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
Shortly after dawn on April 14 the 1st Queen's was in the wars once
more, and from six to eight there were constant attacks along the
whole line from Strazeele on the right to Bailleul Station on the
left, the latter forming the front of the Thirty-fourth Division.
The 1st Cameronians, those stern descendants of the Covenanters, beat
the enemy away from Strazeele about noon. At one time there were
renewed attacks upon both the Queen's and the Cameronians. It is
difficult to know which was the more admirable, the perseverance of
the attacks or the tenacity of the defence. About five in the
evening another fierce wave of storm-troops swept up from the south;
and for one critical moment found a gap in the line. Two companies
of the stalwart labourers of the 2nd New Zealand Entrenching
Battalion threw themselves into the breach, and the position was
restored. When night fell, the whole line, though shaken, was still
intact, and the assault had been a complete and a costly failure.
Such operations, which littered the fields of Flanders with their
dead, go far to explain the German weakness in the latter part of
this campaign of 1918.
[Sidenote: Northern Area. April 15.]
April 15 was quiet in the morning on the front of Meteren, but the
afternoon proved to be disastrous at Bailleul, since Ravelsberg and
Mont de Lille were stormed by the Germans, with the result that the
town had to be vacated. The Thirty-fourth Division had been
withdrawn from this position, and the Fifty-ninth North Midlanders
(Romer) had taken their place, but this division had, as already
described, suffered extraordinary losses on the Somme front, {282}
and was in no condition to undertake another considerable operation.
It had already been partly engaged in Flanders, and its losses had
been increased. Under these conditions it is not surprising that the
determined assault of the Germans should have forced the line. It
would appear upon the map that this German success entirely
outflanked the position of the Thirty-third Division, but fortunately
a switch line had been constructed which was now manned by the
remains of the Thirty-fourth Division, while the Fifty-ninth passed
through it and concentrated in the rear. In this way an extension of
the German success was prevented, in spite of great energy upon the
part of the enemy, who had his patrols a kilometre to the west of the
town before night. The 98th Brigade had now taken the place of the
19th in the line, the 4th King's Liverpools relieving the Queen's at
the Windmill, while the 5th Scottish Rifles relieved the Cameronians
near Strazeele.
[Sidenote: Northern Area. April 15 onwards.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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