It is difficult to conceive of conditions more unfavourable for attack: a driving rain in the faces of the assailants, an entrenched enemy, and an uphill approach across clay fields saturated with wet and two feet deep in beet plants. However, the order was to advance, so undeterred by the gaps ploughed in their ranks, the brigade pressed steadily on. The objective of the R. Sussex on the left was the enemy's trenches along the Chivy road. Towards this they pushed on at the slow plodding tramp which was the best pace which could be raised in the circumstances, till they reached the comparative shelter of a sunken lane. In this lane the R. Sussex machine-gun section was able to get a position from which it could partially enfilade the Chivy road trenches, and so effective was its fire from this angle, that after a time a white flag was raised, and several hundred Germans were seen running forward with their hands up. Col. Montresor and many other officers and men of the Sussex left the lane to accept this surrender, whereupon the enemy, from the Factory itself and from the trenches to right and left of it, poured a deadly fire into the confused mass of Germans and British, mowing them down in scores. In this indiscriminate massacre the R. Sussex lost very heavily, Col. Montresor, Maj. Cookson, and Lieuts. Daun and Hughes being killed, and Captain Cameron wounded. The Germans too suffered severely, but about 200 of them were got safely into the lane and sent off to the rear with a platoon as escort.
The R. Sussex being now very considerably reduced in numbers, the Loyal N. Lancashires were brought up from reserve, one company being sent to support the Sussex, while two and a half companies came up on the right of the 60th, i.e., between the 60th and the Northamptons. These two and a half companies being fresh troops were now ordered to attack the Sugar Factory. The position of the Factory and the lie of the ground has already been described. The Loyal N. Lancashires, in order to carry out the attack as ordered, had to advance over a quarter of a mile of open ground under fire, not only from their front, but from both flanks as well, on account of the angle formed by the German trenches to right and left of the Factory. Their casualties during this advance were terrible. The C.O., Maj. Lloyd, and his Adjutant, Captain Howard-Vyse, were killed in the first rush. Fifty per cent. of the men fell in crossing that fire-swept zone, but the remainder carried steadily on and, at the point of the bayonet, drove out the enemy and captured the Factory, an achievement which must undoubtedly rank as one of the finest of the War.
The R. Sussex now pushed forward again, and Lieut. Dashwood, the machine-gun officer, got his maxims into the Factory, and from there enfiladed the two German batteries along the Chemin des Dames. At the same time some of the R. Sussex and the 6oth crept up along the road leading from Vendresse to the Factory, till they were in a position to enfilade the German trenches to the east of it. This manœuvre produced an immediate surrender, the Germans leaving their trenches and hoisting the white flag. Warned, however, by their experience earlier in the day, the British remained prudently under cover of the road, and it was as well they did, for the two German batteries in rear of the trenches at once began bombarding this new situation at point-blank range, with the result that, while the British in the road took no harm, the unfortunate Germans who had tried to surrender were practically wiped out by their own people.
This patriotic act was destined to be the last that these particular batteries performed, for Lieut. Dashwood with the Sussex machine-guns got on to them from the Factory and rendered them incapable of further damage. The horses were all killed, and such gunners as survived made off, abandoning the guns.
The Factory itself was not held, being of no military value and presenting a first-class target for the German artillery. Lieut. Dashwood withdrew his machine-guns to a farm-house some 200 yards down the road, and from this point was able to do considerable execution on the retreating enemy. He was soon, however, located, and Lieut. Pelham, who was assisting him, was killed. The section, however, ultimately managed to get away safely and rejoin its battalion. The vacated Factory was at once heavily bombarded by the enemy, and our troops derived no little satisfaction from seeing shell after shell drop where they were not.
The victory of Troyon was now complete, and it was one of which the troops engaged had every reason to be proud. The results, too, were very far-reaching, the position thus gained being never afterwards wrested from the British troops during their stay at the Aisne.
The casualty list in this sanguinary little fight was a heavy one. The Loyal N. Lancashires lost 15 officers, including their C.O. and Adjutant, and over 500 rank and file. The value of their gallant performance was, however, officially recognized, and Captain Spread, who displayed great courage throughout the day, received the Military Cross. The R. Sussex lost 250 rank and file and 9 officers, also including their Colonel, while in the 60th, Major Foljambe, Captain Cathcart, Lieut. Bond and 2nd Lieuts. Forster, Thompson and Davison were killed.
Whilst the 2nd Brigade plus the 1st Coldstream had been engaged with the Factory and the German entrenchments along the Chemin des Dames side of it, the Black Watch and Camerons were busy dislodging the other German wing from their trenches along the Chivy road. This again was a costly affair. The Camerons were enfiladed at close range by the German artillery on the other side of the Factory, and had lanes torn through their ranks. Col. Grant-Duff was killed while heading a bayonet charge of the Black Watch, side by side with his Adjutant, Captain Rowan Hamilton. The 1st Scots Guards, who were on the hill between Vendresse and Troyon, also lost their C.O. as well as their second in command, Col. Lowther being wounded and Major Garnier killed, as were also Lieuts. Inigo Jones and Thornhill. Sir V. Mackenzie and Lieut. Stirling-Stuart were wounded at the same time. The Scotsmen, however, did not mean stopping that day, and in spite of desperate losses the Chivy road trenches were finally carried at the point of the bayonet and a number of prisoners taken. But it cost the 1st Brigade 49 officers and 1,100 rank and file.
Much of the success during this day was due to the gallant behaviour of the 116th Battery R.F.A. attached to the 1st Brigade. At an early period in the day this battery, for fear of misdirection in the mist, had worked its guns up into a dangerously exposed position close to the firing line. From here they were able to work great damage to the German defences, but, as a natural consequence, themselves suffered severely in the process. Major Nicholson, in command of the battery, had been wounded early in the morning while reconnoitring for this position, the command then devolving upon Captain Oliver, who took the battery into action. Some 1,200 rounds were fired during the day, and replenishment of ammunition had to be done entirely by hand, all spare men and drivers being led up in relays by Lieut. Gardiner. The battery remained exposed to a very galling fire till after nightfall, when it was withdrawn by order of Col. Geddes, commanding the 25th Brigade R.F.A., as its position was in front of the infantry line actually occupied. Lieut. Simson, well known as a Rugby International, was killed during the operation. Great courage and devotion to duty was shown by Bombardier Collins, the battery telephonist, who, though painfully wounded early in the proceedings, continued at his post throughout the day. The battery was warmly thanked and praised by General Maxse, commanding the 1st Brigade, for the assistance it had given him.
By noon the 1st and 2nd Brigades were extended in a straight line running east and west through the Factory. Eventually, however, the line which was actually occupied and entrenched and maintained throughout the Aisne period against incessant counter-attacks had its right resting on the Chemin des Dames half a mile east of the Factory, and from there inclined gradually backwards till it reached the river east of Soissons. When we consider that the position won this day on the Chemin des Dames was four miles north of the river, the oblique line thereafter held by the British troops was a lasting monument to the remarkable achievement of the 1st Division on September 14th.