[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Illustration:
_To illustrate Phase IV and VIII._
]
[Illustration:
[_Reproduced by permission of the Geographical Section, General
Staff._
]
From Bully-Grenay we went in buses to Coupigny. The next morning we
entrained at Hersin, and arrived that night at Sus-St.-Leger, a small
village near Doullens, for a few days’ rest and preparation for the
final phase of the war.
PHASE IX
THE FINAL ADVANCE FROM CAMBRAI TO MAUBEUGE
_October—November 1918_
After five days’ training at Sus-St.-Leger—chiefly on the lines of open
fighting in co-operation with artillery and machine guns—we entrained on
Sunday, October 6, detraining at Ribecourt from the first troop train to
run into the station. We marched to the ruins of Graincourt and
bivouacked in fields for the night, among constant visits from enemy
aeroplane bombs. On the following day positions were reconnoitred at
Rumilly, and we moved up into trenches at Cantaing for the night.
At this time the British positions near Cambrai were, roughly, the same
as those reached in the advance of November 1917.
On Tuesday, October 8, a general attack on the enemy’s Cambrai positions
in conjunction with other attacks on a wide front opened at dawn. The
72nd Infantry Brigade was in close support to the 63rd Division, and we
were assembled in trenches near Rumilly at 8 a.m.
The attack immediately in front of us on the village of Niergnies was
successful. In spite of several counter-attacks during the day, the
village was still in the hands of the 63rd Division when the 72nd
Brigade moved up to relieve them at night. The 1st North Staffordshire
Regiment and the 9th East Surrey Regiment took over the line, and we
were in close support behind the village. The enemy shelled the area
just behind the village very heavily with gas shells all night.
About 9 p.m. we received orders that the Battalion would attack the
village of Awoingt at dawn the following morning. The orders were
received over the telephone, and details were very meagre. Battalion
Headquarters had been pushed forward to a new position, where there was
a telephone, close to the village. The intense blackness of the night
and the heavy gas shelling made it most difficult to get in touch with
the companies, and the final arrangements for the attack were not
completed until nearly 4 a.m., when the written orders reached us.
The operation order was rather historic. It opened as follows: “The 8th
Royal West Kent Regiment will capture the village of Awoingt at 5.20
a.m. on October 9, 1918. The Guards’ Division will attack on their
right, the Canadian Corps from north of Cambrai on their left.”
The object of the attack was the final cutting off of the town of
Cambrai, which lay away on our left burning all through the night and
the next day. The assembly for our attack was successfully completed by
5 a.m. and our barrage opened at 5.20. The barrage was very heavy, and,
apart from one or two isolated guns which were shooting short, very
accurate. B Company attacked on the right in touch with the Guards, C
Company on the left with D Company in support, and A Company in reserve.
The enemy was not holding the village in great strength, and all
objectives were taken without difficulty before 8 a.m. The captures by
the Battalion included thirty-five prisoners, two field guns, three
tanks, one limber with horses complete, a number of machine guns, and
several dumps of ammunition. We had a few casualties from our own shells
falling short, and a number from the enemy’s heavy shelling of the
railway after the objectives had been taken. A strong enemy detachment
with machine guns had been left behind at the railway bridge just south
of the village, and they were making desperate efforts to destroy it. A
party from D Company, under Lieut. Dean, captured the whole detachment
with machine guns, and so saved the bridge intact.
[Illustration:
AWOINGT.
]
The attack, though it did not involve heavy fighting, was a splendid
exercise for the Battalion in following a hastily arranged barrage and
in keeping direction in open country. The leading companies were on the
heels of the barrage all the way, touch was maintained with the Guards
throughout, and direction was never lost. It was almost dark when we
commenced to advance, we could not see the village, and we went forward
on a compass bearing. Soon, however, the sun came out and the morning
mist cleared, and we wish we could have had photographs of the plain at
about 7 o’clock that morning. The whole Battalion was spread out in
extended order over our front of 1,000 yards. In front of the leading
companies was the steadily advancing line of the creeping barrage, in
front again, round the near outskirts of the village, smoke shells were
bursting in profusion, while our big crumps falling continually in the
village were sending up huge clouds of red dust from the unfortunate
houses. On our left flank the town of Cambrai seemed to be one huge
bonfire. It was the most wonderful view of a battle we ever saw during
the war. Our casualties were 2nd Lieuts. Winch, H. A. Green, and nine
other ranks killed, and 2nd Lieut. Taylor and forty-eight other ranks
wounded. We remained on the objectives at Awoingt.
[Illustration: