Somme
Page 59
Meanwhile, the Hoods were pondering their next move. Their support in the Drake Battalion had been sucked into the battle raging on the left. It was at this moment that Colonel Bernard Freyberg showed evidence of the decisiveness and the charmed life that would take him to the highest echelons. He personally took control of the situation and led the Hoods off in a pell-mell attack on the shattered ruins of the Beaucourt Railway Station, which was their objective.
I forget how long we had to wait, but the time was getting on. Freyberg decided the Drakes can’t go by themselves so we’ll have to go. We arrive on the river bed and off we go. The barrage lifted and off we go again. There was firing going on all over the place: our own shells falling short, the Jerries firing from left and right, our left flank was vacant. They say run, but you stumble, there’s shell holes, you can’t go direct, you go this way and that way, picking your way round the shell holes. Sometimes there are two or three of you together, sometimes there was nobody. They’d got behind or blown up, you don’t know. All the time there was this fumes and the shelling going on. We get to this point on the other side of the sunken road and we capture it. I was almost near the station. We had to go down this road and up the side. There was a lot of dugouts there, well we got our ‘P’ bombs out and chucked them down there. As you went along you could smell these phosphorous bombs—a rotten lousy smell. I saw some crowd over here, I thought they were our men, but they were really prisoners. We started talking to these fellows, they couldn’t understand, we couldn’t hear there was so much bloody noise, but a soldier knows what the point of a bayonet means, ‘Quick, quick, quick! Get back!’ Some of them wouldn’t behave themselves and we shot them. No doubt about it. You’d tell a bloke, some of them wouldn’t behave themselves, wouldn’t take any notice, or making threatening gestures—‘BANG’—you had no time to fool around with them.44
Ordinary Seaman Joe Murray, Hood Battalion, 189th Brigade, 63rd (Royal Naval) Division
Murray had fought his way all the way through the gullies of Gallipoli without a scratch and had earned himself the sobriquet, ‘Lucky Durham’. In the total confusion that prevailed in front of the village of Beaucourt he finally ran out of luck.
We’d got to still go forward. We go on to this Green Line and there seems to be more prisoners giving themselves up than what there was fighting men. We the Hood were at least three or four hours ahead of our time, we shouldn’t have been there until the Drakes had captured it and we’d reorganised. In the afternoon our artillery was firing on the Yellow Line. That was wrong to us. We’d been told that at that time it would move forward on to the village of Beaucourt. We move up and then somebody realised, ‘Look the barrage hasn’t lifted!’ It was there or thereabouts that I got blown up. There was a shell burst very near, it hit me crouched down and I got wounded in the abdomen, little bits of shrapnel in here and a bit of a shell took off the skin and pubic hair, nasty. The abrasion was worse than the wound. I can remember thinking what to do and—’BANG!’—something else, I don’t know what. The next I knew I was in Mesnil, lying on a stretcher and somebody washing the mud off my face.45
Ordinary Seaman Joe Murray, Hood Battalion, 189th Brigade, 63rd (Royal Naval) Division
Freyberg moved to consolidate the newly captured position.
The colonel sent the out on battle patrol, just twenty or thirty men and you go ahead of your trench. You’re really there to hold up a counter-attack as long as you can. You were there to do as much damage as you can and to warn the front line so that they can be getting ready. One of our men went out and came back in great glee, he’d been to the back of the village some how or other, he was a Glasgow Irishman—a real lad. He’d seen a wagon going along, it was the Germans bringing their rations up, so he climbed over the bank, bayoneted the driver and pinched their mail. He brought it back to the line and we had schnapps and in the mailbag was a box of cigars coming up for the German commander. Freyberg sent it back to our general.46
Sergeant Richard Tobin, Hood Battalion, 189th Brigade, 63rd (Royal Naval) Division
Although they had been held up just short of Beaucourt, the despised matelots of the RND had achieved a notable breakthrough just north of the Ancre. The combination of the inspirational leadership of Colonel Bernard Freyberg and the hard-headed pragmatism of their despised commanding officer, Major General Cameron Shute had proved surprisingly effective.
On their right flank, on the other side of the river, the men of the 39th Division had also met with considerable success overrunning the old fortress village of St Pierre Divion above the Ancre and thereby duly conforming to the overall advance as planned. To their left the 51st Division under the command of Major General G.M. Harper, was facing the village of Beaumont Hamel, and its final objective was the Frankfort Trench, up on Redan Ridge, where it was to establish a link with its neighbours. Once again, in a strange case of déjà vu a mine was exploded in the original crater on Hawthorn Ridge at the Zero Hour of 0545. Some 30,000 lbs of ammonal high explosive had at a stroke despatched the flanking threat posed by the German crater garrison. This time it was not the prelude to disaster, as the Scots charged forward behind their creeping barrage and swiftly overran the German front line and after hard fighting captured Y Ravine and the mangled ruins of Beaumont Hamel.
To the left of the 51st Division things were not going so well. The 2nd Division was facing the Redan Ridge.
The signal to go over was a mine going up. The morning was very foggy, a good job for us too, as Fritz didn’t expect us. We collared some of them asleep and some without boots on, we got the first three lines easy, but had to fight mighty hard for the rest. The ground was awful, lots of our fellows got stuck in the mud and we had to leave them there to die.47
Sergeant Sibley, 99th Company, Machine Gun Corps, 99th Brigade, 2nd Division
Despite the handicaps, the initial advance went well on the right where the 5th Brigade advanced tucked close in behind the creeping barrage. It undoubtedly caught the Germans on the hop for most of them were still sheltering in their dugouts when their front lines were overrun and the brigade soon attained its first objective, the Beaumont Trench. Unfortunately, on the left the 6th Brigade was stymied by the bristling power of the ‘original’ Quadrilateral Redoubt which, just as on 1 July, provided a deadly flanking fire. The creeping barrage moved remorselessly forward on its planned course, but the infantry were prevented from following close behind by a deadly combination of mud, uncut barbed wire and enfilading machine-gun fire raking through the stumbling ranks. Unsurprisingly the attack failed with heavy loss of life. The same fate was shared by the 3rd Division further to the north.
Finally, to cover the left flank of the V Corps, the 31st Division of the XIII Corps returned to its ill-fated stamping ground in front of John Copse. Its thankless task was to provide a defensive flank to cover the advance further to the south. Perversely the 13th and 12th East Yorkshires actually did rather well, capturing the German front line and establishing a strong post in the old mine crater. Yet the failure of the 3rd Division left them hopelessly isolated in an echo of many another Somme story. The German counter-attacks pounded away at their positions, while the German shells rained down on No Man’s Land and cut them off from all support. There was no hope of maintaining the isolated salient and that night the Yorkshiremen ended the day just as their predecessors of the 31st Division had five months earlier—back in the British front line.
Overall, the situation as night fell on 13 November was mixed. Gough remained optimistic and decided to order the V Corps forward again on a front stretching between Beaucourt and the Ten Tree Alley Trench, which ran across Redan Ridge about 500 yards south of the village of Serre. For the moment Serre was to be forgotten. As usual the situation lay in the balance as the British reorganised for the next push and the German reserves moved forward to bolster their line. The 190th Brigade of the Royal Naval Division was ordered to attack Beaucourt at 0745. Much of the credit for its success seem
s to have rested on the shoulders of Lieutenant Colonel Bernard Freyberg who, once again, took command of the situation just as the attack seemed to be faltering.
We’d lost a lot of men on the first day. I went in as platoon sergeant on the first morning and within the first quarter of an hour we had our company commander killed, two out of the three subalterns wounded, only one subaltern left, and I was the sort of second-in-command—and that happened in the first ten minutes. On the second day of that show they formed a composite battalion of the Hood Battalion and the Honorable Artillery Company, I suppose there might have been a couple of a hundred of us left altogether and Freyberg who was commanding the Hood Battalion was in charge when we went in and took Beaucourt on the second day. It was much to everybody’s surprise because they never thought we would get as far as that. But we did. I think it was the most intense battle I was ever in, it was really grim. We were very thin on the ground and the Germans had brought up reinforcements. I think, luckily for us, the Germans brought up hadn’t been on the Somme before and they didn’t know the intensity of this warfare and they panicked. Otherwise we shouldn’t have got through. When we got right the way through Beaucourt there were Germans with their hands up quite a distance further on, where we couldn’t go because of our own curtain of shells. Freyberg was wounded just near me. He stood out in the open and we said, ‘For God’s sake get in, Sir!’ But he was like that and he paid the price—he went down. We got beyond the village and there were no trenches, we went into shell holes as deep as we could get. But they gave us the most almighty pasting with really big stuff. I think they were 11-in howitzers, chiefly. It was a very grey day and you could see these things coming towards you before they hit. It is a most unnerving decision. They came in salvos of four. Of course, there were all the ordinary field guns, but I remember seeing these little black balls getting bigger and bigger until they came in the most almighty roar round you. They took their toll.48
Sergeant Reginald Haine, 1st Battalion, Honorable Artillery Company, 190th Brigade, 63rd (Royal Naval) Division
The stretcher bearers were kept busy by the constant stream of casualties littered across the torn battlefield, in the trail of the advancing troops.
Many stretcher bearers were at work in No Man’s Land carrying wounded back to the shelter of a high bank, whence they could be evacuated to the Beaucourt Hamel road. There was a great scarcity of stretchers: the best available substitutes were ground sheets and trench ladders. Help was given by German prisoners and good clearance was being made in this part of the line. In the Hun front line I found Sergeant Haine in temporary command.49
Medical Officer Captain R.S. Morshead, Royal Army Medical Corps attached to 1st Battalion, Honorable Artillery Company, 190th Brigade, 63rd (Royal Naval) Division
Beaucourt had finally fallen at 1030 p.m. The Germans seem to have attempted to mass for a counter-attack at Baillescourt Farm to the east, but they were soon dealt with by a concentrated artillery bombardment. Further north the 51st and 2nd Divisions had a hard fight on their hands in the attempt to establish themselves along the Redan Ridge. After hard fighting the Highlanders got forward into Munich Trench but a misplaced barrage crashed down to loosen their tentative grip. They retired to consolidate in what became known as New Munich Trench and the line reached by the 2nd Division largely conformed alongside their left flank.
Based on the initially optimistic reports from his divisional commanders, Gough was determined to continue the fight and had indeed issued orders for a resumption of the attack on 15 November. He seems to have been caught up in the kind of frenzy that afflicts gamblers unwilling to accept defeat; just one more throw of the dice might rescue the situation. Only after the direct intervention of Haig were the orders countermanded and the attack cancelled. Even Haig had now had enough and he despatched his Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Launcelot Kiggell as an emissary to ensure the attacks were suspended. But Gough had the bit between his teeth and he was determined to improve the tactical position for the winter months. After some further consultation Haig sanctioned one last push on the Somme front.
The last attack of the great battle went in on 18 November. The assault by the II Corps (19th, 18th, and 4th Canadian Divisions) and the V Corps (32nd and 37th Divisions) is a tragic tale. This was war in a man-made hell with the weather contributing everything it could to the overall misery. For the infantry involved, this attack represented the epitome of suffering. Even moving into the line was a trial beyond measure for the new divisions, faced as they were with wastelands awash with freezing water and cloying mud.
It was snowing hard and freezing, and pitch dark. We were guided by the star shells from the firing line. It was impossible to follow the trench and too risky to get in it. I did get in it once and got stuck up to my waist in mud and ice-cold water. The water in the trench had a covering of ice about an inch thick, and snow on top of it. But as soon as your weight was on it—in you went! That was enough for me!50
Private C. Reuben Smith, 7th Battalion, East Kent Regiment, 55th Brigade, 18th Division
The mud on the Somme had become as much of an enemy as the Germans. It seemed uniquely deep, sticky and with a deadly suction capable of clinging to men who were already weakened by exhaustion or wounds.
It was a horror quite apart, quite unlike anything else in this war! Imagine a man, wounded on patrol in front of our lines, or during an attack, struggling a few yards towards our people, overcome by the sucking ooze, sinking, sinking inch by inch, in full view of willing friends, not one of whom can do a thing to help him; sinking and sinking, until, although he calls and calls for help, he realises no help can come—and he begs his own people to end his horror with a bullet.51
Captain Arthur Acland, 57th Brigade, 19th Division
This was an all too real situation. Men did slip slowly into the grim mire with no chance of escape.
The mud was so bad, ploughing our way to the front line, we found two English soldiers up to their armpits in mud, one dead, the other facing him was stark mad. We gave him food and got him out as soon as we could, but he died. They had been stuck for 48 hours.52
Lieutenant Edgar Lord, 15th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, 96th Brigade, 32nd Division
The men moved forward in the dark for Zero Hour, which was set at 0610. From a distance the bombardment was an amazing kaleidoscope of beautiful colours. In the front-line trenches it was misery incarnate.
A day of days. We were up at 6 a.m. and were greatly surprised to find the ground covered with snow. Zero hour was 6.10 a.m. and to the second our artillery started. It was a wonderful sight: dawn just beginning to break through; the ground, the trenches, shell holes all dead white; a low white mist above the ground and with this the flashes and noise of the guns and in the distance the Boche star signals of red and white. It was the weirdest awe-inspiring sight that I have ever seen—words fail. The gun flashes were wonderful—sometimes battery fire—at others almost as quick as machine-gun fire. The flashes were of every hue: dull red, yellow, green-yellow, purple and white according to the nature of the explosive. Overhead was the dull swish and clanking of our heavy shells. No Hun shells came over in reply. The front involved as far as we could see to left and right and our little area is practically in the centre. The bombardment lasted twenty minutes only, but it was a terrific one. After that we could hear machine gun fire rattling like hell.53
Captain Arthur Hardwick, 59th Field Ambulance, 19th Division
The weather could not really have been worse. The snow that had fallen overnight was replaced in sequence by driving sleet and then pouring rain. This caused some confusion: with near nil visibility the troops simply could not see where they were going.
The barrage opens and simultaneously with the opening bars our lads go right away. Jerry was late with his barrage and our boys are the other side of it, but nothing can be seen of them as a very heavy mist is lying close to the ground. Worried looks are the general run of the fi
rst hour.54
Private Robert Cude,7th Battalion, East Kent Regiment, 55th Brigade, 18th Division
The 55th Brigade were attacking the Desire Trench.
A runner came back breathless and excited saying we had taken the trench, but all was not over. The fight lasted all day. The Germans expecting an attack got out of their trenches and dug themselves in behind their trench, filling their trench with barbed wire. Some of our men fell into this trap in the dark, others lost their way and were surrounded and captured without a fight. The East Surreys on our left and the West Kents on our right were in the same predicament.55
Private C. Reuben Smith, 7th Battalion, East Kent Regiment, 55th Brigade, 18th Division
More troops were sent up and in the end Desire Trench was consolidated and a communications trench dug back to the former British front line. Colonel Alfred Irwin was keen to see how his men of the 8th East Surreys were faring in their lodgement taken that morning in Desire Trench. He moved forward just as he had in the attack made with such optimism by his men on 1 July so many thousands of lifetimes ago. This time his luck ran out.
In the morning before it got light I went up to have a look round this new ground we’d taken. I went round with a company commander who was very pleased with what he’d done and his arrangements. I started off back to my battalion headquarters just as it was getting light. I hadn’t gone more than a few yards before I was shot in the thigh. I fell into a shell hole full of water; it was freezing, full of water and ice. Every time I raised my head to try and put a bandage on my leg the sniper had another go at me. So I had to lie in the water and just wait for help, which did come in the form of Canadian stretcher bearers later in the morning. But my unfortunate orderly—I thought I was doing the best I could for him, I told him to go on when I was hit, but he was hit on the way back and died.56