THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN
IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS
1917
BY
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
AUTHOR OF
'THE GREAT BOER WAR,' ETC.
HODDER AND STOUGHTON
LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO
MCMXIX
SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE'S
HISTORY OF THE WAR
Uniform with this Volume.
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE
AND FLANDERS
1914
THE BREAKING OF THE PEACE.
THE OPENING OF THE WAR.
THE BATTLE OF MONS.
THE BATTLE OF LE CATEAU.
THE BATTLE OF THE MARNE.
THE BATTLE OF THE AISNE.
THE LA BASSÉE-ARMENTIÈRES OPERATIONS.
THE FIRST BATTLE OF YPRES.
A RETROSPECT AND GENERAL SUMMARY.
THE WINTER LULL OF 1914.
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE
AND FLANDERS
1915
THE OPENING MONTHS OF 1915.
NEUVE CHAPELLE AND HILL 60.
THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES.
THE BATTLE OF RICHEBOURG-FESTUBERT.
THE TRENCHES OF HOOGE.
THE BATTLE OF LOOS.
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE
AND FLANDERS
1916
JANUARY TO JULY 1916.
THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME.
THE GAINING OF THE THIEPVAL RIDGE.
THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME.
THE BATTLE OF THE ANCRE.
With Maps, Plans, and Diagrams.
HODDER AND STOUGHTON
LONDON, NEW YORK, AND TORONTO
{v}
PREFACE
This, the fourth volume of _The British Campaign in France and
Flanders_, carries the story through the long and arduous fighting of
1917, which culminated in the dramatic twofold battle of Cambrai.
These events are cut deep into the permanent history of the world,
and we are still too near it to read the whole of that massive and
tremendous inscription. It is certain, however, that this year
marked the period in which the Allies gained a definite military
ascendancy over the German forces, in spite of the one great
subsequent rally which had its source in events which were beyond the
control of the Western powers. So long as ink darkens and paper
holds, our descendants, whose freedom has been won by these
exertions, will dwell earnestly and with reverence upon the stories
of Arras, Messines, Ypres, Cambrai, and other phases of this epic
period.
I may be permitted to record with some thankfulness and relief, that
in the course of three thick volumes, in which for the first time the
detailed battle-line of these great encounters has been set out, it
has not yet been shown that a brigade has ever been out of its place,
and even a battalion has seldom gone amiss. Such good fortune cannot
last for ever. _Absit omen!_ But the fact is worth recording, as it
{vi} may reassure the reader who has natural doubts whether history
which is so recent can also lay claim to be of any permanent value.
The Censorship has left me untrammelled in the matter of units, for
which I am sufficiently grateful. The ruling, however, upon the
question of names must be explained, lest it should seem that their
appearance or suppression is due to lack of knowledge or to
individual favour or caprice. I would explain, then, that I am
permitted to use the names of Army and Corps Commanders, but only of
such divisional Generals as are mentioned in the Headquarters
narrative. All other ranks below divisional Generals are still
suppressed, save only casualties, in connection with the action where
they received the injury, and those who won honours, with the same
limitation. This regulation has little effect upon the accuracy of
the narrative, but it appears in many cases to involve some personal
injustice. To record the heroic deeds of a division and yet be
compelled to leave out the name of the man who made it so efficient,
is painful to the feelings of the writer, for if any one fact is
clearer than another in this war it is that the good leader makes the
good unit.
The tremendous epic of 1918 will call for two volumes in its
treatment. One of these, bringing the story up to June 30, 1918, is
already completed, and should appear by the summer. The other may be
ready at the end of the year.
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
CROWBOROUGH,
_January_ 20, 1919.
{vii}
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
THE GERMAN RETREAT UPON THE ARRAS-SOISSONS FRONT
Hindenburg's retreat--The advance of the Fifth and Fourth
Armies--Capture of Bapaume and Peronne--Atrocious devastation by the
Germans--Capture of guns at Selency--Definition of the Hindenburg
Line--General survey
CHAPTER II
THE BATTLE OF ARRAS
April 9 to April 23, 1917.
Vast preparations--Attack of Snow's Seventh Corps--The Ibex
Trench--Attack of Haldane's Sixth Corps--Attack of Fergusson's
Seventeenth Corps--A Scottish Front--The splendid Canadians--Capture
of Mouchy--Essex and Newfoundland--A glorious episode--The Chemical
Works--Extension of the battle to the north--Desperate fight of the
Australians at Bullecourt
CHAPTER III
OPERATIONS IN THE ARRAS SECTOR FROM APRIL 23 ONWARDS
Advance of April 23--Middlesex and Argyll--Grand fighting of the
Fifteenth Division--H.A.C. at Gavrelle--Operations of May 3--The
Gavrelle Windmill--Loss of Fresnoy--Capture of Rœux--The long
fight at Bullecourt
CHAPTER IV
THE BATTLE OF MESSINES
Plumer's long vigil--The great mines--Advance of Australians--Of New
Zealanders--Of the Twenty-fifth Division--Of the Irish {viii}
Divisions--Death of Major Redmond--Advance of Nineteenth Division--Of
the Forty-first Division--Of the Forty-seventh Division--Of the
Twenty-fourth Division--General results
CHAPTER V
OPERATIONS FROM JUNE 10 TO JULY 31
Fighting round Lens--Good work of Canadians and Forty-sixth
Division--Action on the Yser canal--Great fight and eventual
annihilation of 2nd K.R.R. and 1st Northampton--An awful ordeal--Exit
Russia
CHAPTER VI
THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES
July 31, 1917
Attack of July 31--Advance of the Guards--Of the Welsh--Capture of
Pilkem--Capture of St. Julien by Thirty-ninth Division--Advance of
Fifty-fifth Division--Advance of Jacob's Second Corps--General results
CHAPTER VII
THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES
August 1 to September 6
Dreadful weather--German reaction--Attack of August 16--Advance of
Cavan's Corps--Capture of Langemarck--Dreadful losses of the two
Irish Divisions--Failure in the south--Splendid field-gunners--The
Forty-second Division upon September 6
CHAPTER VIII
THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES
September 6 to October 3, 1917
Engagement of Plumer's Second Army--Attack of September 20--Fine
advance of Fifty-fifth Division--Advance of the Ninth {ix}
Division--Of the Australians--Strong counter-attack upon the
Thirty-third Division--Renewed advance on September 20--Continued
rain--Desperate fighting
CHAPTER IX
THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES
October 4 to November 10, 1917
Attack of October 4--Further advance of the British line--Splendid
advance of second-line Territorials--Good work of H.A.C. at
Reutel--Abortive action of October 12--Action of October 26--Heavy
losses at the south end of the line--Fine fighting by the Canadian
Corps--Capture of Paschendaale--General results of third battle of
Ypres
CHAPTER X
THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI
First phase, November 20--Tanks _en masse_--Attack on the Tunnel
Trench--Byng's great advance--Fine work of the Sixty-second
Division--Hard fighting of Pulteney's Third Corps--Exploit of Fort
Garry Horse--Second day of battle--Rally of Germans--Capture of
Bourlon Wood by Fortieth Division--Attack by the Guards on La Fontaine
CHAPTER XI
THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI.
Second phase of battle on November 30--Great German attack--Disaster
to three divisions--Desperate fight of Twenty-ninth Division--Fine
advance by the Guards--Capture and recapture of Gouzeaucourt--Hard
battle in the Bourlon Sector--Heavy losses of the Germans--Retraction
of the British line
INDEX
{xi}
MAPS AND PLANS
Fighting Line, February 24, 1917, and Fighting Line, March 1, 1917
The Arras Front
Chart of Order of Battle, Arras, April 9, 1917
Order of Battle, Messines, June 7, 1917
Line of Battle, August 16, 1917
The Ypres Front
Third Ypres Battle, September 26
Order of Battle, October 4, 1917
Fighting Line, November 20, 1917
Battle Line of Third Army, November 20, 1917
Fighting Line, November 30, 1917
Battle Order of Third Army, November 30, 1917
Map to illustrate the British Campaign in France and Flanders
[Transcriber's note: this map was omitted from the etext because its
size and fragility made it impractical to scan.]
{1}
CHAPTER I
THE GERMAN RETREAT UPON THE ARRAS-SOISSONS FRONT
Hindenburg's retreat--The advance of the Fifth and Fourth
Armies--Capture of Bapaume and Peronne--Atrocious devastation by the
Germans--Capture of guns at Selency--Definition of the Hindenburg
Line--General survey.
In the latter days of 1916 and the beginning of 1917, the British
Army, which had in little more than two years expanded from seven
divisions to over fifty, took over an increased line. The movement
began about Christmas time, and early in the New Year Rawlinson's
Fourth Army, side-stepping always to the south, had covered the whole
of the French position occupied during the Somme fighting, had
crossed the Somme, and had established its right flank at a point
near Roye. The total front was increased to 120 miles, which may
seem a small proportion as compared to the whole. In making such a
comparison, however, one must bear in mind the difference in the
effort of sustaining an army in one's own country and in a foreign
land with all communications by water. The task of the British was
continually made more difficult by the precarious nature of their
connection with their base. Dulness of vision may be as dangerous to
a nation as treason, {2} and no enemies could have harmed the country
more than those perfectly sincere and patriotic individuals who had
for so long opposed the construction of a Channel tunnel.
The general disposition of the British forces after this prolongation
to the south was as follows. Plumer's Second Army still held that
post of danger and of honour which centred round the Ypres salient.
South of Plumer, in the Armentières district, was the First Army, now
commanded by General Horne, whose long service with the Fifteenth
Corps during the Somme Battle had earned him this high promotion.
Allenby's Third Army carried the line onwards to the south of Arras.
From the point upon which the British line had hinged during the
Somme operations Gough's Fifth Army took over the front, and this
joined on to Rawlinson's Fourth Army near the old French position.
From the north then the order of the armies was two, one, three,
five, and four.
The winter was spent by both sides in licking their wounds after the
recent severe fighting and in preparing for the greater fighting to
come. These preparations upon the part of the British consisted in
the addition to the army of a number of fresh divisions, and the
rebuilding of those divisions, fifty-two in number, which had taken
part in the Somme fighting, most of them more than once. As the
average loss in these divisions was very heavy indeed, the task of
reconstructing them was no light one. None the less before the
campaign re-opened, though the interval was a short three months, the
greater part of the battalions were once again at full strength,
while the guns and munitions were very greatly {3} increased. A
considerable addition to the strength of the army was effected by the
civilian railway advisers, under Sir Eric Geddes, who by the simple
expedient of pulling up their own lines at home, and relaying them in
France, enormously improved the communications of the army.
In the case of the Germans their army changes took the form of a
considerable new levy from those classes which had been previously
judged to be unfit, and a general comb-out of every source from which
men could be extracted. A new law rendered every citizen liable to
national service in a civilian capacity, and so released a number of
men from the mines and the factories. They also increased the
numbers of their divisions by the doubtful expedient of reducing the
brigades, so that the divisions were shorn of a third of their
strength. The battalions thus obtained were formed into new
divisions. In this way it was calculated that a reserve force had
been created which would be suddenly thrown in on one or the other
front with dramatic effect. Some such plan may have been in
contemplation, but as a matter of fact the course of events was such
that the German generals required every man and more for their own
immediate needs during the whole of the year.
It has been shown in the narrative of 1916 how the British had ended
the campaign of that year by the brilliant little victory of Beaumont
Hamel, which gave them not merely 7000 prisoners, but command of both
sides of the Valley of the Ancre. This victory had been the sequel
to the capture of the Thiepval Ridge, and this again had depended
upon the general success of the Somme operations, so that the turn of
{4} events which led to such considerable results always traces back
to the tragic and glorious 1st of July. It was clear that whenever
the weather permitted the resumption of hostilities, Sir Douglas Haig
was in so commanding a position at this point that he was perfectly
certain to drive the enemy out of the salient which they held to the
north of Beaumont Hamel. The result showed that this expectation was
well founded, but no one could have foreseen how considerable was the
retreat which would be forced upon the enemy--a retreat which gave
away for nothing the ground which cost Hindenburg so much to regain
in the following year.
Although the whole line from the sea to the Somme was a scene of
activity during the winter, and though hardly a day, or rather a
night, went by that some stealthy party did not cross No-Man's-Land
to capture and to destroy, still for the purposes of this narrative
the three northern armies may be entirely ignored in the succeeding
operations since they had no occasion to alter their lines. We shall
fix our attention in the first instance upon Gough's Army in the
district of the Ancre, and afterwards upon Rawlinson's which was
drawn into the operations. Gough's Army consisted, at the beginning
of the year, of three corps, the Fifth (E. A. Fanshawe) to the left
covering the ground to the north of the Ancre, the Second Corps
(Jacob) immediately south of the river, and the First Australian
Corps (Birdwood) extending to the junction with Rawlinson's Army, and
covering the greater part of the old British line upon the Somme. It
was upon the Fifth and the Second Corps that the immediate operations
which opened the campaign were to devolve.
{5}
[Sidenote: January]
The Fifth Corps was formed at this period of three divisions, the
Eleventh, Thirty-first, and Seventh. Each of these divisions by
constant pressure and minor operations, backed by a powerful
artillery fire, played a part in the wearing process of constant
attrition which ended in making the position of the Germans
impossible. On January 10, the 32nd Yorkshire Brigade of the
Eleventh Division carried an important trench due east of Beaumont
Hamel, taking 140 prisoners. On the next day the movement extended
farther north, where three-quarters of a mile of trench with 200
prisoners was the prize. On January 17, another 600 yards north of
Beaumont fell into British hands. Of the 1228 prisoners who were
taken in January a considerable proportion came from this small
section of the line, though the largest single haul consisted of 350
men who were captured by a brilliant advance of the Australians in
the Le Transloy sector upon January 29.
[Sidenote: February]
The movement along the valley of the Ancre was continued in February,
but at an accelerated pace, the Second Corps, which consisted of the
Sixty-third, Eighteenth, and Second Divisions, moving in conformity
with Fanshawe's men upon the northern bank. The chief initiative
still rested with the latter, and upon February 3 another push
forward of 500 yards upon a mile front yielded a hundred more
prisoners, while two sharp counter attacks by the Germans only served
to increase their losses. A number of small spurs run down to the
river upon the northern bank, and each of these successive advances
represented some fresh ridge surmounted. Upon February 6 the Second
Corps was moving upon Beaucourt, which is to the immediate {6} south
of the river, and upon the 7th the village was evacuated--the first
of that goodly list which was to adorn the official communiqués
during the next two months. On the 9th the advance crept onwards
upon both banks, gathering up a hundred prisoners, while eighty more
were taken in Baillescourt Farm upon the north bank. These men were
Hamburgers of the 85th Regiment. Upon February 10 the left of the
Fifth Corps began to feel out towards Serre, that village of sinister
memories, and 215 prisoners were taken from the trenches to the south
of the hamlet. This provoked a new counter from the enemy which was
beaten back upon February 12. A period of impossible weather
suspended the advance, but again upon February 17 the British tide
swelled suddenly into a wave which swept forward on either bank,
engulfing some crowded trenches north of Baillescourt Farm, which
yielded 12 officers and 761 men of the 65th, 75th, and 395th
Prussians. The main success was gained by the Sixty-third Division
upon the left of the Second Corps, but it was aided by the work of
the Eighteenth and Second Divisions to the south of the Ancre. The
latter met with strong resistance and had considerable losses. The
burden of this work fell chiefly upon the 99th and 54th Brigades,
both of which reached their objectives in the face of mist, darkness,
uncut wire, heavy fire, and vigorous resistance. This blow stung the
enemy into a sharp reaction, and three waves of infantry stormed up
to the lost position, which for a time they entered, but were again
beaten out of. During their temporary success they claim to have
taken 130 prisoners.
[Sidenote: February]
All these advances, with their accompanying and {7} ever-extending
bombardments, had been like those multiplied causes, each small in
itself, which eventually loosen and start a great landslide. The
effect must undoubtedly have been begun some weeks before when the
Germans perceived that they could no longer hold on, and favoured by
wind, rain, and fog, started their rearward movement to the great
permanent second line, the exact position of which was still vague to
the Allies. Upon February 25 the whole German front caved in for a
depth of three miles both north and south of the Ancre. Wading
through seas of mud Gough's infantry occupied Serre, Pys, Miraumont,
Eaucourt, Warlencourt, and all the ground for eleven miles from
Gomiecourt in the north to Gueudecourt in the south. On February 28
Gomiecourt itself had been occupied by the North Country troops of
the Thirty-first Division, while Puisieux and Thilloy had also been
added to the British line. The advance was not unopposed. The
battle-patrols continually extended to attack some trench of snipers
or nest of machine-guns. Mined roads and all manner of obstructions
impeded the onward flow of the army. The retreat was orderly and
skilful, and the pursuit was necessarily slow and wary. By a
pleasing coincidence the Thirty-first Division, which occupied Serre,
was the same brave North Country Division which had lost so heavily
upon July 1 and November 13 on the same front. On entering the
village they actually found the bodies of some of their own brave
comrades who had got as far forward seven months before.
[Sidenote: March]
On March 4 the advance which had steadily continued in the north
spread suddenly southwards to Bouchavesnes north of Peronne, the
sector held {8} by the Twentieth and Forty-eighth Divisions of
Rawlinson's Army, which from this time onward was more and more
engaged in the forward movement. Three machine-guns and 172
prisoners were taken. There was some interruption of the operations
at this stage owing to severe snowstorms, but upon March 10 Tries,
west of Bapaume, was taken by assault by the Eighteenth Division.
This was a formidable point, well wired and trenched, so that the
artillery in full force was needed for preparation. The infantry
went forward before sunrise, and within an hour the village with 15
machine-guns and 290 prisoners was in British hands. The losses were
light and the gain substantial. Grevillers also fell next day. This
advance in front of Bapaume was of importance as it turned Loupart
Wood, forming part of a strong defensive line which might have marked
the limit of the German retreat. It was clear from that day onwards
that the movement was not local but far reaching. The enemy was
still too strong to be hustled, however, especially upon the northern
sector of the operations, where Jacob's Second Corps was feeling the
German line along its whole front. An attempt at an advance at
Bucquoy upon the night of March 13, carried out by the 137th Brigade
of the Forty-sixth North Midland Division, met with a check, though
most bravely attempted. The two battalions concerned, the 5th South
Staffords and 5th North Staffords, found themselves entangled in the
darkness amid uncut wire and suffered considerable loss before they
could extricate themselves from an impossible position.
[Illustration: Fighting Line, February 24, 1917, and Fighting Line,
March 1, 1917]
On March 19 and 20 the whole movement had become much more
pronounced, and the French as {9} well as the British were moving
over a seventy-mile front, extending from Arras in the north to
Soissons in the south. Each day now was a day of joy in France as
some new strip of the fatherland was for a time recovered, but the
joy was tempered by sorrow and anger as it was learned with what
barbarity the Germans had conducted their retreat. To lay a country
waste is no new thing in warfare. It has always been held to be an
occasional military necessity though the best commander was he who
used it least. In all Napoleon's career it is difficult to recall an
instance when he devastated a district. At the same time it must be
admitted that it comes within the recognised chances of war, and that
when Sherman's army, for example, left a black weal across the South
the pity of mankind was stirred but not its conscience. It was very
different here. These devils--or to be more just--these devil-driven
slaves, with a malignity for which it would be hard to find a
parallel, endeavoured by every means at their command to ruin the
country for the future as well as for the present. Buildings were
universally destroyed, including in many cases the parish churches.
Historical monuments, such as the venerable Castle of Coucy, were
blown to pieces. Family vaults were violated and the graves
profaned. The furniture of the most humble peasants was
systematically broken. The wells were poisoned and polluted. Worst
of all, the young fruit-trees were ringed so as to destroy them for
future seasons. It was considered the last possibility of savagery
when the Mahdi's men cut down the slow-growing palm-trees in the
district of Dongola, but every record upon earth has been swept away
by the barbarians of Europe. As usual these outrages {10} reacted
upon the criminals, for they confirmed those grim resolutions of the
Allies which made that peace by compromise for which the Germans were
eternally working an absolute impossibility. Their Clausewitz had
taught them that it is of supreme importance to make peace before
there comes a turn of the tide, but he had not reckoned upon his
descendants being so brutalised that a peace with them was a
self-evident impossibility.
[Sidenote: March]
Turning from the deeds of savages to those of soldiers, we have now
to trace the progress and scope of the great German retreat, the
first pronounced movement upon either side on the Western Front since
September 1914. From Arras to Roye the British Army was advancing
while the movement was carried on to Soissons by the French. On the
curve of the trenches the front measured more than a hundred miles.
So close was the touch between the two Allied armies that the patrols
of French and British cavalry rode together into Nesle. On March 18
the Australians had occupied Bapaume, with the Seventh Division
moving upon their left and the Twentieth upon their right, the
cavalry fringe being formed of the Indian Lucknow Cavalry Brigade of
the Fourth Division. To the south the Warwick Brigade of the
Forty-eighth South Midland Division passed through Peromie. At each
end of the long curve the Germans held fast, Arras in the north and
Soissons in the south being the two fixed points, but the country
between, to a depth of ten miles in the British sector and of thirty
miles in the French, was rapidly overrun by the Allies, the cavalry
patrols feeling their way everywhere while the infantry followed hard
upon the heels of the horses. Guns and {11} munitions had been
successfully removed by the Germans but incredible quantities of
barbed wire and other defensive material had been abandoned in their
positions. Towards the end of March the left of the French and the
right of the British were in touch in the immediate front of St.
Quentin. There had been scattered fighting all along the line, and
the resistance thickened each day, so that it was evident that the
final German position had been nearly reached. On March 24 the
Australians had a sharp fight at Beaumetz between Bapaume and
Cambrai. The village was taken, lost, and retaken with considerable
loss upon both sides. It was clear that in this quarter a definite
German line had been approached. Similar reports soon came in from
Croisilles, from Lagnicourt, from Ronssoy, from Jeancourt, and all
along from Arras to St. Quentin. So gradually the famous Hindenburg
line defined itself, and the Allied Generals became more clearly
aware of the exact nature and extent of this new German position.
Early in April, by pushing up to it and brushing aside the advanced
forces which screened it, its outlines were more clearly mapped.
This process of definition led to more serious fighting, the worst of
which, as will presently be shown, fell upon the Australians at
Bullecourt, some ten miles from the Arras end of the new line. Some
foretaste, however, of the considerable resistance which they were
about to meet with in their section was encountered by the
Australians at Noreuil on April 2. The brunt of the attack upon the
village was borne by the South Australians, who behaved with great
gallantry, having to rush a difficult position intersected by sunken
roads. A small body of the stormers, some sixty in number, were cut
off {12} and overwhelmed, but the main body captured the village,
taking 137 German prisoners. Among other brisk skirmishes occurring
at the beginning of April was one at Epehy, fifteen miles north of
St. Quentin, where the 144th Brigade of the Forty-eighth South
Midland Division cleared the hamlet and sugar factory of St. Emilie.
In this operation, which was carried out chiefly by the 4th
Gloucesters, 5 officers and 80 men fell, but the German loss was
considerable. A few days later the 145th Brigade of the same
division distinguished itself by the capture after sharp fighting of
Ronssoy and of Lempire, the first village being carried by the 4th
Berks and the latter by the 5th Gloucesters. This brought the
British line in that quarter up to the final German position.
[Sidenote: April]
Some sharp fighting had also taken place at Savy and Selency to the
immediate west and north-west of St. Quentin, upon the front of the
Thirty-second Division, which, together with the Thirty-fifth and
Sixty-first, had been pressing the German line. On the morning of
April 2 the 14th Brigade of this division was ordered to attack
Selency. On the two previous days the village of Savy had been
taken, and a strong attack made upon the Bois de Savy by the 96th and
97th Brigades. The advance of April 2 was at early dawn and the
veteran 2nd Manchester Battalion was in the lead. The whole
operation was conducted under heavy machine-gun fire, but by swift
movement and a judicious use of the ground the losses were minimised.
Whilst the Lancashire men made direct for the village the 15th
Highland Light Infantry kept pace with them upon their right flank.
A {13} battery of six German field-guns opened fire in the very faces
of the stormers, but C Company of the Manchesters, with admirable
steadiness and presence of mind, swerved to each side and rushed the
guns from the flank, capturing them all. The attack was at 5 A.M.,
and by 6.30 the whole objective had been captured. No further
advance was possible as the front line was already close to St.
Quentin, which was a German stronghold. The position at the end of
the action was that the village was in the hands of the British but
that the six guns with their caissons were in the open where the
Germans could cover them with their fire. The victors were
determined to have their trophies, and their enemy was no less eager
to make it impossible. The moment that darkness had fallen a party
of Manchesters, under the lead of Lieut. Thomas, the adjutant, and
Lieut. Ward of the 161st R.F.A., endeavoured to man-handle the guns
into the British lines, but directly they began to haul so sharp a
fire of shrapnel was opened at a range of 800 yards that they were
compelled to desist. A covering party of the 15th Highland Light
Infantry lay round the guns till dawn, and during the day they
remained safe under the rifles of the infantry. At eight o'clock on
April 3 a further attempt to bring them in was made by Major Lumsden
of the Staff, with Lieutenants Ward and Lomax of the gunners. Horse
teams were brought down, and amid a terrific barrage the gun wheels
began at last to revolve. Maddened by the sight seen under the glare
of their star shells, the German infantry surged forward and for a
time were all round the Highlanders who still guarded the guns. One
small party of Germans dashed in upon the guns with a charge of
dynamite and managed to {14} blow in the breech of one of them. They
were driven off, however, and the six guns were all brought in, while
upon April 4 the six artillery caissons were also salved. So ended a
most satisfactory little operation for which Major Lumsden received a
Victoria Cross and later the command of a brigade, while the other
officers were decorated.
[Sidenote: April]
On April 2 in the north of the new line, near the spot where very
great things were pending, Snow's Seventh Corps had taken Henin and
Croisilles, with the aid of the Fifth Army upon their right. It was
a small operation in itself, but it was preparing the jumping-off
place for the great battle of April 9. There was continued bickering
along the line where the British were pushing in the German outliers.
In this work the Thirty-fifth Division in the Epehy district
distinguished itself greatly during the early summer. One attack
upon a hill held by the Germans and carried by the 15th Chesters and
15th Sherwoods of the 105th Brigade was particularly brilliant. In
addition, upon April 4, the village of Metz with the adjoining
position was taken after a sharp fight by the 59th Brigade of the
Twentieth Division. The 10th and 11th K.R.R. were the battalions
chiefly engaged in this fight, which at one time had an ugly aspect,
as the Germans slipped into a gap between the Twentieth on the left
and the Eighth Division on the right. They were cleared out,
however, and the line was advanced beyond the village to the right of
the Australians.
A more serious action was that which began upon April 13, when the
Thirty-second Division was ordered to support the left of the French
in their unsuccessful attack upon St. Quentin. The task {15}
assigned to the British division, with the Thirty-fifth Division
co-operating upon its left, was to attack the village of Fayet. This
was carried out very gallantly by the 97th Brigade, with the 2nd York
Light Infantry and the 16th Highland Light Infantry in the lead. The
village with 100 prisoners was taken at the first rush, but it was
found to be more difficult to get possession of a wood called the
Twin Copses, beyond the village. So severe was the fighting that the
General of the 97th Brigade had seven battalions under his command
before it was finished. Finally, the Twin Copses were splendidly
carried by the 11th Borders. The total of prisoners came to 5
officers and 334 men in this very spirited operation.
With the conclusion of the German retreat and the solidification of
the new line, some more general view may be taken of the whole
operation. It cannot be denied that it was cleverly planned and
deftly carried out, though it can hardly be said to have deserved the
ecstasies of admiration which were bestowed upon it by the German
Press. It was not, for example, as formidable an operation as the
British withdrawal from Gallipoli, an extraordinarily clever
manoeuvre which received less than its fair share of recognition at
home, because it was associated with the sad ending of high hopes.
It was also universally taken for granted in Germany that Hindenburg
was going to "reculer pour mieux sauter" as he had done once before
at Tannenberg, and that some extraordinary burst of energy at some
other point would soon change the exultation of the Allies into
despair. Nothing of the sort occurred during that year, and it
speedily became evident that the old {16} Marshal had simply moved
because his lines were untenable, and because by shortening them he
could make some compensation for the terrific losses of men at the
Somme. That he ever regained the ground was due only to the
subsequent Russian debacle.
We have it upon the authority of Sir Douglas Haig that the great
local retreat of the Germans had no very great effect in modifying
the Allied plans. Those plans, so far as the British were concerned,
were to make a combined assault from the north and from the south
upon the Ancre salient, Gough attacking from the south and Allenby
from the north. As the salient had now ceased to exist, the rôle of
Gough was confined to following up the German retreat until he came
to the new Hindenburg line, which was an obstacle of so formidable a
character that it checked anything short of a very powerful attack.
Allenby's part of the programme was still feasible, however, and
resolved itself into an attack upon the high ground held by the
Germans and their whole line down to the point where the new
positions began. How Allenby carried out this task, and the great
success which attended his efforts, will be described in the coming
chapters.
Before passing to this and the other great battles which will make
the year 1917 for ever memorable in our history, it would be well to
briefly enumerate those world events which occurred during these
three months and which directly or indirectly influenced the
operations in France. The French line had remained stationary save
for the forward movement already described. In Russia the lines had
also remained firm, and there was no outward indication of the
convulsions into which that unhappy country {17} was about to be
thrown by the revolution which broke out on March 12 of this year.
From Italy also there was nothing momentous to report. The most
cheering news which reached the Allies was from the British Eastern
lines of battle, where both in the Sinai Peninsula to the east of
Egypt, and in Mesopotamia, good progress was being made. The Sinai
desert had been practically cleared of that enemy who had advanced so
boastfully to the capture of Egypt, and the British lines were now
upon the green terrain which faces Gaza upon the frontier of
Palestine. The chief success, however, lay in Mesopotamia. A great
soldier had apparently appeared in the person of General Maude, whose
name may be recalled by the reader as the Commander of the 14th
Brigade upon the Western front. Leaving his limited activities in
the prosaic trenches of Flanders, he had suddenly reappeared, moving
swiftly along the track of so many of the old conquerors, and leading
his picturesque force of Britons and Indians against the ancient
capital of Haroun-el-Raschid. In February he had avenged Townshend
by recapturing Kut with more than 2000 prisoners. Following up his
victory with great speed, he entered Bagdad upon March 11 at the
heels of the defeated Turks, and chased them north along the line of
the German railway, the constructors of which had never dreamed what
strange stationmaster might instal himself at their terminus. The
approach of a Russian force seemed to hold out hopes for further
combined operations, but meanwhile the whole of southern Mesopotamia
remained in the hands of the British, and no Turk was left within
forty miles of the ancient capital.
The chief event in Great Britain was the successful {18} flotation of
the great war loan, which attained proportions never heard of before,
and ended by bringing in the huge total of one thousand million
pounds.
Beyond the usual skirmishes of light craft and isolated sinkings of
warships by mine or submarine, there was nothing of importance in
naval warfare, but an immense influence was brought to bear upon the
course of the war by the German decision in February to declare a war
zone round the allied countries, and to torpedo every merchant ship,
whether neutral or hostile, which entered it. The measure was a
counsel either of ignorance or of despair, for no one who knows the
high spirit of the American people could imagine for a moment that
they would permit their vessels to be destroyed and their
fellow-citizens to be killed in such a manner. Within two days of
the declaration of unlimited submarine warfare the President of the
United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany, an act
which was the precursor of war, though this was not formally declared
until April 5. Great as were the loss, discomfort, and privation
caused to Great Britain, and in a less degree to the other Allies,
the accession of the United States with its enormous reserves of men
and money to the cause of Democracy was far more than a sufficient
make-weight. As events progressed, and as it became evident that
Russia, swinging from the extreme of autocracy to the extreme of
individualism, had ceased for a long time to come to be a useful
ally, it grew more and more clear that the help of America was likely
to save the Western Powers, not indeed from defeat, but from that
pernicious stalemate and inconclusive peace which could only be the
precursor of other {19} wars to follow. Apart from the vast material
help, the mere thought that the great race which has inherited our
speech and so many of our traditions was lined up with us upon the
day of Armageddon was a joy and an inspiration to every Briton.
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