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
On October 12 both these divisions delivered an attack together with
the French and with the Fifteenth Corps upon their left. The 14th
Durham Light Infantry were in Rainbow on the left and were in touch
with the 1st West Yorks of the 18th Brigade upon their right, but
could find no one upon their left, while the German pressure was very
strong. The 18th Brigade worked along Rainbow, therefore, until it
got into touch with the Twelfth Division upon their left. The
Twelfth Division had been lent the 88th Brigade of the Twenty-ninth
Division, and this gallant body, so terribly cut up on July 1, had an
instalment of revenge. They won their objective, and it is pleasant
to add that the Newfoundlanders especially distinguished themselves.
The 16th Brigade upon the right attacked Zenith Trench, the 2nd York
and Lancaster leading the rush. The position could not be held,
however, by battalions which were depleted by weeks of constant
strain and loss. A report from a company officer says: "The few
unwounded sheltered in trench holes and returned in the dusk. The
fire was too strong to allow them to dig in. The Brigade line is
therefore the same as before the attack."
Whilst the Sixth Division had been making this difficult and
fruitless attack the Fourth Division upon their right had been
equally heavily engaged in this horrible maze of mud-sodden trenches,
without obtaining any more favourable result. The 12th Brigade
fought on the immediate right of the 16th, some of {302} them
reaching Spectrum, and some of them Zenith. The 2nd West Ridings and
2nd Lancashire Fusiliers were the heaviest sufferers, the latter
holding a line of shell-holes in front of Spectrum where they were
exposed to a terrible barrage. The 10th Brigade were on their right,
and one battalion, the 1st Warwick, reached Foggy, but was unable to
hold it under the crushing fire. By the evening of October 13,
however, the whole of Spectrum had at last been seized, and the
enemy, who attempted to bomb along it from Dewdrop, were repulsed.
On October 18, the 88th Brigade again had a success, the 2nd Hants
and 4th Worcesters doing particularly well. For a time the fighting
died down, the British licking their wounds and sharpening their
claws for a fresh grapple with these redoubtable trenches.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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