CHAPTER X

PASSCHENDAELE, 1917

ACTIONS OF THE 20TH SEPTEMBER AND THE 12TH OCTOBER

From the 13th June till the 26th July, the best part of the summer of 1917, the men remained out of the line, and this unusually long and welcome rest enabled the Division to regain its old efficiency. As it was necessary to convince the infantry that progress was possible even when artillery support was unavailable, training was directed not merely to develop a high standard of efficiency in musketry, but to foster initiative and resource among the subordinate leaders. The value of the rifle-grenade had been demonstrated on the 5th June, and practice in its use was taught by means of shell-hole attacks. An area of country was cratered by the sappers to present the appearance of a shell-torn battlefield, and marks to indicate machine-gun posts having been placed on one side of it, the infantry advanced from the other. Under cover of rifle-grenades, fired in volleys, riflemen and Lewis Gun teams moved forward by rushes, till they were able to make a converging assault from a short distance under a final grenade barrage. This form of training realised as nearly as possible the actual conditions of warfare, and new men thus became accustomed to the distracting noise of battle and gained confidence in their own powers. A few casualties were caused by “short” bursts, but no one was seriously wounded, and the trifling cost was more than counter-balanced by the assurance and keenness inspired in the men.

On the 25th July the Division was transferred to the IV. Corps, whose area embraced the devastated country lying east of Bapaume. The completeness and care with which the demolition had been carried out showed how thoroughly the foe had made his detailed preparations for retreat. Desolation reigned everywhere, no village possessed a roofed building, and even the trees had not escaped, their bark being partly stripped off so that the sap would dry up. From the rubble of ruined houses, billets and stabling accommodation could be constructed, but food to supplement rations could be obtained only from canteens and consisted mainly of tinned products.

[Illustration: HAVRINCOURT]

The front line was taken over from the Fifty-eighth Division on the night of the 26th by the 26th Brigade, the South African and 27th Brigades coming in on its left on the 28th and 30th. The sector held at first lay south of the Canal du Nord at Havrincourt, but on the 4th August the 27th Brigade was transferred from the south of the line to the north. The country was undulating, with ridges and alternate valleys lying north-north-east. The excavated channel of the Canal du Nord, which after an easterly course turned off in a northerly direction past Moeuvres, formed the boundary between the 27th and the other two brigades. South of the Canal the line lay on the slopes of the spurs that ran out from Havrincourt Wood under observation of the enemy, though the wood itself provided a covered approach to within 1500 yards of our front line. Some of the spurs had originally formed part of the forest, but they had been cleared by the enemy, who used the timber for engineering purposes, and they were now covered with a low thick scrub, which afforded concealment for small groups. On the southern bank of the Canal was a spoil heap which, as the greater part of it was in our possession, gave us observation along our entire front. The position was well adapted for defence, since machine-guns, placed on a spur, could bring flanking and cross-fire to bear on the adjoining spurs. The trench system consisted of outpost, front, support, and reserve lines.

On the front of the 27th Brigade, the Canal, of which the channel was more than 50 feet below the surface, separated friend from foe except at a spoil heap on the west bank, which the enemy held as an outpost to his main system. Havrincourt village, red-tiled and attractive in the sun, occupied a commanding position, while to the north-east behind the German front line could be seen the dark cloud of Bourlon Wood. The enemy’s defences along the whole front were strongly entrenched and lavishly wired.

A comparatively uneventful month was passed in this quiet spot, less discomfort being caused by the enemy than by the unusually heavy rainfall of August. The most active of the brigades was the 26th, and it afforded some diversion by carrying out a number of raids. Several posts, which the enemy held only during the night, were located, and on the 18th August a patrol of the 7th Seaforths, crossing the wire guarding one of these by means of a sheet of expanded metal, lay in wait for the garrison, who, though taken unawares, put up a stiff fight. Four of the enemy were killed or wounded and one was taken prisoner, the casualties of the Seaforths being one wounded and two missing. After dusk on the same evening the Argylls sent out strong patrols, which met with strenuous resistance; several Germans were killed and one was captured, while the Argylls had two officers and eleven men wounded, and one officer and three men missing. The object of the patrols had been to sweep the enemy from his position on the spoil heap, and though they failed to accomplish this, the Germans were so shaken that they evacuated the heap, which was found to be clear when the Argylls made another raid on the 30th. The scope for adventure by the 27th Brigade was necessarily limited to the hostile positions on the west bank of the Canal, and on the 25th, 2nd Lieut. Mosscrop with three men of the “Rifles” entered a night post shortly after dusk and captured one of the garrison when it arrived. The prisoner belonged to the 89th Grenadier Regiment (17th Division), a _sturm truppen_ lot, and this seemed to indicate that the enemy had aggressive designs on hand, so the troops were warned not to relax their vigilance.

A proposal by the IV. Corps that the Division should undertake a big raid against the main entrenchments of the enemy was vetoed as impracticable, since the amount of gun-fire necessary to cut the wire was bound to advertise our intentions. It led however to an interesting suggestion by Brig.-General Tudor, which he submitted to the Corps after satisfying himself, with Brig.-General Kennedy’s help, of its practicability on this front, and it formed the basis of the scheme carried through in the same region by Sir Julian Byng during the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917. Artillery preparation, he pointed out, could be dispensed with if tanks were employed, and thus surprise, the value of which had been fully grasped by the Ninth, might be obtained. The tanks, protected by a smoke-barrage, would cut the gaps to allow the infantry to enter the enemy’s positions, and the probability was that the Germans would be so completely surprised that large captures would be made and much ground gained at a trifling cost. The infantry were to advance towards Flesquières Ridge, but half of the tanks were to wheel to the north and roll up the German front system to the Scarpe, the aim being not to break through in depth but to destroy the enemy’s forces on a wide front. This, with some modifications, was the plan carried out by the Third Army in the following November.

But the Division was not destined to participate in the Cambrai offensive. By the end of August it was relieved by the Thirty-sixth (Ulster) Division, recently engaged in the Battle of Passchendaele, and this spot the Ninth surmised was to be its next destination. The first sojourn was in the shell-torn region near Achiet le Grand, where the nature of the training gave the men a fair idea of what would be expected of them later, and on the 12th September the Division moved north by rail to camps between Poperinghe and Ypres in the V. Corps’[85] sector.

As already indicated, the principal campaign planned by Sir Douglas Haig was in the north. His design was to carry the Passchendaele Ridge and secure the command of the Belgian coast, as this would threaten the enemy’s communications, and at the same time restrict appreciably his submarine warfare. But the British Field-Marshal was favoured with little luck, and it was not till the beginning of May, after the failure of General Nivelle’s offensive in the Aisne, that his plans were approved at a conference held in Paris on the 4th and 5th May. This comparatively late start proved to be a fatal handicap, and in other theatres the rosy hopes of the beginning of the year were dispelled by the tragic events in Russia. The Revolution eliminated Russia as a German enemy, rendered the position of Roumania practically hopeless (though in the days of its stress it fought with admirable and heroic resolution), and prevented General Maude from garnering the full fruits of the fine campaign that had resulted in the capture of Bagdad on the 11th March. The Egyptian offensive broke down at Gaza, the Salonica front remained stationary, and Italy, engrossed in Trieste and Albania, was scarcely pulling her weight. Moreover, as the Germans were cognisant of our aims, and had made dispositions to defeat them, it was regrettable that G.H.Q. did not excogitate a fresh plan, which, carried out in the same manner as the Cambrai offensive later, would have disconcerted the foe and led to extensive gains without a heavy sacrifice of life.

The preliminary of the attack on Passchendaele was the capture of the Messines-Wytschaete Ridge, which overlooked our lines and a large portion of the hinterland. This was brilliantly accomplished by the Second Army on the 7th June, the enemy’s position being blown into the air and the ridge passing into our hands with slight loss. The preparations for the assault on Passchendaele were then taken in hand, but for some yet unexplained reason the first blow was not struck till the 31st July. During the interlude the Germans, delivering on the 10th July an attack against the bridgehead north-east of the Yser between Nieuport and the coast, were so far successful that they prevented the projected co-operation between the Fourth Army and the Navy, which they dreaded above all things.

The first assault launched by the Fifth Army began well, and the greater part of the ridge overlooking Ypres was stormed, but the German scheme of defence, based on holding their forward positions lightly, depended chiefly on counter-attack, and before the end of the day many of our gains, including St Julien and Westhoek, were recaptured. Above all, the key of the enemy’s position on the Menin road remained in his hands. On the same day the fatal rains made their appearance, and torrential downpours transformed the battlefield into a quagmire. The continuance of the wet weather, which made August of 1917 one of the most disastrous months in the war, was all in favour of the Germans; it delayed our preparations, and should indeed have led to the abandonment of the campaign; but with the pertinacity of the true gambler, the British resumed the attack on the 16th August, but made little progress south of St Julien, the Germans defying all our efforts in the neighbourhood of the Menin road.

The defence, which was directed by General Sixt von Armin, who had achieved great fame as a tactician during the battles of the Somme, was distributed in depth. Trenches being impossible in a swamp, the defenders were placed in the ruins of barns and farmhouses; these, strongly concreted to an average thickness of three feet, offered a small mark for artillery and were proof against all except the heaviest of our projectiles. These fortified farms, or “Pill-boxes” as they were called by the men, were so situated that each could support its neighbour by cross- and enfilade-fire and was a veritable fortress in itself. They were of various sizes, according to the extent of the ruins on which they were erected; some had several apartments, and were capable of accommodating a whole company of men. They were admirably adapted to break up and delay the line of an attack, and even if they were carried and the objective taken, the worn-out assailants would have to meet a counter-blast from the fresh German reserves in rear. Up to the 16th August no satisfactory means had been found of dealing with these fortifications.

Apart from these strongholds the great problem was how to keep rifles and machine-guns clean; on more than one occasion our men had been forced to give ground, because their rifle-bolts jammed owing to mud so that the rifles could not be fired. It was also clear that “Pill-box” fighting demanded skilful leading and resource on the part of subordinate commanders. The series of waves, so successful in the Arras battles, was not suitable to meet the new conditions. Accordingly it was planned that the attack should be carried out by lines of sections, each section being in file and separated from its neighbours by about twenty yards. This gave an opportunity of overwhelming a “Pill-box” by the co-operation of the nearest sections while the others made headway, and each part was to be cleared and garrisoned before the sections involved continued their advance. The plan ensured the attack being carried on with the greatest expedition and the least fatigue, and, provided the leadership was good, it held out reasonable prospects of success. This was the form of training practised in the devastated area near Achiet le Petit, the ground being marked out by tapes in facsimile of the actual country where the assault was to be made.

The next phase of the Passchendaele Battle was arranged for the 20th September, and the assembly line of the Division lay along the crest of the Frezenberg Ridge. The span of front allotted to the Ninth, fully 1500 yards in all, consisted of a number of posts placed at intervals along a road roughly at right angles to that on which stood the hamlet of Frezenberg. So battered and ravaged was the country by continuous shell-fire that no trace of the road could be discerned. From the ridge the ground sank to the valley of the Hanebeek stream, which trickled through the gaunt and melancholy remains of Hanebeek Wood and meandered northwards past the Ypres-Roulers Railway. From the hollow the ground rose gently to another ridge, higher on the right where the main point was Anzac Redoubt, and gradually sank on the left to a flat swamp. Beyond this was another valley, covered by the spur on which stood the ruins of the Station and the village of Zonnebeke. The ordinary landmarks indicated by the map did not exist; the only one remaining that the eye could pick up without much effort was the Ypres-Roulers Railway. All vestige of roads had been obliterated, and even the Hanebeek brook had ceased to flow. Its banks had been blown in by months of relentless gun-fire and a zigzag trail of shell-holes, rather deeper and more full of water than the others, alone gave evidence of its former existence. A bleaker and more repellant battlefield it is impossible to imagine, and even the sun served only to throw into stronger relief the dreadful ghoulishness of the landscape. If a personal reconnaissance was impossible, the one safe way to gain a knowledge of the country was by a study of the excellent air photographs furnished by the R.F.C. Apart from the Railway, and to the south of it, the most prominent guide was Hanebeek Wood, which housed a number of “Pill-boxes.” Clusters of these forts lay along the Railway and to the north of it, the most important being Beck House, Borry Farm, and a strong group called Potsdam.

The attack was allotted to the 27th and South African Brigades. The former had two objectives; the first (indicated on the map as the Red Line) ran from the eastern half of Hanebeek Wood up to Potsdam; the second (Green Line) was Zonnebeke Redoubt on the ridge running north-west from Anzac Redoubt. The 6th K.O.S.B.,[86] 9th Scottish Rifles,[87] and 12th Royal Scots were to take the former, and then the first two battalions were to go on to the latter. The South Africans had three objectives; the first (Red Line) was in prolongation of that of the 27th Brigade; the second included Bremen Redoubt (Yellow Line); and the third carried on the Green Line from the Frezenberg-Zonnebeke road to the Zonnebeke stream. The leading battalions were the 3rd and 4th[88] Regiments, and these were supported by the 1st and 2nd.[89] The assault was to be on the “Leap Frog” system; when any hostile work was met it had to be occupied and held while the line immediately behind the attacking one was to pass through and carry on to the next objective. The Ninth was flanked on the right by the Second Australian Division and on the left by the Fifty-fifth.

[Illustration: ZONNEBEKE FROM FREZENBERG]

There were few novices in the Ninth in the art of mounting an attack, but Passchendaele demanded special and anxious consideration. The enemy’s powerful artillery swept all the back areas and the approaches to our line unceasingly, and roads and camps beyond the effective scope of shells were persistently bombed by fleets of Gothas. There were no roads or communication trenches to guide troops on their way to the front line, and along the ridges of craters zigzag routes constructed with duckboards became a mark for hostile gun-fire, but they could not be deserted except at the risk of death by drowning or suffocation, which was the melancholy fate of more than one poor man and animal. These routes required the most careful preliminary reconnoitring, as the chances of taking a wrong turn were too numerous to be neglected. Casualties on the march to the assembly area were regarded as inevitable, and there was nothing for it but to trust to luck. Everything was done to ensure that the wounded would be properly attended; numerous aid posts were established and the staff of stretcher-bearers was greatly increased by large parties from the infantry. The problem of conveying stores and ammunition was colossal, and so, in order to be independent of carrying parties as far as possible, the men were to take rations for forty-eight hours and extra water-bottles. Rifles were covered with sand-bags, so that they would be in good working order when the operation commenced, and each man carried a spade. For dealing with the “Pill-boxes” a liberal quantity of phosphorous bombs was issued.

The attack was to be carried out after a preliminary bombardment of twenty-four hours and under cover of a creeping barrage. The shell commonly used in the Second and Fifth Armies was shrapnel, and it was due solely to the insistence of General Lukin that the Division was given reluctant permission to use that combination of smoke and H.E., which had given so much satisfaction at Arras. During these weeks the gunners had a dreadful time, for our artillery supremacy had been boldly challenged by the foe, and day and night our battery positions were fiercely bombarded. Hostile bombing machines played their part by night and frequently interrupted the laborious toil of bringing up the ammunition for the guns; hence the work of our gunners was carried out under much greater difficulties than usually fell to their lot. The creeping barrage of smoke and H.E. was to open 150 yards in front of the leading line and move at the rate of 100 yards every four minutes for the first 200 yards; then it was to pass on to the first objective at the rate of 100 yards every six minutes. The infantry, who were expected to arrive at the Red Line in twenty minutes, were to wait there for an hour, protected by barrier-fire. On the resumption of the advance the rate of the barrage was to be 100 yards every eight minutes, till the final objective was reached. A searching barrage of shrapnel was to precede the creeping one and sweep the open country 500 yards in advance of it. The combination of H.E. and smoke allowed certain refinements to be introduced which would have been impracticable with shrapnel. The most prominent obstacles were kept under fire while the barrage moved on, so that the infantry could surround them on all sides when the fire lifted. This was most conspicuously illustrated in the case of Hanebeek Wood, bristling with “Pill-boxes” and machine-guns. To allow the K.O.S.B. to come to grips with the defenders before they could open effective fire, Brig.-General Tudor arranged for the barrage to be maintained on the wood, while a lane was to be left clear for men to move up and get to its rear; thus when the fire lifted the infantry would be able to attack the wood simultaneously from all sides.

Machine-guns also had an important rôle to play. They were to barrage the final objective until the infantry began their advance from the first, and then they were to lift on to an S.O.S. line in front of the Green Line. The machine-gun was expected to be of great assistance in defence, and several were to be taken up with the assaulting brigades to support them against the expected counter-stroke.

Until the 12th September the Ninth was in camp near Ypres, and on the 16th and 17th it relieved the Forty-second Division on the Frezenberg Ridge, the 27th Brigade taking over the right sector and the South African the left. Unhappily, a deplorable incident occurred. When the 11th Royal Scots,[90] who were conveyed to Ypres by rail, were detraining near the Asylum, a shell landed among the men, causing 51 casualties in killed and wounded.

The responsible task of taping out the assembly areas was satisfactorily accomplished by both brigades. On the night of the 19th the assaulting battalions made the purgatorial march along the slippery trench-board tracks to the forming-up points. Heavy rain descended for nearly three hours, but by rare good fortune the enemy’s guns were unusually quiet and comparatively few casualties were suffered; this was taken as a good omen. By 5 A.M. on the 20th the assembly of the Division was completed.

At zero the light was perfect, being sufficient for the assailants to distinguish their objectives, but rendering them only dimly visible to the enemy. Under a first-rate barrage the leading lines advanced, one company of the K.O.S.B. halting near the west margin of Hanebeek Wood, which appeared like a gigantic furnace shooting up blazing roots and trunks to an enormous height. To the left of it another company, advancing along a lane flanked by two walls of smoke and fire, took up a position on the rear, having intercepted and killed on the way a party of Germans who were moving up to reinforce their comrades in the wood. When the barrage lifted the wood was rushed from front and rear, and the terrifying combination of lusty Australians and dour Scotsmen was invincible. The Germans were allowed no time to bring their machine-guns into action, and the wood yielded up four machine-guns and about 50 prisoners. Our casualties were few and were caused chiefly by rifle-fire and by our own shrapnel which was used on the right flank of the wood.

On the flank of the K.O.S.B. the right company of the “Rifles” encountered very feeble opposition and reached the first objective in good time, but the left company, being seriously delayed by machine-gun fire from a “Pill-box” on the Railway, gained the objective only in time to go forward with the advance to the Green Line.

The Railway line was a formidable fortress, as it was defended by several strong “Pill-boxes,” R1, R2, R3, R4, and R5, and was flanked by the fire of the Potsdam group on the left. A company of the 12th Royal Scots was detailed to seize the “R” “Pill-boxes” up to the first objective, but its onrush was checked at the outset by bombs and machine-gun fire from R1, so Lieut.-Colonel Ritson sent up two platoons from his reserve company to attack it from the south. This manœuvre, attracting the attention of the enemy, gave the platoons on the Railway the opportunity of rushing the “Pill-box” and overcoming the garrison, of whom 40 were taken and three machine-guns. This practically ended the resistance on the Railway, and the right company of the Royal Scots soon arrived at the Red Line. The task of the left company was to capture “A” and Potsdam. The defenders of the former were wide-awake, and their raking machine-gun fire made the assailants very uncomfortable, but Captain Reynolds and six men managed to move close up to the “Pill-box,” where they were safe from the hostile fire. They tried to put a Mills bomb through the loophole, but this the garrison blocked with a pack while still keeping the machine-gun firing. There was a real danger of the attack in this sector being held up by the obstinate “Pill-box”; but Captain Reynolds, showing extraordinary bravery and resource, under a storm of lead contrived to squeeze a phosphorous bomb past the obstruction through the loophole; the explosion set the place on fire and smoked out the garrison, who immediately surrendered, 7 prisoners and two machine-guns being the result of this lively episode.

At Potsdam two machine-guns were in action in the open. While two platoons of the Royal Scots made a frontal assault, a third, assisted by some South Africans, attacked from the north, and another platoon from the south. Before this converging onslaught the defenders were overpowered, and 70 prisoners and two machine-guns were captured.

During the pause on the first objective the K.O.S.B. and the right companies of the “Rifles” reorganised their forces. In each case the supporting companies had now to lead the attack, but as the right supporting company of the K.O.S.B. had already suffered severely from the enemy’s barrage, Lieut.-Colonel Maclean was obliged to put his whole battalion in the front line, and he asked Lieut.-Colonel Sir John Campbell to support him with two companies of the 11th Royal Scots. On the left, Lieut.-Colonel Lumsden, owing to the late arrival of his left companies, resolved to swing his right companies towards the Railway, and to keep in touch with the K.O.S.B. by means of one platoon.

The operations against the Green Line caused very little trouble. The K.O.S.B. encountered one machine-gun in a shell-hole right out in the open, but the men worked round it and bayoneted the team. At the Zonnebeke Redoubt the enemy made no show of a fight, and 40 prisoners were taken. Equally swift progress was made by the “Rifles.” The two left companies, moving up rapidly, caught up the barrage and joined in the action; except for slight opposition from two “Pill-boxes” all was plain sailing.

Brig.-General Maxwell, who reached the Green Line just after its capture, selected the line to be consolidated, and this was done by improving shell-holes and then forming short lengths of trench by connecting them up. The workers were covered by a number of advanced posts, each with a Lewis Gun, but the enemy made no attempt at a counter-stroke. At the same time half of the men cleaned their rifles while the others kept guard, and machine-gun sections arrived and took up positions. While the consolidation was in progress a hostile aeroplane, flying low up and down our line, roughly indicated the position to the German gunners who sent over a few shells.

On the South African front the Red Line was carried almost without a check, and the 4th Regiment on the left entered Borry Farm, isolated in the same manner as Hanebeek Wood, and Beck House, before the Germans had time to resist. The only trouble was on the right, where the 3rd Regiment sustained several casualties from Potsdam, but an assault by Captain Sprenger with a few men materially assisted the 12th Royal Scots to overcome this stronghold. At the first objective the supporting battalions took the lead, and at 7 A.M. the 1st and 2nd Regiments moved against the Yellow and Green Lines. The former reached its objective without opposition, but the latter had to fight nearly every yard of the way. From Waterend House, Tulip Cottages, and Hill 37, all in the area of the Fifty-fifth Division, machine-gun fire scourged the flank of the South Africans, and created a gap between them and the troops on the left. When the 2nd Regiment eventually carried Zevencote and Bremen Redoubt, a defensive flank was thrown out on the south bank of the Zonnebeke stream, and the garrison of Mitchell’s Farm was augmented. So heavy had been the losses of the South Africans that they had to be reinforced by the Camerons. Late in the evening the Fifty-fifth Division succeeded in clearing Hill 37, and thus closed the gap between it and the South Africans.

At the fall of night all the objectives of the Division had been secured and consolidated. A counter-thrust was expected and even hoped for, but it did not come. A terrific barrage along our line about 5 P.M. seemed to be the prelude to an onslaught, and our men, surging forward out of the shelled zone, peered eagerly into the mist for a sight of the field-grey foemen, but all attempts of the enemy to mass were broken up by our artillery-fire. So accurate and stupendous was our barrage that it seemed like a solid, impenetrable barrier.

The nature of the fighting lent itself to individual exploits, and two V.Cs. were given to the Division, one being awarded to Captain Reynolds and the other to Lance-Corporal W. H. Hewitt of the 2nd South African Regiment. He tackled a “Pill-box” single-handed, and on attempting to enter the doorway was severely wounded by the defenders; undaunted, he crawled to a loophole, and though wounded again pushed a bomb through the embrasure, the explosion of which dislodged the Germans. Numerous feats of a similar nature were performed by the men of all battalions, and the excellent understanding between the members of sections was a source of legitimate gratification to all responsible for the training of the men.

The line captured was held by the Division until the 24th September. The “Pill-boxes” provided a welcome shelter during the fierce gusts of artillery-fire; but their interiors were disgustingly squalid, and the floors were a foot or more under water. The Argylls and Camerons relieved the 2nd and 1st South African Regiments on the left, while the “Rifles” and K.O.S.B. held the right front. During this period there were violent storms of artillery-fire but there was no infantry action.

A deep gloom was cast over the whole Division by the news of the death of Brig.-General Maxwell on the 21st. Since taking over the command of the 27th Brigade in October 1916 he had been one of the outstanding personalities in the Ninth. Daring to a fault, he was a soldier with real gifts of generalship, and it was a sad calamity that death prevented his brilliant talents receiving fuller scope in a higher command. He was one from whose manner and bearing all plucked courage and confidence; in the glamour of his presence, his unfailing courtesy, and the opulence of his ideas lay the secret of the love and respect with which he was regarded by all his subordinates. Too great a disregard of personal danger led to his death; in his anxiety to ascertain that all was right on his front he exposed himself freely, and was shot by a sniper at 40 yards’ range. His habitual hardihood had been a constant source of anxiety to his staff, but it was one of the qualities that raised him above criticism in the eyes of the men. Courage begets courage, and within a few weeks of his coming Brig.-General Maxwell had made the 27th one of the finest fighting brigades in France. His spirit lived among the men after his death, and his teaching and training remained a fount of inspiration to all ranks of the 27th Brigade.

The action of the 20th September was one of the most satisfactory in which the Ninth took part. Though the number[91] of prisoners taken was not large and the space of ground gained inconsiderable, the operation was the first to reap satisfactory results against Von Armin’s system of defence, and it encouraged the Higher Command to continue the campaign in spite of the lateness of the season. Communications throughout the battle had been wonderfully good, and though telephone wires could be maintained only with difficulty on account of shell-fire, messages were received by means of pigeons, lamps, and runners. The arrangements of the R.A.M.C. were effective and adequate, and the extra stretcher-bearers furnished by the infantry enabled the wounded to be rapidly evacuated from the forward areas. The H.E. and smoke-barrage required no justification in the eyes of the Ninth, but its success attracted the attention of higher authorities and led to its being employed by the Third and Fifty-ninth Divisions in the engagement of the 26th September.

On the 24th September after being relieved by the Third Division, the Ninth moved to Arneke and neighbouring villages, where the men were practised for their next engagement, which, if all went well, was expected to bring us near Westroosebeke. The new leader of the 27th Brigade was Brig.-General Croft, who was recalled from the brigade to which he had been appointed just before the September battle. As C.O. of the 11th Royal Scots he had been with the Division since December 1915, and no man was more likely to keep the high standard which his predecessor had set. Realising the value of a distinctive name, he caused his brigade to be known by the term “Lowland” as well as by its number. The spell of good weather that set in during the latter part of September did not last, and rain fell almost continuously from the 6th October onwards. On the 5th the Division was ordered to concentrate in the area of the XVIII. Corps,[92] and under the most depressing conditions it was transferred to the vicinity of Brake Camp, the infantry arriving late on the night of the 9th. For many of the men there was no shelter from the rain, and bivouacs and tents had to be hastily erected on the sodden ground. No camps in the whole British line were more dismal than those round Ypres, sloppy with mud and persistently bombed by the enemy’s aeroplanes. So serious were the effects of bombing that all tents and horse lines were encircled by ramparts of earth to localise the explosions. On the night of the 10th/11th the Highland Brigade relieved the 144th (Forty-eighth Division) in the line near Poelcapelle, and the Ninth received orders for an attack on the 12th October.

The scene of battle was the low, flat country near the northern end of the Passchendaele Ridge. Along the left boundary of the Division ran the Lekkerboterbeek stream, and though the whole area was studded with fortified farms and houses, there were no clear landmarks. Since the 20th September performance had lagged far behind programme, and Westroosebeke lay beyond our immediate grasp. There were three objectives[93]; the first two (the Yellow Dotted and the Blue Dotted Lines) were to be taken by the Highland Brigade, and the final one (the Dotted Purple Line) by the Lowland. The leading battalions of the 26th, the Black Watch[94] and Argylls, each on a two-company front, were to capture a subsidiary objective (Green Line) and the Yellow Dotted Line, after which the Seaforths and Camerons[95] were to pass through and go on to the Blue Dotted Line, while the final attack was allotted by Brig.-General Croft to the 12th[96] and 11th Royal Scots. The assault was on a very wide frontage for a brigade, and necessitated considerable gaps between sections. The barrage was to move at the rate of 100 yards every eight minutes, with a pause on the first and second objectives, and 16 Vickers Guns were to form a machine-gun barrage and were also to support the infantry with covering-fire. On the flanks of the Ninth the attack was to be carried on by the New Zealand Division on the right and the Eighteenth Division on the left. Zero was 5.35 A.M.

About midnight on the 11th, the weather broke down completely, and the march of the battalions of the 27th Brigade under torrents of rain along the slippery duckboards to their assembly positions was one prolonged ordeal. The forming-up positions were heavily barraged with gas and H.E. by the enemy’s guns; many of the taping parties were killed or wounded, and all had to wear their respirators for several hours. The assembly was in consequence a difficult matter, and slight confusion arose before the men were placed in their correct positions.

At 5.35 A.M. our barrage opened, but was thin and ragged. The leading men lost direction almost at once, owing to the wide frontage and the execrable condition of the ground. The right company of the Black Watch, by the aid of skilful Lewis Gun and rifle-fire, rushed Adler Farm, captured several prisoners, and though some casualties were sustained reached its objective on the Green Line. But the left company ran into our own barrage, and inclining to the left, made a gap between it and the right company; it was under fire the whole way and was compelled to dig-in a few hundred yards in front of our original line. The company, which was to pass this one on the Green Line, also swung to the left to such an extent that it came up on the left of the leading company; from the very commencement it was in trouble, and its commander and H.Q. were all knocked out in an attempt to rush a “Pill-box.” Meantime the right rear company, passing through its front one, reached Source Trench near the Yellow Dotted Line.

[Illustration: ARTILLERY HEAD-QUARTERS NEAR ST. JULIEN]

The first company of the Seaforths, sadly depleted by fire from parties of Germans[97] in organised shell-holes, advanced and filled the space between the two leading ones of the Black Watch. The 12th Royal Scots, following close behind, became mingled with the Seaforths. There was some opposition from Inch Houses, and in numerous cases clusters of Germans offered resistance until they were taken in flank; in one case two of our sergeants, both of whom had been wounded, charged a group of nine and killed every one. Small parties of our men were seen in the dim light to pass Banff Houses and Source Trench, and some may even have reached Source Farm and Vat Cottages. A mixed body of Black Watch, Seaforths, and Royal Scots entered the eastern end of Wallemolen, but being heavily enfiladed from both flanks had to fall back on the Cemetery-Inch Houses line.

On the left, matters were even worse; for the ground in some places was impassable, and as a consequence the Argylls were unable to keep pace with the barrage. The right company and its supporting company maintained direction, but the others swung to the left and some of the men, crossing the Lekkerboterbeek, so churned up by shell-fire that it was unrecognisable, entered the sector of the Eighteenth Division. On the right a “Pill-box” near the front line stopped the leading company and held up the whole advance, with the result that parties from the rear battalions, the Camerons, 11th Royal Scots, and 6th K.O.S.B.[98] became involved in the firing-line. A combined assault by men of all units on the “Pill-box,” the occupants of which had shown the white flag but continued firing, eventually mastered the defence, the garrison being killed and four machine-guns captured. But by this time the barrage was far ahead, the troops were exhausted and disorganised, and the leading ranks were able to proceed only 150 yards or so from the “Pill-box,” where they consolidated a line of shell-holes. The men of the left company who crossed the Lekkerboterbeek advanced for some 80 yards, but were stopped by machine-gun fire from Beek and Meunier Houses. The left rear company, which could make no headway, formed a defensive flank and gained touch with the Eighteenth Division on its old front line.

Except on the extreme right the advance had come to a halt about 100 yards from the starting-point. The New Zealanders on our right flank had made some progress, but the Eighteenth Division, as was the case with our left battalion, had been handicapped by the spongy nature of the ground and was back in its original position. Several unfortunate men had been drowned in the deep, water-filled shell-holes, and rifles and machine-guns were clogged with slime. The barrage having gone far ahead, nothing was to be gained by persisting in the attack, and the line taken up by the Ninth at the close of the battle ran from the Cemetery near Wallemolen in front of Inch Houses, thence to Oxford Houses and back to our original front system. Though the 26th and 27th Machine-gun Companies had been roughly handled during the action, they were able to provide efficient protection for the position now held.

During the night the front was reorganised in three sectors; the right, garrisoned by the 12th Royal Scots, the Seaforths and Black Watch, the centre held by the Camerons and Argylls with the “Rifles” in support, and the left occupied by the 11th Royal Scots and K.O.S.B. Patrols were sent out during the dark hours with orders to join up with the leading men of the Black Watch, who had been seen near Source Farm, but not until next day was touch established with a few of them in Source Trench, and these were relieved during the night of the 13th/14th. On the same night the South Africans took over the whole of the front, and the 26th and 27th Brigades were withdrawn from the line.

Rain and mud constitute the chief explanation for the failure of the Division in this battle, which should not have been fought; no man could progress at more than a snail’s pace, and sheer exhaustion was a factor more potent than the enemy in bringing the advance to a standstill. The breakdown in communications was understandable and largely unavoidable, since the pigeons were unable to fly against the strong wind that prevailed, and the men who had charge of the messenger dogs all became casualties. The barrage was not up to the usual standard of the Divisional Artillery, but its lack of density and its raggedness were due to the short period that had elapsed since the last action and to the weather. Many of the guns stuck in the mud, all the men were dead-beat, and Brig.-General Tudor could not get the quantity of the smoke-shells he wanted. Since the horses could not leave the roads, it was only by means of light railways that field-guns could be brought into action off the roads and supplied with ammunition. The Sappers, under Lieut.-Colonel Hearn, always a strong advocate of the light railway, gave the greatest possible assistance to the gunners by constructing a very useful railway system east of Springfield.

Serious errors were undoubtedly committed by the infantry, but when officers and men were engaged in a long and cruel struggle against ineluctable conditions, cool leadership could scarcely be expected. As on the 3rd May, there was a deplorable loss of direction at the very start leading to confusion of units, but at the same time the vast length of the attacking frontage—1500 yards for two battalions—with wide gaps between each section, and the absence of conspicuous landmarks made the maintenance of direction a difficult matter. Leadership, marked more by valour than by discretion, caused an unnecessary number of battalions to be involved in wasteful and confused fighting. If the mixing up of the supporting and leading units of the 26th Brigade can be understood and condoned, it was none the less regrettable, but there was less reason for throwing the battalions of the 27th into the fight. Of battalion commanders Lieut.-Colonel Lumsden alone, seeing that the attack of the 26th Brigade had been checked, kept his men back, and the net result of over-zealous leading was that General Lukin, instead of a brigade, had only one battalion intact. But even in this respect there was some excuse. It was at least a venial fault that officers and men refused to accept a check without making a desperate effort, and Lieut.-Colonel Sir J. Campbell and Major Innes Browne regarded our line as unsatisfactory, if not untenable, while the “Pill-box” that caused the left of the attack so much trouble remained in the hands of the Germans. Possibly heroism on a grander scale has never been shown than in the brutal fighting on the foul quagmires of Flanders. Often neck-deep in mud, the men floundered forward until their overtaxed limbs could no longer support them, and to wrest victory under such appalling conditions was a task beyond the power of man.

Few people at Passchendaele had a more thankless and trying time than the Sappers and personnel of the R.A.M.C. The former were constantly engaged in maintaining the shelled duckboard tracks, making plank roads, repairing paths and constructing shelters and tramways. Three hundred infantry had been attached to the latter for stretcher-bearing; they were all needed, and it was only by sheer hard work and much nervous strain that the wounded were satisfactorily evacuated from the dreary swamps of Passchendaele.

The line was held by the Division until the 24th October and during this time the hostile artillery periodically barraged the back areas and approaches, causing serious losses to reliefs and working-parties between St Julien and the front trenches. A great deal of material was carried up to the front for the Sixty-third (Naval) Division and many yards of cable were buried to ensure a rapid and reliable signal service. Advance posts were thrown out by the 27th Brigade, and the assembly areas for the Sixty-third Division were marked by tape. On the 22nd a feint attack in our sector, carried out by men of the XVIII. Corps Cyclist Battalion who manipulated dummy figures, assisted the Eighteenth Division in bringing its position into line with that of the Ninth. On the 24th the 27th was relieved by the 188th Brigade (Sixty-third Division) and the Ninth[99] was concentrated in the various camps near Ypres.