Добавил:
ivanov666
Опубликованный материал нарушает ваши авторские права? Сообщите нам.
Вуз:
Предмет:
Файл:The Great War. Part III
.pdf
THE GREAT WAR
went down before that united rush. The battle was won as soon as
begun. The only question was how great the success would be.
Taking a bird’s-eye view of the advance, before examining the
operations more closely, one may say that the Canadian Corps, now
under a Canadian commander, General Currie, was on the extreme
right of the British fi ne, in touch with the French. Next to them, in
the Morlancourt district, where they had never ceased for the last
four months to improve their position and to elbow the invaders
away from Amiens, were the indomitable and tireless Australians
under General Monash. On their left, just south of Albert, was Butler’s Third Corps, burning to avenge itself for the hustling which it
had endured during that perilous and heroic week in March. These
were the three units concerned in the new advance.
The opening barrage, though only a few minutes in length, was
of a shattering severity, and was directed against very different defences from those which had defi ed the Army two years before upon
the Somme. Everything fl attened out before it, and even the German
guns seemed to have been overwhelmed, for their reply was slow
and ineffective. Only the machine-guns remained noxious, but the
tanks rolled them down. Nowhere at fi rst was there any check or
delay. The French on the right of the line had done equally well, and
by midday were storming forward upon the north bank of the Avre,
their victory being the more diffi cult and honourable because the
river prevented the use of tanks at the fi rst attack.
The Canadians were on the top of their form that day, and their
magnifi cent condition gave promise of the splendid work which they
were to do from that hour until almost the last day of the war. They
were probably the most powerful and effi cient corps at that moment
in the whole Army, for they had lain in front of Lens with few losses,
while nearly every other corps had been desperately engaged and
sustained heavy casualties, hastily made good by recruits. They had
321
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
also kept their brigades up to a four battalion standard, and their divisions had that advantage of permanence denied to all British corps.
When to these favouring points are added the great hardihood and
valour of the men, proved in so many battles, it is probable that in
the whole world no fi ner body could on that day have been let loose
behind a barrage. They were weary from long marches before the
battle began, but none the less their great spirit rose high above all
physical weakness as they pushed forward against the German line.
They were faced at the outset by a problem which might well
have taxed the brains of any staff and the valour of any soldiers.
This was the crossing of the River Luce, which was covered upon the
farther bank by several scattered woods, ideal haunts of machineguns. So diffi cult was this operation that the French to the south
had to pause for an hour after the capture of the front German line,
to give time for it to be carried out. At the end of that period the
very complex operation had been carried through, and the whole
Allied front was ready to advance. The Canadians had three divisions in the line, the Third (Lipsett) next to the French, the First
(Macdonell) in the middle, and the Second (Benstall) on the left.
The 2nd and 3rd British Cavalry Brigades with the Fourth Canadian
Infantry Division (Watson) were in reserve. There was also a mobile
force, called the Canadian Independent Force, which was kept ready
to take advantage of any opening. This consisted of the 1st and 2nd
Canadian Motor Machine-gun Brigades, with the Corps Cyclists,
and some movable trench mortars on lorries.
The width of the Canadian attack was some 5000 yards from
the Amiens – Roye Road to the Villers-Bretonneux Railway. Once
across the river the whole line came away with a grand rush and
every objective was soon attained, each division sweeping forward
without a check. The prisoners reported that an attack had indeed
been expected, but not so soon, and we can readily believe that the
322
THE GREAT WAR
German Army, which had been so repeatedly assured that the British were fi nally dead and out of the war, must have been greatly
amazed by this vigorous resurrection. By 10.40, Caix, which is a good
fi ve miles to the eastward, was reported by contact aeroplanes to be
surrounded by tanks. The Cavalry and the Independent Force were
both pushing to the front, and the latter deviated to the right in
order to help the French who were temporarily in diffi culties near
Mezières. In the afternoon the Cavalry Division had passed through
the victorious and cheering lines of the Second Canadians, and were
carrying out a number of spirited enterprises upon the German supporting lines. About the same time the Fourth Canadian Infantry
Division pushed forward and was reported to the east of Beaufort
and Cayeux. By evening all along the line the full objectives had
been reached save at one point near Le Quesnel. In their splendid
day’s work men of the Dominion had taken some 5000 prisoners
and great quantities of booty. Many of the prisoners and guns were
taken by the cavalry, who had their best day in the war. “The best
hunt we ever had, forty minutes and a kill in the open,” was the
characteristic description of one hard-riding dragoon.
We shall now turn to the advance of Monash’s Australians in
the centre of the British line. Fate owed Monash a great victory in
this sector, for, during months of quiet but ceaseless work, he had
been improving his position as the keen runner ensures his foothold and crouches his body while he awaits the crack of the pistol.
For once Fate paid its debts, and with such a corps under his
hand it would have been strange had it not been so. All those advantages already described in the case of the Canadians applied equally
to the Australians, and if the former outlasted the others, it must
be remembered that the Australians had been in the line for four
months before the fi ghting began – months which included the
severe action of Villers-Bretonneux. They were a grand corps, and
323
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
they did grand work for the Empire – work which we can never
forget so long as our common history endures.
The order of battle of the Australian Corps on August 8 was that
the Second Division (Smyth) was on the right in touch with the
Canadians, while the Third Division (Gillibrand) was on the left in
touch with the Fifty-eighth British Division, the Somme being the
dividing line between them. Behind the Second Australians was the
Fifth (Hobbs), and behind; the Third the Fourth (Maclagan), with
orders in each case to leapfrog over their leaders when the fi rst objectives were carried. The First Division (Glasgow) was in the immediate rear. Thus at least 50,000 glorious infantry marched to battle
under the Southern Cross Union Jack upon this most historic day –
a day which, as LudendorfI has since confessed, gave the fi rst fatal
shock to the military power of Germany.
All depended upon surprise, and the crouching troops waited
most impatiently for the zero hour, expecting every instant to hear
the crash of the enemy’s guns and the whine of the shrapnel above
the assembly trenches. Every precaution had been taken the day before, the roads had been deserted by all traffi c, and aeroplanes had
fl own low during the night, so that their droning might cover the
noise of the assembling tanks. Some misgiving was caused by the fact
that a sergeant who knew all about it had been captured several days
before. By a curious chance the minutes of his cross-examination by
the German intelligence offi cer were captured during the battle. He
had faced his ordeal like a Spartan, and had said no word. It is not
often that the success of a world-shaking battle depends upon the
nerve and the tongue of a single soldier.
Zero hour arrived without a sign, and in an instant barrage
tanks, and infantry all burst forth together, though the morning
mist was so thick that one could only see twenty or thirty yards. Everywhere the enemy front posts went down with hardly a struggle.
324
THE GREAT WAR
It was an absolute surprise. Now and then, as the long, loose lines of
men pushed through the mist, there would come the fl ash of a fi eldpiece, or the sudden burst of a machine-gun from their front; but in
an instant, with the coolness born of long practice, the men would
run crouching forward, and then quickly-close in from every side,
shooting or bayoneting the gun crew. Everything went splendidly
from the fi rst, and the tanks did excellent service, especially in the
capture of Warfusee.
The task of the two relieving divisions, the Fourth on the left
and the Fifth on the right, was rather more diffi cult, as the Germans
had begun to rally and the fog to lift. The Fourth Australians on the
south bank of the Somme were especially troubled, as it soon became
evident that the British attack on the north bank had been held up,
with the result that the German guns on Chipilly Spur were all free
to fi re across from their high position upon the Australians in the
plain to the south. Tank after tank and gun after gun were knocked
out by direct hits, but the infantry was not to be stopped and continued to skirmish forward as best they might under so deadly a fi re,
fi nishing by the capture of Cerisy and of Morcourt. The Fifth Division on the right, with the 8th and 15th Brigades in front, made an
equally fi ne advance, covering a good stretch of ground.
Having considered the Canadians and the Australians, we turn
now to the Third Corps on the north of the line. They were extended
from Morlancourt to the north bank of the Somme, which is a broad
canalised river over all this portion of its course. On the right was
the Fifty-eighth London Division (Ramsay), with Lee’s Eighteenth
Division to the north of it, extending close to the Ancre, where Higginson’s Twelfth Division lay astride of that marshy stream. North
of this again was the Forty-seventh Division (Gorringe), together
with a brigade of the Thirty-third American Division. Two days before the great advance, on August 6, the Twenty-seventh Würtem-
325
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
burg Division had made a sudden strong local attack astride of the
Bray – Corbie Road, and had driven in the Eighteenth Divisional
front, taking some hundreds of prisoners, though the British counter-attack regained most of the lost ground on the same and the
following days. This unexpected episode somewhat deranged the details of the great attack, but the Eighteenth played its part manfully
none the less, substituting the 36th Brigade of the Twelfth Division
for the 54th Brigade, which had been considerably knocked about.
None of the British prisoners taken seem to have given away the
news of the coming advance, but it is probable that the sudden attack of the Würtemburgers showed that it was suspected, and was
intended to anticipate and to derange it.
In the fi rst phase of the attack the little village of Sailly-Laurette
on the north bank of the Somme was carried by assault by the
2/10th Londons. At the same moment the 174th Brigade attacked
Malard Wood to the left of the village. There was a diffi culty in mopping up the wood, for small German posts held on with great tenacity, but by 9 o’clock the position was cleared. The 173rd Brigade now
went forward upon the really terrible task of getting up the slopes
of Chipilly Hill under the German fi re. The present chronicler has
looked down upon the line of advance from the position of the German machine-guns and can testify that the affair was indeed as arduous as could be imagined. The village of Chipilly was not cleared,
and the attack, after several very-gallant attempts, was at a stand.
Meantime the 53rd Brigade on the left had got about half-way to
its objective and held the ground gained, but could get no farther
in face of the withering fi re. Farther north, however, the Twelfth
Division, moving forward upon the northern slopes of the Ancre,
had gained its full objectives, the idea being that a similar advance
to the south would pinch out the village of Morlancourt. There was
a time in the attack when it appeared as if the hold-up of the Eigh-
326
THE GREAT WAR
teenth Division would prevent Vincent’s 35th Brigade, on the right
of the Twelfth Division, from getting forward, but the situation was
restored by a fi ne bit of work by the 1st Cambridgeshires, who, under Colonel Saint, renewed the attack in a most determined way and
fi nally were left with only 200 men standing, but with 316 German
prisoners as well as their objective. A wandering tank contributed
greatly to this success.
The partial nature of the local victory was due not only to the
excellent German dispositions and resistance, but to some want of
liaison between tanks and infantry, as well as to the total disability
of the fl ying service to furnish any reports before 12 o’clock. This
want was partly made good by the excellent scouting of the Northumberland Hussars. The remainder of the day was spent in clearing the ground gained and holding a series of counter-attacks, one
of which drove back an advanced line of the 53rd Brigade.
Summing up, then, the result of the fi rst day’s fi ghting, it may
be briefl y said that seven German Divisions had been cut to pieces,
that 10,000 prisoners and 200 guns had been counted, and that an
advance had been made which in the French sector reached Beaufort, and laid the British line well up to Caix, Framerville, and Chipilly. To those who associated those village names with the dark days
when the Fifth Army, exhausted and decimated, was compelled to
retreat through them, it was indeed an added joy that they should be
the milestones of victory. The whole penetration, though not more
than three miles north of the Somme, was seven or eight miles at the
deepest point, which is the greatest ever yet attained on the fi rst day
of any Allied attack.
The battle was vigorously renewed on the morning of August 9, and once more the tide fl owed eastwards, carrying the average depth of progress two or three miles farther. In the south
the French directed their general advance rather to the right and
327
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
reached Arvillers as their fi nal point. Their take of prisoners had
amounted altogether to 4000, and their depth of advance was over
eight miles. To their north the Canadians had reached Rosières,
and the Australians Rainecourt and Morcourt. To the north of the
Somme the Third Corps had been temporarily hung up by the very
vigorous German resistance in a strong position between Chipilly
and Morlancourt. Before evening General Rawlinson was able to
report the capture of a total for the two days of 17,000 prisoners
and 250 guns.
To take the events of this second day of battle in closer detail,
the Canadians resumed their attack at 10 a.m. with the same order
of divisions in the line, but with their Fourth Division acting with
the Independent Force upon the right, where in the early morning
it captured Le Quesnel. There was heavy fi ghting all day along the
Corps front, but the advance was pushed forward for another 2500
yards. Many villages were contained in this area, the Third Canadians on the right getting Folies and Bouchoir, the Second Canadians on the left Vrely, Rosières, and Meharicourt, while the First
Canadians in the centre got Warvillers, Beaufort, and Rouvroy. The
Germans had rushed up their anti-tank guns, and the casualties
were heavy that day, especially near Le Quesnel, where many tanks
were destroyed by direct hits from concealed batteries. To make
a complete and connected narrative of the doings upon this front
it may here be added that on August 10 the resistance thickened
and the advance slowed. Le Quesnel was taken early by the Third
Canadians, upon which the Thirty-second British Division passed
through their ranks and carried the advance on to the outskirts of
Parvillers and Damery. The Fourth Canadian Division in turn had
very stubborn fi ghting and considerable losses, but it ended the
day in possession of Fouquescourt, Maucourt, Chilly, and Hallu. At
night, great fi res reddening the whole eastern sky gave promise of
328
THE GREAT WAR
a further German retreat. On August it was clear, however, that no
further important advance could be made without fresh preparation, and orders were given for consolidation. A French attack on
the right on Bois en Z had no success, nor was the Thirty-second
Division able to take Damery. Instead of advance it was rather a day
of strong counter-attacks, against which the attenuated lines, after
three days of battle, were hard put to it to hold their own, a fl ank
fi re from Lihons helping the German attack at Hallu and Chilly.
The line was in the main held, however, and a total take of 8000
prisoners was in the Canadian cages that evening, while 167 guns
had been taken by the one Corps. We shall now turn back and follow the fortunes of the Australians on the second and third days of
the battle.
Upon August 9 General Monash’s Corps still carried forward its
victorious career, though a halt was called for the Fourth Division
on the left which awaited developments upon the north bank of the
river. On the right the Second Division passed through the Fifth in
order to continue the advance, while the First Division thrust itself
in upon the right fl ank, next to the Canadians. Progress was slower
everywhere, but none the less it was substantial, Framerville being
taken by the 7th Brigade. There was a misunderstanding about time,
with the result that the First Division advanced some hours before
their Canadian neighbours, with tragic consequences to their own
right fl ank, formed by the 2nd Brigade. The advance was over open
country, with the Lihons ridge and village in front, from which
heavy gun-fi re played upon the attack and caused considerable losses, while on the right a deadly fi re was maintained from Rosières
Station. So heavy were the casualties in the First and Second Divisions that reinforcements had to be sent up when the advance was
resumed. In the evening some relief was obtained, for the region of
the old French trenches was reached and the men were at last able
329
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
to get some cover. Many of the Australians who fought through this
long hot day had marched for fi ve hours in order to reach the fi eld
of battle, so that it was a remarkable test of endurance Finally Crepy
and Crepy Wood were taken and held against three severe counterattacks which broke upon them next day. On August Lihons Ridge
fell and the village was occupied by the 2nd Brigade, which again
had to face determined attacks. The Germans fully appreciated the
vital worth of this position, which commanded the plain both to
west and east, so they strained every nerve fi rst to hold and afterwards to recover it, but it was in stronger hands than theirs. The 3rd
Brigade on the left of Lihons was particularly heavily attacked but
threw back its assailants in confusion. Every yard gained was held.
A fi nal very serious German counter-attack in successive waves,
with 400 in a wave, drove down from Lihu Wood in the north-east
and actually penetrated the front Australian lines, but the 8th Battalion in support threw itself into the fi ght and soon the position
had been completely restored.
In the meantime, the Fourth Australian Division had been released by the fact that the remains of the Fifty-eighth Division and
the 131st American Infantry Regiment had, as will be told, cleared
the Chipilly Ridge north of the river. Part of the Fourth Australians
had crossed the river, fraternising greatly with the Americans, so
that the offi cers on both sides had some trouble in sorting out their
men – the more so as the comradeship had often taken the form of
an exchange of hats and coats. On the night of August 10 the whole
of the Fourth Australians had crossed to the north bank of the Somme near Sailly-le-Sec, and their commander, General Maclagan, had
taken under him the Americans and also the 173rd and 174th Brigades of the British Fifty-eighth Division, much the worse for wear.
The Third Australian Division had taken the place south of the
Somme vacated by their fellow-countrymen, and on the morning of
330
Соседние файлы в предмете [НЕСОРТИРОВАННОЕ]