‘It will ever be to me a pride to have commanded so magnificent a Division.’
Yet one more word about Marcoing. On an earlier page we remarked that we should have occasion to come back to the 8th Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment, the Bataillon d’élite of a French Army Order. This occasion occurred on September 27th, when two companies of that Battalion earned from the VIth Corps Commander (Lieut.-General Sir A. Haldane) the following striking encomium, dispatched through the 62nd Divisional Commander:
‘Please convey to the survivors of the two companies 8th West Yorkshire Regiment my high appreciation and admiration of their initiative, dash and gallantry in pushing up to the outskirts of Marcoing yesterday [September 27th], in spite of all obstacles. It is by resolution and bravery such as they displayed that great victories have been won in the past history of the British Army.
‘I heartily congratulate the whole Battalion, yourself, and your splendid Division on the inspiring incident in front of Marcoing.’
Major-General Whigham, in publishing this letter, for the information of all ranks of the Division, showed how well the action of the two Companies illustrated the principle of pressing an advantage, whenever gained.
‘The great and critical assaults, in which, during these nine days of battle [September 27th to October 5th], the First, Third and Fourth Armies stormed the line of the Canal du Nord and broke through the Hindenburg Line, mark the close of the first phase of the British offensive. The enemy’s defence in the last and strongest of his prepared positions had been shattered. The whole of the main Hindenburg defences has passed into our possession, and a wide gap had been driven through such rear trench systems as had existed behind them. The effect of the victory upon the subsequent course of the campaign was decisive.’[136]
So far, Sir Douglas Haig, with his usual modesty and brevity. In Flanders now, King Albert of the Belgians, leading his nation at last in victory, as he had led it so gallantly in defeat, entered Ostend on October 16th. The Second Battle of Le Cateau in the previous week had driven the last German out of Cambrai; and about this date, as Sir Frederick Maurice writes, ‘The revulsion of feeling and the collapse of confidence were such that no enthusiasm could be aroused for a war of endurance in defence of the Fatherland. Even in an autocratic country it is not possible to deceive all the people all the time, and the German people knew in October, 1918, that the victory which had been promised to them could never be obtained.’[137]
RHONELLE RIVER CROSSING (Nov. 1st. 1918).
In these circumstances, the battles still ahead, in which the Divisions from the West Riding were to take part, need not detain us long. The 49th were engaged in October (11th to 17th) at Villers-en-Cauchie and Saulzoir, on the road running eastward out of Cambrai between Douai and Le Cateau. They fought with all their accustomed gallantry, especially in the capture of Saulzoir, which was defended by Machine-Guns and Tanks. When the obstinate resistance had been overcome, an Officer of the 1/6th Duke of Wellington’s found the houses full of civilians, who had taken refuge in their cellars, and who welcomed the arrival of the British Troops with offerings of cognac and coffee. The Division fought again below Valenciennes on November 1st and 2nd, and, with the 5th and 61st Divisions, crossed the Rhonelle River and captured the villages of Préseau and Maresches. Lieut.-General Sir A. Godley, Commanding the XXIInd Corps, conveyed to Major-General Cameron the expression of his appreciation of these exploits in the following complimentary terms: