The British Campaign in France and Flanders, 1915Doyle, Arthur Conan
History
The British Campaign in France and Flanders, 1915
Doyle, Arthur Conan
World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Western Front
King's Liverpools with some of their comrades of the 5th King's
Liverpools endeavoured to join the others in front, but were shot to
pieces in the venture. During the whole of the morning, however,
single volunteers kept running forward carrying fresh supplies of
bombs and bandoliers of cartridges for the men in front. The names
of most of these brave men are to be found in the casualty lists, and
their memory in the hearts of their comrades.
{129}
Four hours after this successful attack by the Second Division, at
3.30 on the morning of Sunday May 16, another assault was made some
miles to the south, just to the north of Festubert. The attack was
made by the 20th Brigade (Heyworth) upon the left and the 22nd
(Lawford) upon the right. The 2nd Borders and 2nd Scots Guards led
the rush of the 20th, supported later by the 1st Grenadiers and 2nd
Gordons; while the 1st Welsh Fusiliers and 2nd Queen's Surrey were in
the van of the 22nd with the 2nd Warwicks, 8th Royal Scots, and 1st
South Staffords behind them. The famous Seventh Division has never
yet found its master in this campaign, and the Seventh Prussian Corps
in the south could make no more of it than the Fifteenth had done in
the north.
In the case of the 20th Brigade the Borders upon the left were held
up for a time, but the Scots Guards advanced with a fury which took
them far beyond the immediate objective, and was carried to such an
extent that one company outdistanced all their comrades, and being
isolated in the German position, were nearly all cut off. The rest
of the Guards, however, having crossed the trench line, swung across,
so that they were in the rear of the Germans who were holding up the
Borders, so that the defenders were compelled to surrender. The 1st
Grenadiers came up in support and the ground was made good.
Meanwhile the 22nd Brigade upon the right had some desperate
fighting. The 2nd Queen's Surrey had been temporarily stopped by
heavy machine-gun fire, but two companies of the Welsh Fusiliers
rushed the trenches opposite them and were quickly joined by the rest
of the battalion. The Queen's {130} Surrey refused to be rebuffed,
and with the support of the 1st Staffords they again came forward,
and dashing through a sleet of bullets got to the German line.
Colonel Gabbett of the Fusiliers and Major Bottomley of the Queen's,
one of the heroes of Gheluvelt, both met their death in this fine
attack. On reaching the trenches the South Staffords sent their
bombers under Lieutenant Hassell down the alleys of the Germans,
gathering in many prisoners. A surprising feat was performed by
Sergeant-Major Barter of the Welsh Fusiliers, while engaged in
similar work, for he and seven men brought back 94 Germans, including
3 officers. The leading companies of the South Staffords under Major
Lord and Captain Bearman got well forward into the enemy's ground,
and held on there for three days under a terrible shell-fall, until
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
The British Campaign in France and Flanders, 1915 — John Shaqi
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