The British Campaign in France and Flanders—July to November, 1918Doyle, Arthur Conan
History
The British Campaign in France and Flanders—July to November, 1918
Doyle, Arthur Conan
World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Western Front
The total result of these attacks since September 27 on the front of
the Fourth Corps had been the capture of the whole front system of
the Hindenburg Line from Havrincourt Wood to the Canal, and the
capture of 40 guns with 4000 prisoners. Beyond the Canal, however,
lay formidable dangers. Only the Crevecœur bridge remained
British. Beyond was a strongly-wired line of trenches known as the
Beaurevoir-Masnières line, which ran roughly southwards from
Crevecœur. On October 1 the New Zealanders had got a footing,
however, in Crevecœur, and had begun to push troops over the
bridge, but it was desperate work, and the attacking brigade suffered
heavy losses. It was, however, work of the first importance, as it
turned the whole of the Beaurevoir line. There we may leave them,
level with the Fifth Corps on their right, while we turn to follow
the progress of the Sixth Corps to the north, which completes our
survey of the Third Army.
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The old Third Division--the "Iron" Division, as its admirers had
begun to call it--attacked on the right, and the Guards on the left.
Deverell's men went forward in splendid form, the 8th and 9th
Brigades overrunning the first objectives, and the 76th passing
through them to the further positions. They captured Flesquières,
the village which had held us up in the Cambrai battle, and by the
afternoon they were east of Ribecourt, with 1000 prisoners trailing
back to the rear. The Guards meanwhile, with the 2nd Brigade in
front, had some very tough work at the onset, but fought their way
forward, and were succeeded by the 1st Brigade who had reached by the
afternoon the old British front line. Continuing from here they
captured Orival Wood, and reached Premy Chapel, though this farthest
point could not be maintained, as the party which had won it had lost
touch with the main body. The whole advance represented a notable
gain of ground. The losses were heavy, and were partly due to the
fact that the flank of the Guards passed Graincourt before the
Fifty-seventh Division in the Seventeenth Corps had captured that
place, so that they were exposed to heavy fire. Even the Guards have
seldom been in a hotter corner or shown more conspicuous examples of
personal courage than during this long and trying day, which brought
three Victoria Crosses to the battalions engaged. Lord Gort, who
commanded the 1st Grenadiers, the leading unit of the 3rd Brigade,
was wounded as the troops formed up, but took no notice of his
injury, led on in the advance upon the Canal, was wounded again, lay
for a time half unconscious upon a stretcher, struggled once more to
his feet, and continued to lead his victorious {212} Guardsmen
through a hellish fire with the final result of large captures of the
men and guns who were opposing them. The crossing of the Canal was
signalised also by a remarkable exploit by Captain Frisby and
Corporal Jackson, who, with two other Coldstream Guardsmen, climbed
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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