The British Campaign in France and Flanders, 1917Doyle, Arthur Conan
History
The British Campaign in France and Flanders, 1917
Doyle, Arthur Conan
World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Western Front
The Thirty-seventh Division, composed entirely of English troops,
North, South, and Midland, had moved up in the rear of the fighting
line, and in the middle of the afternoon it found itself in the
German second line system, while the corps' mounted troops had
followed behind the Fifteenth Division, as far as the Railway
Triangle. As evening fell, the Thirty-seventh Division pushed
forward with the intention of reaching the extreme point attained by
the Fifteenth Division and then swinging to the right in the hope of
capturing Monchy. The advance seems, however, to have taken a
direction rather too much to the south, with the result that instead
of finding the opening made by the 46th Brigade they came upon the
more contracted Feuchy line held by the {36} Twelfth and Third
Divisions. Here they were held up by a field of wire as their
comrades had already been, and the two brigades concerned--the 111th
upon the left and the 112th upon the right--remained in line with the
35th and the 8th Brigades, the units being considerably intermingled.
The 63rd Brigade, however, which was now a brigade of the
Thirty-seventh Division, though the reader will associate it with the
Twenty-first Division in the past, was able to keep its true
direction, and before night had finally established itself at the
north end of Orange Hill well up to the third objective and in touch
with the 46th Brigade. The corps' cavalry also pushed forward along
the south bank of the Scarpe, capturing three 8-inch howitzers upon
the way, and halting opposite Fampoux, where they were in touch with
the Fourth Division upon the northern bank of the river.
Such was the splendid day's work of Haldane's Corps. It is true that
in the south the uncut wire had made it impossible for them to reach
their ultimate objective, but they had in the space of the one Easter
day captured the villages of Feuchy and of Tilloy, the strong
redoubts of The Harp and the Railway Triangle, gained some thirty-six
square miles of ground, and taken 2000 prisoners with 60 guns. It
was a most notable achievement. We shall now pause on the evening of
this first day of battle and we shall go back to reconstruct the
operations upon the northern bank of the Scarpe.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account