Map No. 5
The
VAUCELLETTE FARM AREA
Nov. 30th, 1917
“At seven o’clock on the morning of the 30th, in thick fog, a very heavy bombardment broke out upon the whole Divisional front, and all tracks and roads were heavily shelled. Almost simultaneously a message was received at the Headquarters of the 166th Brigade in EPEHY, from the 35th Brigade, which was on our immediate left, stating that the 1/5th South Lancashires were being heavily trench-mortared and that the S.O.S. had gone up. Communication with this Battalion was at once attempted, but without result, and save for a visual signal message received at 7 43 a.m. stating, ‘We know nothing yet, O.K.,’ nothing further was heard from the 1/5th SOUTH LANCASHIRES, nor did a man of that Battalion return.
“It was presently, however, to be made clear that the enemy had broken through somewhere on the left of the 1/5th South Lancashires, and was pushing forward in large numbers and with great rapidity on VILLERS GUISLAIN. Between 7 38 a.m. and 7 45 a.m., Germans in considerable force were seen on VILLERS RIDGE, and a few moments later large numbers of British troops, not of our Division, were seen to be falling back from the direction of GONNELIEU ... just north-west of VILLERS GUISLAIN. Very shortly after eight o’clock enemy machine guns were firing on our batteries from the high ground south of GAUCHE WOOD, and enemy aeroplanes, flying as low as 100 feet, were subjecting VILLERS GUISLAIN and the ground in its vicinity to heavy machine gun fire.
“At 8 15 a.m. the enemy were seen to be advancing in strong force southwards from the north of the cemetery—i.e., on the western side of VILLERS GUISLAIN. The position of the village was precarious.
“Meantime, as late as 7 57 a.m., the 1/5th North Lancashire Regiment had reported: ‘No Infantry action,’ but at 8 15 a.m. a message was received from the Liverpool Scottish on their right, stating that the enemy was advancing from his trenches at OSSUS 2. A quarter of an hour later an indistinct message from the 1/5th North Lancashire Regiment was received at the Headquarters of the 166th Brigade, to the effect that the enemy was through on the left—the line was then cut.
“By 8 20 a.m. the enemy were reported to have penetrated our lines at HOLT’S BANK, and a few moments after large bodies of the enemy were seen in PIGEON QUARRY—north of the Liverpool Scottish and between them and the 1/5th North Lancashire Regiment. Almost simultaneously the enemy were reported to be coming over in extended order and in large numbers, wave after wave, to EAGLE QUARRY, on the 165th Brigade front, and also to be advancing on FLEECEALL POST on the south. By 9 15 a.m. the enemy had penetrated the Divisional front from the BIRDCAGE northwards for about 800 yards, and were even reported to have been seen in GLOUCESTER ROAD. VILLERS GUISLAIN, turned from the north and eventually surrounded, was reported at 9 30 a.m. to be in enemy hands, and a little over half an hour later the enemy had succeeded in progressing to within a few hundred yards of VAUCELLETTE FARM. He got no further, for there he met the 1/4th Loyal North Lancashires.”
All Press accounts are strangely silent about the work the Battalion did at VAUCELLETTE FARM on the 30th November, 1917.
The scene of the action was the col or ridge at the head of the valley which runs along the northern edge of VILLERS GUISLAIN and up towards the south-east (see map); this ridge commanded the railway for a considerable distance, and by holding on to it we were able to keep the Hun off CHAPEL HILL; had he occupied this feature and mounted machine guns there, most of the area of open grass land between HEUDECOURT and PEIZIERE would have been under direct fire, with obvious consequences, whereas its retention by us kept this covered, and also covered the flank of the Guards when they counter-attacked and drove the Boche back out of GOUZEAUCOURT.