CHAPTER IX
THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES
“Quenched in a boggy Syrtis, neither sea
Nor good dry land—nigh foundered, on he fares,
Treading the crude consistence; half on foot.”
Paradise Lost.
The night of July 30 was dark and wet, and towards morning a fine mizzling rain blurred the outlines of the star shells that lit up the lines. Along fifteen miles of front the English and German guns had roared against each other all night.
The waiting men shivered in their wet assembly trenches.
About three o’clock on the morning of the 31st there was a lull in the firing. A low soaking blanket of Scotch mist had crept up and lay heavily enfolding the opposing armies. Zero hour was drawing near. All along the front, men were feeling for the little footholds above the fire-step.
At 3.50 the streaming darkness was rent along the seven miles of attack. Thermite and blazing oil flared out, and such a barrage as had not yet been crashed upon the enemy’s line, and infantry and Tanks scrambled and lurched in the darkness in and out of shell-holes over the torn and slimy ground.
The German front line fell at once along the whole seven miles. Until nearly eight o’clock men and Tanks could hardly get through the mud fast enough to come to grips with the enemy. On each Corps front there were many machines that got ditched on the enemy front line as they nosed about here and there, seeking to mop up lurking machine-gun nests and snipers.
There some of them remained stuck fast, not having seen the main body of the enemy at all, so immediate had been his retreat.
His artillery was, however, active enough, and as the Tanks floundered or stuck utterly in the mud, his guns and his low-flying aeroplanes took steady toll.
All morning we pressed on, the enemy Command patiently conserving the power of its armies.
The doings of a group of Tanks belonging to the 3rd Brigade give an extraordinarily good idea of this part of the action. They were fighting on the 19th Corps front.
[35]“At 11.30 a.m. message was received that a Battalion of Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were held up on the right. Tank ‘Canada’ moved in this direction and silenced enemy machine-guns in the Railway Embankment, assisted by the Tank ‘Cuidich’n Rich.’ When patrolling in front of the infantry whilst they were consolidating, Tank bellied.
“At the same time enemy barrage came down, and both Tank ‘Canada’ and Tank ‘Cuidich’n Rich’ received direct hits. Five of the crew remained with the infantry, and assisted in repelling a counter-attack, two of the men being wounded.
“... Tank ‘Cape Colony’ arrived at Low Farm and proceeded in front of the infantry. Came under heavy shell-fire and bellied. Whilst unditching, Tanks ‘Cyprus’ and ‘Culloden’ were observed under heavy fire from anti-Tank guns, which were in position on the high ground beyond. Both ‘Cyprus’ and ‘Culloden’ were seen to be hit.
“‘Cape Colony’ then came under heavy M.G. fire from both flanks. On request of infantry ‘Cape Colony’ proceeded to a wood on right flank, where they were held up.
“Although not fired upon from the Tank, several enemy machine-gunners surrendered to the infantry, on seeing the Tank approach. ‘Cape Colony’ now turned N.E. towards Beck House, where a good view of anti-Tank guns, which had been shelling ‘Cyprus’ and ‘Culloden,’ was obtained. Whilst manœuvring to take these guns in flank or rear, the Tank sank in a swamp, water rising to the engine cover. Boche aeroplanes circled low overhead whilst unsuccessful attempts were made to unditch. Enemy shelling then became very heavy, so Lewis guns were taken out and Tank locked up.
“... Flag Tank ‘Cumbrae’ was delayed half an hour by bellying in a trench near Bill Cottage, went in front of the infantry towards second objective. Opened fire on enemy who were disappearing in direction of Delva Farm. Ground was quite water-logged, and Tank bellied in a borrow pit. Whilst digging out was fired at by a sniper, and by an aeroplane flying low overhead. Time was then zero plus 9 hours (i.e., 12.50 p.m.).
“... Tank ‘Caithness’ came under sniper and machine-gun fire near Beck House. No bullets penetrated armour-plating. Proceeded in company with Tank ‘Carstairs,’ which silenced enemy M.G. fire. Cameron Highlanders then advanced, and Tank followed, bellied near Zonnebeke Stream. Mud was up to floor level and door of sponson was pushed off its hinges. Enemy aeroplane circled overhead, and fired on them whilst attempting to unditch. Eventually Tank ‘Carstairs’ came to the rescue, and Tank was got clear.
“... Tank ‘Culloden’ had her unditching gear carried away by barbed wire near Hill Cottage. Unditching beam was recovered, but again broke lose, until secured with rope. Just west of Frost House shell burst under front of Tank. Whilst crossing light railway half-way between Frost House and Square Farm, a second shell hit roof door and killed one gunner. Tank stopped, and it was found petrol pressure pipe was cut. Time 9.15 a.m. A third shell struck behind right sponson. Crew were withdrawn from Tank, and took up a position in shell-holes near Square Farm. Tank was still being shelled, undoubtedly by an anti-Tank gun, about ten shells being fired at it in five minutes, six of which hit the Tank.
“Tank ‘Cyprus’ was then seen to be hit by the same anti-Tank gun. At 10.15 a.m. survivors of Tanks ‘Culloden’ and ‘Cyprus,’ together with undamaged Lewis guns, withdrew to Battalion Rallying Point, after pigeon messages had been despatched reporting the situation.
“... Tank ‘Carstairs’ arrived at Black Line near Beck House, but infantry had not then arrived.
“Tank soon bellied in boggy ground, but was unditched successfully. Just west of Borry Farm Tank ‘Caithness’ was found badly bellied, and with unditching gear lost.
“Having been informed by 6th Cameron Highlanders that the second objective had been captured, Tank ‘Carstairs’ hitched on to Tank ‘Caithness’ and towed it out. Enemy shell-fire was extremely heavy, and an aeroplane flew over, firing at crew with machine-guns during the operation.
“Instructions were then received to return to Battalion Rallying Point.”
Another very gallant action was fought by a Tank crew also belonging to this Battalion.
They started the battle in a Tank named “Ca’ Canny” under command of Lieutenant H. P. M. Jones, who was killed near Wilde Wood. The crew carried on under command of Corporal Jenkins until about 11 p.m., when the Tank “bellied” hopelessly. Corporal Jenkins withdrew his Lewis guns and crew, and, placing some of them on the top of the Tank and some on the ground, kept up an effective fire on the enemy, who were then attempting a small counter-attack.
He then transferred his men to another Tank, “Clyde,” whose crew had all been wounded. They fought this Tank for a further two hours, but at about three o’clock “Clyde,” too, stuck in the mud and proved inextricable. He and his crew then returned on foot to their Battalion Rallying Point.
With the 18th Corps, the 1st Brigade Tanks were on several occasions signalled for by fairly distant parties of infantry, who proceeded to “set” them at strong points that were giving trouble. This system worked extremely well, and had a particularly impressive moral effect on the enemy. Several occasions are recorded on which enemy garrisons did not wait for the Tank which had been thus “whistled up” to get near enough to fire, but surrendered as soon as they saw it coming.
Our advance had continued for about ten hours, that is, till nearly three in the afternoon, when our enterprise seemed to have succeeded.
As early as nine in the morning we held the whole of our second objective north of Westhoek.
By the afternoon we had entered St. Julien, Frezenberg and the Pommern Redoubt, and had taken the crossings of the Steenbeek and Stirling Castle.
Glencorse Wood and Inverness Copse had proved more difficult, but even here we held a footing on the ridge.
We had “riven the oak,” we were now to feel the force of the rebound.
That afternoon in a downpour of rain the enemy counter-attacked along the fronts of all three Corps. There was a fierce struggle, in which in many instances Tanks were able to do a good deal of execution.
We were shelled out of St. Julien. North of it we withdrew to the line of the Steenbeek, and we were obliged to fall back from all but the western outskirts of Westhoek.
All afternoon we slowly lost ground, yet when night fell we could still boast a battle well begun. It was, after all, never meant to be a one-day attack, and to-morrow we should start well. We had everywhere taken and held our first objective, that is, the low muddy ridge from which the enemy had so closely threatened the original Ypres arena.
The second flat valley and the higher ridge from Passchendaele to Staden now lay before us.
At least we were in a good position for to-morrow’s attack. Mr. Buchan thus in effect analyses our gains:
Along two-thirds of our line of attack we held our first objectives. On half of the remaining third we had only fallen just short of our final objective. On the remaining sixth we had even slightly exceeded our final objective. We had besides taken 6000 prisoners and a quantity of machine-guns.