The bridging being completed, the advance of the Third Army was resumed on October 20, with zero hour at 2 a.m. The direction of the Division’s advance, which from the opening of the Third Army’s offensive had been practically due east, was now turned to the north-east, towards Maubeuge and Mons. The attack was planned in three phases.
First Phase.—The 126th Brigade, which had relieved the 125th in the front line, would advance, with the 5th East Lancashires on the right and the 10th Manchesters on the left, and a company of the 8th Manchesters in support of each battalion, at zero plus three minutes, under a barrage lifting at the rate of 100 yards every three minutes. The first objective, termed the Blue Line, was the railway cutting running southwards from Solesmes—a very strong defensive system, with deep dug-outs in the cutting; the second objective, termed the Green Line, was the high ground beyond a sunken road which ran roughly parallel to the railway, about 1500 yards north-east of the “kicking-off” positions. Between the Blue and Green Lines the barrage would lift at the rate of 100 yards every five minutes. Handshakes would be established with the 5th Division on the right and the 62nd on the left on the divisional boundary lines at each objective.
Each battalion would advance in four waves, as follows: On the right the first wave (“B” Company, 5th E. Lancs.) to go forward with six sections in arrow-head formation to the railway cutting, while one platoon would seize Belle Vue Farm, near the cross-roads a few hundred yards west of the railway, mop up the cross-roads, and then work from left to right and form a defensive flank on the spur just beyond the railway; the second wave (“C” and “D” Companies), advancing in extended order, to carry on the advance to the Green Line, through the ravine that stretched diagonally between the two objectives; the third wave (“D” Company) to advance in line of sections in single file, and, after mopping up the ravine, to extend either flank of the leading companies and provide fighting patrols to clear the flanks and find touch with the 10th Manchesters and the 5th Division; the fourth wave (“D” Company, 8th Manchesters) to form a defensive flank between the spur and the right of the Green Line. On the left, the first wave of the 10th Manchesters (“C” Company on the right, “A” Company on the left) to carry both objectives; the second wave (“B” Company) to reinforce the first, and mop up and occupy the cutting; the third wave (“D” Company) to leapfrog over the second and clear the ravine; the fourth wave (“B” Company, 8th Manchesters) to assist in mopping up and to support the others as required.
THE CEMETERY NEAR BILHEM FARM ON THE TRESCAULT—RIBECOURT ROAD.
R. SELLE FIGHTING. BELLE VUE.
R. SELLE FIGHTING. FIRST OBJECTIVE, THE RAILWAY CUTTING.
