CHAPTER IX.

THE BATTLE OF THE LYS.

(March 27-May 5, 1918.)

The New Brigade—General Tanner takes Command—Ludendorff’s Strategy in the North—The Weakness of the British Position—The Attack of 9th April—Von Armin attacks on the 10th—The Brigade moves into Line—Attached to the 19th Division—The Counter-attack on Messines—The Situation on the Evening of the 10th—The South Africans forced back from Messines—Plumer’s General Withdrawal—The Brigade relieved—The Fight for Mont Kemmel—The Brigade in the Vierstraat Line—The Counter-attack on Wytschaete—Von Armin’s Failure of the 17th—The Brigade withdrawn—The Composite Battalion formed—The New South African Brigade—Attached to the 49th Division—The Attack of 26th April—The Attack of 29th April—End of the Battle of the Lys—The Forty-five Days.

[Sidenote: _April 1._]

The old Brigade had come to an end, but the glory which South Africa had won on the Western front required that without delay it should have a successor. The story of Marrières Wood, for all its tragedy, was too great to be permitted to lack a fitting sequel. General Botha, on behalf of the Union Government, telegraphed to Haig during these days: “We are watching with appreciation the strenuous efforts which you and your gallant men are making in this supreme struggle for the liberty of mankind.” To this the Commander-in-Chief replied: “The fine part already played by South Africa in this great battle is a symbol of the strength and unity of purpose that binds together all parts of the British Empire.” When the composite battalion, under Lieutenant-Colonel Young, was withdrawn from the line on the night of 27th March, it marched along with the rest of the 9th Division to Candas, arriving there on 1st April. It detrained at Abeele on the morning of the 2nd, and moved into the Ridgewood area. Every man who could be found was brought from England, and during the next few days drafts to the number of 17 officers and 945 other ranks arrived. The reorganization of the Brigade was immediately begun, and General Tanner, the former leader of the 2nd Regiment, came from the 8th Brigade to its command. The presence of Tanner was in itself a pledge of continuity in tradition. Presently the Brigade had a strength of 39 officers and 1,473 other ranks, and the old regiments were once more in being, the 1st under Lieutenant-Colonel Young, the 2nd under Captain Jacobs, and the 4th under Captain Reid.

[Sidenote: _April 6._]

By the 6th of April the German thrust towards Amiens had failed, and for the moment the gate of the Somme was closed. Brought to a standstill, Ludendorff cast about for a diversion, for he could not permit the battle to decline into a stalemate, and so lose the initiative. His main purpose was the same, but he sought to achieve it by a new method. He would attack the British elsewhere on some part of the front where they were notoriously weak, and compel Foch to use up his reserves in its defence. Then, when the Allied “mass of manœuvre” had shrunk, he would strike again at the weakened door of Amiens. On Ludendorff’s plan the operation was to be a strictly subsidiary one, designed to prepare the way for the accomplishment of his main task farther south. He proposed to allot only nine divisions for the initial stroke, and to choose a battle-ground where even a weak force might obtain surprising results.

That battle-ground was the area on both sides of the Lys between the La Bassée Canal and the Wytschaete Ridge. The German Staff were aware that it had already been thinned to supply ten divisions for the contest in the south, and that at the moment it was weakly held, mainly by troops exhausted in the Somme battle. Haig, as we know from his dispatch, had drawn especially upon this section, since a retreat there would not imperil the whole front so gravely as would the loss of ground between La Bassée and Arras. Nevertheless, it was a very real danger-point. The enemy had the great city of Lille to screen his assembly. Certain key-points of communications, like Béthune and Hazebrouck, lay at no great distance behind the British front. The British communications were poor, and the German were all but perfect. Any advance threatened the Channel Ports, and might be expected to cause acute nervousness in the mind of British Headquarters. Reinforcements would be demanded from Foch, and the place was far enough from the Amiens battle-ground to put a heavy strain upon the Allied power of reinforcement. Ludendorff’s aim was by a sharp, short thrust to confuse the Allied plans and absorb their reserves. If he could break through at once between La Bassée and Armentières and capture Béthune, he could swing north-westward and take Hazebrouck and the hills beyond Bailleul, and so compel a general retirement west of Dunkirk and the floods of the river Aa. But to succeed he must have a broad enough front. He must take Béthune at once and the Messines Ridge soon after, for, if the British pillars of the gate at Givenchy and Messines should stand, his advance would be squeezed into narrows where even a weak and tired force might hold it.

[Sidenote: _April 8-9._]

On the 8th the South African Brigade moved to hutments along the road between La Clytte and the little hill of Scherpenberg. On the morning of Tuesday, 9th April, Ludendorff struck between the Lys and La Bassée with von Quast’s VI. Army. He broke that part of the line held by the Portuguese, and in the afternoon had swept over the Lys on a broad front. But at one vital point he failed. The 55th (West Lancashire) Division still held the gatepost at Givenchy, and throughout the whole battle that key position was never yielded by British troops.

[Sidenote: _April 10._]

That night General Tudor instructed Tanner that the South Africans would be placed at the disposal of the 19th Division, which, along with the 25th and 9th Divisions, was holding the Messines Ridge and the line just north of the Lys. The corps was the IX., under Lieutenant-General Sir A. Hamilton Gordon. Next morning, 10th April, at 5.30 a.m., the IV. German Army, under our old antagonist at Ypres, Sixt von Armin, attacked from Frelinghien to as far north as Hill 60. Under cover of the fog the enemy filtered into our positions from Ploegsteert Wood to Messines along the valleys of the Warnave and Douve streams. By noon he had taken Ploegsteert village and the south-east part of the wood, and had got Messines, while farther north he had driven in our line as far as Hollebeke, and was close on the Wytschaete crest. Ludendorff was striking hard against the northern pillar of the gate.

At eight that morning the Brigade was ordered to move to a position of assembly just south of the village of Neuve Eglise, where they formed part of the reserve of the IX. Corps. During the morning the march was accomplished, and for the first time the South Africans saw the impact of war upon a land yet undevastated. Tanner wrote in his diary: “The sights in that march from La Clytte are never likely to be forgotten by those who witnessed them. With the falling back of our line that morning the shelling of the back areas had greatly increased, both in density and length of range. As a result, a large belt of country previously unmolested became subjected to a terrifying storm of long-range projectiles, and the inhabitants, who up to then had been conducting peacefully their farming operations, were compelled to flee for shelter beyond the reach of the enemy guns. As we approached Neuve Eglise the road from Scherpenberg onward presented a constant stream of fugitives, old men, women, and children, laden with what household goods they could remove in carts, wheelbarrows, and perambulators. The most pitiable sights were those of infirm old people being removed in barrows, pushed or pulled by women and children.” That was a spectacle which British troops had already seen east of Amiens, and it was not likely to weaken their determination in the coming battle.

At noon Tanner saw Major-General Jeffreys, commanding the 19th Division, and received his orders. The enemy had broken through between Messines and the place called Pick House on the Wytschaete road, and the situation at the moment was obscure. The South Africans were to counter-attack and retake that section of the crest of the ridge. The front established by the Messines victory of June 1917 had been more than two miles east of the crest, but that morning’s fighting had brought it back generally to the western slopes. The counter-attack, in which the 57th and 58th Brigades of the 19th Division were to co-operate, was aimed at recovering the ridge and its eastern slopes. The area of the South African Brigade was between Messines village and Lumm’s Farm. Their first objective was the Messines-Wytschaete road; the second the original British third defence zone, bending round the village on the east from Bethlehem Farm in the south to Pick House in the north; and the third the original battle zone. The defence system in this area had not the elaboration of that of the Somme, and the second and third objectives may be best described as the old British third and second lines.

At 5.15 p.m. the South Africans moved from their position of assembly to the line of the Steenebeek stream, where, at 5.45, they deployed for the attack. The 1st Regiment was on the right, and directed against Messines village; the 2nd on the left against the front between the village and Pick House. The 4th was in support to both battalions, and one of its companies was allotted to the assistance of the attack of the 1st on Messines itself. The spring day had clouded over, and there was mist and a slight drizzle when the infantry advanced. The western slopes of the ridge were held at the time only by some units of the 19th Division. On the South African right was the 57th Brigade, and on their left, beyond Pick House, on the Wytschaete Ridge, the rest of the 9th Division.

[Illustration: ACTION OF SOUTH AFRICAN BRIGADE ON MESSINES RIDGE.]

In the mist it was not easy to keep close touch, and the 1st Regiment reached the western slopes ahead of the time, so that for a little its left flank was out of touch with the 2nd. As had been expected our artillery support proved very weak, and in no way affected the German machine gunners established in our old strong-points, and their snipers in shell-holes. As the South Africans approached the crest they were met by a heavy fire from the outskirts of the village, and from Middle Farm, Four Huns Farm, and Pick House. Nevertheless, by 6.30 the 2nd Regiment had won its first objective and crossed the Messines-Wytschaete road. Presently it had reached the second position, “D” Company, on the left, capturing Lumm’s Farm with two machine guns, much ammunition, and part of the garrison, while the right companies, reinforced by part of the 4th Regiment, took Four Huns Farm, Middle Farm, and Swayne’s Farm, together with four machine guns and many prisoners. Pick House itself, however, which consisted of three concrete pill-boxes, was too strongly held, and Captain Jacobs, commanding the 2nd, was compelled to swing back his left company to Earl Farm, where it formed a defensive flank in touch with the 5th South Wales Borderers in the 58th Brigade. Here it was heavily enfiladed from a strong-point north of Messines and from Pick House, and early in the night Jacobs took up a crescent-shaped line astride the Messines-Wytschaete road, with his right resting on Middle Farm, his left on Petits Puits, and his own headquarters at Hell Farm. His casualties on the left had been slight, but the companies of the 2nd on the right had lost some 50 per cent. of their effectives, among them Lieutenant Pope-Hennessy killed, and Lieutenant Jenner wounded.

In the meantime the 1st Regiment had met the enemy issuing from Messines, had charged him with the bayonet, and had driven him back well over the ridge. In the eastern outskirts of the village, however, they were held up by heavy machine-gun fire from the direction of Bethlehem Farm, and from various strong-points north of it. One of the latter was captured, and many prisoners were taken. For an hour there was severe hand-to-hand fighting, in which many casualties were sustained, all the officers in the vicinity being either killed or wounded. Among those who fell were Captain A. E. Ward and Lieutenants Hopgood and Griffiths, while Captains Burgess, Larmuth, and Tobias, and Lieutenants Lawrence, Neville, Spyker, Carstens, Christensen, and Clarke were wounded. Captain Burgess, in especial, gallantly led a small detachment through heavy fire to the east of the village. Owing to the shortage of men the position soon became untenable, and what was left of the 1st Regiment was compelled to withdraw to a line about 100 yards west of Messines. The headquarters of the 4th Regiment in support had been established at Birthday Farm.

The situation, therefore, on the Wednesday evening was as follows. The new German line ran from Hollebeke, east of Wytschaete, which was held by the 9th Division; along the crest of the Messines Ridge, and just west of the village; through the south-east corner of Ploegsteert Wood, and west of Ploegsteert village. Farther south the advance was deeper, for the enemy were north of Steenwerck, north and west of Estaires, just east of Lestrem and the Lawe River, and then curving south-eastward in front of the unbroken position at Givenchy. It was a narrow front for a great advance, for the pillars at Givenchy and the Messines Ridge were still standing. The safety of the British front depended upon the 55th, the 19th, and the 9th Divisions.

[Sidenote: _April 11._]

Little happened during the night of the 10th. The South Africans retained their ground, and endeavoured to gain touch with the troops of the 9th Division about Pick House, while the 4th Regiment took over part of the line of the depleted 1st. On the morning of the 11th the 108th Brigade was moved forward in support of the South Africans, and took up a line along the Steenebeek stream. The South African front at the time ran from the western skirts of Messines through the Moulin de l’Hospice, then to Middle Farm and Lumm’s Farm northwards, and back to Petits Puits, with an outpost at Rommen’s Farm.

Early in the afternoon von Armin attacked with fresh troops, and the situation north of the Lys became very grave. On the British right the 40th Division was forced well north of Steenwerck. On its left the 34th Division was strongly attacked, and with difficulty succeeded in holding Nieppe, which, owing to the pressure on the 25th Division from Ploegsteert, had now become an ugly salient. That afternoon the crest of the Messines Ridge was lost. The enemy attacked in great force on the South African left on the line between Middle Farm and Petits Puits, and drove the 2nd Regiment back to a front parallel to and about 600 yards west of the Messines-Wytschaete road. Captain Jacobs having been wounded during the morning, Captain L. Greene assumed command, and, with Lieutenant Thompson of the 4th Regiment, immediately counter-attacked and regained the lost ground. Presently, however, the enemy succeeded in working round the left flank, and the South Africans were compelled to retire to a line 200 yards east of Hell Farm, where they were in touch on their left with the 5th South Wales Borderers. In this position, in spite of repeated assaults, they were able to remain during the evening. There was also trouble on the right, where the 4th Regiment had relieved the 1st. Middle Farm had been strongly assaulted, and our counter-attack had sustained severe casualties. The 108th Brigade moved up in support, and for the moment the German advance was arrested.

The loss of the Messines Ridge, though the 9th Division was still standing south of Hollebeke and at Wytschaete, compelled Plumer to rearrange his front. Early on the night of the 11th he relinquished Nieppe, retiring the 34th Division to the neighbourhood of Pont d’Echelles. This involved the falling back of the 25th and 19th Divisions to a front about 1,000 yards east of Neuve Eglise and Wulverghem, and the consequent abandonment of the important point, Hill 63, just north of the western extremity of Ploegsteert Wood. South of the Lys there had been heavy fighting. The line of the Lawe had been lost, and by this time the enemy was in Merville. That night the British front ran from Givenchy to Locon, west of Merville, west of Neuf Berquin, north of Steenwerck and Nieppe, east of Neuve Eglise and Wulverghem, west of Messines, and along the ridge just covering Wytschaete. The gate was open, but it was narrow, and the gate-posts still held.

[Sidenote: _April 12._]

About four on the afternoon of the 11th orders had been received from the 19th Division for a general withdrawal. The South Africans were to fall back to a line from North Midland Farm by Kruisstraat Cabaret and Spanbroekmolen to Maedelstaede Farm, with the 108th Brigade on their right and the 57th in reserve along the Neuve Eglise-Kemmel road. About eight o’clock the Germans were found to be working round the left flank in the vicinity of L’Enfer, and accordingly two companies of the 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers from the 108th Brigade were sent to the north of L’Enfer to obtain touch with the 9th Division. For the rest, the withdrawal was carried out without incident. By 5 a.m. on the 12th the South Africans were in their new front.

Up to now the enemy had not used more than sixteen divisions; but on the morning of Friday, the 12th, he began to throw in his reserves at a furious pace. Elated by his rapid success, he turned what was meant as a diversion into a major operation, and dreamed of Boulogne and Calais. It was Ludendorff’s first blunder, and it was fatal. It saved the Allied front, but for the moment it all but destroyed the British army. Our reinforcements were arriving from the south, but they could only gradually come into line. That day the enemy came very near to crossing the La Bassée Canal. He made an ugly gap in our line south-west of Bailleul, which let through detachments, who seized Merris and Oultersteene north of the railway. He was now close on Bailleul Station, pushing direct for Hazebrouck, and but for a gallant stand of a brigade of the 33rd Division, would have been through the breach. In the section of the 9th and 19th Divisions nothing happened. The enemy, having gained the Messines Ridge, was apparently content to rest there for a time, and made no further attack.

[Sidenote: _April 13._]

The South African Brigade was to have been relieved during the night of the 12th, but the relief was cancelled, since the troops detailed to take its place had to be used to restore the situation farther south. During the night Tanner established an outpost line along the Wulverghem-Wytschaete road. On the morning of Saturday, the 13th, his outposts reported that the Germans, under cover of the mist, were massing opposite Kruisstraat Cabaret. They were quickly dispersed by our artillery, which during the day dealt faithfully with similar concentrations. That night the Brigade was relieved in line by the 58th, and withdrew to hutments at La Clytte, where it came once more under the 9th Division.

The stand at Messines by the South Africans played a vital part in the battle of the Lys. For thirty hours the Brigade delayed the enemy’s advance, and took heavy toll of him. In the words of the special order of the IX. Corps, “Its tenacity in the face of superior numbers and heavy firing undoubtedly relieved a serious situation, and obliged the enemy, when he was able to occupy the ridge, to be content to stay there during the whole of the 12th April without any further attempt to advance.” Major-General Jeffreys, commanding the 19th Division, and Sir A. Hamilton Gordon, the Corps Commander, bore testimony to the quality of the exploit. The latter wrote, “I wish to express to the General of the South African Brigade and to all his officers and men, my appreciation of their wonderful fighting spirit and most gallant doings in the great fight which we have been having in the last three days against heavy odds.” Sir Herbert Plumer wrote that if any unit could be selected for exceptional praise it was the South African Brigade. Remember that the great majority of the men were new drafts, who had just arrived from home. Once again the Brigade had performed what seemed to be its predestined duty in an action—fighting outside its own area with its flank turned; and, as was inevitable, it paid a heavy price. For the three days its casualty list amounted to 639 all ranks; of these 89 were killed, 270 were wounded, and 280 were missing, of whom the majority were afterwards proved to be dead. Yet, as the men marched back from the line, their spirits seemed to be as high as when they had entered it.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: _April 14-15._]

The spell of rest was destined to be short. Von Armin was pressing hard for Mont Kemmel. On the 13th the 29th and 31st Divisions had fought a most gallant fight in front of Bailleul, where, with the assistance of the 4th Guards Brigade, they held the line till the 1st Australian Division could come up and organize positions east of the Forest of Nieppe. “No more brilliant exploit,” wrote Sir Douglas Haig, “has taken place since the opening of the enemy’s offensive, though gallant actions have been without number.” All that day, too, the 33rd and 49th Divisions were hotly engaged in front of Neuve Eglise. In the evening the enemy made his way between that village and La Crèche, and so outflanked the left of the 34th. During the night Plumer withdrew to the high ground called the Ravelsberg, between Neuve Eglise and Bailleul, and the former village the following morning passed into German hands. The threat to Hazebrouck was now acute, for von Armin was on the edge of the line of upland from Mont des Cats to Kemmel, which commanded all the northern plain towards the Channel. On Sunday, the 14th, there was a little respite; but on Monday morning the 19th Division was hard pressed at Wytschaete, and three fresh German divisions, including the Bavarian Alpine Corps, attacked our front on the Ravelsberg, and at nine in the evening entered Bailleul. About that time the remnants of the South African Brigade were moved to the Reninghelst area, with orders to be prepared to march at an hour’s notice.

[Sidenote: _April 16._]

In the early hours of Tuesday, the 16th, the British front at Wytschaete and Spanbroekmolen was attacked in force, with the result that both places fell. At 8.30 came orders from the 9th Division that the South Africans should move at once to a position in the Vierstraat line from Desinet Farm, in the north, to La Polka, just east of Kemmel village. General Tudor was about to attempt the recapture of Wytschaete. By noon the South Africans were in position, the 1st Regiment on the right, 250 strong, and the 4th Regiment, with the same strength, on the left; while the 2nd Regiment, 292 strong, was disposed in the second line along the whole front in the trenches which were known as Sackville Street.

[Illustration: SCENE OF FIGHTING AROUND MONT KEMMEL.]

At 3.30 in the afternoon Tanner was instructed to send 100 men of the 2nd Regiment to occupy an advanced position between Store Farm and Van Damme Farm, part of the line from which it was proposed to make the counterstroke. These men were required to form a garrison there, while the attack was delivered by the French. Meantime on the left the 26th Brigade of the 9th Division was to move on Wytschaete. The latter attack was launched at 7.30 in the evening, but was held up in the north-west of the village. A quarter of an hour before midnight Tudor ordered Tanner to place the 4th South Africans under the orders of Colonel Mudie, the officer commanding the 7th Seaforth Highlanders, in order to assist in clearing up the situation. At midnight the 1st South Africans and, two hours later, the 2nd South Africans (less the garrison on the Store-Van Damme Farm line) were also dispatched to the Seaforths. The 4th Regiment on its arrival was employed to fill a gap in the line on the north-west skirts of the village, while the 1st and 2nd Regiments were held in reserve. Some hours later Captain Farrell, who was now in command of the 4th, reported that parties of his men had succeeded in entering Wytschaete, but on account of heavy machine-gun fire and the lack of touch with their flanks, had been compelled to fall back.

[Sidenote: _April 17._]

Such was the situation on the morning of the 17th. It was for the enemy the most critical moment, perhaps, in the whole Battle of the Lys. He had reached his greatest strength, and the British troops were not yet reinforced at any point within sight of security. That morning von Armin’s right attacked in the Ypres salient, and wholly failed to break the Belgian front. At the same time his left, now that the possession of the Wytschaete Ridge gave him observation over all the land to the west, assaulted the wooded slopes of Kemmel, the key of the countryside. After an intense bombardment the German infantry advanced with great resolution from their new positions at Neuve Eglise and Wulverghem, but were repulsed at all points with heavy losses by the 34th, 49th, and 19th Divisions. Von Armin’s cherished plan had signally failed. During the 17th the South African Brigade was temporarily placed under the 26th Brigade, and the 100 men of the 2nd in the Store-Van Damme Farm line rejoined their regiment in front of Wytschaete. In that position during the night the 1st and 2nd South Africans relieved the 4th Regiment and the 7th Seaforth Highlanders, the 4th returning to the La Polka-Desinet Farm section, where it came once again under Tanner.

[Sidenote: _April 18._]

[Sidenote: _April 19-20._]

Meantime Tudor had received the 62nd and 64th Brigades from the 21st Division as reinforcements, and contemplated a further attack upon Wytschaete. The 64th Brigade relieved the 26th, while the 1st and 2nd South Africans remained in line under the orders of the former Brigade. This plan, however, did not mature. During the morning of the 18th, under cover of mist, the enemy assaulted the position held by the 1st Regiment, and captured its advanced posts, one officer, Lieutenant Hogg, being killed, and 48 other ranks missing. Save for this incident the situation remained unchanged that day. On the 19th 100 men of the 4th Regiment were detailed to relieve some troops of the 19th Division. On the night of the 20th, the 4th was relieved in the southern part of the Vierstraat line and moved into support, while the detachment lent to the 19th Division rejoined its unit. Early on the morning of the 22nd the 1st and 2nd Regiments were also relieved and moved to Dickebusch, and on the 23rd the whole Brigade reassembled in the Hopoutre area.

[Sidenote: _April 23._]

It was clear that the reconstructed Brigade could not continue. The drafts received after the _débâcle_ of 24th March had been used up in the heavy fighting on the Messines-Wytschaete Ridge, and further reinforcements were not forthcoming to build it up to some semblance of fighting strength. No other course was possible but to organize the remnants into one battalion. The history of the doings of the South Africans in France is now the history of this composite unit, which was commanded by Lieut.-Colonel H. W. M. Bamford, M.C., of the 2nd Regiment, with Major H. H. Jenkins of the 1st as second-in-command, and Second-Lieutenant MacFie of the 4th as adjutant. The four companies were made up of officers, N.C.O’s, and men of the old regiments, and these, with the drafts arriving from England, brought the battalion to a total strength of 59 officers and 1,527 other ranks.

The name of the South African Brigade was still to be retained, and the unit was to include, in addition to the Composite Battalion, the 9th Scottish Rifles (formerly in the 27th Brigade) and the 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers, that famous battalion which at Ramillies had, along with the Buffs, led the decisive movement, and which at First Ypres had been all but annihilated. General Tanner was to be the Brigadier. To reconstruct a new brigade and a new battalion takes time, and while the work was in process the unfinished product had to be flung into the fight, for the Battle of the Lys was not over. Ludendorff had dipped too deeply in the north to withdraw easily. He had incurred great losses without gaining any real strategical objective, and he could not bring himself to write off these losses without another effort to pluck the fruit which was so near his grasp. If he could seize Kemmel Hill, he would broaden his comfortless salient and win direct observation over the northern plain. In front of Kemmel was the junction of the British and French lines, which he regarded as the weakest spot in our front. Accordingly on Thursday, the 25th April, he struck again for Kemmel.

[Sidenote: _April 25._]

In the early hours of that day a heavy enemy bombardment presaged the coming attack. At 3.35 a.m. the South African Battalion, which had been taken over on the 24th by Lieutenant-Colonel Bamford, was warned to be ready to move at fifteen minutes’ notice. At 5 a.m. von Armin attacked with nine divisions, five of which were fresh. His purpose was to capture Kemmel by a direct assault on the French, and by a simultaneous attack on the British right south of Wytschaete to turn their flank and separate the two forces. At first he seemed about to succeed. By ten that morning he had worked his way round the lower slopes and taken Kemmel village and the hill itself, though isolated French troops still held out in both places. In the British area the 9th and 49th Divisions were hotly engaged west of Wytschaete, and before midday the right of the 9th was forced back to Vierstraat. In the afternoon the 21st Division, farther north, was also attacked, and by the evening the British front had been compelled to withdraw to positions running from Hill 60 in the north by Voormezeele and Ridge Wood to the hamlet of La Clytte on the Poperinghe-Kemmel road, where it linked up with the French.

[Sidenote: _April 26._]

By the next morning supports had arrived, and Plumer made a great effort to recapture the lost ground. The 25th Division, along with French troops and elements of the 21st and 49th Divisions, re-entered Kemmel village, but found themselves unable to maintain it against flanking fire from the northern slopes of the hill. After midday came the second wave of the German assault. It failed to make ground owing to the gallant resistance of the 49th (West Riding) Division, under Major-General Blacklock, and of troops of the 21st, 30th, 39th, and 9th Divisions, all four of which had been fighting for five weeks without rest. That afternoon the French recaptured Locre, on the saddle between Kemmel Hill and the heights to the west, so that our line in that quarter now ran just below the eastern slopes of the Scherpenberg, east of Locre, and then south of St. Jans-Cappel to Méteren.

[Sidenote: _April 27._]

At 2.15 that afternoon General Tanner took over command of the sector held by the 26th Brigade. He had the 9th Scottish Rifles in line, and the 8th Black Watch and the 5th Camerons (both of the 26th Brigade) in support and reserve, for the South African Battalion was still in divisional reserve at Hopoutre. Presently the Black Watch and the Camerons were relieved by the 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers. The South African Brigade was for the moment under the command of the G.O.C. 49th Division. Tanner’s line ran roughly from the crossroads called Confusion Corner, west of Vierstraat, to the southern end of Ridge Wood. The 9th Division was now back in support, and Tanner had on his right troops of the 49th, and on his left the 21st. The German attack came at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, and was repulsed with heavy losses; but the 9th Scottish Rifles suffered so gravely that they were relieved by the 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers. The night passed quietly, and on the 27th the South African Battalion, with a strength of 23 officers and 707 other ranks, moved forward and took up position in the La Clytte-Dickebusch support line. There it remained for two days under considerable shell-fire, which occasioned some 60 casualties.

[Sidenote: _April 29._]

On the 28th the fighting fell chiefly to the lot of the French at Locre, and there was no material change in the situation. But on the morning of Monday, the 29th, after one of the most intense German bombardments of the war, von Armin attacked the whole front from west of Dranoutre to Voormezeele. The Allied line at the moment ran round the eastern base of Mont Rouge, just covering Locre, across the low saddle of the range to the meadows in front of La Clytte, and thence by Voormezeele to the Ypres-Comines Canal. The British right was in the neighbourhood of the crossroads which we called Hyde Park Corner, on the saddle between the Scherpenberg and Mont Rouge. There lay the 25th Division as far as the little stream which runs from Kemmel to the Dickebusch Lake. On its left was the 49th Division as far as Voormezeele, and beyond it the 21st Division to the canal. Von Armin made three main assaults—the first against the French to carry Locre and Mont Rouge; the second, at the junction of the French and the 25th Division, aimed at turning the Scherpenberg; and the third, between the 49th and 21st Divisions, to turn the obstacle of Ridge Wood.

The infantry attack was launched at 5 a.m. in a dense mist by at least eleven divisions—six against the French and five against the British. It was delivered in mass formation, the density being from six to eight bayonets to the yard. On the British front no ground was gained at all. The three divisions in line, with the assistance of troops of the 30th and 39th Divisions, not only stood firm, but in some cases advanced to meet the Germans and drove them back with the bayonet. By the end of the day the single German gain was the village of Locre, which was retaken by the French the following morning.

The battle of the 29th was a complete and most costly German repulse. The enemy had attacked with some 80,000 men, and his casualties were at least a quarter of his strength. The Royal Scots Fusiliers in Tanner’s brigade had suffered heavily, and the South African Battalion was ordered to relieve them. The work was complete by four o’clock on the morning of the 30th. For the next five days the situation was unchanged, for the fight on the 29th was the last great episode of the Battle of the Lys. Lieutenant B. W. Goodwin was killed by shell-fire on the 30th, and throughout the time the South African lines were consistently shelled. The enemy posted at Kemmel dominated our trenches, and movement during the day was dangerous. Happily, however, the misty weather and the poor visibility were on the side of the defence. On the 4th, Second-Lieutenant E. C. Addison, who had but recently joined, was killed by a shell, and the total casualties in this part of the line were, approximately, 200. On the night of the 5th the Battalion was relieved, and moved back without losses, though a party of guides under Lieutenant Stokes, who had gone ahead of the main body, was less fortunate. Lieutenant Stokes, whose gallantry had been conspicuous during the past days, was severely wounded, and four of his men were killed. The Brigade had now rejoined the 9th Division.

[Sidenote: _May 5._]

If we take 5th May as marking the close of the Battle of the Lys we may pause to reflect upon the marvels of the forty-five preceding days. More history had been crowded into their span than into many a year of campaigning. They had seen Ludendorff’s great thrust for Amiens checked in the very moment of success. They had seen the not less deadly push for the Channel ports held up for days by weak divisions which bent but did not break, and finally die away with its purpose still far from achievement. In those forty-five days the South African Brigade had been twice destroyed as a unit, and in each case its sacrifice had been the salvation of the British army. At Marrières Wood it delayed the advance which would have made an irreparable breach between Gough and Byng; on the ridge of Messines it maintained the northern pillar of our defence long enough to permit reserves to come up from the south. On 11th April Haig had issued his famous order, in which he warned his troops that they were fighting with their backs to the wall, and that every position must be held to the last man. The veterans of Marrières Wood and the new drafts of Messines obeyed this command to the letter. When the Composite Battalion was formed, there were men in it who had been fighting with Dawson or Tanner since the 21st of March. The few survivors of the forty-five days had behind them such a record of fruitful service as the whole history of the War could scarcely parallel.