The History of the 36th (Ulster) DivisionFalls, Cyril
History
The History of the 36th (Ulster) Division
Falls, Cyril
Great Britain. Army. Division, 36th; World War, 1914-1918 -- Regimental histories -- Great Britain
It was now the turn of the 107th Brigade. The sappers passed a busy
and disturbed night. The shelling of the Lys continued, and there was
a direct hit on the bridge, a pontoon being damaged and a length of
the superstructure destroyed. By desperately hard work all repairs
were completed for the leading battalion of the 107th Brigade, the
15th Rifles, to cross at 2 a.m. This battalion, followed by the 1st,
moved forward, the former forming up west of the Courtrai-Ghent
Road, in relief of the 9th Inniskillings, which withdrew through its
ranks. Troops of the 9th Division had crossed about midnight, but, as
may easily be imagined, it was not without considerable difficulty
that touch was obtained with them. This, however, was at last
accomplished, but the line at the point of junction was perilously
close to the river, owing to the fact that German machine-gunners
still held out in Beveren.
At 6 a.m. on the 20th the new attack began. Beveren was quickly
taken, with some aid from the Scots Fusiliers of the 9th Division.
Machine-gun fire was very heavy, and the 15th Rifles had considerable
casualties. The commanding officer, Lieut.-Colonel B. Y. Jones,
D.S.O., was killed. But the advance continued at a great pace. The
main Courtrai-Ghent-Antwerp Railway was crossed before eight o'clock.
An hour later the line was astride the road from Deerlyck--already in
the hands of the 9th Division--to Waereghem. A mill on that road gave
considerable trouble, but was eventually taken by a platoon of the
1st Rifles. Further progress for the time being was found impossible.
The advance had reached a point two and a half miles from the Lys,
and could no longer be supported by artillery fire. At 12-30 p.m. the
1st Inniskillings made another attempt to clear Dries, and reached
the centre of the hamlet. Resistance was now quite determined, and it
was decided to await the crossing of the French before attempting any
move on the left flank. About two hundred prisoners had been captured
in the day's operations.
The Engineers had continued their good work. By evening a pontoon
bridge for first-line transport had been thrown across by the 150th
Field Company. The 121st had completed a good permanent foot-bridge,
and, returning to the abandoned trestle, for which all materials
had been collected locally, had finished that also. At night the
108th Brigade and a French regiment on the left made the crossing.
Artillery, however, could not cross yet awhile. The 108th Brigade was
to relieve the 109th, and the advance was to be continued for another
twenty-four hours without it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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