The British Campaign in France and Flanders—January to July, 1918Doyle, Arthur Conan
History
The British Campaign in France and Flanders—January to July, 1918
Doyle, Arthur Conan
World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Western Front
North of the Australians was the Twelfth Division with the 35th and
36th Brigades in the line, in that order from the south. The
temporary recoil of the Australians rendered the 35th Brigade
vulnerable, and the Germans with their usual quick military
perception at once dashed at it. About 1 o'clock they rushed forward
in two waves, having built up {206} their formation under cover of
the ruined houses of Albert. The attack struck in between the 7th
Suffolks and 9th Essex, but the East Anglians stood fast and blew it
back with their rifle-fire, much helped by the machine-guns of the
5th Berks. Farther north the attack beat up against the left of the
Forty-seventh and the right of the Sixty-third Divisions, but neither
the Londoners nor the naval men weakened. The pressure was
particularly heavy upon the Forty-seventh, and some details of the
fighting will presently be given. The next morning, April 5, saw the
battle still raging along the face of these four divisions. The
Germans attempted to establish their indispensable machine-guns upon
the ridge which they had taken on the south, but they were driven off
by the Australians. The 36th Brigade in the north of the Albert
sector had lost some ground at Aveluy, but about noon on April 5 the
9th Royal Fusiliers with the help of the 7th Sussex re-established
the front, though the latter battalion endured very heavy losses from
an enfilade fire from a brickfield. The 5th Berks also lost heavily
on this day. So weighty was the German attack that at one time the
4th Australians had been pushed from the high ground, just west of
the Amiens-Albert railway, and the 35th Brigade had to throw back a
defensive wing. The position was soon re-established, however,
though at all points the British losses were considerable, while
those of the Germans must have been very heavy indeed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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