Here we found civilians living in the “village line,” and small shops! Our dispositions were on a different principle to those which obtained at YPRES, all Companies being in the front line, in the order, from right to left—C, B, A, and D, each Company being disposed in depth. C Company was on the south of the canal, the remainder on the north. Battalion Headquarters was at KINGSCLEARE.
Here we took up again the old trench routine, nightly patrols, working on the trenches, and so forth.
The position itself was a curious one. GIVENCHY, the scene of so much desperate fighting in 1914, was a village completely destroyed, some few remnants of walls and a mass of bricks, the remains of a large church, being all that remained of a fair-sized village; it lay on the western slopes of a small knoll, which formed the southern and western extremity of the FROMELLES—AUBERS ridge. The opposing trenches had been dug in 1914, so that the actual crest of the knoll was in No Man’s Land, and the opposing trench lines were out of sight of one another.
In the intervening years of warfare, GIVENCHY had been one of the most active mining centres on the British front, with the result that by the time the 55th Division took over, the front line on the crest of the knoll consisted of a continuous line of craters 800 yards long.
Both sides occupied the high tops of the craters, but the view was practically limited by the top of the crater opposite. The position was one of great importance—if the Germans gained possession of the whole of GIVENCHY HILL they would command the whole of LA BASSEE CANAL from where it passed through our lines to BETHUNE, as well as a large area in close proximity to what remained to France of its great northern coalfield.
The country to the north of the spur was dead flat for miles, and the roads were all overlooked from the crest of the hill. Every effort had been made to strengthen the position by the construction of a series of tunnels for shelter during bombardments, but the exits from these were not of the best. A certain amount of cementing had also been done. By April 9th the GIVENCHY—FESTUBERT area was a mass of apron fencing stretching back in depth for several thousand yards.
Map No. 6
GIVENCHY AREA
April, 1918
