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.
It had been accepted as an axiom at this stage of the war that no
great operation could be in the nature of a surprise--an axiom which,
like most other axioms, was shown later in the year to have some
startling exceptions. To pack the base of the historic Ypres salient
with guns, and to assemble within and behind its trenches the
storming troops for a great advance was, however, an operation which
could not possibly be concealed. British aircraft might have an
ascendency in observation, but that did not prevent the German fliers
from being both daring and skilful. All camouflage, therefore, was
thrown aside, and throughout the month of July Sir Douglas Haig
openly assembled his forces for the widening or destruction of the
iron bands which had so long constricted us in this northern area.
The Fifth Army gathered for the venture, still commanded by Sir
Hubert Gough, the victor of Thiepval. On his left, {134} opposite
Bixschoote, on the edge of the inundations, was a French army under
General Antoine, a genial giant who impresses those who meet him as a
mixture of Porthos and d'Artagnan. The general rôle of the French
Army was to cover the British from counter-attack from the north,
especially from Houthulst Forest, in the depths of which great
reserves might lurk, for it covers no less than 600 acres. Upon the
right, and engaged in a subsidiary degree in the operations, was the
Second Army, under Sir Herbert Plumer, fresh from the triumph of
Messines.
The direction of this new attack against the ridges of Flanders was
the logical sequence from the preceding operations of the year. The
high ground of the Ancre had been taken late in 1916. The high
ground of Vimy fell into British hands in April. In June the Germans
had been driven in one strenuous day from the high ground of
Messines. The whole line of ridges from end to end was in British
hands save only those which girt in Ypres and dominated it from the
north and north-east. It is true that these so-called ridges were
often little more than undulations, but they meant firmer ground,
artillery observation, self-concealment, and everything which makes
for military advantage. For these reasons Sir Douglas Haig turned
his strength now in that direction. After his successive advances he
might say with Wellington: "Knowing well that if we laid our bloody
hands upon a town it was fated to fall." The men who took Ciudad
Rodrigo or stormed the dreadful breach of Badajos could teach nothing
in hardihood and contempt of death to those who carried Guillemont or
Ovillers.
In attacking a salient like that of Ypres and in {135} endeavouring
to flatten it out, it is obvious that the efforts must be made at the
sides rather than in the centre, since success in the latter case
would simply mean a larger salient. Of the two sides of the salient
the success of Messines had already relieved the pressure in the
south, and this area was clearly less important than the north, since
it was farther from the sea. It was evident that any considerable
success upon the northern side would advance the British line towards
Bruges, and an occupation of Bruges would surely mean the abandonment
by Germany of the Flemish coast. For these reasons the effort of the
British was chiefly directed towards the north-east, a tract of
ground which was difficult when dry, but which became grotesque in
its difficulties when it rained and the small low-lying streams or
"beeks" which meandered through it spread out into broad marshy
bottoms. These all-pervading morasses, when ploughed up with
innumerable shell-holes, were destined to form an almost insuperable
military obstacle. In attacking at such a point Sir Douglas could
only hope that the weather would abide as a neutral, but as a fact,
now as so often before, its action was bitterly hostile. Up to the
very day of the advance it smiled deceitfully only to break into a
month of rain from the very hour of the attack. If Berlin needs one
more monument in her meretricious "Sieges-Alee," she may well erect
one to the weather, which has saved her cause as surely as the geese
of old saved Rome.
So notorious were the British preparations, culminating in the usual
terrific bombardment, that the approaching conflict was discussed in
the German papers weeks before it occurred. Their preparations {136}
had been gigantic, and took a new form which called for corresponding
ingenuity upon the side of the stormers if it was to be successfully
countered. The continuous trench had, save in the old system, been
discarded as offering too evident a mark for the shattering guns.
The ground was held by numerous disconnected trenches, and strong
points arranged in depth rather than in breadth, so that the whole
front should form one shock-absorber which would yield at first, but
must at the last bring any pressure to a stand. Scattered thickly
among these small posts there were concrete forts, not unlike the
Martello towers of our ancestors, but sunk deeply into the ground, so
as to present a small mark to gun-fire. These forts were made of
cement and iron with walls so enormously thick that a direct hit from
anything less than a six-inch gun could not possibly harm them. The
garrisons of each were composed of twenty or thirty men, with two or
three machine-guns. There was usually no visible opening, the
entrance being approached by a tunnel, and the windows mere slits
which gave a broad traverse for a machine-gun. They were
contrivances which might well hold up an army, and it was a fine
example of British adaptability as well as courage that they were
able to make progress against them. The days of the gallant
bull-headed rush were over, and the soldiers had learned in a cruel
school that the fighting man must be wary as well as brave.
At four o'clock in the morning, in the first grey light of a rainy
morning, under a canopy of grey sweeping clouds, and in a fog-girt
landscape of bedraggled fields and brown patches of mire, the French
and British infantry sprang forward with splendid {137} alacrity upon
this dangerous venture which should culminate in taking the last
dominant ridge upon the British front from those who had held them so
long.
The French attacked upon the extreme left of the line, and had an
extremely difficult task, which they accomplished with a dash and
spirit which won the unstinted admiration of their British comrades.
In front of them was the canal, but they had succeeded in throwing
across some troops in the days before the battle. It was fitting
that they should advance the line in this sector, for they were
starting from the very spot to which their comrades had been pushed
in the poison-gas battle of April 22, 1915, more than two years
before. The ground in front of them was very marshy, and as a
background to the German position loomed the great forest of
Houthulst, which was known to be a strong gun position and place of
arms. It was subjected, however, to such a shattering bombardment
that it was nearly silent when the attack advanced, and the French
poilus, pushing rapidly on from point to point, seized the village of
Steenstraate, and finally the larger village of Bixschoote,
establishing their line well to the north of that point. It was a
most valorous advance, and if no detail can be given of it save this
passing mention, it is because it belongs to that weighty and
wonderful volume which shall record the glorious military deeds of
France, a volume which can only be written with proper appreciation
and knowledge by a French pen.
The British line of battle was formed by five corps, the Fourteenth
(Cavan) to the north, the Eighteenth (Maxse) upon its right, the
Nineteenth (Watts) upon the right of that, the Second (Jacob) came
next, and then upon the southern edge of the {138} area, and hardly
engaged in the main fighting, was the Tenth (Morland). Each corps
had two divisions in the line and two in reserve. We will take each
in turn, starting from the north. It should be noted that the four
first corps made up Gough's Fifth Army, and that the Tenth Corps was
the only part of Plumer's Army to be engaged.
Cavan's Fourteenth Corps was next to the French, with the Guards in
immediate touch with our allies, and the Thirty-eighth Welsh Division
upon its right. The Twentieth and the Twenty-ninth Divisions were in
support. We shall now follow the splendid advance of the Guards, a
division which more and more as the war progressed reasserted its
position as the very cream of the Army.
On the days preceding the action a number of bridges had been thrown
across the canal, and the attacking brigades had been passed over
this impediment, so that they were able to deploy rapidly and escape
the German barrage which fell, for the most part, behind them. This
most useful work was carried out by the 1st Guards Brigade,
especially by the 3rd Coldstream and 1st Irish, who got across the
first. This brigade was relieved, and on the day of battle the 3rd
Brigade was upon the left in close liaison with the French, while the
2nd Brigade was on the right with their flank touching the Welshmen.
Two "Hate Companies," as they were called, were thrown out on the
divisional front, whose task it was to make special discharges of oil
drums, thermite, and other missiles which might smooth the way for
the advance of the infantry. At 4.24 the whistles of fate were heard
shrilly all along the line, and the Guards rose up from {139} their
wet assembly ditches, and went forward in their usual sedate and
inexorable fashion. The front line of battle of the two brigades,
counting from the French flank, were the 1st Welsh, 1st Grenadiers,
2nd Irish, and 1st Scots, while behind them in the second line were
their comrades of the 2nd Scots, 4th Grenadiers, 1st Coldstream, and
3rd Grenadiers. Each platoon of the Irish carried a green flag
adorned with the Irish harp.
The attack at first was so strong or the opposition so weak that in
ten minutes the first-line objective had been gained. From this
point the shock-absorber system began to act, a system which must
prevail save where the attackers know when to suspend their effort so
that the spring of resistance is never pressed back to the uttermost.
The British generals had learned this lesson and the aims of any one
day's battle were strictly limited. Thus, although the losses grew
and the difficulties increased, the Guards were well within their
powers, in gradually pushing forwards to the Steenbeek stream, which
was the extreme limit assigned to them. As they advanced sections
were told off to deal with the various concrete forts and other
strong points, a method of attack which gave great scope for the
initiative of individual junior officers or non-commissioned
officers, and which was fruitful in acts of valour. About six
o'clock the German machine-guns in Hey Wood held up the line for a
time, and the 2nd Brigade had the chagrin of seeing some German guns
limbering up and withdrawing in front of them, while their own
barrage fell as an invisible steel curtain which covered them from
seizure. It was remarked generally of the British barrage that
though extremely accurate as a rule, it {140} still consisted too
much of shrapnel and not enough of high explosives, so that it had
not the shattering and uprooting effect which was needful. The
Germans had read the lessons differently, for at this period of the
war their barrage consisted almost entirely of 5.9 "crumps" with a
small admixture of shrapnel.
By the early afternoon the front lines of the Guards had fulfilled
their programme, and a number of prisoners, including the commanding
officer and adjutant of the 73rd Hanoverians, had been conducted to
the rear. The losses of the Guards had not been excessive, save in
the right flank battalions, especially the 1st Scots, but they
included many valuable officers killed or wounded, including Colonel
Greer of the 2nd Irish, Colonel Romilly of the 1st Scots, and Colonel
Lord Gort of the 4th Grenadiers. Among many deeds of valour which
were added to the records of the division upon that morning there may
be mentioned that of the heroic surgeon David Lees, who was decorated
for passing five times through the barrage carrying wounded, and of
the brave Irish priest, Father Knapp, who absolutely refused to take
shelter when his men were exposed, and met his death rather than
leave them. It is invidious, however, to mention brave men where all
were brave. About three o'clock the 1st Guards Brigade passed
through the ranks of their comrades and carried the advance forward
to its limit. The order of their advance from the left was the 2nd
Coldstream, with the 2nd Grenadiers on the right, while the 3rd
Coldstream and 1st Irish took the corresponding places in the second
line. The 2nd Grenadiers lost heavily from a flank fire, its
difficulties and those of all the right flank being increased by the
fact that the railway line, {141} dotted with German strong points,
ran as the boundary between divisions. Captain Ritchie, of Loos
fame, was among the casualties. The Grenadiers got so far ahead that
the protective barrage became thin and erratic, hardly existing in
many places. The whole brigade moved forward in close touch with the
113th Brigade of Welshmen upon their right. The latter after the
final objective was reached were shelled for a time out of their
position, so that the Irish and Grenadiers had to throw back a
defensive flank, but the Welsh with dogged spirit came back to their
work and re-established their line late in the evening. Their work
will presently be described, but so far as the Guards are concerned
it may be added that, with the help of the 55th and 76th Field
Company R.E., all they took they kept, although the physical
surroundings were appalling, for they found themselves for three days
lying on the forward slope of a low ridge under heavy rain in deep
puddles of water, exposed to German shelling and to the constant
stinging of invisible German snipers. No conditions could have been
more trying, but the Guards stuck it out with a quiet patient
discipline which was as fine as the valour of their assault. "We are
just lying in a snipe bog in the rain," wrote an Irish officer. Due
dispositions were made for relief among the three brigades, and the
line was held until a farther advance should become possible--an
event which was continually postponed by the incredible weather.
Passing to the 38th Welsh Division upon the right of the Guards,
their battle line consisted of the 113th Brigade upon the left,
consisting entirely of battalions of Welsh Fusiliers, while the {142}
114th Brigade, formed from the Welsh Regiment, was on the right. The
order of the foremost battalions taken from the left was the 16th and
13th Welsh Fusiliers, with the 13th and 10th Welsh. The experiences
of the division upon its advance were, as might be expected, not
unlike those of the Guards. "It was still dark," says one graphic
correspondent, "and all we had to guide us was our barrage moving
forward like a living line of fire, from left to right as far as the
eye could see." The first objective was captured with little loss, a
fair number of prisoners being taken in the Caesar Support Trench.
In attacking the second objectives the reserve line came through the
front one, so that the order of the troops, taken again from the left
in the 114th Brigade, was the 15th and 14th Welsh, while in the 113th
Brigade, which had a less difficult task, there was a mere change of
companies in the units already engaged. The opposition now became
fiercer and the losses more severe. Marsouin Farm, and Stray Farm on
the right, and the village of Pilkem upon the left poured bullets
upon the advancing infantry, who slipped from shell-hole to
shell-hole, taking such cover as they could, but resolutely pushing
onwards. Again and again the machine-gun forts were isolated,
surrounded, and compelled to surrender. The Welshmen had reached
their second objective in the scheduled time. The 15th Welsh
Fusiliers were now pushed into the firing-line upon the left, and the
advance went forward. A gap had formed between the Welshmen and the
Highlanders of the Fifty-first Division upon their right. In this
gap lay Rudolph Farm, spitting fire from every cranny and window. A
platoon of the 15th Welsh turned aside from their {143} path and
captured or killed all who were in the German post. To the immediate
left of this point lay another stronghold called Iron Cross. This
was rushed by the 14th Welsh, at considerable loss to themselves, but
twenty of the garrison were bayoneted, forty captured, and three
machine-guns secured. Just beyond the Iron Cross was a German
dressing-station which yielded forty more prisoners.
The 15th Welsh Fusiliers on the left had in the meanwhile a severe
ordeal, for so heavy a fire poured upon them from the clump of trees
known as Battery Copse that they were left with hardly an officer and
with their protective barrage rapidly receding into the distance.
The men were staggered for a time, but struggled forward again with
fine resolution, and at last established themselves upon the same
line as Iron Cross.
Whilst the fighting line had been getting forward as described, the
113th carrying among other obstacles the village of Pilkem, and both
brigades, but especially the 114th, bursting through three separate
battalions of the famous Käferlein regiment of the Guards, the
reserve brigade had been keeping in close attendance in spite of the
German barrage. Now two battalions of the 115th Brigade were slipped
into the front, the 11th S.W. Borderers and the 17th Welsh Fusiliers.
These fine fresh troops took up the running and made for the final
objective, which was the Steenbeek stream. This was successfully
reached, in spite of the ever-growing resistance, and the final line
was formed with posts upon the farther side of the Steenbeek.
Shortly after three o'clock a strong counter-attack broke upon this
Welsh line, and for a time the Borderers were forced {144} from the
post at "Au bon gîte" which they had occupied and were thrown across
the river. Aided by a good barrage of artillery and machine-guns the
attack was finally beaten off, about a hundred Germans who had
charged through the barrage being shot down by rifle fire. After
this there was no attempt upon this day to disturb the new front of
the Welsh Division, though upon August 1 in the afternoon there was
some sign of a counter-attack, which was broken up by the British
artillery before it could materialise. From then onwards the weather
made further operations impossible. On August 6 the Twentieth
Division took over this new line.
The advance of the Welsh Division, including as it did the two
exploits of capturing the strongly fortified village of Pilkem, and
of utterly scattering three battalions of one of the most famous
regiments in the Prussian service, was worthy of the great reputation
which they had won at Mametz Wood. The way in which the men followed
up the barrage and tackled the concrete forts was especially worthy
of mention. The Cockchafers mentioned above were the dandy regiment
of Berlin, and their utter defeat at the hands of a brigade of the
New Army must indeed have been bitter to those who remembered the
cheap jests which had been made at that Army's expense. Four hundred
prisoners from this regiment found their way to the cages.
Altogether 700 prisoners were taken, nearly all Guardsmen from the
Third Division. The Welsh had about 1300 casualties, including
Colonels Radice, Norman, and Taylor. Among the dead was one, Private
Ellis H. Evans of the 15th Welsh Fusiliers, whose position and
importance were peculiarly Cymric, since he was the winner {145} of
the Bardic chair, the highest honour of the Eisteddfod. An empty
Bardic chair was afterwards erected over his grave. It is only in
Wales that the traditions of Athens are preserved, and contests of
the body and of the mind are conducted in public with equal honour to
the victors.
To the south of Cavan's Fourteenth Corps lay Maxse's Eighteenth
Corps, extending from the right of the Thirty-eighth Division to a
point opposite to the village of St. Julien. Maxse's Eighteenth
Corps consisted of four divisions, the Fifty-first supported by the
Eleventh being upon the left, and the Thirty-ninth supported by the
Forty-eighth upon the right. South of the St. Julien front they
connected up with Watts' Nineteenth Corps to the south. It should be
mentioned that the whole corps' front was occupied for some weeks
before the battle by the 33rd Brigade, who at great strain and loss
to themselves held this long stretch in the face of constant gassings
and shellings, in order that the attacking divisions might be able to
practise for the day of battle.
Taking the narrative once more from the north, the Fifty-first
Highland Territorial Division (Harper), a unit which has seen an
extraordinary amount of service during the war, advanced with the
usual dash of these magnificent clansmen. Everything went down
before their disciplined rush. There was no particular geographical
point in the area which they conquered, but their whole front was
covered by fortified posts, some of which fell with ease, while
others put up a considerable resistance. Prominent among the latter
was Rudolph Farm, which was on the line between the Thirty-eighth and
Fifty-first Divisions, pouring a flanking fire upon each and holding
{146} up the left of the Fifty-first. This post was eventually
stormed by the Welsh. Finally the Highlanders, clearing the ground
carefully behind them, reached their full day's objective, which was
the line of the Steenbeek. Here they dug themselves in and beat off
an enemy counter-attack.
On the right of the Highland Territorial Division was the
Thirty-ninth Division, consisting of the 116th Sussex Brigade, the
117th Rifle and Sherwood Foresters Brigade, and the 118th mixed
Territorial Brigade. The attack was undertaken by the 117th Brigade
upon the north in touch with the Highlanders, and the 116th upon the
south. Both of these brigades got forward in excellent style, but
the position was strong and the losses were heavy. Canadian Farm was
taken by the 117th Brigade, and the 116th also attained its full
objective. Finally, the spare brigade, the 118th, passed through the
ranks of the others, and fought their way into St. Julien, where no
British foot had been placed since April 24, 1915, when the heroic
remnant of the Canadians had been cut off and overpowered in its
streets.
The operation would have been entirely successful had it not been for
the attempt to advance beyond the village. This was carried out by
the same brigade, the 118th, with the 6th Cheshires upon the right,
the 1st Herts in the centre, and the 4/5th Black Watch upon the left.
The Cambridge Battalion was in support. The attack was
extraordinarily gallant, but was held up by uncut wire and very
severely punished. No permanent gain was effected, but greater
constancy has seldom been seen. The Hertfordshire men were
particularly fine. Their Colonel Page and their {147} adjutant were
both killed, and every combatant officer was on the casualty list, so
that it was the serjeant-major who withdrew the 120 men who had gone
forth as a strong battalion. The doctor was wounded, and only the
chaplain was left, who distinguished himself by being the last man to
recross the Steenbeek with a wounded man slung over his shoulder.
Such was the experience of the Herts, and that of the Cheshires and
of the Highlanders differed only in detail.
A counter-attack along the whole corps' front was beaten back upon
the evening of July 31, but the concentration of German artillery
upon St. Julien was so terrific that it was found necessary next day
to withdraw the 1st Cambs who garrisoned the village, the adjacent
bridge over the Steenbeek being retained. Next day the village was
reoccupied.
The Thirty-ninth Division, very hard hit by its victorious but
strenuous service, was relieved upon August 4, after a terrible four
days of constant rainfall and shell-fall, by the Forty-eighth South
Midland Territorial Division, while a few days later their Highland
comrades were relieved by the Eleventh Division. So battered was the
Thirty-ninth Division that it was taken forthwith out of the line and
its place in the corps was filled by the Fifty-eighth.
To return to the order of the advance, Watts' Nineteenth Corps, which
was the next one to the south, consisted of the Fifty-fifth West
Lancashire Territorials with the Thirty-sixth Ulsters upon the left,
while the Fifteenth Scottish Division supported by the Fourteenth
Light Division were on the right. Of these we will deal first with
the attack of the men of Lancashire.
{148}
The advance was made by the 166th Brigade upon the left, and by the
165th upon the right. The first German line was rapidly carried, and
the only serious fighting was at the strong point known as Pommern
Redoubt, which held out for some time but was eventually captured
about 10 A.M. The 166th Brigade, which covered the space between St.
Julien in the north and the Wieltje-Gravenstafel Road in the south,
was led by the 5th King's Royal Lancasters and the 5th North
Lancashires, while the 165th Brigade, with their left upon the road
and their right in touch with the Fifteenth Division, were composed
entirely of battalions of the King's Liverpool Regiment, the 5th and
6th in front, the 7th and 9th in the second line. This brigade upon
being counter-attacked used its liquid fire apparatus with good
results. "From under the mantle of fire ran blazing Huns with
heartrending cries, but I cannot say we had any sympathy for them.
We remembered John Lynn and the other Lancashire lads who had been
gassed and roasted round Ypres in the battles of other days, and we
felt that the Huns were only being paid back in their own coin." The
losses in the first stages of the advance were not severe and came
chiefly from the machine-gun fire of the three strongholds of Bank
Farm, Spree Farm, and Pommern Castle. The latter was very
formidable, spouting bullets on three sides, so that the 165th
Brigade was held up by it for a time. In the second stage of the
attack the 164th Brigade with the 4th North Lancashires on their
right and the 5th Lancs Fusiliers upon their left pushed through the
ranks of their comrades and carried the advance on, taking Hindu Cott
and Gallipoli, and finally reaching the {149} most advanced
objective, whence they pushed out patrols to Toronto and Aviatik
Farms. They were exposed to strong counter-attacks as will be shown.
This fine advance had been matched by Reed's Fifteenth Scots Division
on the right. Of their conduct that day it can only be said that it
was worthy of the reputation which they had gained at Loos and at the
Somme. The Scottish bands who fought under Gustavus Adolphus in the
Thirty Years' War left a renown in Germany which lingers yet, and it
is certain that some memory of the terrible "Hell-hags," as they were
called by the German soldiers, will preserve the record of Scotch
military prowess so long as any of their adversaries are alive to
speak of it. Two brigades led the advance, the 44th upon the right
and the 46th upon the left. As in the case of the Lancashire men
upon their left the first stages of the attack were easy. On getting
past the German line, however, the full blast of fire struck the
infantry from Douglas Villa, Frezenberg Redoubt, Pommern Castle, Low
Farm, Frost House, and Hill 37. By ten o'clock, however, the second
objectives had been taken. The 45th Brigade now pushed through, and
though held up on the right by Bremen Redoubt, they attained the full
objective upon the left, and kept in close touch with the 164th
Brigade. The position, however, was perilous and, as it proved,
impossible, for Watts' Corps was now well ahead of either of its
neighbours. About two o'clock a violent German drive struck up
against the exposed flank of the Fifty-fifth Division, causing great
losses, especially to the 4th Royal Lancasters, some of whom were cut
off. Another counter-attack beat against the left of the enfeebled
{150} 45th Brigade. As a result the remains of the four front line
battalions were pushed back some hundreds of yards, but at 5 P.M. the
edge was taken off the attack and the German infantry were seen to be
retiring. About 1 P.M. next day this attack was renewed down the
line of the Ypres-Roulers Railway, and again the Fifteenth Division
bore a heavy strain which forced it back once to the Frezenberg
Ridge, but again it flooded forward and reoccupied its line. So
severe had been the exertions and the losses of these two divisions
that they were drawn out of the line as soon as possible, their
places being taken by the 36th Ulsters upon the left and the 16th
Irish upon the right.
We now come to Jacob's Second Corps lying to the south of the
Nineteenth with its left resting upon the Ypres-Roulers Railway. It
contained no less than five divisions, three of which were in the
line and two in support. Those in the line, counting from the north,
were the Eighth Regular Division with its left on the railway and its
right at Sanctuary Wood, the Thirtieth Lancashire Division in the
centre, and the Twenty-fourth Division opposite Shrewsbury Forest
with its right resting upon the Zillebeke-Zandvoorde Road. In
support was the Twenty-fifth Division upon the left, and the
Eighteenth Division upon the right.
The Eighth Division advanced upon a two-brigade front, the 23rd upon
the left and the 24th upon the right. Many strong posts including
several woods faced the assailants, and from the beginning the
resistance was very obstinate. None the less, in spite of numerous
checks and delays, the advance was carried forward for half a mile
and {151} captured the whole of the front line trenches without much
loss, for the German barrage was slow and late whereas the British
artillery support was excellent. Indeed it may be remarked that one
of the features of the battle was the remarkable preparation by which
General Jacob, with the aid of his two artillery leaders, managed to
place nearly a thousand pieces into a line which was fully exposed to
enemy observation. It was done at a considerable loss of men and
guns, but it was absolutely essential to the advance.
The low rising called the Bellewaarde Ridge was the first objective
of the division and was easily taken. The two magnificent Regular
brigades swept onwards with a perfect order which excited the
admiration of spectators. As they passed over the curve of the
ground they came into heavy fire from the farther rise near Westhoek,
but it neither slowed nor quickened their gait. Hooge, Bellewaarde
Lake, The White Château, all the old landmarks were passed. When the
full objective had been reached after more than half a mile of steady
advance the 25th Brigade passed through the ranks of their comrades
and carried on until, as they neared Westhoek, they ran into a very
heavy flank fire from Glencorse Wood in the south. This was in the
area of the southern division, so that the 25th Brigade were aware
that their flank was open and that the Thirtieth Division had not
come abreast of them. They halted therefore just to the west of
Westhoek, and as their flank remained open all day they had to
content themselves with consolidating the ground that they had won
and beating back two counter-attacks. The left of the division kept
their station well forward upon the {152} Ypres-Roulers Railway, with
their left in close touch with the Scotsmen to the north. The
division was relieved next day by the Twenty-fifth Division. All the
battalions had done great things in the action, but some specially
fine work was put in by the 1st Sherwood Foresters upon the left of
the advance of the 24th Brigade. At one point it was necessary to
cut through wire which held up the advance, and the gallantry of the
wire-cutting detachment was such that the dying continued to snip at
the strands, while even the dead contrived to fall forward in an
attempt to screen with their bodies their living comrades. The
losses were very heavy, but the historic old 45th Foot, the "old
Stubborns" of the Peninsula, never in its long career carried through
more gallantly in so fierce a fight. The 2nd Northamptons also
increased their high reputation upon this arduous day, during which
they took many prisoners.
The Thirtieth Division, which consisted, as will be remembered, to a
large extent of "Pal" battalions from Liverpool and Manchester,
advanced to the south of the Eighth. Sanctuary Wood and other strong
points lay in front of the 90th and 21st Brigades which provided the
first lines of stormers. The resistance was strong, the fire was
heavy, and the losses were considerable, so that the assailants were
held up and were unable to do more than carry the front trenches,
whence they repulsed repeated counter-attacks during the rest of the
day. In the initial advance the 2nd Scots Fusiliers, that phoenix of
a battalion, so often destroyed and so often renewed, wandered in the
dusk of the morning away from its allotted path and got as far north
as Château Wood in the path of the 24th Brigade. This caused {153}
some dislocation of the front line, but the Manchester men on the
right of the Scots pushed on and struck the Menin Road as far forward
as Clapham Junction. The 21st Brigade in the meantime had to pass a
great deal of difficult woody ground and met so much opposition that
they lost the barrage, that best friend of the stormer. Bodmin Copse
was reached, but few penetrated to the eastern side of it. The
strong point of Stirling Castle was, however, taken by the
Manchesters of the 90th. It was the line of Dumbarton Lakes which
proved fatal to the advance, and though two battalions of the 89th
and finally the East Anglians of the 53rd Brigade from the supporting
Eighteenth Division were thrown into the fight, the latter winning
forward for some distance, they found that it was finally rather a
question of holding ground than gaining it. The ultimate line,
therefore, was across from Clapham Junction. Since neither of the
divisions on either side was in any way held up, save perhaps at one
point, it is probable that the southern advance would have been more
successful but for the limited advance of the Thirtieth Division.
Upon August 2, much exhausted, they were drawn out of the line and
the Eighteenth Division took their place, and held the Clapham
Junction and Glencorse Wood, which their own 53rd Brigade had largely
been instrumental in winning, against repeated attacks.
Upon the right of the Thirtieth Division was the Twenty-fourth, a
famous fighting unit which was the only division able to boast that
it had been present at Vimy Ridge, Messines, and Ypres--three great
battles in the one year. The ground in front {154} of this division
was broken and woody, including Shrewsbury Forest and other natural
obstacles. None the less good progress was made, especially upon the
right, while the left was only retarded by the fact of the limited
advance in the north. The advance was made upon a three-brigade
front, the 17th upon the left, the 73rd in the centre, and the 72nd
upon the right. The 17th, advancing with that fine battalion the 3rd
Rifle Brigade alone in the front line, carried all before it at
first, but found both flanks exposed and was compelled to halt. The
73rd, led by the 2nd Leicesters and the 7th Northamptons, were held
up by a strong point called Lower Star Post in front of them. On the
right the 72nd, with the 8th Queen's and the North Staffords in the
lead, gained the house called the Grunenburg Farm, which marked the
line of their immediate objective. There they dug in and held
firmly, connecting up with the left of Plumer's Army to the south.
Several unsuccessful counter-attacks were made in the succeeding days
upon this point, in one of which on August 5 Colonel de la Fontaine
of the 9th East Surreys was killed.
If the attack of the Second Corps upon this and other occasions met
with limited success, it is to be remembered that the long clear
slope leading to Glencorse and Inverness Woods upon either side of
the Menin Road represented as impossible a terrain for an advancing
force as could be imagined. When finally these woods were won,
officers who stood among the tree-stumps and looked back were amazed
to think that such ground could have been taken, and were filled with
surprise that the Ypres salient could have been held so long under an
observation {155} from which nothing could be concealed. When such
positions are held by troops which have a world-wide reputation, in
concrete fortifications, one should be surprised, not that the
assailants should have failures but that they should have the dour
resolution which brought them at last to success.
All the four corps already mentioned, covering the front from the
junction with the French in the north to Shrewsbury Forest in the
south, belonged to Gough's Fifth Army. Of Plumer's Second Army only
a portion of the extreme left, consisting of Morland's Tenth Corps,
was engaged upon July 31. The flank unit, the Forty-first English
Division, was in the front line opposite Basseville, with the New
Zealanders upon their right. There was no intention to advance the
line to any distance in this locality, but the whole task assigned to
the troops was completely carried out, and the front was pushed
forward until it was level with the right of the Twenty-fourth
Division. It has been explained by Sir Douglas Haig, however, that
the attack in this quarter had never any serious intentions, and that
it was in the nature of a feint in order to distribute the German
reserve of men and guns. None the less the ground captured by the
123rd Brigade of the Forty-first Division represented a substantial
gain, including the village of Hollebeke and all the broken and
difficult country to the north of the bend of the Ypres-Comines Canal
and east of Battle Wood. The advance along this portion of the front
varied from 200 to 300 yards, while the New Zealanders at the right
of the line covered the short area assigned to them in their usual
workmanlike fashion, taking after a short fight the hamlet of La
Basseville. On {156} the right of the New Zealanders were the
Australians, whose movement, in accordance with the general plan was
a small one, including the capture of a ruined windmill opposite
their position. This was captured, retaken, and captured once again
in a spirited little fight, and August 1 saw more fighting in this
sector under very trying conditions of weather and ground.
We have now briefly reviewed the work of each of the twelve divisions
which were in line upon the 31st of July. In some places success was
absolute, in some it was partial, in none was there failure.
Speaking generally it may be said that the Thirty-ninth, Fifty-first,
Welsh, and Guards, had captured their full objectives, including the
villages of St. Julien, Pilkem, and the Pilkem Ridge; that the
Fifty-fifth and Fifteenth had carried the first and second lines,
with the villages of Verlorenhoek and Frezenberg and the
all-important ridge; finally that the units upon their right had
captured the German first lines, including Hooge, Hollebeke, Stirling
Castle, and a line of woods. Apart from the gain of important and
dominant positions, 6000 prisoners and 133 officers were taken,
together with 25 guns, exclusive of those which had been captured by
General Antoine to the north. The progress of the French had been
admirable, and they had not only reached their full objectives but
had gone beyond them and seized the village of Bixschoote, driving
back one severe German counter-attack which surged up to the point of
junction between them and the Guards. With such results the first
day of the third Battle of Ypres was undoubtedly a British victory,
but it was a victory which was absolutely complete {157} in the
north, and incomplete in the south. Only one British disaster
occurred during the day, and that was in the appearance of that
constant and formidable ally of the Central Powers, the autumn rain.
That night it began, and for many weeks it continued in a dreary
downpour upon a land which at the best of times is water-laden and
soft. For two months to come it may be said that operations were
really impossible, and that if they were occasionally driven forward
by the fiery determination of the British leaders, they were
undertaken at such a desperate disadvantage that large results were
out of the question. Impassable mud and unfordable craters covered
the whole German front, and a swimming collar might well have been
added to those many appliances with which the patient British soldier
was already burdened.
{158}