(Extract from the official Communiqué of the 11th April.)
Before this appeared the Corps Commander informed the G.O.C. that Sir Douglas Haig and Marshal Foch fully appreciated the valuable work performed by the Division. This was communicated to units in the following message:—
“The Corps Commander wishes it to be known that the Commander-in-Chief, in course of conversation with him, said that it was mainly due to the stubborn resistance of the Ninth Division that the Army was now in a position to hold on to the present line. If the Ninth Division had not held on there would have been no alternative but to retire a long way back. He also stated that General Foch fully appreciated what had been done by the Ninth Division.”—No. A. 9837/12, 17/4/18.
[117] “Please convey to General Tudor and to all ranks of the Ninth Division my deepest appreciation of the great gallantry displayed by them during many days of severe fighting north of the Lys. In the stubborn struggle for the Ridge at Wytschaete, with which their name will always be associated, as well as on many other occasions, they have shown the same high qualities which distinguished them throughout the Battle south of Arras, and have most worthily upheld the traditions of the British Army.”
(Ninth Division, No. A. 9827/28.)
[118] After the fighting near Kemmel Lieut.-Colonel J. Colchester Wemyss commanded the battalion until Lieut.-Colonel Smyth returned at the end of May.
[119] In June Lieut.-Colonel Ritson left for England and the battalion from the time it went into the line near the end of May was commanded by Lieut.-Colonel J. Murray.
[120] 1 field-gun, captured at Gaza Cross Roads; 6 heavy trench mortars; 6 light trench mortars; 11 heavy machine-guns; 36 light machine-guns; 1 stick-bomb thrower.
[121] 20 heavy machine-guns, 22 light machine-guns, 342 rifles.
[122] “I wish to express to you and to your officers, warrant officers, N.C.Os. and men of the brigade under your command my great regret that the exigencies of the Service prevented me seeing you all personally before you were transferred from the Ninth Division in order to say good-bye. For two and a half years your brigade has shared the fortunes of the Ninth Division. At Delville Wood, at Arras, at Ypres, in the Somme retreat, and finally at Meteren, it has fully contributed in establishing and maintaining the glorious record of this Division. The South African Brigade bore the brunt of the attack on the divisional front in March 1918, and its final stand at Bouchavesnes on 24th March, when it held out all day until all ammunition was exhausted, will live as one of the bravest feats of arms in the war. The cheery keenness and comradeship with which the South African Brigade has always worked and fought will be very much missed by me personally and by all the Ninth Division. We wish you and your brigade the best of fortune, and know that you will always fully maintain the splendid name you have earned.”