At 9 A.M., heralded by machine-gun and artillery-fire, the enemy onsets began. At the first essay the hostile infantry kept a respectful distance, and did not venture to assault. But an hour later a dangerous attack developed on the left front and flank from the north-east. Under a smoke-screen, formed by setting fire to the dry grass, the Germans skilfully picked their way up to a point between 200 and 100 yards from our front line, but further advance was baulked by unerring marksmanship, the South Africans husbanding their ammunition and firing carefully. Foiled but persistent, the assailants wheeling a field-gun forward by hand tried to bring it into action, but a Lewis Gunner of the 1st Regiment shot down the team before it could be fired. Some hours later another gun was brought up at the gallop, but, under the accurate fire of the same Lewis Gunner, men and horses went down in a straggling mass, an inspiring sight greeted by the South Africans with jubilant cheers.
About noon the troops on the right and left of the brigade retired, and the movement misled an officer and about 30 men of the South Africans who, thinking a withdrawal had been ordered, began to fall back, but no difficulty was experienced in bringing them in. The exposed left flank was protected by Major Ormiston with 25 men. No wounded, except those who could not handle a rifle, were allowed to quit the brigade area, but none complained or gave the slightest evidence of any desire to leave their comrades; the corporate heroism of the South Africans was beyond all praise. Every round was collected from casualties, and men not in the front line or not having occasion to use their rifles passed their ammunition to those who required it. By 2 P.M. the South Africans were completely surrounded, and were being fired at from the west as well as from the south and east.
Rescue was now impossible, and the South Africans grimly set themselves to sell their lives at the highest price. Between 2 and 3 P.M. German troops in the north were seen to retire, and wild hope surged through the men that the Thirty-fifth Division, which was known to be coming up, was now within reach; but the enemy had come under his own machine-gun fire from the west and was merely withdrawing from the danger zone. About 4 P.M. only 100 worn-out, dust-covered men remained and the ammunition was all but finished, while batteries of field-guns and several trench mortars were now in action against them. The faint chance of effecting an escape under cover of night was extinguished when, half an hour later, the enemy in great strength and dense formation surged down on the survivors. Only a few scattered shots greeted this, the final charge, and then the tiny groups were swallowed up in a sea of Germans and Brig.-General Dawson and his small band of heroes were prisoners.
The glorious stand of the South Africans was the most dramatic and arresting episode of the retreat, and has already achieved a prominent place in the annals of the British Empire. Throughout all lands of the British race it silenced craven panic and roused that strong pride of race which is ever the parent of valorous deeds. The story[108] reported by Captain Peirson, the B.M. of the 48th Brigade of the Sixteenth Division, reveals the effect on the enemy, which was not confined to moral results. As Brig.-General Dawson was taken behind the German lines he saw the roads blocked with a continuous double line of transport and guns from west of Bouchavesnes to Aizecourt le Haut; for over seven hours the South Africans had kept back, in addition to the infantry, all the artillery and transport which were to advance by the Bouchavesnes-Combles road, and the delay was of inestimable value to our troops in rear.
Meantime the 26th Brigade, which remained on Sailly Saillisel Ridge, north-west of St Pierre Vaast Wood until 11.30 A.M., retired through Guillemont and Maricourt. A stand was made on the Morval-Combles Ridge, where the enemy experienced a rough handling, and later the brigade held the ridge behind Leuze Wood to Combles for a considerable period until the Lowlanders had established their position. During the murderous combat that ensued here Brig.-General Kennedy had his horse shot under him, and the stubborn Highlanders were hard pressed to stem the savage onrushes of the Germans. The most heroic assistance was rendered by the Divisional Artillery, whose alternate battery retirement was magnificent, and they killed vast numbers of the enemy at point-blank range; in numerous cases they remained in action until the enemy’s infantry were swarming on them. C/51 and D/51 Batteries catching the Germans coming down the slopes towards Combles, inflicted enormous casualties and kept on firing till the last possible moment. All the guns were safely withdrawn, though the last gun-team of D/51 was slightly delayed by a direct hit from a “dud” 4·2 shell, which went right through the wheel horse. Skilfully, Brig.-General Kennedy withdrew his men, but in the keen and close encounters the brigade became split up into three parties. The bulk of the Highlanders after a brief halt at Maricourt proceeded to Montauban, where a position was taken up in support of the First Cavalry Division, which was then maintaining a line in front of Bernafay Wood.
The second group, consisting of about 150 Camerons on the left flank of their battalion, had been the last to retire. These men drew off in the direction of Les Bœufs and finding it occupied by Germans marched to Flers, where they joined the 52nd Brigade of the Seventeenth Division. They went with the 52nd Brigade as far as Martinpuich, where they attached themselves to the Sixty-third Division on the 26th, but having received permission to go back to the Ninth, succeeded in rejoining it later in the evening. Another party of Camerons, about 100 in all, in attempting to keep touch with the troops on its left became separated from the rest of the brigade and attached itself to the 142nd Brigade, Forty-seventh Division, and on the 25th, after reaching Albert, formed a part of Lieut.-Colonel Hadow’s force.
The third group, consisting of 300 Black Watch under Lieut.-Colonel Hadow, remained on Morval Ridge until its flank was turned, and it was compelled to retreat northwards. This force, growing in numbers as it collected stragglers from all units, was 2000 strong on the 26th; as “Hadow’s Force” it was organised into two battalions and under the orders of the VII. Corps, took up a position from Mericourt L’Abbé to Sailly le Sec. There it remained until relieved by the 43rd and 38th Australian Brigades on the 28th, after which the men of the 26th Brigade rejoined their battalions.
Sunday, the 24th March, was one of the most dismal days of the retreat. In the south General Gough’s men did not fare so badly; for though the Péronne bridgehead had been lost on the 23rd the enemy did not make much progress between the Somme and the Oise. But the terrific fighting along the entire front all but shattered our defences. On the Third Army front the enemy attacking on the right flank of the V. Corps won Combles, Morval, and Les Bœufs, compelled the Third Army to surrender the whole of the old Somme battlefield, and threatened the liaison between the Third and Fifth Armies. Fissures appeared between the units of the V. Corps, which was forced away from its boundary, and when darkness fell, its right flank, which should have been south of Montauban, rested near Bazentin.
The Ninth now under General Blacklock, who had returned from leave in the afternoon, and reinforced by the 12th H.L.I. of the Thirty-fifth Division, remained in ignorance of the misfortunes of the V. Corps until after midnight. In accordance with instructions from the VII. Corps it took up at 8.30 P.M. a position extending from an east and west line through Hardecourt to the Guillemont-Montauban road. The 12th H.L.I. formed the outpost; the main position was held by the 27th Brigade and two composite battalions of the VII. Corps Reinforcement Training Camp under Lieut.-Colonel Hunt, the 18th H.L.I. being in reserve. The 26th Brigade was at Montauban and D.H.Q. were at Billon Wood. The fragments of the South African Brigade, consisting of the men who had been separated from their brigade on the 22nd, were collected during the night near Maricourt and formed into a battalion under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Young, who had been in charge of the South African details. A dismounted cavalry brigade under General Legard, composed of remnants of the First Cavalry Division, occupied a position between Montauban and Bernafay Wood. Persistent efforts were made to establish touch with the left, and at 1.20 A.M. General Blacklock learned that the right of the Forty-seventh Division was at Bazentin. The Forty-seventh was now as far behind as it had been in front of us in the morning, and there was a gap of two and a half miles between the two armies.