CHAPTER XI

PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE

OCTOBER 1917 TO 21ST MARCH 1918

The operations of the 12th October concluded the share of the Division in the fighting of 1917. It had played an important part in all the big battles except Messines and it had been too recently in action to be employed in the operations near Cambrai, which began in November. The Ninth was frequently engaged in the travail of battle; its rôle during the year had been rather that of storm-troops than of mere occupants of the line, and though this had entailed great hardships and a heavy casualty list, some compensation had been derived from the comparatively long interludes spent in rest and training. Through gain and loss, hope and fear, officers and men had shown that splendid and invincible cheerfulness which made the Ninth so terrible in battle. The general standard of physique was perhaps not so high as in earlier years, but the spirit of the Division remained as unconquerable as ever despite the disappointing nature of the recent operations.

The situation at the close of the year contrasted sadly with the soaring hopes entertained at the beginning. Russia, whose claim to be the protector of the Balkan Slavs had been the occasion of the war, had been ignominiously driven from the field, and her military collapse involved the sacrifice of Roumania. Near Salonica, the Entente had been able to do little more than hold its own, and the greater part of Serbia was in the hands of Bulgarians. The Italians, unable to wrest the coveted port of Trieste from the Austrians, were in October dispersed in rout at Caporetto before a combined army of Austrians and Germans, and the allies in the West had hurriedly to send reinforcements to stiffen Italy’s resistance. In Flanders the Passchendaele offensive dragged on beyond the limits sanctioned by sagacity or prudence until November, and its only result was to secure us less than five miles of ravaged soil without effecting any important strategical gain. The Belgian coast was still firmly controlled by the enemy and our military efforts had signally failed to contract his submarine campaign. Audacity and originality, exhibited in the intelligent employment of tanks, achieved on the 20th November our most remarkable victory and all but led to the capture of Cambrai, but we were either slow or unprepared to extend our success, and what had been our greatest triumph was counter-balanced by our gravest defeat. Ten days later the German counter-stroke made Cambrai secure and rent a gap in our line near Gouzeaucourt and Gonnelieu.

Even at sea there was cause for concern. Though the Battle of Jutland on the 30th June 1916 had rendered the German Navy negligible, the submarine activities of the enemy wrought serious havoc among our merchant shipping, and compelled the British Government to adopt a system of rationing to conserve the food supply. Till the end of the year it was estimated that we were losing ships faster than we could build them, and it was not till the beginning of 1918 that we made any real headway against the submarine menace.

Only in Mesopotamia and Egypt had the tide of fortune turned definitely in our favour. In the former, General Marshall pushed our conquests far beyond Bagdad, though it was impossible without Russian help on his flank to make any ambitious movement against Aleppo. General Allenby had been transferred to Egypt in June 1917, and in a vigorous and masterly campaign carried Gaza and gained possession of Jerusalem before the end of the year.

But if the year ended in humility and disappointment the future was not without a gleam of hope. The entry of America far outweighed the defection of Russia, and gave complete assurance of ultimate victory. Nevertheless the immediate situation was not happy. Though American troops had taken their place in the line by December, great numbers of trained men could not be expected to reach the Western Front from the United States until well on in 1918, and it was certain that Germany would make a supreme effort to snatch victory before their arrival. For such an emergency the British forces in France were perilously short of men, yet on the plea of home defence, which was absurd while the Navy controlled the seas, the Government retained in this country large bodies of troops urgently needed by Sir Douglas Haig as reinforcements. And at this juncture the British Commander became responsible for an additional stretch of 28 miles of front, taken over from the French in deference to a decision of the Versailles Council against the expressed opinion of the British military representative.

[Illustration: NIEUPORT BAINS, LOOKING TOWARDS THE GERMAN LINES]

On leaving the disagreeable and constantly bombed camps near Ypres, the Division moved on the 25th October to the Wormhoudt area, and on the following morning to the coast in the Nieuport sector. Here two days later the 26th Brigade relieved the Forty-first Division in the line. After the stress and turmoil of the Salient the Belgian coast was a veritable haven of rest, the only storm centre being Dunkirk, which was nightly bombed. Even in the trenches there was little to disturb the harmony of life, and when our gunners in accordance with their usual practice began to liven up matters, they were ordered by the XV. Corps to assume a quieter attitude. Behind the lines the broad, firm expanse of sand fringing the coast offered ample scope not merely for the manœuvring of troops but for such forms of recreation as polo and football.

The sojourn in this sector, where preparations were made for a long period of useful training, came to an abrupt end. On the 11th November General Lukin was informed that his command was to be transferred to the X. Corps of the Second Army. Further orders were received that the 9th Seaforths were to be sent ahead of the Division, and on the 19th they moved to the area of the VIII. Corps. After relief by the XXXVI. French Corps, the Ninth concentrated near Fruges. Then on the last day of the month the Germans delivered their counter-thrust near Cambrai, and the whole Division was hurried by rail to Péronne. On the 3rd December it came under the III. Corps, and two days later relieved the right brigade of the Guards’ Division and the Second Cavalry Division in the sector extending from Gauche Wood to Chapel Crossing.

On its flanks were the Twenty-first Division on the right and the Sixty-first on the left. All three brigades were in the line, the 26th and 27th in the north and south respectively, and the South African in the centre. With feverish energy the trenches were strengthened, improved, and protected by wire entanglements. On the 15th December the Ninth came under the control of the VII. Corps.[100] Two days later, when the fear of an immediate attack was dying away, at a conference the brigadiers agreed that it would be a gain to hold the sector with two brigades, allowing the third to work and train, and it was also decided to hold our front with an outpost line with a buffer line running through Gouzeaucourt, while the main line of resistance was to be the reserve system. From the 17th December there were heavy falls of snow, but in spite of the inclement weather the enemy launched an attack early on the morning of the 30th against the Sixty-third Division, which had relieved the Sixty-first on our left. After a violent barrage he broke into its trenches, and two parties taking the position of the Highland Brigade in the flank were repelled by the Argylls only after a desperate conflict, in which the enemy sustained heavy losses. During the afternoon a counter-attack of the Sixty-third Division succeeded in recapturing part of the lost trenches. At dawn next morning the enemy shelled the 26th Brigade with gas and H.E., but made no infantry attack on our front, though he delivered a fruitless assault against the left division. Fine cold weather prevailed during the opening days of 1918, but in the middle of January a thaw set in and our parapets melted away in liquid snow and mud. The greatest vigilance and alertness were maintained by both sides, and patrols found few opportunities of effecting surprise. Alarms still continued, and a message picked up from the Germans seemed to indicate that an attack would be made on the 19th, but nothing out of the usual occurred until the 23rd, when an enemy patrol was repulsed in an attempt to rush the trenches held by the 11th Royal Scots. Towards the close of the month the relief of the Ninth by the Thirty-ninth Division was begun, and was completed on the first day of February.

For almost six weeks the Division remained out of the line, the time being spent in training and in work on the railways and rear defences. During this period our waning strength in man-power was responsible for infantry brigades being placed on a three- instead of a four-battalion basis, and in accordance with this rearrangement the Argylls were sent to the Thirty-second Division and the “Rifles” to the Fourteenth, while the 3rd South African Regiment was broken up and its members allocated to the remaining battalions of the brigade. This alteration not merely affected the strength of the Division, but to some extent its fighting efficiency, because the new grouping of units was one with which the British Army was unfamiliar, and new methods of tactical handling had to be acquired. At this time also the 9th Seaforths were reorganised as a three-company battalion.

The training was on the old lines of the open warfare system. It was known that the Germans were receiving special training for a supreme effort, and the best means of countering it was by securing an equal efficiency. There was nothing new or original in the methods of Ludendorff; he wished to recapture the old flexibility in movement and method that distinguished the Germans in 1914, but had been lost through the routine of trench warfare. An army of the same experience as that of “The Contemptibles” would have had no difficulty in coping with Ludendorff’s _sturm truppen_, but the New Armies of Britain through sheer lack of opportunity for training were much below that standard. Using picked troops the Germans intended to press on without halting to adjust irregularities in their line, pockets of resistance being compelled to withdraw or surrender by the pressure on their flanks. This method was well known to the British Army, and was distinctly emphasised in the manual on Infantry Training, 1914, in which the men were told that the best way to help a neighbour forward was to push on themselves. Though the time was short every moment was fully utilised, and the infantry of the Ninth had reached a very satisfactory stage of efficiency when they returned to the line. The artillery, now at Bray under Brig.-General Tudor, underwent a course of training, the value of which was soon to be shown.

On the 1st March a further reorganisation took place with regard to machine-guns. Each division was equipped with a machine-gun battalion of 4 companies with 16 guns each, and the 3 companies attached to the infantry brigades now formed part of the 9th Machine-gun Battalion under Lieut.-Colonel Chalmers. This rearrangement strengthened the discipline of the Machine-gun Corps by the introduction of senior officers, and a more intense _esprit de corps_ followed. It also permitted greater co-ordination and co-operation in the use of machine-guns. There was a great increase in the number of Lewis Guns; each battalion now possessed 36, with an additional 4 for anti-aircraft work.

At the beginning of March, General Lukin[101] was appointed to a command in England. During his period of command the Ninth had gained numerous outstanding successes, particularly those of the 9th April and 20th September 1917, and had developed steadily the reputation so firmly established at Loos. He had served with the Division for nearly two years and had won the esteem and confidence of all ranks. His successor was Major-General C. A. Blacklock, who arrived on the 13th March. The Division had also a new G.S.O.I.; Lieut.-Colonel P. A. V. Stewart, who had served with the Ninth since March 1916, left it in December 1917, and was succeeded by Lieut.-Colonel T. C. Mudie.

On the nights of the 11th/12th and 12th/13th March, the Ninth returned to the line in relief of the Thirty-ninth Division. The sector extended from about a thousand yards west of Villers-Guislain to about the same distance north-west of Gonnelieu, and, except that Chapel Hill was now included in the sector of the Twenty-first Division, was the position held before February. The hill should have been left in the area of the Ninth because it formed the key to the greater part of its defences.

The Ninth was on the left flank of the VII. Corps of the Fifth Army, and on its left flank was the Forty-seventh Division of the V. Corps of the Third Army. Since the junction of different armies is always a tempting mark for a hostile attack, the position of these divisions was one of particular importance; on the liaison between them depended the liaison of the Fifth and Third Armies. Of these two armies the former was by far the weaker; General Gough was responsible for a front more than forty-five miles in extent, and the forces at his disposal numbered only 14 infantry and 3 cavalry divisions, while opposing him were 46 strong German divisions. General Byng with slightly over twenty-six miles of front had 19 divisions (11 in line and 8 in reserve). Sir Douglas Haig probably anticipated that the heaviest blow would fall on the Third Army, and he furnished it with a comparatively large body of reserves. The Fifth Army holding less vital ground had ample scope for manœuvre and was therefore provided with fewer troops. But the position of General Gough was not a comfortable one, as the first shock of attack would absorb his few reserves, and after that he would have to rely on his neighbours for help.

The country comprised in the Ninth’s area was undulating, with rolling downs dotted here and there, with a few scattered woods and ruined villages. The main tactical features were the low ridges on the east and west of Gouzeaucourt, which joined about Chapel Hill, one and a half miles south of the village. We held Quentin Ridge, east of Gouzeaucourt, as far north as Quentin Redoubt, from which point our front line ran along the western slopes of the ridge to Fifteen Ravine, which was the boundary between the Ninth and Forty-seventh Divisions and the Fifth and Third Armies.

The area was organised into three zones for defence. The defences of the first or Forward Zone consisted of a continuous front line supported on the right and centre by Gauche Wood and Quentin Redoubt, a well-wired, anti-tank field, an intermediate line running due north from Chapel Hill, and including the village of Gouzeaucourt, and the Red Line stretching from Chapel Hill west of Gouzeaucourt to Beaucamp Ridge, where it joined the second zone defences at the Divisional boundary.

[Illustration: GONNELIEU FROM GOUZEAUCOURT]

The second or Battle Zone consisted of two continuous trenches—called the Yellow System—two or three hundred yards apart, starting on Chapel Hill and lying roughly north and south along the ridge west of Gouzeaucourt, and a continuous trench (the Brown Line) leading north-west from Railton about one mile south-west of Chapel Hill. The Brown Line was the only one which would not be seriously compromised by the loss of Chapel Hill. Numerous strong points had been made between the Brown and the Yellow Systems, and the support line of the former was in course of construction. A switch line from the Yellow System along Revelon Ridge to the Brown Line was begun when the blow fell, but Revelon Farm, which was to have been in this switch, was strongly defended and permanently garrisoned.

Behind this lay the Rear Zone. The villages of Heudecourt, Sorel and Fins were intended to form centres of resistance, but their fortifications had scarcely been commenced at the time of the attack. Beyond these was a continuous trench, the Green Line, running north and south through the village of Nurlu, which formed a centre of resistance. The sector for the defence of which the Ninth was responsible lay between the north end of Epinette Wood and the south end of Equancourt; it was thus echeloned in rear of the right flank of the Battle Zone. This point requires notice; for the enemy’s penetration of the Division on our right on the first day of the battle, and later the failure of the troops on our left to extend to their southern boundary, were causes of great trouble during the retreat.

The general scheme of defence may be summarised thus: The men in the Forward Zone were to maintain their ground, but no counter-attack on a large scale was to be made to recover any part of it that might be lost. But all the resources at the command of the Division were to be engaged, if necessary, to retake any part of the Battle Zone invaded by the enemy, and the artillery positions were chosen primarily with a view to the defence of the Battle Zone.

The South African Brigade[102] on the right and the 26th[103] on the left held our front. In each of these one and a half battalions were detailed for defence and local counter-attack within the Forward Zone, and the remainder was entrusted with the defence of the front of the Battle Zone. The 27th Brigade,[104] the 9th Seaforths, and the Divisional Engineers were in reserve. The 11th Royal Scots were quartered in Heudecourt, the 12th Royal Scots in Dessart Wood, and the K.O.S.B. and the 9th Seaforths in Sorel. The Divisional Reserve was to be ready to counter-attack within the Battle Zone or to man the Brown System. Of the Machine-gun Battalion, three companies were deployed in depth in the Forward Zone and in the Yellow System, and all guns were sited for direct fire, but where possible they had also been given an indirect S.O.S. line. The remaining company was in reserve at Heudecourt. The machine-gun barrage was designed to cover the valley between Gonnelieu and Villers-Guislain and the ground in front of Fifteen Ravine on the extreme left. Gun positions in the Battle Zone behind the Yellow System had been reconnoitred, and this proved of great value later, for guns hastily taken up to the south of Revelon Farm on the first day of the battle did great execution.

The Divisional Artillery, reinforced by the 65th and 130th A.F.A. Brigades, covered our sector, and the barrage-fire of the field-guns was concentrated in front of Gonnelieu and Villers-Guislain. Alternative and rear positions had been prepared, and it was noted that four batteries, which had moved into their alternative positions during the week before the attack, were not shelled during the German bombardment.

Concerning the intentions of the enemy there could be no doubt. From the beginning of March fresh indications of an impending blow were reported daily in the Intelligence Summaries of the VII. Corps and Fifth Army, though long before this the construction of railways, roads, and bridges over the Canal de St Quentin had aroused speculation. The fact that several German divisions[105] had been put in the line about the middle of February, and taken out again at the end of the month, presumably for a final rehearsal, seemed to point to the middle of March as the probable time for the beginning of the offensive. On the 12th March the Corps Intelligence Summary stated that during the last four days the enemy’s preparations had been extended to the forward area and were being carried on rapidly, noticeably north of Gonnelieu, while from the statements of prisoners it appeared probable that the attack would commence between the 14th and the 16th.

Up to this date all the information on which an estimate of the enemy’s purpose could be based came from higher authority. Not a sign of the coming thrust could be discerned by the men holding the line. The only suspicious circumstance lay in the failure of the hostile artillery to retaliate after the heavy bombardment carried out by our gunners at dawn every morning. On the 13th, 14th, and 15th, our left and the right of the Division on our left were subjected to severe gas bombardments; but apart from this the silence of the enemy’s artillery was significant. Nothing unusual occurred till the 16th, when an extraordinary amount of movement was reported by our observers, and it was noticed that our heavy artillery “shoots” caused a surprising number of explosions.

During these days of suspense Brig.-General Tudor was in command of the Ninth, General Blacklock having gone on leave on the 16th. The Corps Summary for the 19th stated that the attack was to be expected on the 20th or 21st. It would have been impossible for anyone to detect any trace of nervousness among our troops, and a remark in the diary of the Highland Brigade on the 6th March that “the enemy is supposed to be going to attack here” reflected in its cheerful unconcern the attitude of the men. But the strain of waiting was beginning to tell on them physically, since the need for unremitting vigilance and frequent “stand-to’s” materially curtailed the time for sleep. Hence the stroke of the enemy was longed for more than feared.

The German plan of attack is described in _Meine Kriegserinnerungen_ by Ludendorff. The enemy had two fronts[106] of attack; the northern extending from Croisilles to Moeuvres; the southern from Villers-Guislain to a point on the Oise near the junction of the French and British fronts. The position of the Ninth was exceptionally complicated; the southern half of its area was included in the German southern front of attack, but the northern half lay in an area comprising the Flesquières salient, which projected between the two zones of the hostile operations, and against which it was no part of Ludendorff’s plan to push home an attack. In addition to the northern wing of the Ninth, the salient was held by three divisions of the V. Corps, and provided that the pressure north and south of it met with success, Ludendorff had good reason to expect that the whole of the garrison would be cut off and forced to surrender. It is important to note that the Ninth’s line of retreat, plainly indicated on the map, lay south-west, while the direction of the enemy’s southern advance ran due west. Thus it was clear that, should the German attack compel a retirement, the Division would be in danger of being cut off, since its line of retreat took it across the enemy’s front.