experience of the Third Army then, put in its briefest
form, was that the attack upon March 21 fell with terrific violence
upon the two central corps, the Sixth and Fourth; that these, after a
most valiant resistance, were forced to retire; that the strategical
situation thus created caused the Seventeenth Corps in the north and
the Fifth Corps in the south to fall back, and that both of them were
then pressed by the enemy; that for six days the army fell slowly
back, fighting continual rearguard actions against superior numbers;
that this movement involved only a short retreat in the north, but a
longer one in the south, until in the Albert region it reached its
maximum; that finally the Germans made a determined effort upon March
28 to break the supple and resilient line which had always faced
them, and that this attempt, most gallantly urged, involved the Corps
in the north as well as the whole line of the Third Army. The result
of this great battle was a bloody defeat for the Germans, especially
in the northern sector, where they made hardly any gain of ground and
lost such vast numbers of men that their whole {77} enterprise was
brought to a complete standstill and was never again resumed in that
quarter.
The losses of the Third Army during that week of desperate fighting
when, in spite of the heroic efforts of the Medical Corps, the
wounded had frequently to be abandoned, and when it was often
impossible to get the guns away intact, were very severe. Many
divisions which numbered their 9000 infantry upon March 21 could not
put 1500 in the line upon March 28. These losses were not, however,
so great as they might appear, since the constant movement of troops,
carried on very often in pitch darkness, made it impossible to keep
the men together. An official estimate taken at the time and subject
to subsequent revision put the loss of guns at 206, only 23 of which
were above the 6-inch calibre. Forty-three others were destroyed.
The casualties in the Third Army during the period under review might
be placed approximately at 70,000, divided into 10,000 killed, 25,000
missing, and 35,000 wounded. The heaviest losses were in the
Fifty-ninth Division, which gave 5765 as its appalling total, but the
Sixth Division was little behind it, and the Forty-second,
Forty-seventh, and Fifty-first were all over 4000. The Thirty-fifth
Division had also a most honourable record, enduring very heavy
losses in which the numbers of missing were comparatively small. Its
work, however, was chiefly done at a later date than that which
closes this chapter. In the estimate of losses there has to be
included practically the whole personnel of the devoted battalions
who held the forward line upon the first day of the German attack.
In connection with the large number of stragglers, who were
afterwards gathered together and showed {78} by their conduct that
they had no want of stomach for the fight, it is to be remembered
that the men had been accustomed to the narrow routine of trench
operations, that most of them had no idea of open warfare, and that
when they found themselves amidst swift evolutions over difficult
country, carried on frequently in darkness, it was very natural that
they should lose their units and join the throng who wandered down
the main roads and were eventually rounded up and formed into
formations at the river crossings or other places where they could be
headed off. Among the casualties were many senior officers,
including General Bailey of the 142nd Brigade.
{79}