The Division was relieved on the 31st May, and a few days later was taken to the Ypres sector, there to refit and prepare for another great battle.
Paragraph 41 of the despatch deals with the assault by the British troops on 31st July, 1917, the “Battle of Pilckem Ridge” at the beginning of the Third Battle of Ypres. The note in Messrs. Dent’s edition, p. 113, gives a list of the divisions employed. Among these is the 51st, then in the XVIII. Corps, Fifth Army. They were near the left of the British line. “Highland Territorials (51st Division) Welsh and Guards battalions secured the crossings of the Steenbeek.” All objectives were taken early in the day. The losses of the Division were about 1600 and they took about 650 prisoners.
Paragraph 50 describes a successful attack made on 20th September: “North of the Zonnebeke-Langemarck Road, London and Highland Territorials (58th and 51st Divisions) gained the whole of their objectives by midday though stiff fighting took place for a number of farms and strong places.”
This action is now the Battle of the Menin Road Ridge. The losses of the Division were 1150.
The Division received the congratulations of the Corps and Army commanders on their work in the Ypres battles. In his message the Corps Commander said: “I venture to place it among the three best fighting divisions I have met in France during the past three years.”
About this time the enemy published a statement that the 51st was the “most formidable division on the Western Front.”
In the beginning of October the Division was back in the area south-east of Arras.
The despatch of 20th February, 1918, paragraph 3, shows that the 51st Division was part of the attacking force at the Battle of Cambrai, 1917, which commenced on 20th November, 1917. After mentioning the capture of Ribecourt by the 6th Division and the storming of Havrincourt by the 62nd, Sir Douglas Haig said: “The capture of these two villages secured the flanks of the 51st (Highland) Division (T.), Major-General G. M. Harper, advancing on the left centre of our attack up the slopes of Flesquières Hill against the German trench lines on the southern side of Flesquières village. Here very heavy fighting took place. The stout brick wall skirting the Château grounds opposed a formidable obstacle to our advance, while German machine guns swept the approaches. A number of tanks were knocked out by direct hits from German field batteries in position beyond the crest of the hill. None the less, with the exception of the village itself, our second objectives in this area were gained before midday.” Paragraph 4: “On the morning of the 21st November, the attack on Flesquières was resumed, and by 8 a.m. the village had been turned from the north-west and captured.” “Following upon the capture of Flesquières, the 51st and 62nd Divisions, in co-operation with a number of tanks and squadrons of the 1st Cavalry Division, attacked at 10.30 a.m. in the direction of Fontaine-Notre-Dame and Bourlon. In this attack the capture of Anneux was completed, and, early in the afternoon, Cantaing was seized with some hundreds of prisoners. Progress was made on the outskirts of Bourlon Wood and, late in the afternoon, Fontaine-Notre-Dame was taken by the troops of the 51st Division and tanks.”
The last-mentioned village was lost on the following day, see paragraph 6.
Paragraph 7: “On the morning of the 23rd November the 51st Division, supported by tanks, attacked Fontaine-Notre-Dame, but was unable to force an entrance. Early in the afternoon this Division repeated its attack from the west, and a number of tanks entered Fontaine, where they remained till dusk, inflicting considerable loss on the enemy. We did not succeed, however, in clearing the village, and at the end of the day no progress had been made on this part of our front.”