I
We have said that August 22 had, in the original plan, been devoted to consolidation and to the moving up of guns. Only the 3rd Corps in the 4th Army area, with its twenty-four Tanks of the 4th and 5th Battalions, launched an interim attack on the Bray-Albert front.
We gained all our objectives. The 18th Division crossed the river Ancre, captured Albert by an enveloping movement from the south-east, and our line between the Somme and the Ancre was now advanced well to the east of the Bray-Albert road.
The left of the 4th Army was taken forward in conformity with the rest of our line.
The way had now been cleared for what was really the main attack, though it was not the attack in which the greatest number of Tanks were employed.
The assault opened on August 23 by a series of attacks on the whole of a thirty-three-mile front, that is to say, from our junction with the French, north of Lihons, to the spot near Mercatel, where the Hindenburg Line from Quéant and Bullecourt joined the old Arras-Vimy defence of 1916.
The hundred Tanks which went into action on this day were nearly all fresh machines which had not fought on the 21st.
They were distributed in groups along the fronts of both the 3rd and 4th Armies.
South of the Somme, with the Australians near Chuignolles, the largest group of nearly sixty Tanks went into action. They were machines belonging to the 2nd, 8th and 13th Battalions.
The enemy had withdrawn their anti-Tank guns to the top of the ridge, which it was impossible for Tanks to climb except at one spot. Upon this one crossing-place they had trained their guns, and here several Tanks suffered direct hits.
We attacked as usual without a preliminary bombardment and met with a desperate resistance, the German machine-gunners defending their posts with extraordinary heroism, and often firing their guns till the very moment when they and their weapons were crushed to the earth by an attacking Tank.
A particularly interesting account of the action is given in the 13th Battalion History—
“It was soon evident that the enemy were prepared to make a stout resistance; there was no definite trench system, but nests of machine-guns were encountered in organised shell-holes almost from the start; while Saint Martin’s Wood and the gully to the east of this, Herleville Wood, and the quarry at its southern end, were all strongly held by machine-guns in prepared emplacements. As before, the German gunners fought with magnificent pertinacity and courage; one Tank Commander claimed to have knocked out over thirty machine-guns, and this claim was supported by the infantry with him; the estimates of several other Tanks were almost as high. These machine-guns were provided with armour-piercing bullets, and Tanks were pitted all over and in many places penetrated by these. There is no doubt that by themselves becoming the targets for these batteries, the Tanks saved many casualties among the infantry. With the machine-guns well in hand, the Australian infantry were quick to seize the chances of advance, and by 6.30 a.m. were all established in their final objectives. After sunrise the heat of the day became oppressive in the open air, and in the Tanks intolerable. Several cases were reported of men becoming delirious during the action. The cause appears to be three-fold: the weather conditions were trying even to fresh men; in many cases the composite crew had recently endured the strain of action without a complete rest to follow; and a third disadvantage, which was inherent in the design of the Mark V. Tank, was now for the first time becoming evident. In these engines the heat generated by the explosion of the propelling gases is very great, and the exhaust pipes speedily become red, and even white hot. In a new engine this is merely an inconvenience, but after a certain period of use the joints of the exhaust pipes tend to warp, and thus to release into the inner air the carbon gases of the explosion. These gases, if breathed continuously, even in small quantities, produce exhaustion, mental confusion and finally unconsciousness. Further, the effect is cumulative, and a man once poisoned by the fumes becomes more quickly affected by further exposure to them. The study of these conditions and the remedy for them became henceforward a matter of the first importance.
“Of the twelve Tanks of the 13th Battalion which started in this action, seven reached their final objectives. Five Tanks received direct hits from enemy field guns, the crews in these cases going on with their Hotchkiss guns and assisting the infantry forward.
“Eventually nine Tanks rallied to Company Headquarters, two of these being towed out of action by their friends.”
Altogether in this part of the battle 2000 prisoners and the important villages of Chuignolles, Herleville and Chuignes had fallen to us before nightfall.
It was the same story all along the line.
In the 3rd Army area, where altogether sixty-five Tanks fought in several fairly widely separated groups, the battle was opened rather earlier by a moonlight attack, which began just before 4 a.m. against the village of Gomiécourt. In the 6th Corps’ domain, the 3rd Division was supported by ten Mark IV. Tanks of the 12th Battalion. They attacked Gomiécourt, carried it triumphantly and captured 500 prisoners. To the north of them, in the second phase, the Guards Division, with four Mark IV.’s, captured the village of Hamelincourt. At Bihucourt, just beyond Achiet-le-Grand, 300 of the enemy were forced by Tanks to surrender to the infantry. In one Whippet Tank, the officer and the sergeant were both killed, and the private drove his Tank into action by himself, when a target presented itself, locking his back axle and firing his Hotchkiss gun.
Later in the morning, some of the Whippets of the 6th Battalion were operating with the infantry of the 4th Corps to the east of Courcelles. It was suddenly noticed that the artillery barrage table had been altered, and that the rate of progress of the barrage was now 100 yards in four minutes, that is to say, considerably slower than it had been originally intended. The Tanks were therefore obliged to manœuvre and wheel about, in order to let the barrage keep ahead. They were constantly under anti-Tank gun fire at this time. Seven of the Whippets, however, did not wait, but passed through our barrage, and getting beyond it, surprised and scattered large numbers of the enemy who had taken cover. As the Germans ran, the Whippet machine-gunners were able to inflict heavy casualties upon them. Meanwhile, these seven Tanks were played upon by a perfect hail of machine-gun fire, especially from the direction of Achiet-le-Grand. Changing their direction, they advanced upon the troublesome machine-guns and succeeded in cutting off several hundred of the enemy north of the village, who had been holding up an attack by our infantry. The Whippets headed and drove them neatly towards our lines, where the King’s Royal Rifles immediately took them prisoners. Achiet-le-Grand was captured with extraordinary small losses.
Owing to the better weather conditions, aeroplane co-operation was much more successful throughout the day than it had been on August 21.
Messages dropped by aeroplanes were invaluable in keeping the whole straggling action in hand, and in giving information, by means of which commanders could send up reserves where they were wanted.
The following will give the reader an idea of the sort of information that the aeroplanes were constantly furnishing.
“Messages dropped on H.Q., 1st Brigade.
“Lieutenant Wittal (pilot). Lieutenant Mitchell (observer). 12 noon.
“Four Whippets seen in G. 21, two Mark IV. and several Whippets seen in G. 15d, all moving S.E.
“Several Whippets and Mark V. seen in G. 16a, G. 10 and 11d, proceeding S.E.
“We do not hold Bihucourt.”
The counter-Tank gun work done on this day was also exceedingly successful, the following is the report of an action fought by a counter Gun Machine:
“No. 73 Squadron.
“At 1.15 p.m. batteries were observed unlimbering and coming into action near Béhagnies. Twenty-four bombs were dropped and nearly 2000 rounds fired at these batteries, causing the greatest confusion. Several limbers were overturned, and horses stampeded, and the personnel scattered in all directions.”
Altogether we had every reason to be satisfied by the events of the day, and we prepared to continue the action with all possible vigour on the morrow.