THE BATTLE OF FESTUBERT.
Suppose for a moment that, in the first week of May, a British soldier in the captured village of Neuve Chapelle is looking towards the German lines. Away to the north-east he sees a long ridge crowned by the village of Aubers. He gazes upon this ridge with eyes of desire, and recalls the many determined but, so far, fruitless efforts which the British army has made to capture it. He remembers that, as far back as October 17, 1914, the red-roofed village in the distance was in British hands, and that two days later the 2nd Royal Irish, by storming the hamlet of Le Pilly,[40] attained our "farthest east." But our grasp of the ridge was very feeble; it could not be held, and by mid-November we had fallen back behind the ruins amidst which our soldier now stands. The coveted position was as far off as ever.
Fresh in his memory is that terrible day in the second week of March 1915, when he raced through the streets of Neuve Chapelle full of hope that the goal would be reached before nightfall. Alas! he and his fellows were again doomed to disappointment. The Aubers ridge, so near and yet so far, was still beyond our grasp. And now the rumour reaches his ears that another big effort is to be made. The French are striving south of the canal to carry Lens,[41] and we are to attack for the double purpose of preventing the enemy from sending reinforcements to the south, and of reaching the ridge if possible. Once we are securely established on it the flat plain to the eastward will be commanded by our guns, and La Bassée and Lille will soon know the German no more.
Look at this map and find the wood of Biez, which, you will remember, figured largely in the fighting around Neuve Chapelle. To the east of the wood you will see a road which skirts the ridge for a mile and a half and then climbs it to pass through the villages of Aubers and Fromelles. We were now about to make a thrust through the wood and through Fromelles, in the hope of reaching the ridge. On the morning of Sunday, 9th May, the 8th Division advanced against the village, and at the same time the 1st Corps and the Indians began to push through the wood. The attacks were preceded by the usual bombardment. Our high-explosive shells wrecked the first line trenches of the enemy, but unhappily did not do sufficient damage to the second line, and our men found themselves up against unbroken wire and unbreached parapets. Some ground was gained, but it could not be held, and by the evening we had made but little progress. Many fine deeds of heroism were done during the fierce fighting of the day.
On the left the 24th and 25th Brigades behaved most gallantly, and a Territorial battalion, the 13th (Kensington) of the London Regiment, performed a feat which won high and well-deserved praise from Sir John French. The Kensington men carried three lines of German trenches with the bayonet, and held on to them until the German artillery fire became so intense that flesh and blood could no longer endure it. When they fell back they had but four company officers left.
Sir Douglas Haig now recognized that the attack against the Biez Wood and Fromelles had failed. Nothing daunted, he now proposed to make another attempt to win the Aubers ridge, this time from positions between Neuve Chapelle and Givenchy. On the map (p. [231]) you will see Festubert, which is less than a mile to the north of Givenchy. From Festubert, and from the points to the north of it marked A and B, three attacks were to be made. The Indians and part of the 2nd Division were to push forward from A; the 20th Brigade of the 7th Division was to advance from B; the 22nd Brigade of the same division, from Festubert. In front of our positions, across the wet fields, the Germans lay in three lines of trenches, all of which would have to be carried before the Aubers ridge could be reached.
All day Saturday, 15th May, British troops were pouring into the trenches, and the Germans guessed what was afoot. During the afternoon they frequently shouted, "Come on; we are ready!" In the late afternoon Sir John French rode along the line greeting his men with inspiring words, and wishing them good luck in the coming struggle. A heavy bombardment of the German front had been going on for some days. Now it grew heavier, and shortly before midnight on Saturday evening, 15th May, the order to assault was given.
As our men at A left their trenches the sky was lit up by the white glare of German flares and searchlights. The Indians soon found themselves checked by the fire of many machine guns installed in a group of farms which the Germans had turned into little fortresses. The 2nd Division, however, carried the first line trenches opposite to them, and broke into the second line. By daybreak five or six hundred yards of the first two lines of the enemy's trenches were in our hands. All day Sunday the big guns of the enemy fiercely bombarded these trenches, and created a zone of fire behind them. Nevertheless many heroes carrying supplies of ammunition and bombs crossed the three hundred yards which separated them from their comrades. Shells burst around them; the whole space was swept by machine-gun fire, and a man had to risk his life a hundred times before he could get through.
Ammunition parties of the "A" Company of the 1st King's (Liverpool), under Lieutenants Hutchison and Roberts, succeeded in this perilous work, though their casualties were very heavy. Lance-Corporal Tombs of the same regiment displayed wonderful heroism in rescuing the wounded, lying out in the open, and was afterwards awarded the Victoria Cross. On the 17th Lieutenant Hutchison led a party of bombers along a trench, partly held by us and partly by the Germans. So skilfully was this work accomplished that 200 Germans were forced to surrender, and 200 others were driven pell-mell down their communication trench. For this fine exploit Lieutenant Hutchison was awarded the Military Cross.
The attack in the centre made good headway. Though checked by a flanking fire, the 20th Brigade pushed on, and when reinforced reached the outskirts of the hamlet marked C, where it broke into the second line trenches. Late on Sunday evening the 1st Grenadiers were brought up, and their bombing attacks were successful in driving many Germans from their lairs. One company of the 2nd Scots Guards on this part of the line advanced too far ahead, and was cut off. Like the Canadians at St. Julien, the trapped Guards fought to the last man. When we took the ground a few days later the gallant fellows were found lying stiff and cold, with the enemy's dead thick around them.
The movement from Festubert was still more successful. The trenches against which the attack was launched formed a perfect maze; yet an advance of more than a mile was made. The 1st Welsh Fusiliers swarmed over the German parapets with real Celtic ardour, and drove the enemy down a long communication trench into an orchard. Company Sergeant-Major Barter of this regiment called for volunteers, and he and his eight devoted companions did miracles of heroism in the German second line. They cleared five hundred yards of trench, discovered and cut the leads of eleven mines, and captured three officers and 102 men. Sergeant-Major Barter afterwards received the Victoria Cross.
Next day rain fell heavily, but the struggle in the trenches still continued. On this day a terrible scene was witnessed at a point between A and C. The remnant of a battalion of Saxons proposed to surrender. As they advanced towards our line they waved a white flag tied to a stick. At once their comrades opened rifle fire on them, and the guns behind dropped shells among them. In a few moments the Saxons were destroyed almost to a man.
In the evening the 21st Brigade on the right made another advance, in the course of which a Territorial battalion, the 4th Cameron Highlanders, recruited mainly from Inverness-shire, Skye, and the misty Hebrides, pushed on far before their comrades. Under heavy fire, they advanced over country liberally seamed with ditches, one of which was so deep and wide that most of the men had to swim across it. The third company reached the back end of a German communication trench; but being without bombs, and having almost wholly used up its cartridges, was soon in desperate straits. About midnight these gallant fellows were reinforced by two platoons; but as they had no machine guns, and as the Germans were fast closing in on both sides of them, and they were "in the air," they were ordered to retire. In the small hours of the morning they made their way back through a heavy rain of shells, and by the time that the weary, mud-stained battalion had regained the British position it had been reduced to half its strength.
