The Territorial Divisions, 1914-1918Stirling, John
History
The Territorial Divisions, 1914-1918
Stirling, John
World War, 1914-1918 -- Regimental histories -- Great Britain
Paragraph 22. The III. Corps again attacked on the 23rd and progress
was made. At 1 a.m. on the 24th the latter was renewed, the 3rd
Australian Division took Bray-sur-Somme and the 47th, 12th, and 18th
Divisions carried the line across the high ground between Bray and La
Boisselle and took prisoners.
Paragraph 24. In support of the operation against Mont St. Quentin
“on the morning of 31st August the left of the Fourth Army (3rd
Australian Division, 58th London, 47th and 18th) attacked towards
Bouchavesnes, Rancourt and Frégicourt, and by successful fighting
on this and the following day, captured these villages and several
hundred prisoners.” The fighting 31st August-3rd September is now the
“Second Battle of Bapaume.” See also under 58th Division.
In the _History of the Fourth Army_ (Hodder and Stoughton) there will
be found an account which correlates the doings of the III. Corps
and the Australian Corps in the fighting between 22nd August and
4th September. On several occasions the task of the 47th Division
was a very hard one as at the “Happy Valley” on 22nd August and
subsequently. At page 111 there occurs the following sentence:
“The operations of the III. Corps were also worthy of the highest
praise. The advance of this Corps from the capture of Albert on
August 22nd, until they crossed the Canal du Nord on September 4th,
covers a distance, as the crow flies, of some fourteen miles, over
the desolate, shell-pitted area of the old Somme battlefields.
The operations require to be studied in greater detail than is
possible here before the magnitude of the task the troops were asked
to perform, and the demands on the officers and men which such an
advance in face of determined opposition entailed, can be fully
realised. The spirit, however, of the young soldiers of the 12th,
18th, 47th and 58th Divisions successfully overcame every difficulty,
and well did they answer every call made on them, and uphold the
best traditions of the British soldier by their cheerfulness and
endurance.”
The Division left the III. Corps on 7th September and moved north to
join the Fifth Army, and it was not thereafter in any hard-fought
battle. Shortly thereafter Headquarters of the III. Corps also moved
north to the Flanders area, where they were employed during the
closing weeks.
For a time the 47th was in the line in the Lys area and after a short
rest moved through Armentières to Lille, and, continuing to press
and follow up the enemy, the Division was east of Tournai when the
Armistice was concluded.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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