All this time the 18-pdrs. had been keeping up a protective barrage beyond the first objective, in the hopes of saving such of the leading troops as had got there. At 12.10 P.M. a new bombardment was organised and two hours later a fresh attack was launched, this time under a very novel barrage. The enemy, strongly dug in in Scabbard Trench, could not be reached by the flat trajectory of the 18-pdrs., and accordingly it was decided to organise a creeping barrage of 4·5 in. howitzers. For a quarter of an hour four batteries of field howitzers poured high explosive into Scabbard Trench, our own men lying not only close up to the trench but also all round it, and at 2.10 P.M. the howitzers lifted off and ceased firing, whereupon the infantry, keeping close to the barrage, rushed the trench. It was a desperate measure, this howitzer barrage, for it was like firing into the centre of a circle with our own men all round, and, with the infantry lying right up to and following so closely on the heels of the barrage, it seemed inevitable that a few rounds should fall short—and only a few short rounds of 4·5 in. H.E. are sufficient to do inestimable havoc and wreck the confidence of attacking troops. Like many desperate measures, however, it succeeded; some fifty Germans, unable to stand the appalling weight of fire (about 80 rounds of H.E. per minute in a confined space), fled from Scabbard Trench and rushed down the bank running east towards Pelves Mill, while simultaneously a party of about one hundred of the enemy left the same bank and made for the cross-roads just west of the mill. Immediately they broke cover the 18-pdrs. switched on to the parties with excellent results, and two companies of the 17th Royal Sussex Regiment, profiting by the distraction, rushed Scabbard Trench in its entirety; this they captured almost without casualties, and found seventy dead Germans, the victims of the howitzer bombardment.
The enemy now opened a furious bombardment upon Scabbard Trench, realising that it had at last fallen, and at 2.20 P.M. launched a heavy counter-attack which was beaten off after hand-to-hand fighting, in which we captured one officer, twenty-five men and two machine guns. All the afternoon the batteries were busy on various targets, especially upon enemy infantry who kept massing behind Keeling Copse and running in small batches to Cartridge Trench. At the same time a good view of the hostile counter-attacks on Greenland Hill, north of the Scarpe, was obtained, and on several occasions the guns were switched round to the left and dealt smashing blows to the enemy every time he attempted to leave his trenches.
The total result of the battle was that on the extreme right the 5th Army advanced beyond Bullecourt, but was forced back again by the enemy who reoccupied the village; around Cherisy all objectives were gained, but here again the enemy counter-attacked and drove out our troops; on the immediate front of the batteries a partial success with enormous loss of life was obtained; on the north of the river the attack on Roeux failed also, and only on the extreme left was any real success achieved. Here the 1st Army took Fresnoy and all the objectives north of Oppy. Oppy itself, however, proved too difficult for the attacking troops, nor were any of the objectives between it and the river captured. In short, the attack began well, almost brilliantly, but finished badly; it was not a defeat—the operations north of Oppy saved it from being called that—but it was at least a partial failure which had cost many thousands of lives.
May, then, did not begin very well, and, after spending the whole of the 4th in consolidating the ground of the previous day's battle, a lull set in—a lull which was not broken until the 11th. At 7.30 P.M. on that day the 4th Division just north of the river carried out an attack upon Roeux Chemical Works and Cemetery, the 33rd Divisional Artillery supporting the operation on the flank. Covered by a barrage, the density of which was one 18-pdr. for every seven yards of front, the infantry rushed all the objectives and held them, together with 300 prisoners; to this gain was added a further advance along the river's edge at 6.0 A.M. next morning, which was covered by a barrage put down on the north-western end of Roeux, and by midday on the 12th the infantry were secure in their newly-won positions. The ominous Chemical Works, from which such deadly machine-gun fire had been directed on our attacks south of the river, was now in our hands, and there seemed every chance of an advance being possible on the front of the batteries.
Orders for this advance were not long in coming. At 6.45 P.M. on that same evening (12th) the 12th Division, which was covered by the 33rd Divisional batteries, advanced to the assault on Devil's Trench, while the 3rd Division prolonged the attack to the right. After a three-minute bombardment with a density of one 18-pdr. to every ten yards of front, the 36th and 37th infantry brigades advanced upon the portion of Devil's Trench which ran northwards from Bit Lane to Harness Lane. Simultaneously with the attack, however, very heavy rifle and machine-gun fire was opened by the enemy from both flanks—Gun and Devil Trenches—which were held in force, and fifty yards short of the trench our infantry were stopped, unable to advance any farther. Lieut. Wingfield, the forward observing officer of the 156th Brigade who was with the attacking company commander, got through to the guns and reported that the infantry intended to assault again at 10.45 P.M. Accordingly, for fifteen minutes prior to that time the batteries put down a heavy barrage and then lifted on to the enemy support trenches. Close on the heels of the barrage the infantry rose to the attack, but circumstances were against them; darkness supervened everywhere, the infantry were scattered all over the place owing to the non-success of the first attempt, and Devil's Trench was only assaulted here and there. By midnight it was reported that the remnants of the attacking company were back in their own original front line again. The operation had failed completely.
The operations of May 3rd, costly enough by themselves, had now been followed by the two attacks on the 11th and 12th, and so heavy were the casualties amongst the infantry that, for a time at any rate, the infantry battle was broken off, and to the guns was given the task of wearing down the enemy and of destroying his morale. This new period was ushered in on the 14th by a Chinese bombardment of the enemy trenches; a bombardment, that is to say, which bore all the signs of a barrage covering assaulting troops but which, in reality, crept forward unfollowed by any infantry, and then dropped back suddenly on to the hostile fire-trench to catch such of the enemy as had manned the parapet to meet the expected assault. In this case our guns pounded Devil's Trench for a short time, and then crept on by lifts of one hundred yards every minute. After three lifts the barrage suddenly dropped without warning on to the fire-trench again and blasted it with high explosives and shrapnel, while the Division on the left swept the area with enfilade machine-gun fire. No movement was seen, but the enemy doubtless expected that another attack on Devil's Trench was being launched and would therefore have manned the parapet; if he did so, his losses must have been severe.
Having thus attacked his forward infantry, the guns now turned their attention to enemy ration parties and back areas. Every night, for the past week or so, a part of the night firing programme (which was carried out every night by each battery mainly on back areas) had been to keep up intermittent shell fire upon the road running east from Pelves towards Hamblain. Aeroplane photographs now received, however, showed tracks running parallel to this road and about 150 yards south of it, tracks which became clearer every day. It was manifest that the enemy had given up using the road and was cutting across country; on the night of the 15th, therefore, the guns directed their fire in intermittent bursts on to the original road up till 9.0 P.M., and then at that hour, by which time all traffic would have been diverted on to the cross-country tracks, swept up and down those tracks with H.E. and shrapnel for ten minutes at an intense rate of fire. That this fire was effective in its object was clearly proved next day, when the enemy retaliated strongly upon our own lines of communication—sure sign that we had done something seriously to annoy him.
The batteries now began to have a bad time. Free from infantry attacks and suffering most of his casualties from the guns, the enemy turned the full fury of his attention upon the gunners. "B" and C/162 were engaged by a 5·9 in. high velocity gun, their positions being badly damaged; D/162 was registered by an enemy aeroplane which carried out an all-day bombardment upon it in co-operation with an 8 in. howitzer battery. Both brigades suffered severely from bombardment by 5·9 in. howitzers, while a couple of whizz-bang batteries devoted themselves to putting intermittent bursts and sniping rounds into all the battery positions, and especially those of the 156th Brigade, causing many casualties by the unexpectedness of their attacks. As a rule, in fact, these sudden bursts did far more damage to personnel than the long all-day bombardments, and it was just such a burst which killed Captain Heape of A/162 and so wounded Lieut. Tucker that he died next day—a loss grievously felt, for both officers were of the very finest type which the brigade contained. From day to day each battery in turn underwent a severe shelling, and the casualties in men and guns mounted, ever mounted.
On May 16th the lull in infantry fighting was broken, this time by the enemy. After bombarding our front trenches immediately north of the Scarpe, together with the village of Feuchy and the back areas in general, during the whole of the 15th, a big hostile attack was launched at 3.0 A.M. on the 16th and drove our troops out of Roeux Cemetery and Chemical Works. By 7.30 A.M. we had counter-attacked and recaptured the lost ground, and at 9.50 A.M. a hostile counter-attack was driven off. Shortly after ten o'clock our men were seen advancing north-west from the Chemical Works, but a furious hostile barrage was put down on them and they were forced to retire. All day long the batteries poured shell into Roeux and the adjoining trenches, and all day long fighting continued; by evening the situation had calmed down, and little change showed itself on the front as a result of the twenty-four hours' fighting. It was clear, however, that the enemy was not only going to offer a stubborn resistance but was even assuming an offensive attitude in places, and a bitter struggle was anticipated when orders were received for another attack on Devil's Trench.
On the 19th our troops were once again flung upon this deadly little objective—flung, as they had so often been before, on a narrow limited front with the knowledge that flank machine-gun fire must inevitably be met with.