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Файл:The Great War. Part III
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THE GREAT WAR
were pushed with great resolution they had no results. March 25
was quiet upon the front of the Third Division, though the right of
the Guards Division to the south near Boyelles was subjected to one
heavy unsuccessful attack. That evening both the Guards and the
Third Division had to make some retraction of their line in order to
conform to the situation already described in the south, but March
26 passed without an attack, the soldiers listening with anxious impatience to the roar of battle on their right, unable to see the fi ght,
and yet keenly conscious that their own lives might depend upon its
results. The 27th was also a day of anxious expectancy, and culminating upon the 28th in a very severe battle, which was the greater
test coming after so long a period of strain. All three brigades were
in the line, the 8th upon the right, 9th in the centre, and 76th in the
north. Still farther to the north was the 44th Highland Brigade of
Reed’s Fifteenth Division upon which the storm fi rst burst.
This brigade at 6:45 was assailed by a bombardment of so severe
a character that its trenches were completely destroyed. The German infantry pushed home behind this shattering fi re and drove
back the front line of the Highlanders. This enabled them to get
behind the left fl ank of the 2nd Suffolks and nearly surround them,
while at the same time they pierced the front of the 1st Northumberland Fusiliers on their right. The front line of the 8th Royal
Lancasters had also been penetrated, and the British infantry were
pushed back and split up into various small squads of men, intermingled in the north with Highlanders of the 44th Brigade, and all
fi ghting desperately with the enemy swarming thickly upon them.
By 9:45 the whole front was in German hands. Enemy fi eld-guns
were lining Wancourt Ridge, and as the shattered formations tried
to form a new line they were heavily shelled by them. The loss in offi cers and men was very heavy, Colonel James of the Royal Lancasters being among the dead. The withdrawal was made to the reserve
41
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
line, which the 44th Brigade had already occupied in the north. This
included the village of Neuville Vitasse which became untenable
from shell-fi re, and into the northern portion of which the enemy
was able to push, but in the main the reserve system was occupied,
the movement being covered by some of the 1st Gordons. At this
point an equilibrium was attained and the enemy held after as desperate a confl ict as any troops could be called upon to endure.
On the right of the 76th Brigade the 9th Brigade had also been
fi ghting very hard, and been compelled to yield some ground before
the overpowering weight of the attack, especially that of the preliminary trench-mortar fi re. The fi rst enemy advance in the morning was completely beaten off with great loss. A second attack had
driven in the 8th Brigade on the right, which enabled the Germans
to get behind the two companies of the 13th King’s Liverpool who
were in the front line. These men fought to the end and were last
seen standing on the parapet without a thought of surrender. At the
same time a company of the Northumberland Fusiliers on their left
shared their fate, save for one offi cer and twelve men who survived.
The front line of the 8th Brigade had now ceased to exist, but the
reserve line still held. An attack upon the 7th Shropshires who, with
the remains of the other battalions, held on to it, was successfully
shattered, even the battalion headquarters being brought into the
desperate battle, while the guns on each side fought as hard as the
infantry, barrage and attack succeeding each other with mechanical
accuracy, and being answered by an equally effi cient barrage and
defence, for the British guns were extraordinarily well handled that
day. About mid-day the enemy got a lodgment on the right of the
reserve line, but the Fusiliers, whose Colonel, Moulton Barrett, had
been hit, and the 13th King’s still fought furiously for what was left,
and retained their ground until dusk, when they were drawn back
into the reserve line in order to conform with the 76th Brigade.
42
THE GREAT WAR
The 8th Brigade upon the extreme right of the division had also
endured heavy losses in men and some loss in ground. The front
line was held by companies of the 1st Scots Fusiliers and of the 7th
Shropshires. The enemy, after an unsuccessful attempt, got into the
trenches of the latter and bombed their way along them, clearing
that section of the front. It was bomb against rifl e. in the tortuous
ditches, and the bomb proved the more handy weapon. The Scots
Fusiliers, who were the next to be assailed, made shift with rifl egrenades, but these also ran short, and they were forced back, so
that the survivors of the two front companies were driven across the
Arras-Bapaume road. Finally, as in the case of the other brigades, the
reserve line was successfully maintained until evening.
No soldiers could have fought with greater bravery and skill
than did the Third Division on March 28. They were assailed by at
least three German divisions and by a crushing artillery, but they
disputed every inch of ground, and fi nally fought their formidable
adversary to such a complete standstill that he could not, with several hours of daylight at his disposal, and disorganised ranks before him, continue his attacks. It is true that he secured Henin and
Neuville Vitasse, but he paid a rich price in blood. So broken were
the enemy that the British wounded came back through their ranks
without let or hindrance. A strong counter would have swept them
out of the ground that they had gained, but neither the Third nor
the Fifteenth, which had endured an equal attack upon the left, was
in a condition to advance, while the Guards had been already withdrawn in accordance with the situation on their right, sixth The
blow which the Germans had received was shown even more clearly
by their failure to attack upon the next day. On March 30 the Third
Division was relieved by the Second Canadians. Their record was
a great one, and their losses, 139 offi cers and 3500 men, were a measure of their services. In nine days, before a vastly superior force,
43
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
they had only gone back 7000 yards, most of which was strategic
withdrawal. Well might General Byng say, “By their conduct they
have established a standard of endurance and determination that
will be a model for all time.”
This desperate German attack on March 28 to the north of the
British line had spread right across the face of the Fifteenth Scottish
Division through the line of Orange Hill and on to Telegraph Hill,
fi nally involving the Fourth Division on the other side of the Scarpe,
and the right-hand unit of the Thirteenth Corps on their left, so that
Horne’s First Army was now drawn into the fray, which reached as
far north as Oppy and Gavrelle. Along the whole of this long front
there was constant fi ghting, which in the case of the Fifteenth Division was as desperate as that of the Third. All three brigades were
in the line, each of them having two battalions in front and one in
reserve. Never has the grand tough Scottish fi bre been more rudely
tested than on this terrible day of battle, and never has it stood the
strain more splendidly. General Reed’s men undoubtedly saved Arras and held up at least six German divisions which broke themselves on that rugged and impenetrable line, formed in the fi rst instance by the 7th Camerons upon the right, the 13th Royal Scots
in the centre, the 9th Black Watch and 7/8 Scots Borderers on the
left. As already told, the shattering bombardment destroyed a large
part of the right front, burying the garrison amid the ruins of their
trenches, near their junction with the Third Division. Some fi fty
Camerons, under Colonel MacLeod, fought most desperately round
their headquarters, and then fell back slowly upon the 8/10 Gordons, who were holding the Neuville Vitasse trench behind them.
This was about 6 A.M. By 7.40 the whole front line, shot to pieces
and with their right fl ank gone, readjusted their line to correspond,
winding up near the Feuchy road. There was no rest nor respite,
however, for the whole German plan of campaign depended upon
44
THE GREAT WAR
their getting Arras, so they poured forward their waves of attack regardless of losses. It was a really desperate battle in which the Scots,
lying in little groups among the shell-holes and ditches, mowed the
Germans down as they swarmed up to them, but were themselves
occasionally cut off and overpowered as the stormers found the gaps
and poured through them. The pressure was very great on the front
of the Black Watch, north of the CambraI road, and there General
Reed determined upon a counter-attack, for which he could only
spare a single company of the 10th Scottish Rifl es. In spite of the
small numbers it was carried out with such dash, under the personal
lead of Colonel Stanley Clarke, that the front was cleared for a time,
and the Germans thrown back east of Feuchy.
Meanwhile the Germans had made some advance to the north of
the Scarpe, and the 7/8 Scots Borderers on the left wing had to fall
back to preserve the line. At 11 A.M. the enemy were raging in the
centre of the line, and the 6th Camerons, north of the CambraI road,
were forced backwards, the enemy piercing their front. Up to 1:45
the weight of the attack was mostly in the north, and ended by all
three brigades moving back, with the enemy still striving with the
utmost fury and ever fresh relays of men to burst the line. At 3 P.M.
the German stormers had won the Bois des Boeufs, but were driven
out again by the 9th Black Watch and by the 11th Argylls, who had
lost their CO., Colonel Mitchell. The division was worn to a shadow,
and yet the moment that the German attack seemed to ease both
they and the Fourth Division on their north advanced their front.
In this single bloody day the Fifteenth Division lost 94 offi cers and
2223 men, but there can be no doubt that their action, with that
of the Third Division and the Fourth on either side of them, was
the main determining factor in the whole of this vast battle. General
Reed (a V.C. of Colenso) with his Brigadiers, Hilliard, Allgood, and
Lumsden, might well be proud of the way they held the pass.
45
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
North of the Scarpe all three brigades of the Fourth Division
were exposed to a furious attack, and lost the village of Roeux, which
was defended literally to the death by the 2nd Seaforths of the 10th
Brigade, but the 1st Hants in the front line of the 11th Brigade and
the 2nd Essex of the 12th stood like iron, and in a long day’s fi ghting
the enemy was never able to make any serious lodgment in the position, though the rushes of his bombing parties were said by experienced British offi cers to have been extraordinarily determined and
clever. Very little ground was gained by the Germans, and of this
a section upon the left fl ank near Gavrelle was regained by a sudden
counter-attack of the Fourth Division. Of the attack to the north of
the Third Army in the Bailleul and Oppy district, it should be noted
that it fell upon the Fifty-sixth London Territorial Division, who for
once had the pleasant experience of being at the right end of the
machine-gun. They took every advantage of their opportunity, and
there are few places where the Germans have endured heavier losses with no gains to show in return. The Westminsters and L.R.B.’s of
the 169th Brigade were particularly heavily engaged, and a party of
the former distinguished themselves by a most desperate defence of
an outlying post, named Towy Post, near Gavrelle, which they held
long after it was passed by the enemy, but eventually fought their
way to safety. The attack lasted from seven in the morning till six at
night, and the Londoners had full vengeance for their comrades of
July 1916 or August 1917, who had died before the German wire
even as the Germans died that day.
It was a successful day for the British arms, so successful that it
marked the practical limit of the German advance in that quarter,
which was the vital section, covering the town of Arras. There is no
doubt that the attempt was a very serious one, strongly urged by six
divisions of picked infantry in front and four in support, with a very
powerful concentration of artillery, which was expected to smash
46
THE GREAT WAR
a way through the three divisions chiefl y attacked. The onslaught
was whole-hearted and skilful, but so was the defence. The German losses were exceedingly high, and save for a strip of worthless
ground there was really nothing to show for them. It was the fi nal
check to the German advance in this quarter of the fi eld, so that the
chronicler may well bring his record to a pause while he returns to
the fi rst day of the battle and endeavours to trace the fortunes of
the Fourth and Fifth Corps, who formed the right half of the Third
Army. We have fi xed the northern sector of the battle-fi eld from
Bailleul in the north right across the Scarpe and down to the Cojeul
in its position, from which it was destined to make no change for
many months to come. It was the fi rst solidifi cation of the lines, for
to the south all was still fl uid and confused.
A word should be said before one fi nally passes from this portion of the great epic, as to the truly wonderful work of the Army
Medical Corps. In spite of the constant fi re the surgeons and bearers
were continually in the front line and conveying the wounded to
the rear. Many thousands were saved from the tortures of a German
prison camp by the devotion which kept them within the British
lines. It may be invidious to mention examples where the same spirit
of self-sacrifi ce animated all, but one might take as typical the case
of the Fortieth Division, some details of which are available. Colonel M’Cullagh and his men conveyed to the rear during fi ve days,
always under heavy fi re, 2400 cases of their own or other divisions,
the whole of the casualties of the Fortieth being 2800. M’Carter,
a British, and Berney, an American surgeon, both had dressingposts right up to the battle-line, the latter being himself wounded
twice. Wannan, a stretcher-bearer, carried thirty cases in one day,
and ended by conveying a wounded friend several miles upon his
shoulders. Private M’Intosh, attacked by a German while binding an
injured man, killed the cowardly fellow with his own bayonet, and
47
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
then completed his task. It is hard to work detail into so vast a picture, but such deeds were infi nitely multiplied along that great line
of battle. Nor can one omit mention of the untiring work of the artillery, which was in action often for several days and nights on end.
Occasionally in some soldier’s letter one gets a glimpse of the spirit
of the gunners such as no formal account can convey: “Our battery
fi red two days and nights without ceasing until spotted by the German observers. They then kept up a terrible fi re until the British
guns were silenced in succession. One offi cer was left standing when
I was wounded. He shook my hand as they carried me away. I went,
leaving him with about seven men and two guns, still carrying on as
if nothing had happened. This is only one battery among hundreds
which showed as great pluck and tenacity as we did.”
III.
THE SECOND BATTLE
OF THE SOMME
Attack on the Fourth and Fifth Corps
Attack on Sixth and Fifty-fi rst Divisions – Engagement of the
Twenty-fi fth and Forty-fi rst Divisions – Attack on Forty-seventh,
Sixty-third, Second, and Nineteenth Divisions – The German torrent – Serious situation – Arrival of Sixty-second Division – Fighting before Albert – Gallant defence by Twelfth Division – Arrival
of the New Zealanders, of the Australians, of the Thirty-fi fth Division – Equilibrium
TO the immediate south of the Sixth Corps the front line upon
March 21 was held by Harper’s Fourth Corps, which consisted of the
Sixth Division (Harden) opposite to Lagnicourt with the Fifty-fi rst
Highland Battle Division to the right of them, which famous unit
was now under the command of General Carter-Campbell, whose
name has been recorded in a previous volume as the only offi cer left
standing in his battalion after the action of Neuve Chapelle. To the
south of the Fourth Corps was the Fifth Corps (Fanshawe) with the
Seventeenth Division (Robertson) on the left, the Sixty-third (Lawrie) in the centre, and the Forty-seventh (Gorringe) on the right
covering the whole CambraI salient from Flesquières in the north
to the point near Gouzeaucourt Wood where the Third Army met
the left fl ank of the Fifth. The line took a considerable bend at this
49
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
point, marking the ground gained at the battle of Cambrai, and it
was part of the German scheme to break through to the north and
south, so that without attacking the Fifth Battle Corps they would
either cause it to fall back or else isolate and capture it. Had their
advance been such as they had hoped for, they would certainly have
placed it in great peril. Even as it was, it was necessary to withdraw
the line, but without undue haste or confusion. Great pressure was
laid upon the Fifth Corps in later stages of the battle, but beyond
a considerable shell-fall and demonstration there was no actual attack upon March 21. It was by holding certain sections of the line in
this fashion that the Germans were able to pile up the odds at those
places which were actually attacked.
It will be possible to describe the sequence of events with considerably less detail in this and other sectors of the line, since the
general conditions of attack and defence may be taken as similar to
that already described. Here also the bombardment began with its
full shattering force of high explosive, blue cross invisible gas, mustard gas, phosgene, and every other diabolical device which the German chemist has learned to produce and the British to neutralise.
In the case of the British infantry, many of them had to wear their
gas masks for eight hours on end, and the gunners were in even
worse plight; but these appliances, which will no doubt fi nd a place
in the museums of our children, were of a surprising effi ciency, and
hampered the experienced soldier far less than would have been
thought.
The infantry advance was at 9:45, the Germans swarming in under the cover of Nature’s smoke barrage, for here, as in several other
parts of the line, a thick morning mist greatly helped the attack and
screened the stormers until they were actually up to the wire, which
had usually been shattered in advance by the trench-mortars. The
line from Flesquières to Dernicourt in the region of the Fifty-fi rst
50
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