It was reported that Ervillers had been taken by the Germans; and there seemed every probability that the line held by the Guards Division would have to be withdrawn. A retirement to the Adinfer line being shortly expected, one officer per company was sent back to reconnoitre these trenches. There was little doubt that the Germans were massing their men in front of the line held by the 3rd Battalion, and Lieutenant Pauling reported that they were dug in not fifty yards away, dressed in pack order. The men were quite confident in their ability to stop any advance on the enemy’s part, but it was essential that the Guards Division should conform to the movements of the other troops in the line. At 10 P.M. orders were received cancelling all previous ones, and instructing the Battalion to retire to a new line not yet dug. The withdrawal was carried out without hurry, companies retiring at half-hour intervals, and the Lewis-gun sections remaining till the end. The new trench line, composed of slits only, was at once begun, and was completed by the next morning. During the withdrawal Lieutenant Pauling and Second Lieutenant Durbin were killed by the same shell. They were both first-rate officers who could be ill spared, the former having already gained the Military Cross.
Mar. 26.
Nothing of importance occurred during the 26th, although the Germans were seen in large parties in Hamelincourt and Moyenneville. All day shells continued to fall, but no infantry attack developed.
Mar. 27.
On the 27th the 3rd Battalion was relieved by
the 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards, and went into Divisional support, where it took up a position in an old German line on the ridge just south of Boiry St. Rictude with all four companies in the line. At 11 A.M. the East Yorkshire Regiment, which was in the front line, was attacked by Germans in mass formation, but held its ground. The enemy, however, was able to creep round in rear and cut it off. This movement placed the 2nd Battalion Irish Guards, on the right, in a perilous position, and forced it to retire. All the time the German artillery shelled the back area, and particularly the valley in which the 3rd Battalion Headquarters was situated. As the East Yorkshire Regiment also retired, the trenches held by the Battalion became the front line. The Germans now determined to pursue their success, and advanced with confidence towards No. 2 Company, but were met with an accurate and steady fire from the Lewis and machine guns, which staggered them and decimated their ranks. The fighting became general all along the line, but although the Germans fought with great courage they were unable to make any impression on the Battalion frontage. The casualties among our officers were very high, Captain Parker and Second Lieutenant Van Ranney receiving severe wounds from which they never recovered. Captain Carrington, Lieutenant Knollys, Second Lieutenant Bennett, Second Lieutenant Tate, and Lieutenant Fish, the American Medical Officer, were wounded. Among other ranks the casualties were 30 killed, 90 wounded, and 4 missing. The attack
now drifted down towards the right, where the 4th Guards Brigade was posted, and the German troops opposed to the 3rd Battalion did not appear to be anxious to renew their attack. That night a somewhat complicated relief took place. Nos. 3 and 4 Companies were relieved by two companies of the 13th Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment; No. 3 passing into support, and No. 4 relieving another company of the York and Lancaster Regiment which prolonged the line to the right, and took the place of No. 2 Company. Just before dawn No. 3 Company moved up to get touch with the 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards, and placed three platoons in the front line with one in support. All these moves were successfully accomplished by daybreak.
Mar. 28.
Although the Germans had lost very heavily in their attack on the 27th, they had not abandoned the idea of forcing back that part of the line. Early the next morning a heavy barrage was put down by the enemy on our trenches, and soon afterwards a force of about 200 Germans attacked No. 4 Company and the 13th Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment in four waves. So determined was this attack that the Germans succeeded in getting into the posts in the front line. Lieutenant Fitzgerald, who was in command of No. 4 Company, quickly organised a counter-attack from the support platoon of the York and Lancaster Regiment, and, having launched this, organised a second counter-attack from the platoon in support of his own Company, which he led himself. These counter-attacks