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 Division--Of
the Australians--Strong counter-attack upon the Thirty-third
Division--Renewed advance on September 26--Continued rain--Desperate
fighting.
The attack of August 16, with its varying and not wholly satisfactory
results, had been carried out entirely by the armies of Antoine and
of Gough. It was clear now to Sir Douglas Haig that the resistance
of the Germans was most formidable along the line of the Menin Road,
where the long upward slope and the shattered groves which crowned it
made an ideal position for defence. To overcome this obstacle a new
force was needed, and accordingly the Second Army was closed up to
the north, and the command in this portion of the field was handed
over to General Plumer. This little white-haired leader with his
silky manner, his eye-glass, and his grim, inflexible resolution, had
always won the confidence of his soldiers, but the complete victory
of Messines, with the restraint which had prevented any aftermath of
loss, had confirmed the whole army in its high appreciation of his
powers.
These changes in the line, together with the {180} continued rain,
which went from bad to worse, had the effect of suspending operations
during the remainder of the month save for the smaller actions
already recorded. Fresh dispositions had to be made also in order to
meet the new German method of defence, which had abandoned the old
trench system, and depended now upon scattered strong points, lightly
held front lines, and heavy reserves with which to make immediate
counter-attacks upon the exhausted stormers. The concrete works
called also for a different artillery treatment, since they were so
strong that an eighteen-pounder or even a 5.9 gun made little
impression. These new problems all pressed for solution, and the
time, like the days, was growing shorter.
The front of the new attack upon September 20 was about eight miles
in length, and corresponded closely with the front attacked upon July
31, save that it was contracted in the north so that Langemarck was
its limit upon this side. Upon the south the flank was still fixed
by the Ypres-Comines Canal, just north of Hollebeke. The scheme of
the limited objective was closely adhered to, so that no advance of
more than a mile was contemplated at any point, while a thousand
yards represented the average depth of penetration which was
intended. The weather, which had given a treacherous promise of
amendment, broke again upon the very night of the assembly, and the
troops were drenched as they lay waiting for the signal to advance.
Towards morning the rain stopped, but drifting clouds and a dank mist
from the saturated soil deprived the attackers of the help of their
aircraft--so serious a handicap to the guns. But the spirits of the
men rose with the difficulties, after the good {181} old British
fashion, and at 5.40 on this most inclement morning, wet and stiff
and cold, they went forward with cheerful alacrity into the battle.
The field of operations was now covered by two British armies, that
of Gough in the north extending from beyond Langemarck to the
Zonnebeke front, while Plumer's Army covered the rest of the line
down to Hollebeke. It may be said generally that the task of the men
in the south was the more difficult, since they had farther to
advance over country which had seemed to be almost impregnable. None
the less the advance in the north was admirably executed and reached
its full objectives. Cavan's Fourteenth Corps still held the extreme
north of the British line, but neither they nor the French upon their
left were really engaged in the advance. They covered the front as
far south as Schreiboom, where the right of the Twentieth Division
joined on to the left of the Fifty-first Highlanders. This latter
division formed the left flank of the main advance, though the 59th
Brigade, the 60th Brigade, and the 2nd Brigade of Guards did push
their line some short distance to the front, on either side of the
Ypres-Staden Railway, the 59th Brigade capturing Eagle Trench and the
60th Eagle House. This was a very formidable position, crammed with
machine-guns, and it took four days for its conquest, which was a
brilliant feat of arms carried out by men who would be discouraged by
no obstacle. The garrison were picked troops, who fought
desperately, and everything was against the attack, but their
pertinacity wore down the defence and eventually, upon Sept. 23, the
10th Rifle Brigade and the 12th Royal Rifles cleared up the last
corner of the widespread stronghold.
{182}
The hard-worked Highland Territorials of the Fifty-first Division
were worn with service but still full of fire. Their advance was
also an admirable one, and by nine o'clock they had overcome all
obstacles and dug in upon their extreme objective. Quebec Farm was a
special stronghold which held the Highlanders up for a time, but
finally fell to their determined assault. Rose Farm, Delva Farm, and
Pheasant Farm were also strongly defended. About 10 A.M. many strong
counter-attacks were made in this area, one of which for a time drove
back the line of the Highlanders, but only for a short period. This
particular attack was a very gallant one effected by Poles and
Prussians of the Thirty-sixth and Two hundred and eighth Divisions.
It was noted upon this day that the Prussians fought markedly better
than the Bavarians, which has not always been the case. The method
adopted both by the Highland Division and in some other parts of the
line in order to overcome strong points, such as farms, was a
concentration of portable trench-mortars firing heavy charges with a
shattering effect. Pheasant Farm was a particularly difficult
proposition, and yet it was so smothered by a cloud of these missiles
that the distracted garrison was compelled to surrender. This use of
what may be called a miniature and mobile heavy artillery became a
feature of the last year of the War.
Next to the Fifty-first Division, and covering the ground to the
north and east of St. Julien was the Fifty-eighth Division, a new
unit of second line London Territorials which had done a good deal of
rough service in the line, but had not yet been engaged in an
important advance. Upon this occasion {183} it bore out the old
saying that British troops are often on their top form in a first
engagement. Their advance was a brilliant one and attained its full
objective, taking upon the way the strongly-fortified position of
Wurst Farm. Nowhere in the line was the ground more sodden and more
intersected with water jumps. The 173rd Brigade was on the right,
the 174th upon the left, the former being led by the young hero of
the Ancre Battle and the youngest Brigadier, save perhaps one, in the
whole army. It was a magnificent battle _début_ for the Londoners
and their coolness under fire was particularly remarkable, for in
facing the difficult proposition of Wurst Farm they avoided making a
frontal attack upon it by swinging first left and then right with all
the workmanlike precision of veterans, The capture of Hubner Farm by
the 2/6th and 2/8th London was also a particularly fine performance,
as was the whole work of Higgins' 174th Brigade.
The two divisions last mentioned, the Fifty-first and the
Fifty-eighth, formed the fighting line of Maxse's Eighteenth Corps
upon this day. On their right was Fanshawe's Fifth Corps, which had
taken the place of the Nineteenth Corps. The most northern division
was that sterling West Lancashire Territorial Division, the
Fifty-fifth, which had now been in and out of the fighting line but
never out of shell fire since the evening of July 31, or seven weeks
in all. In spite of its long ordeal, and of the vile ground which
lay at its front, it advanced with all its usual determination, the
164th Brigade upon the left, and the 165th upon the right, each of
them being stiffened by one battalion from the Reserve Brigade. The
8th Liverpool Irish were {184} upon the extreme left, which moved
down the left bank of the Hannebeek and struck up against the
difficult obstacle of Schuber Farm, which they succeeded, with the
co-operation of the 2/4th London and of two Tanks, in carrying by
assault. Farther south a second farm-house, strongly held, called
the Green House, was carried by the 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers, while
the 4th North Lancashire took Fokker Farm upon the right. When one
considers that each of these was a veritable fortress, stuffed with
machine-guns and defended by 2nd Guards Reserve regiment, one cannot
but marvel at the efficiency to which these Territorial soldiers had
attained. The 4th Royal Lancasters kept pace upon the right. The
advance of the 165th Brigade was equally successful in gaining
ground, and there also were formidable obstacles in their path.
After crossing the Steenbeek they had to pass a very heavy barrage of
high explosives and shrapnel which, however, burst upon percussion
and was neutralised to some extent by the softness of the ground.
The line of advance was down the Gravenstafel Road. A formidable
line of trenches were carried and Kavnorth Post was captured, as were
Iberian and Gallipoli, strong points upon the right. A
counter-attack in the afternoon which moved down against the two
brigades, was broken by their rifle-fire, aided by the advent of the
two supporting battalions, the 5th South Lancashires and 5th North
Lancashires. The ground thus taken was strongly held until next
evening, September 21, when under cover of a very heavy fire the
enemy penetrated once more into the positions in the area of the
164th Brigade. Just as darkness fell, however, there was a fine
advance to regain the ground, in which the whole {185} of the
headquarters staff, with bearers, signallers, runners, and
men-servants, swept up to the position which was captured once more.
Among other positions taken upon September 20 was Hill 37, which had
been so formidable a stronghold for the Germans in the murderous
fighting of August 16. This commanding point was taken and held by
the 5th, 6th, and 9th King's Liverpools, with part of the 5th South
Lancashires, all under the same officer who led the 36th Brigade in
their fine attack upon Ovillers. The position was strongly
organised, and upon the next day it beat back a very determined
German counter-attack.
The Ninth Division was on the right of the Fifty-fifth with the South
Africans upon the left flank. At the opening of the attack the 3rd
(Transvaal) and 4th (Scottish) South African regiments advanced upon
the German line. Within an hour the latter had carried Borry Farm,
which had defied several previous assaults. At eight o'clock both
these regiments had reached their full objectives and the supporting
units, the 1st (Cape) and 2nd (Natal) regiments went through their
ranks, the men of the Transvaal cheering the men of Natal and the
Cape as they passed. By 9.30 the second objectives, including Beck
House, had also fallen. There was a considerable concentration of
Germans beyond, and the 5th Camerons came up in support, as an attack
appeared to be imminent. The artillery fire dispersed the gathering,
however, and the 2nd Regiment spreading out on the left to Waterend
House established touch with the Lancashire men to their north.
Bremen Redoubt had been captured, and this was made a nodal point
against any {186} counter-attack, as was Vampire Redoubt. By mid-day
the 1st Regiment on the right had lost heavily and was forced to dig
in and act upon the defensive as German concentrations were visible
in the Hannebeke Woods. A second battalion of the 26th Brigade, the
7th Seaforths, were at this time sent up in support. The left flank
was also checked and a defensive post organised at Mitchell's Farm.
The shelling from the direction of Hill 37 was very heavy, the more
so as the Africans were ahead of the 165th Brigade upon their left.
A number of German aeroplanes flying low and using their machine-guns
complicated a situation which was already sufficiently serious, for
the small-arm ammunition was running low and only a few hundred
exhausted men with a thin sprinkling of officers remained in the
fighting line. The artillery played up splendidly, however, and
though the enemy massed together at Bostin Farm he could never get a
sufficient head of troops to carry him through the pelting British
barrage. Thus the day drew to a close with heavy losses cheerfully
borne, and also with a fine gain of ground which included several of
the most sinister strong points upon the whole line. The South
Africans have been few in number, but it cannot be disputed that
their record in the field has been a superb one.
In the meantime the 27th Brigade, upon the right of the South
Africans, had also done a splendid day's work. In the first dash the
battalion upon the left front, the 12th Royal Scots, had taken
Potsdam Redoubt with its garrison. Thence the line rolled on, the
Scots Fusiliers and Highland Light Infantry joining in turn in the
advance, until evening found them with the same difficulties and also
with {187} the same success as their African comrades. As night fell
this right wing was in touch with the Australians near Anzac, and
thence passed through the wood and along the railway bank to the
junction with the left brigade, which in turn stretched across to
Gallipoli and to Hill 37, which was now in the hands of their
Lancashire neighbours and bristling with their machine-guns. That
night the Ninth Division lay upon the ground that they had won, but
the men had been without sleep or warm food for three days and nights
under continual fire, so that, hardy as they were, they had nearly
reached the limit of human endurance. It is worthy of remark that
the wounded in this part of the field were attended to in many cases
by captured German surgeons, and that one of these had an experience
of Prussian amenities, for his brains were scattered by a sniper's
bullet.
The First and Second Australian Divisions joined the left unit of
Plumer's Army, but worked in close co-operation with the Ninth
Division upon their right. In a day of brilliant exploits and
unqualified successes there was nothing to beat their performance,
for they were faced by that which tries the nerves of the stoutest
troops--an area which has already been tested and found to be
impregnable. With all the greater fire did the brave Australian
infantry throw itself into the fray, and they had the advantage over
their predecessors in that the line was well up on either side of
them, and that enemy guns upon their flanks were too busy upon their
own front to have a thought of enfilading. The result of the
Australian advance was instant and complete, for the remainder of
Glencorse Wood and Nonne Boschen were over-run and by ten o'clock the
{188} "Diggers" were through the hamlet of Polygonveld and into the
original German third line beyond it. The western part of Polygon
Wood was also cleared, and so, after a sharp fight, was the strong
point called "Black Watch Corner," which is at the south-western
extremity of the wood. At this point the advance of the Australians
was not less than a mile in depth over ground which presented every
possible obstacle. Over at least one of their captured redoubts
their own Australian flag with the Southern Cross upon it was
floating proudly in the evening. The losses of the division were
serious, the greater part being due to an enfilade fire from the
right, coming probably from the high ground in the south near Tower
Hamlets, which struck their flank as they approached the south of
Polygon Wood. Anzac upon the left marked their northern limit.
Nothing could have been finer than the whole Australian attack.
"They went into battle," says their scribe, "not singing and laughing
like many British regiments, but very grim, very silent, with their
officers marching quietly at the head of each small string of men."
They are dour, determined fighters, flame-like in attack, iron in
defence, and they have woven a fresh and brilliant strand into the
traditions of the Imperial armies. It should be mentioned that it
was the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 7th Brigades which carried forward the
line to victory.
Good as the Australian advance had been it could not be said to have
been better than Babington's Twenty-third Division upon their right.
They, too, had to cross ground which had been littered by the bodies
of their comrades, and to pass points which brave men had found
impassable. But all went well {189} upon this day, and every
objective was seized and held. Inverness Copse, of evil memory, was
occupied at the first rush, and the advance went forward without a
check to Dumbarton Lakes and on past them until the Veldhoek Ridge
had fallen. A counter-attack which broke upon them was driven back
in ruin. The advance was across the marshy Basseville Beek and
through the dangerous woods beyond, but from first to last there was
never a serious check. It was on the Yorkshires, the West
Yorkshires, and the Northumberland Fusiliers of the 68th and 69th
Brigades that the brunt of the early fighting fell, and as usual the
North-country grit proved equal to the hardest task which could be
set before it. The final stage which carried the Veldheek Ridge was
also a North-country exploit in this section of the line, as it was
the 10th West Ridings and the 12th Durhams, who with fixed bayonets
cleared the ultimate positions, reaching the western slopes of the
upper Steenbeek Valley where they dug in the new temporary lines.
On the extreme south of the line the advance had been as successful
as elsewhere, and at nearly every point the full objective was
reached. Upon the right of the Twenty-third Division was the
Forty-first, a sound English Division which had distinguished itself
at the Somme by the capture of Flers. The leading brigades, the
122nd and 124th, with Royal Fusiliers, King's Royal Rifles, and
Hampshires in the lead, lost heavily in the advance. The snipers and
machine-guns were very active upon this front, but each obstacle was
in turn surmounted, and about 8.30 the Reserve Brigade, the 123rd,
came through and completed the morning's work, crossing {190} the
valley of the Basseville Beek and storming up the slope of the Tower
Hamlets, a strong position just south of the Menin Road. Among the
points which gave them trouble was the Papooje Farm, which was found
to be a hard nut to crack--but cracked it was, all the same. This
same brigade suffered much from machine-guns east of Bodmin Copse,
both it and the 124th Brigade being held up at the Tower Hamlet
Plateau, which exposed the wing of the 122nd who had reached all
their objectives. So great was the pressure that the Brigadier of
the 124th Brigade came up personally to reorganise the attack. The
11th West Kent, the southern unit of the 122nd, had their right flank
entirely exposed to German fire. Two young subalterns, Freeman and
Woolley, held this dangerous position for some time with their men,
but Freeman was shot by a sniper, the losses were heavy, and the line
had to be drawn in. Colonel Corfe of the 11th West Kent and Colonel
Jarvis of the 21st K.R.R. were among the casualties. In spite of all
counter-attacks the evening found the left of the Forty-first
Division well established in its new line, and only short of its full
objective in this difficult region of the Tower Hamlets, where for
the following two days it had to fight hard to hold a line. The
losses were heavy in all three brigades.
On the right of the 41st and joining the flank unit of Morland's
Tenth Corps was the Thirty-ninth Division. This Division attacked
upon a single brigade front, the 117th having the post of honour.
The 16th and 17th Sherwood Foresters, the 17th Rifles, and the 16th
Rifle Brigade were each in turn engaged in a long morning's conflict
in which {191} they attained their line, which was a more limited one
than that of the divisions to the north.
South of this point, and forming the flank of the whole attack, was
the Nineteenth Division, which advanced with the West-country men of
the 57th Brigade upon the right, and the Welshmen of the 58th Brigade
upon the left. Their course was down the spur east of Zillebeke and
then into the small woods north of the Ypres-Comines Canal. The 8th
Gloucesters, 10th Worcesters, 8th North Staffords, 6th Wiltshires,
9th Welsh, and 9th Cheshires each bore their share of a heavy burden
and carried it on to its ultimate goal. The objectives were shorter
than at other points, but had special difficulties of their own, as
every flank attack is sure to find. By nine o'clock the work was
thoroughly done, and the advance secured upon the south, the whole
Klein Zillebeke sector having been made good. The captors of La
Boisselle had shown that they had not lost their power of thrust.
This first day of the renewed advance represented as clean-cut a
victory upon a limited objective as could be conceived. The logical
answer to the German determination to re-arrange his defences by
depth was to refuse to follow to depth, but to cut off his whole
front which was thinly held, and then by subsequent advances take
successive slices off his line. The plan worked admirably, for every
point aimed at was gained, the general position was greatly improved,
the losses were moderate, and some three thousand more prisoners were
taken. The Germans have been ingenious in their various methods of
defence, but history will record that the Allies showed equal skill
in their quick modifications of attack, {192} and that the British
during this year's campaign had a most remarkable record in never
being once held by any position which they attacked, save only at
Cambrai. It is true that on some sections, as in the south of the
line on August 16, there might be a complete check, but in every
action one or other part of the attack had a success. In this
instance it was universal along the line.
The Germans did not sit down quietly under their defeat, but the
reserve counter-attack troops came forward at once. Instead,
however, of finding the assailants blown and exhausted, as they would
have been had they attempted a deep advance, they found them in
excellent fettle, and endured all the losses which an unsuccessful
advance must bring. There were no less than eleven of these attempts
upon the afternoon and evening of September 20, some of them serious
and some perfunctory, but making among them a great total of loss.
They extended over into September 21, but still with no substantial
success. As has already been recorded, the front of the 55th
Division, at Schuler Farm, east of St. Julien, was for a time driven
in, but soon straightened itself out again. In this advance, which
embraced the whole front near St. Julien, the German columns came
with the fall of evening driving down from Gravenstafel and following
the line of the Roulers Railway. They deployed under cover of a good
barrage, but the British guns got their exact range and covered them
with shrapnel. They were new unshaken troops and came on with great
steadiness, but the losses were too heavy and the British line too
stiff. Their total lodgment was not more than 300 yards, and that
they soon lost again. By nine o'clock all was clear. {193} Among
the British defences the ex-German pill-boxes were used with great
effect as a safe depository for men and munitions. This considerable
German attack in the north was succeeded next day by an even larger
and more concentrated effort which surged forward on the line of the
Menin Road, the fresh Sixteenth Bavarian Division beating up against
the Thirty-third and the Australian Divisions. There was some fierce
give-and-take fighting with profuse shelling upon either side, but
save for some local indentations the positions were all held. The
Victorians upon the right flank of the Australians' position at
Polygon Wood were very strongly attacked and held their ground all
day. Pinney's Thirty-third Division had come into line, and the
German attack upon the morning of September 25 broke with especial
fury upon the front of the 98th Brigade, which fought with a splendid
valour which marks the incident as one of the outstanding feats of
arms in this great battle. Small groups of men from the two regular
battalions, the 1st Middlesex and the 2nd Argyll and Sutherlands,
were left embedded within the German lines after their first
successful rush, but they held out with the greatest determination,
and either fought their way back or held on in little desperate
groups until they were borne forward again next day upon the wave of
the advancing army.
The weight of the attack was so great, however, that the front of the
98th Brigade was pushed back, and there might have been a serious
set-back had it not been for the iron resistance of the 100th
Brigade, who stretched south to the Menin Road, joining hands with
the 11th Sussex of the Thirty-ninth {194} Division upon the farther
side. The 100th Brigade was exposed to a severe assault all day most
gallantly urged by the German Fiftieth Reserve Division and supported
by a terrific bombardment. It was a terrible ordeal, but the staunch
battalions who met it, the 4th Liverpools who linked up with their
comrades of the 98th Brigade, the 2nd Worcesters, 9th Highland Light
Infantry, and 1st Queens, were storm-proof that day. On the Menin
Road side the two latter battalions were pushed in for a time by the
weight of the blow, and lost touch with the Thirty-Ninth Division,
but the Colonel of the Queens, reinforced by some of the 16th K.R.R.,
pushed forward again with great determination, and by 9 A.M. had
fully re-occupied the support line, as had the 9th Highland Light
Infantry upon their left. So the situation remained upon the night
of the 25th, and the further development of the British
counter-attack became part of the general attack of September 26. It
had been a hard tussle all day, in the course of which some hundreds
in the advanced line had fallen into the hands of the enemy. It
should be mentioned that the troops in the firing-line were
occasionally short of ammunition during the prolonged contest, and
that this might well have caused disaster had it not been for the
devoted work of the 18th Middlesex Pioneer Battalion who, under heavy
fire and across impossible ground, brought up the much-needed boxes
and bandoliers. The resistance of the Thirty-third Division was
greatly helped by the strong support of the Australians on their
flank. It was a remarkable fact, and one typical of the
inflexibility of Sir Douglas Haig's leadership and the competence of
his various staffs, that the fact that this severe action {195} was
raging did not make the least difference in his plans for the general
attack upon September 26.
At 5.50 in the morning of that date, in darkness and mist, the
wonderful infantry was going forward as doggedly as ever over a front
of six miles, extending from the north-east of St. Julien to the
Tower Hamlets south of the Menin Road. The latter advance was
planned to be a short one, and the real object of the whole day's
fighting was to establish a good jumping-off place for an advance
upon the important Broodseinde Ridge. Some of the war-worn divisions
had been drawn out and fresh troops were in the battle line. The
Northern Corps was not engaged, and the flank of the advance was
formed by the Eleventh Division (Ritchie) with the 58th Londoners
upon their right, the two forming the fighting front of Maxse's
Eighteenth Corps. Their advance, which was entirely successful and
rapidly gained its full objectives, was along the line of St.
Julien-Poelcapelle Road. The total gain here, and in most other
points of the line, was about 1000 yards.
Upon the right of Maxse's Corps was the Fifty-eighth Division, which
also secured its full objective. The German line upon this front was
held by the Twenty-third Saxon Division (Reserve), which yielded a
number of prisoners. The Londoners fought their way down the line of
the Wieltje-Gravenstafel Road, overcoming a series of obstacles and
reaching the greater portion of their objectives. There were no
notable geographical points to be captured, but the advance was a
fine performance which showed that the Fifty-eighth was a worthy
compeer of those other fine London territorial divisions which had
placed the reputation of the mother city at the very front of all
{196} the Imperial Armies. The Forty-seventh, the Fifty-sixth, the
Fifty-eighth, and the Sixtieth in Palestine had all shown how the
citizen-soldier of the Metropolis could fight.
Fanshawe's Corps consisted upon this date of the Fifty-ninth Division
upon the left, and the Third upon the right. The Fifty-ninth
Division, which consisted of second-line battalions of North Midland
Territorials, made a fine advance upon the right of the Gravenstafel
Road, keeping touch with the Londoners upon the left. Here also
almost the whole objective was reached. The German positions, though
free from fortified villages, were very thick with every sort of
mechanical obstruction, in spite of which the attack went smoothly
from start to finish. It is clear that the British advance was fully
expected at the south end of the line, but that for some reason,
probably the wretched state of the ground, it was not looked for in
the north.
The Third Division had kept pace with the Australians to the south
and with the Midlanders to the north, and had captured the village
and church of Zonnebeke, which formed their objective. Very strong
counter-attacks upon all the part of the land to the immediate north
of Polygon Wood were beaten down by the masterful fire of the British
artillery.
To the right of the Fifth Corps the Australians pursued their
victorious career, going to their full limit, which entailed the
possession of the whole of Polygon Wood. The Fourth and Fifth
Divisions were now in the battle line. Pushing onwards they crossed
the road which connects Bacelaer with Zonnebeke, and established
themselves {197} firmly on the farther side south of Zonnebeke. Some
300 prisoners with a number of machine-guns were taken in this fine
advance. The pressure upon the Australians was especially heavy upon
the right flank of the Fifth Australian Division, since the left of
the Thirty-third Division had been driven in, as already described,
by the very heavy German attacks upon September 25, so that the
Victorians of the 15th Australian Brigade at the south end of the
line started with their flank exposed. They were in close touch
throughout with the 19th Brigade of the British Division, and the 2nd
Welsh Fusiliers found themselves intermingled with the Victorians in
the advance, with whom they co-operated in the capture of Jut Farm.
It was a fine feat for the Victorians to advance at all under such
circumstances, for as they went forward they had continually to throw
out a defensive flank, since the Germans had re-occupied many of the
trenches and Mebus, from which they had been ejected upon the 20th.
This strip of ground remained for a time with the Germans, but the
Thirty-third Division had also advanced upon the right of it, so that
it was left as a wedge protruding into the British position. Cameron
House was taken at the joining point of the two divisions, and
gradually the whole of the lost ground was re-absorbed.
To the right of the Australians the Thirty-third Division went
forward also to its extreme objective, gathering up as it went those
scattered groups of brave men who had held out against the German
assault of the preceding day. This gallant division had a
particularly hard time, as its struggle against the German attack
upon the day before had been a very severe one, which entailed heavy
losses. {198} Some ground had been lost at the Veldhoek Trench north
of the Menin Road, where the 100th Brigade was holding the line, but
this had been partially regained, as already described, by an
immediate attack by the 1st Queen's West Surrey and 9th Highland
Light Infantry. The 2nd Argyll and Sutherlands were still in the
front line, but for the second time this year this splendid battalion
was rescued from the desperate situation which only such tried and
veteran soldiers could have carried through without disaster.
Immediately before the attack of September 26, just after the
assembly of the troops, the barrage which the Germans had laid down
in order to cover their own advance beat full upon the left of the
divisional line, near Glencorse Wood, and inflicted such losses that
it could not get forward at zero, thus exposing the Victorians, as
already recorded. Hence, although the 100th Brigade succeeded in
regaining the whole of the Veldhoek Trench upon the right, there was
an unavoidable gap upon the left between Northampton Farm and Black
Watch Corner. The division was not to be denied, however, and by a
splendid effort before noon the weak spot had been cleared up by the
Scottish Rifles, the 4th King's Liverpools, and the 4th Suffolks, so
that the line was drawn firm between Veldhoek Trench in the south and
Cameron House in the north. A counter-attack by the Fourth Guards
Division was crushed by artillery fire, and a comic sight was
presented, if anything can be comic in such a tragedy, by a large
party of the Guards endeavouring to pack themselves into a pill-box
which was much too small to receive them. Many of them were left
lying outside the entrance.
{199}
Farther still to the right, and joining the flank of the advance, the
Thirty-ninth Division, like its comrades upon the left, found a hard
task in front of it, the country both north and south of the Menin
Road being thickly studded with strong points and fortified farms.
It was not until the evening of September 27, after incurring heavy
losses, that they attained their allotted line. This included the
whole of the Tower Hamlets spur with the German works upon the
farther side of it. The extreme right flank was held up owing to
German strong points on the east of Bitter Wood, but with this
exception all the objectives were taken and held by the 116th and
118th, the two brigades in the line. The fighting fell with special
severity upon the 4th Black Watch and the 1st Cambridge of the latter
brigade, and upon the 14th Hants and the Sussex battalions of the
former, who moved up to the immediate south of the Menin Road. The
losses of all the battalions engaged were very heavy, and the 111th
Brigade of the Thirty-seventh Division had to be sent up at once in
order to aid the survivors to form a connected line.
The total result of the action of September 26 was a gain of over
half a mile along the whole front, the capture of 1600 prisoners with
48 officers, and one more proof that the method of the broad, shallow
objective was an effective answer to the new German system of defence
by depth. It was part of that system to have shock troops in
immediate reserve to counter-attack the assailants before they could
get their roots down, and therefore it was not unexpected that a
series of violent assaults should immediately break upon the British
positions along the whole newly-won line. These raged during the
{200} evening of September 26, but they only served to add greatly to
the German losses, showing them that their ingenious conception had
been countered by a deeper ingenuity which conferred upon them all
the disadvantages of the attack. For four days there was a
comparative quiet upon the line, and then again the attacks carried
out by the Nineteenth Reserve Division came driving down to the south
of Polygon Wood, but save for ephemeral and temporary gains they had
no success. The Londoners of the Fifty-eighth Division had also a
severe attack to face upon September 28 and lost two posts, one of
which they recovered the same evening.
Up to now the weather had held, and the bad fortune which had
attended the British for so long after August 1 seemed to have
turned. But the most fickle of all the gods once more averted her
face, and upon October 3 the rain began once more to fall heavily in
a way which announced the final coming of winter. None the less the
work was but half done, and the Army could not be left under the
menace of the commanding ridge of Paschendaale. At all costs the
advance must proceed.
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[Illustration: THIRD YPRES BATTLE, September 26]
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