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Файл:The Great War. Part III
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THE GREAT WAR
whole line, while at the south fl ank of the attack the 91st French
Infantry was clearing the woods in front of it. The machine-gun fi re
at this point was very heavy, however, and the French, after a gallant
struggle, were forced back to their original line, with the result that
the right of the attack was in the air. The Seaforths had carried the
Château of Buzancy as well as the village, and the orders were at
all costs to hold on to these important points; so part of the 4/5th
Black Watch was pushed forward to strengthen the defenders, who
were hard pressed and heavily gassed. There was desperate fi ghting all round the village, which was declared by a veteran French
fl ammenwerfer section attached to the Highlanders to be the most
bloody work seen by them in the war. With their fl ank naked the remains of the brave battalions were exposed about six o’clock in the
evening to an overpowering German counter-attack which rolled
up from the south-east and drove them, still fi ghting tooth and claw,
through the village, from which six German offi cers and 200 men
were brought as prisoners. Thus by seven in the evening the 44th
Brigade, after their day of most heroic effort, were back on their
original line. It was a sad end to a splendid deed of arms, but there
was no disposition to blame the Eighty-seventh French Division on
the right, who were already worn with much fi ghting, and who were
faced with very diffi cult country. Many of the Highlanders wept bitter tears of rage and mortifi cation when they found that the deaths
of so many of their comrades had not bought the village for which
they gave their blood so willingly.
Orders were now received from the French Corps that the Scots
Fifteenth Division should change place with its neighbour, the
Eighty-seventh French Division, a diffi cult operation which was successfully accomplished, the artillery in each case being left in position. The new operation was to consist of an attack upon Hartennes
Forest, the Twelfth French Division working round the south and
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ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
the Fifteenth Scots Division round the north end of it, both meeting to the east, with Droisy as an ultimate objective. The attacking
troops were concealed so far as possible in the cornfi elds on July
31, and went forward about eight o’clock in the morning of August 1, after the completion of a successful French advance further
down the line. The brunt of this new advance was borne by the 6th
Camerons and 13th Royal Scots of the 45th Brigade (Orr-Ewing),
together with the 10th Scots Rifl es and 7/8th Scottish Borderers
of the 46th Brigade (Fortune). The left of the line made fi ne progress and reached the east side of the Soissons Road, but the 45th
Brigade on the right was held up by terrible machine-gun fi re, part
of which came from several derelict French tanks. These were dealt
with and blown to pieces by trench mortars. The advance was then
resumed, the French Twelfth Division coming forward also in the
south. About midday the Camerons had reached their mark but
were out of touch with the Borderers on their right, so that they
were compelled to form a defensive fl ank from the cemetery to the
road. The Germans lay in a series of wooded hills upon the right,
and though these were smothered with shells the brave machinegunners still clung to their position. So heavy was their fi re that the
right fl ank could get no farther, and it was determined to hold on to
the ground gained. During the night the 44th Brigade, in spite of its
heavy losses three days before, took the place of the 46th.
It was evident on the morning of August 2 that the stern combat
of the previous day had not been without its effect. The enemy was
retreating all along the line, and his positions were being rapidly
evacuated. The Twelfth French Division on the right was able to advance almost without opposition past the Hartennes Wood. There
followed an exhilarating pursuit up to the banks of the Crise River.
The 9th Gordon Pioneer Battalion pushed in with great dash, and
was in Villeblain before evening, while the French Eighty-seventh
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THE GREAT WAR
Division reached the river east of Buzancy. The Fifteenth Division
was then relieved by the Seventeenth French Division, and was
restored to the First British Army amid a shower of congratulatory messages from French Generals and comrades. So deep was the
feeling among the French over the magnifi cent fi ghting and heavy
losses of the Scots Division that a monument was at once raised in
their honour in front of the old German position with the inscription: “IcI fl eurira toujours le glorieux Chardon d’Écosse parmI les Roses
de France.” Many brave Scots will lie for ever round this monument.
Three splendid battalion commanders, Smith of the Gordons, Turner of the Royal Scots, and Kennedy of the Seaforths, were slain, while
Hart of the Scots Borderers and Macleod of the Camerons were incapacitated – fi ve Colonels out of ten battalions. The sufferings from
gas were very severe, and all the Brigade Headquarters were severely
affected, General Thomson and his staff holding on for the duration
of the battle, but collapsing on the evening of August 2.
Whilst the Fifteenth Division had been performing this notable service the Thirty-fourth British Division (Nicholson) had also
been incorporated for the moment into Mangin’s Fifteenth Army,
and was heavily engaged in the battle line opposite Grand Rozoy,
rather south of the point where the Scots were fi ghting.
So great had been the losses of this splendid Tyneside division
in the terrible contests of the Somme and of Flanders that it was
now entirely reconstituted with nothing of its previous personnel
save its veteran commander and a handful of war-worn offi cers.
The infantry were mostly Territorials from the Palestine campaign.
On July 18 the Thirty-fourth became part of the Tenth French Army
near Senlis. On the 22nd it was incorporated into General Penet’s
Thirtieth Corps, and relieved the French Thirty-eighth Division in
the battle zone, on a line parallel to the Château-Thierry – Soissons Road, having its right just west of Coutremain and its left in
313
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
Parcy Tigny. Woodcock’s 101st Brigade was on the right, Williams’
102nd on the left, while Chaplin’s 103rd Brigade was in support.
French divisions, the Nineteenth and the Fifty-eighth, were on either side, so that Nicholson’s men formed a curious isolated little
bit of fi ghting England.
At 6 a.m. on the morning of July 25 the whole line in this section
attacked with the intention of carrying the important road already
mentioned from Château-Thierry to Soissons. It was a hard and disappointing day, for the French divisions on either side were held by
the heavy fi re from the Bois de Plessier and Tigny. The 101st Brigade was not more successful, but the 102nd on the left got forward
nearly a mile, and then lay with its left fl ank thrown back to connect
up with its French neighbours. Considering that it was the fi rst experience which these men had had of German artillery and machineguns, General Nicholson was well satisfi ed with his new material.
On July 27 the division was relieved by the extension of the
fl anks of its two neighbours, but it was at once fi tted into the line
again, fi lling a battle-front of 1500 yards, with its right east of
Oulchy-le-Château. It was just in time for an attack which opened
at 5 a.m. on July 29, and it was only by great exertions that the guns
were registered and the infantry in their places. The objective was
a horse-shoe ridge from Beugneux in the east to Grand Rozoy in the
west. The 103rd Brigade was on the right, the 101st upon the left.
The barrage was not as deadly as usual on account of the pressure of time which had hampered the preparation and registration.
The slopes were long and open, swept by the deadly machine-guns.
It was all odds against the attack. The 103rd Brigade got to the outskirts of Beugneux, but was held up by the murderous fi re from
an adjacent mill. The 101st surmounted the ridge between Grand
Rozoy and Beugneux, but could get no farther, for it was all open
ground to the north.
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THE GREAT WAR
In the early afternoon the 102nd Brigade advanced from the
wood in which it lay with the intention of helping the 101st to
storm Beugneux, but as it came forward it met the 101st falling back
before a strong counter-attack. This movement was checked by the
new-comers and the line was sustained upon the ridge.
The net result of an arduous day was that the division was still
short of the coveted road, but that it had won about 2000 yards of
ground, including a good position for future operations. Casualties
were heavy, and included Colonel Jourdain of the 2nd North Lancashires as well as Captain Weeks, CO. of the 4th Royal Sussex. The
French had got Grand Rozoy upon the left fl ank, and though they
were driven out of it again they won their way back in the early
morning of July 30. All this day and the next the troops prepared for
a new effort, lying under heavy shell-fi re which, among other casualties, killed Colonel Dooner, the chief staff offi cer of the division.
On August 1 the attack was renewed under a very heavy and effi cient barrage, which helped the infantry so much that within two
hours all objectives had been won. Beugneux fell after the hill which
commanded it had been stormed by the 8th Argyll and Sutherland
Highlanders in a very gallant advance. Colonel Barbow fell while
leading his men to victory. On the left the French Twenty-fi fth Division had been held up by the deadly fi re from a knoll, but Major
Atkinson of the 2nd North Lancashires realised the situation and
diverted his reserve company to storm the obstacle, enabling the
French right to get forward. It was planned that two British battalions should push on beyond their objectives in order to cover the
fl anks of a further French advance. One of these, the 4th Cheshires,
carried out its part to perfection in spite of heavy losses, which included Colonel Swindells, its commander. The 1st Herefords, however, whose rôle was to cover the left of the Sixty-eighth French Division, was unable to do so, as that division was itself held up. That
315
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
night the enemy was in full retreat all along this line, and falling
back upon the River Vesle. On August 3 the Thirty-fourth Division
was returned to the area of the Second British Army, having done
a fi ne spell of service which brought the warmest compliments from
the French commanders, not only to the infantry, but to General
Walthall’s guns (152nd and 160th Brigades) as well as Colonel
Dobson’s 207th, 208th, and 209th Field Companies.
The northward advance of the French, Americans, and British was slow up to the end of July, but became accelerated in the
fi rst week of August, Soissons falling to the French on August 2,
and the Germans being driven to the line of the Vesle, when they
held on very tenaciously for a time, their rearguards showing their
usual high soldierly qualities. The Americans had a particularly
hard struggle, being faced by some of the elite of the German Army,
including the 4th Prussian Guards, but winning their way steadily
forward in spite of many strong counter-attacks. The situation upon
the Vesle and the Aisne seemed for the moment to have reached an
equilibrium, when Marshal Foch called Marshal Haig to his assistance and a new attack was launched in which British troops were
once more employed on the grand scale. Their great march had
started which was to end only at the bank of the Rhine.
Before embarking upon this narrative, it would be well to prevent the necessity of interrupting it by casting a glance at those general events connected with the world war which occurred during
this period, which reacted upon the Western front. It has already
been shortly stated that the Austrian Army had been held in their
attempt to cross the Piave in mid June, and by the end of the month
had been driven over the river by the Italians, aided by a strong British and French contingent. The fi nal losses of the Austrians in this
heavy defeat were not less than 20,000 prisoners with many guns.
From this time until the fi nal Austrian débâcle there was no severe
316
THE GREAT WAR
fi ghting upon this front. In the Salonican campaign the Greek Army
was becoming more and more a factor to be reckoned with, and the
deposition of the treacherous Constantine, with the return to power
of Venizelos, consolidated the position of the Allies. There was no
decided movement, however, upon this front until later in the year.
In Palestine and in Mesopotamia the British forces were also quiescent, Allenby covering the northern approaches of Jerusalem, and
preparing for his last splendid and annihilating advance, while Marshall remained in a similar position to the north of Bagdad. A small
and very spirited expedition sent out by the latter will no doubt
have a history of its own, for it was adventurous to a degree which
was almost quixotic, and yet justifi ed itself by its results. This was
the advance of a handful of men over 700 miles of desert separating
the Bagdad front from the Caspian. Arriving at the town of Baku
they kept the German-Turks out of that town for six weeks at a time
when oil supplies were a most pressing problem for them, and so infl uenced the course of the war. Finally they withdrew in safety after
a most remarkable exploit, hardly realised amid the clash of greater
forces. Russia still remained in its distracted condition, hag-ridden
by forces which at their worst surpassed all the classical excesses of
the French Revolution. Regeneration began to appear out of chaos,
however, though the end was still afar. Allied forces in Siberia and
on the Murman Coast formed nucleI upon which the supporters of
civilisation could rally. On the water the atrocities of the German
submarines and their sinking of hospital ships, accompanied in several cases by the drowning of the sick and wounded men, were the
outstanding feature. In the main, therefore, it can be said that there
was a hush upon the periphery, while in the centre the Allies with
concentrated energy hurled themselves upon their enemy with the
fi xed determination to have done with the thing for ever, fi ghting
without a break until either they could fi ght no more or the Ger-
317
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
man menace had passed from the world which it had overshadowed
so long. Nowhere was there a thought of compromise. There could
be no justice unless it were thorough justice. The criminal methods
by which the war had been waged forbade every thought of an incomplete settlement. With stern and deliberate determination the
French and British turned to their task, strengthened by the knowledge that the vanguard of America was already in the fi eld, weak as
yet in numbers, but the head of that long column which extended
across the Atlantic and was based upon the virile nation of a hundred million souls beyond.
II.
ATTACK OF RAWLINSON’S
FOURTH ARMY
The Battle of Amiens, August 8–22
Great British victory – Advance of the Canadians – Of the Australians – Of the Third Corps – Hard struggle at Chipilly – American assistance – Continuance of the operations – Great importance
of the battle
IN the tremendous and decisive operations which we are now
about to examine, it is very necessary to have some fi xed scheme in
the method of description s lest the reader be inextricably lost in the
long line of advancing corps and armies. A chapter will be devoted,
therefore, to the attack made by Rawlinson’s Fourth Army whilst it
was operating alone from August 8 to August 22. At that date Byng’s
Third Army joined in the fray, and subsequently, on August 28,
Horne’s First Army came into action. For the present, however, we
can devote ourselves whole-heartedly to the record of Rawlinson’s
Army, all the rest being inactive. When the others come in, that is,
after August 22, a defi nite system of narrative will be adopted.
Before describing the great battle some reference should be
made to the action of Le Hamel fought on July 4, noticeable as having been the fi rst Allied offensive since the early spring. Its complete success, after the long series of troubles which had plunged
all friends of freedom into gloom, made it more important than the
319
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
numbers engaged or the gain of ground would indicate. It was carried out by the Australian Corps, acting as part of the Fourth Army,
and is noticeable because a unit from the Thirty-third American Division took part in the operations. Le Hamel was taken and the Vaire
Wood to the immediate south of the Somme. The gain of ground
was about a mile in depth on a front of several miles, and the advance was so swift that a considerable number of prisoners, 1500 in
all, were taken, many of them still encumbered by their gas-masks.
Some sixty tanks took part in the advance, and did splendid work in
rolling out the machine-gun nests of the Germans. SI John Monash
has attributed some of the splendid effi ciency of the Australian arrangements and their cunning in the mutual support of guns, tanks,
and infantry, so often to be shown in the next four months, to the
experience gained in this small battle.
The front of the new and most important attack, which began
in the early morning of August 8, was fi fteen miles in length, and
extended from near Morlancourt in the north to Braches upon the
Avre River to the south. The right of the attack from Hangard onwards was formed by General Debeney’s First French Army, while
General Rawlinson’s Fourth Army formed the left, the British position being roughly three-fourths of the whole. The entire battle was
under the command of Marshal Haig.
The preparations had been made with the skill which the British Command has so often shown in such operations, so that the
Germans were swept off their feet by an attack which came upon
them as a complete surprise. It was half-past four on a misty morning when the enemy’s advanced line heard the sudden crash of the
gun-fi re, and a moment later saw the monstrous forms of the tanks
looming up through the grey light of dawn. Behind the tanks and almost in touch of them came the grim war-worn infantry. Everything
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