The 42nd (East Lancashire) Division 1914-1918

by Frederick P. Gibbon

HAUTMONT, CAPTURED BY 126TH BRIGADE ON NOV. 8, 1918. THE BRIDGES WERE ERECTED BY THE DIVISIONAL ENGINEERS.

At 6.30 a.m. on the 6th—about three hours after the completion of the relief—the advance was resumed, with the 5th E. Lancs. on the right and the 8th Manchesters on the left. There could be little artillery support as the difficulties of movement through the vast expanse of forest had increased with the continuous rain and the heavy traffic over the soft tracks, and though officers and men of the artillery brigades worked like heroes they could not accomplish the impossible. The 5th E. Lancs. gained their objective—the road running south from Les 5 Chemins and Hoisies Farm—after severe fighting and numerous casualties, inflicted mainly by the enemy machine-guns strongly posted in the neighbourhood of Hoisies Farm and, further south, in the orchards and gardens between Petit Bayay and the River Sambre.

On the left the progress of the 8th Manchesters was slower. Their left flank was entirely exposed to intense machine-gun fire, particularly from Hargnies to the north-east and Coutant to the north, and their casualties were serious, one company losing all officers but one. They had to make a way through numerous thick hedges, every gap of which was under direct machine-gun fire, and despite gallant attempts to go forward the battalion was held up on a line between one hundred and two hundred yards east of the forest boundary. Fighting continued until darkness supervened, when the troops lay on the roadside, in ditches, or under hedges, in the cold and rain. The 10th Manchesters, in close support, experienced the same trying conditions.

As the nearest point to which ambulances could be brought was two and a half miles in rear of the fighting, the evacuation of the wounded was a matter of much difficulty. The badness of the roads and tracks and the persistence of enemy shelling and machine-gun fire on all forward roads gave a heavy and dangerous task to the stretcher-bearers. It was largely due to the energy of Lieut.-Colonel Callam, D.S.O., commanding the 1st Field Ambulance, in rearranging and supervising the system of evacuation, that the wounded were successfully cleared. The R.E. and the Pioneer Battalion worked day and night on the road craters and blown culverts in the Mormal Forest, and gradually the routes were opened up.

On the evening of the 6th orders were received that the advance would be continued in the early morning by the divisions on the right and left, and that the 42nd Division would not attempt to push forward until the right division of the 6th Corps, on its left, had made progress. By 8.45 a.m. on the 7th this division had passed through Coutant and come up into line, and the 126th Brigade resumed its forward move. The 10th Manchesters had been brought into the centre of the front line, with the 5th E. Lancs. on the right and the 8th Manchesters on the left. The three battalions advanced steadily, and by 10 a.m. Hoisies Farm, the Five Roads, and the hamlet of Hargnies had been captured. Casualties were now slight, for the enemy, no longer able to enfilade the left flank, gave ground without waiting for our troops to get to close quarters.

At 10.30 a.m. the Divisional Commander rode round the front and ordered the advance to be continued by means of strong patrols, which pushed forward at once to the line Vieux Mesnil—Boussières. By noon the high ground beyond Vieux Mesnil and between that village and Boussières had been occupied. In view of the heavy losses of the previous day the 8th Manchesters had been withdrawn into brigade reserve, and the other battalions continued their advance. Little opposition was encountered at first, but later Vieux Mesnil was heavily shelled, and the left flank, which was again exposed, suffered from machine-gun fire.

On the evening of November 7th the 126th Brigade was given a further objective, the high ground immediately east of the River Sambre, including Hautmont, a small manufacturing town situated on both banks of the river, and the Bois-du-Quesnoy. On the following morning the 125th Brigade would pass through the 126th and advance to the final objective, east of the Maubeuge—Avesnes road, i.e. on a line running due south from Maubeuge.

Before daybreak on the 8th the 126th Brigade had seized the Bois d’Hautmont, a large wood west of the Sambre, and had sent patrols into the western outskirts of the town, surprising a small enemy rearguard there. By 10.15 a.m. the parts of the town on the western bank of the Sambre had been secured. All the bridges had been destroyed, but, though the river here is from 40 to 50 yards in width, the leading companies of the 10th Manchesters and 5th E. Lancs. at once set to work to improvise a crossing. The main road had been carried over a lock to an island by a bridge of masonry, and then across the stream by another bridge. The explosions that had dropped these bridges had partially demolished houses on the island and on both banks, so there was ample material on the spot. Assisted enthusiastically by the inhabitants of Hautmont, who dragged doors, beds, and mattresses to the river bank, the Oldham and Burnley men managed to connect with the island, and thence with the further bank. Parties of both battalions then engaged the enemy rearguards, which were holding out with machine-guns in the eastern parts of the town and with field-guns near Fort Hautmont, more than half a mile east of the town. Street fighting continued in the outskirts until the Germans were finally driven from the town, though they still held a position at the cemetery about half a mile east of the river.

The reception given to the victorious troops by the delighted inhabitants will never be forgotten. Shells were still crashing into the houses, and machine-gun bullets flew around, but these were utterly disregarded in the exultation of the moment. Women threw their arms round the necks of the soldiers, old men embraced them, girls ran to them with cakes and flowers and wine. The horrors of a long captivity were forgotten in the joy of victory and the impulse to welcome and honour the victors. The enemy artillery made a special target of the Prisoners of War cage and hospital, in which were two English doctors and about thirty British patients, and shelled this quarter vigorously.