III
But we had reached a stage of the battle when it was clear that another considerable effort on our part would be well worth the making.
The enemy’s resistance showed him passionately anxious to gain time. He retreated with extreme reluctance.
It was the moment to redouble our blows.
The actual small operations carried out by the Tanks during these last few days were only a minor consideration. Tanks and infantry were busy preparing for a considerable attack which was to take place on September 2. On this day, the whole vast battle reached its zenith and we broke the famous Drocourt-Quéant Line which we had failed to reach in April 1917. This line was a switch which joined on to the Hindenburg system. Though we had had scant time for elaborate preparation, the attack was to be practically a full-dress affair, eighty-one Tanks being put in on a comparatively small area. We were expecting a heavy resistance and our dispositions were very carefully made. The order of our attack was as follows, starting from the south:
With the 4th Corps near Villers-au-Flos the 7th Tank Battalion.
With the 6th Corps near Lagnicourt and Moreuil the 12th and 6th Battalions of the 1st Brigade, and against the actual Drocourt-Quéant Line with the Canadians and the 17th Corps as many Tanks as the 9th, 11th and 14th Battalions of the 3rd Brigade could muster (about forty in all).
The battle was to be fought in the intricate country of the Sensée Valley, and active operations were taking place throughout the time of preparation for the renewed battle. It was, therefore, under conditions of exceptional difficulty that the Tanks assembled, some of them being obliged to travel along our front across areas which were far from healthy. The enemy’s defences had been built in the Spring of 1917. They were remarkable for extremely strong belts of wire, and we expected that every effort would be made by the Germans to hold these defences at all cost.
Zero was at 5.30 a.m. and a clear dawn was just breaking when we launched our attack.
On the Lagnicourt sector, Tanks of the 12th Battalion immediately came under tremendous fire from field guns and anti-Tank rifles.
As it grew lighter, we discovered that a number of the heavy rifles were being fired with great effect from a derelict Whippet. This nest was soon dealt with by a male Tank.
One female Tank in this sector fired over 4000 rounds of S.A.A., until, having all its Lewis guns except one disabled, and five of its crew severely wounded, it endeavoured to return, its Commander, Lieutenant Saunders, alternately driving, working the brakes and firing the remaining gun. As the Tank was thus being successfully withdrawn, a direct hit set it on fire and the wounded men were rescued with great difficulty.
It was not far from Lagnicourt that the Whippets of the 6th Battalion operated.
They were commanded by Lieut.-Colonel West, of whose action on August 21 we have already told the story:
[85]“On the night of September 1–2, nine Whippets, under Captain C. H. Strachan, left Gomiécourt to attack in the direction of Lagnicourt. Owing to the pressure at which the Tanks had been working for the last five weeks, little time had been available for overhauling, and as the Tanks were running badly, it was impossible to get them up in time for zero hour. The Commanding Officer, Lieut.-Colonel R. A. West, D.S.O., M.C., left camp early on the morning of September 2, with two mounted orderlies. It was his intention to get up with the Whippets before they went into action, by Lagnicourt. He went as far as the infantry on horseback, in order to watch the progress of the battle, and to ascertain when to send the Whippets forward. He arrived at the front line when the enemy were in process of delivering a strong local counter-attack. The infantry battalion had suffered heavy officer casualties, and its flanks were exposed. Realising that there was a danger of the Battalion giving way, he at once rode in front of them, under extremely heavy machine-gun and rifle fire, and rallied the men. In spite of the fact that the enemy were now close upon him, he took charge of the situation, and detailed N.C.O.’s to replace officer casualties. He then rode up and down in front of the men, in face of certain death, encouraging all, and calling upon them to ‘Stick it, men and show them fight.’ His last words were ‘For God’s sake put up a good fight.’ He fell, riddled by machine-gun bullets.”
The infantry had been inspired to redoubled efforts by Colonel West’s example and the hostile attack was defeated. He had originally come to the Battalion as a Company Commander, and had been awarded the D.S.O. for his work in the Arras battle. Between August 8 and September 2, he was awarded the M.C., a bar to his D.S.O., and, for his last action, the V.C.
Elsewhere the fighting was not so heavy, and on the whole we met with less opposition than we had expected.
In the Canadian sector, the armoured cars were working in close conjunction with Tank Corps aeroplanes. At one moment a number of cars were going along a road, when four machines were hit by shells from hidden batteries. Their accompanying aeroplanes, however, immediately attacked the German guns so vigorously that the crews of the disabled cars, though completely surrounded by the enemy, were able to escape capture.
By noon, on the Canadian section, the whole elaborate maze of wire, trenches and strong points, which constituted the Drocourt-Quéant Line, was in our hands, but elsewhere there was hard fighting until dusk, especially on the reverse slopes of Dury Ridge. Dury itself we took, capturing the Town Major. Our task had not, however, we considered, been quite completed that day, and next morning Tanks and infantry prepared to “tidy up” the line, especially Maricourt Wood.
But long before zero hour, at 5.20, a glare of burning dumps in the east seemed to show that the enemy were already withdrawing, and, in fact, when the Tanks went over just after dawn, they encountered scarcely any opposition at all, save a perfunctory fire from rearguard machine-gunners. Small parties of the enemy were found in dug-outs, waiting to be captured. His infantry and guns were already well on their way back to the Canal du Nord.