The British Campaign in France and Flanders, 1916Doyle, Arthur Conan
History
The British Campaign in France and Flanders, 1916
Doyle, Arthur Conan
World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Western Front
The position had been improved upon the left, however, by an advance
of the Forty-eighth Division. The Warwick Brigade upon their right
made no great progress, but the 145th Brigade upon the left took the
trench in front of it and pushed that flank well forward. This
successful attack was at seven in the evening of July 27. The
leading battalions were the 4th Berks upon the right and the 6th
Gloucesters on the left, and these two sturdy battalions captured all
their objectives. A number of the 5th Regiment of the Prussian Guard
were killed or captured in this {194} affair. As the whole line had
to turn half left after leaving the taking-off trench, it was a fine
piece of disciplined fighting. General Gough was a personal witness
of this attack.
On August 4, six days later, the Australians came back to the attack
with all the dour pertinacity of their breed. This time their
success was triumphant. A steady bombardment had laid the German
front open, and in the dark of the night the Australian infantry,
advancing over their own dead, rushed the position, surprising the
Germans at a moment when a relief was being carried out. Many of the
Germans who had been expecting a rest from their labours got one
indeed--but it was in England rather than in their own rear. With
the early morning the Australians were on the Pozières Ridge, and one
of the few remaining observation posts of the enemy had passed from
him for ever. In front of them was the land of promise--the long
slope seamed by German trenches, the distant German camps, the
churches and villages of that captive France which they had come so
far to redeem.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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