Thus at nightfall the Division was in position in the same order of battle as in the operations about Bapaume: 154th Brigade on the right, 152nd Brigade in the centre, and 153rd Brigade on the left. On the flanks touch was maintained on the right with the 55th Division, who were still in their original front line, but had been compelled to form a defensive flank to connect up with the river Lawe; on the left with the 50th Division, who were being heavily engaged about Estaires.
The 51st Division was entirely west of the Lawe, except for the 6th Gordon Highlanders at Vieille Chapelle, the 5th Seaforth Highlanders at Fosse, and the one platoon of the 7th Gordon Highlanders south of the Lestrem Loop.
By dawn on 10th April the whole Division, less the 4th Seaforth Highlanders, had reverted to the command of General Carter-Campbell. No changes had been made in dispositions during the night except that half the reserve company of the Divisional machine-gun battalion had been sent forward to reinforce the 153rd Brigade front, while two companies of the 39th Machine Gun Battalion, due to arrive at Calonne during the day, were placed at the disposal of the Division.
Throughout the day the 152nd Brigade experienced the most sanguinary fighting. The enemy during the night had, in a brilliant enterprise, managed to dribble across Boundary Bridge and push machine-guns and riflemen into the farms just west of it. These he covered by other machine-guns on the eastern bank of the Lawe. From the farms and out-buildings he inflicted numerous casualties to the 6th Seaforth Highlanders by close-range machine-gun fire. When daylight came, he attempted to reinforce them by pushing parties across the bridge, over which only one man could advance at a time. The Seaforths put a stop to this manœuvre by rifle and Lewis-gun fire, and many Germans shot on the bridge were drowned in the river. A counter-attack was launched against the farms by two platoons of the 6th Seaforth Highlanders, supported by covering fire from the 8th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, but it broke down under the intense volume of machine-gun fire directed against it.
At 3 P.M. a more deliberately prepared counter-attack was delivered by one company of the 6th Gordon Highlanders sent forward for the purpose. Three of its platoons attacked and successfully occupied the northern of the two farms. The troops were, however, held up in the open in front of the second farm. In this position they were in their turn attacked by some fifty of the enemy. The Gordons held their ground until dusk, when fifteen men out of an original total of ninety-seven rejoined the remaining platoon of their company.
Meanwhile the 6th Gordon Highlanders and King Edward’s Horse in Vieille Chapelle, resisting with the utmost vigour, were repeatedly attacked, but gave no ground. A Lewis-gun team on the roof of a cottage remained in action and inflicted many casualties on the enemy, in spite of the building being several times hit by shells.
Throughout the whole day, while the enemy’s grip was continuously tightening on them, this company and the cavalry defeated every attempt made by the enemy to drive them in. On the night of the 10th communication between battalion headquarters and Vieille Chapelle was no longer possible. Captain Christie therefore decided to destroy the bridges. An R.E. officer and one sapper were available to carry out the work; but the explosives, for a reason which has never been explained, had been dumped half a mile west of the village.
A party of the 6th Gordon Highlanders, however, made their way under heavy fire to the dump, and successfully carried the charges back to the village. The main bridge was blown up the same night, but the fire directed against the other bridges was so accurate that they had to be left intact.
On the left attempts were also made to blow up the bridges in the Lestrem Loop; but these were only partially successful, and none of the bridges were totally destroyed. At 8 A.M. the enemy, being admirably led by his officers, managed to rush the crossings at the Lock de la Rault and at Pont Riqueul, a subaltern officer being mentioned by name in the German official communiqué for the gallantry and initiative displayed by him in this enterprise. The defenders of the bridges were then driven back, and became absorbed in the line, held as a chord line to the Lestrem Loop, along the Lestrem-Fosse road.