HORNE OF STIRKOKE,
General.
H.Q., Eastern Command.
May 31st, 1921.
CONTENTS.
| PAGE | ||
|---|---|---|
| Foreword | [v] | |
| List of Maps | [ix] | |
| Introduction | [xi] | |
| CHAP. | ||
| I.— | Early Days | [1] |
| II.— | First Experiences of War in the La Bassée Sector | [6] |
| III.— | The Battle of the Somme, 1916 | [24] |
| IV.— | Dainville, Hebuterne and the Battle of the Ancre | [52] |
| V.— | Winter on the Somme, 1916-1917 | [62] |
| VI.— | The Battle of Arras and Vimy Ridge, 1917 | [78] |
| VII.— | The Hindenburg Line and the Operations on the Coast | [100] |
| VIII.— | The Autumn Battles of Ypres and Passchendaele, 1917 | [112] |
| IX.— | Winter in the Salient, 1917-1918 | [135] |
| X.— | Part I. The German Offensive in Flanders, 1918 | [147] |
| Part II. Holding the Enemy in the North | [168] | |
| XI.— | The British Offensive on the Third Army Front, 1918 | [174] |
| XII.— | Finale | [194] |
| Appendix I. | [199] | |
| Appendix II. | [202] | |
| Appendix III. | [203] | |
| Index | [205] | |
LIST OF MAPS.
| PAGE | |
|---|---|
| Cuinchy, Cambrin and the La Bassée Sector | [12] |
| The Battle of the Somme | [28] |
| Hebuterne, Dainville and Gommecourt | [56] |
| Arras, Monchy and the Scarpe | [84] |
| Zillebeke, Maple Copse and the Passchendaele Battles | [114] |
| Passchendaele, Gravenstafel and Zonnebeke | [138] |
| Kemmel and the German Offensive | [150] |
| The Final British Offensive—Peizière—Villers Outreaux | [176] |
| Clary—Forest | [182] |
| Ovillers—Englefontaine | [186] |
INTRODUCTION.
To write the history of a unit in the war must, even to the most able pen, prove a mighty task, for it is not given to many to be able in words to describe deeds greater almost than human intellect can grasp. But when the task falls to the lot of one who, himself neither author nor historian, can claim as a sole reason the fact that it was his humble privilege to serve with the unit in question, the work becomes doubly and trebly difficult. In a book of this nature it is probably desirable that personal experience should have preference to powers of rhetoric, and a knowledge of facts to fluency with the pen, and for this reason, after much hesitation, the work was undertaken. No skilful framing of words can portray in any way adequately a war history; far better is it that in simple language should be recounted the story of the batteries, so that each man may judge of it according to his lights.