The Territorial Divisions, 1914-1918Stirling, John
History
The Territorial Divisions, 1914-1918
Stirling, John
World War, 1914-1918 -- Regimental histories -- Great Britain
The fighting 21st-23rd March is now designated the “Battle of St.
Quentin,” and that on the 24th-25th the “First Battle of Bapaume.”
The Division was engaged near Albert when the enemy attacked the four
British Divisions in that neighbourhood, 4th, 5th, and 6th April, the
“Battle of the Ancre, 1918.” The attack was pressed by large forces
with great vigour and determination, but the line, though dented,
remained unbroken. The depleted and weary ranks of the 47th responded
to every call.
In his _Fifth Army in March 1918_ (John Lane, 1921), perhaps the
most searching, fearless, and able work published in Britain on the
war on land, Mr. Sparrow comments on those passages of the despatch
which deal with the withdrawal from the Flesquières salient and the
subsequent loss of connection between the Third and Fifth Armies. Mr.
Sparrow thinks that the gap was caused primarily by the delay on the
part of the V. Corps in withdrawing from the salient, and secondly
because that corps, of which the 47th was the right division, tended
north from the boundary line previously laid down by G.H.Q. He shows
that the VII. Corps of the Fifth Army, although hardly pressed, did
its best to maintain connection, and with that object crossed the
boundary into Third Army ground. He concludes that the northward
trend of the V. Corps was partly attributable to the break in the
Third Army front about Lagnicourt. Doubtless this was the case.
Certainly the Third Army was in very serious difficulties between
the 21st and 29th, and its withdrawals were sometimes more rapid
and carried further than those of the Fifth. To assume that all the
“breaks” were on the front of the Fifth is to ignore the despatch
itself.
In his telegraphic despatch of 13th September, 1918, as to the
work of various divisions, Sir Douglas Haig said: “The 47th was
continuously engaged in March throughout the retreat, fighting
successful rearguard actions from La Vacquerie to Albert. Going
into line on August 13th, in the neighbourhood of Morlancourt, it
fought its way forward to St. Pierre-Vaast Wood, which it cleared of
the enemy, overcoming fierce hostile resistance and capturing many
prisoners and several guns in the course of its advance. Included
among the latter was a German field gun battery which was rushed
while in action firing over open sights.”
The Division was then in the III. Corps, Fourth Army.
The despatch of 21st December, 1918, paragraph 21, shows that the
III. Corps including the 47th, 12th and 18th Divisions attacked on
22nd August, during the “Battle of Albert, 1918”; the 3rd Australian
and 38th Divisions co-operated. The left of the Fourth Army was
brought forward and over 2400 prisoners and a few guns were taken.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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