All through the night there had been much shell fire on the 56th Divisional front. Two counter-attacks had been successfully repulsed. Owing to darkness and the congested state of the trenches, the London Scottish were late in getting into their assembly positions, but as they were not to move until an hour and a half after zero (6.30 a.m.), which time was occupied by bombardment of the enemy positions, it did not matter.
“It was then found,” Colonel Jackson writes, “that the 169th Brigade had not reached Tadpole Lane, but the communication trench running from front to
support trench on the north-west side of Tadpole Copse, and that a fairly deep valley existed between this communication trench and the Inchy-Louverval road. The Germans could thus directly enfilade the front and support trenches with rifle and machine-gun fire from the other side of the valley, where they had built strong blocks and loopholes during the night. The battalion was thus held up at this point until 2.30 p.m. By this time “D” Company had, with the assistance of the Stokes Mortars (169th), been able to cross the valley, face the block on the other side, and cross the Inchy road, thus surrounding the enemy still holding the block in the front line opposite “B” Company. Ten officers, 69 other ranks, 6 machine guns, and 1 trench mortar—all of the 20th German Division.”
It would appear that the German counter-attacks during the night had gained some ground. The valley alluded to by Colonel Jackson is not shown clearly on the British maps and is only indicated by the very unsatisfactory sign of “banks.” An imaginative person might have traced the re-entrant starting in square 7 right up to these banks, but it was not always wise to be too imaginative with the British map; at any rate the shape of the ground seems to have been a surprise.
By 4.30 p.m. the battalion had reached its objective, Adelaide street, and was immediately strongly counter-attacked. The supply of bombs failed—it is extraordinary how many bombs can be thrown on such occasions—and the support line was lost as far as the Inchy road, but the front line was held. In this counter-attack the London Scottish were reinforced by two companies of the 4th London Regt. They were ordered to consolidate.
The operations on the rest of the Corps front during
the day resulted in fierce fighting through Bourlon Wood, and the capture of Bourlon village by the 40th Division, and a tremendous struggle for Fontaine into which the 51st Division never really penetrated. Repeated and heavy counter-attacks forced the 40th Division out of Bourlon village to the north edge of Bourlon Wood. The 36th Division had captured and again been forced out of Mœuvres, and had not been able to make much progress on the east bank of the canal, a failure which caused the position of the 40th Division to become a somewhat isolated one. The gallant 51st Division, which had been used in such ruthless fashion, was relieved by the Guards Division and went back to Albert (Line F).
At 12.50 a.m. on the 24th the Corps issued orders for the ground gained to be held at all costs. The 40th Division were to consolidate their position and attack Bourlon village with the assistance of twelve Tanks at noon. The Guards Division were to consolidate the line taken over from the 51st, and the 36th and 56th Divisions to continue their clearing of the Hindenburg Line. But, as we have said, the order applying to the 56th Division was subsequently cancelled.
The 168th Brigade, which was now in the centre of the division, took over a stretch of the old British front line from the 167th on the left; the forward position of the 169th was still in the Hindenburg Line on the right. The main strength of the division was concentrated, of course, about the Hindenburg Line to the west of Mœuvres, while in the old British line it was strung out and thin. But the division as a whole was strengthened on the 24th by the addition of one brigade of Royal Horse Artillery.
At three o’clock in the afternoon the enemy again attacked under a very severe barrage, and the London Scottish lost their hold on the second line of the first German system, to the north of Tadpole Copse, but not without a strong fight. The enemy came down all communication trenches at once, while small parties of snipers advanced from shell-hole to shell-hole over the open. The attack was pressed so closely that the supply of bombs could not be maintained, and the London Scottish men had eventually to retire across the open. The front line, however, was still held to a point opposite Adelaide Street.