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
By 4 P.M. on April 25 the village had been cleared, and the troops
were approximately in the old front line. The 22nd Durham Light
Infantry had mopped up the south side of the village. About a
thousand prisoners had been secured. The 54th Brigade of Lee's
Eighteenth Division, which had been in support, joined in the
fighting during the day, and helped to push the line forward, winning
their way almost to their final objective south of the village and
then having to yield 200 yards to a counter-attack. {219} The fast
whippet tanks were used during this action, and justified themselves
well, though, as in the case of all tanks, the value of the
instrument depends mainly upon the courage of the crew who handle it.
One British tank, under the command of a leader named Craig, seems to
have been all over the field wherever it was most needed, so that
some weeks after the fight the present chronicler in visiting the
field of battle still heard the legend of his prowess. As to the
German resistance a skilled observer remarks: "The enemy handled his
machine-guns with great boldness. The manner in which he pushes
forward numbers of guns, relying upon the daring and initiative of
the crews to use them to best advantage, may lead to a greater number
being lost, but he certainly inflicts enormous casualties in this
way."
[Sidenote: April 26.]
There was an aftermath of the battle on April 26 which led to some
very barren and sanguinary fighting in which the losses were mainly
incurred by our gallant Allies upon the right. There was a position
called The Monument, immediately south of Villers, which had not yet
been made good. The Moroccan Division had been slipped in on the
British right, and their task was to assault the German line from
this point to the north edge of Hangard Wood. Part of the
Fifty-eighth Division was to attack the wood itself, while on the
left the Eighth Division was to complete the clearance of Villers and
to join up with the left of the Moroccans. The Eighth Division had
already broken up three strong counter-attacks on the evening of
April 25, and by the morning of April 26 their part of the programme
was complete. The only six tanks available were given to the {220}
Moroccans. At 5.15 on the morning of April 26 the attack opened. It
progressed well near the town, but on the right the Foreign Legion,
the very cream of the fighting men of the French Army, were held by
the murderous fire from the north edge of Hangard Wood. The 10th
Essex and 7th West Kents, who had been lent to the Fifty-eighth
Division by the 53rd Brigade, were held by the same fire, and were
all mixed up with the adventurers of the Legion, the losses of both
battalions, especially the West Kents, being terribly heavy. The
Moroccan Tirailleurs in the centre were driven back by a German
counter-attack, but were reinforced and came on again. Hangard
village, however, held up the flank of the French. In the evening
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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