CHAPTER XIII
THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE IN FLANDERS
April 1918
In spite of their success in forcing the passage of the Somme on the 27th March, the Germans had shot their bolt, and though they had secured the most extensive acreage ever taken in any one offensive since trench warfare began, they had failed in their strategical design—the capture of Amiens and the severance of the French and British forces. Their front had been worn to a fine point by the 27th, and an attempt to widen it by a stroke against Arras was shattered by the glorious defence of the northern wing of the Third Army on the 28th March. No effort on their part could prevent our thin line in front of Amiens gaining in strength and stability. Throughout the retreat General Gough had shown sound generalship and admirable control, but the strain on him and his staff had been so constant and severe, that Sir Douglas Haig replaced the Fifth Army Staff by that of the Fourth under General Rawlinson. This arrangement unfortunately appeared to strengthen the impression created by the Prime Minister’s unjust remarks in the House of Commons on the 9th April, implying that General Gough was responsible for our disasters at the Somme. These were primarily due to the failure of the home authorities to keep our line in France adequately supplied with men. About this time, the conference at Doullens arrived at the vastly important decision which led to the appointment of Marshal Foch on the 26th March as the Generalissimo of all the forces on the Western Front.
After the relief of the Ninth, General Blacklock was transferred to another division, and he was succeeded by Major-General H. H. Tudor. There could have been no more popular promotion. The new commander, since he joined the Division in February 1916, had exercised an important influence in its councils, and his conduct of the operations from the 21st to the 24th March had marked him as a leader of outstanding skill. Brig.-General H. R. Wainwright succeeded General Tudor as C.R.A.
During the retreat from Gouzeaucourt to the Ancre, our losses exceeded 50 per cent. of the infantry, but the rest were in good heart. In the fighting of the last few days there had been an element of sport which appealed to the men, and though they were the hunted they had killed an enormous number of the pursuers. Consequently the Division was exhilarated rather than disheartened by its recent experiences, and its moral was all that could be desired, when, on the 1st April, it entrained for the north, where it expected to take over a quiet sector on the front of the IX. Corps in the Second Army. On the 2nd and 3rd April it detrained at Abeele and Hopoutre, D.H.Q. being established at Scherpenberg.
On the night of the 3rd/4th April, the Highland and Lowland Brigades relieved the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Australian Division in the area extending from Hollebeke (inclusive) across the Ypres-Comines Canal to the south end of Bulgar Wood, a stretch of some 3000 yards. Here there were no indications of an impending attack, and General Tudor was told that his first duty was to prepare his command as speedily as possible for the “second round of the Third Somme Battle,” which, it was generally believed, would be continued. This involved a great deal of preparation. Although individual soldiers recovered remarkably quickly from exhaustion, units could not recover with equal rapidity, as there was a lamentable dearth of trained leaders and instructors. Very large drafts, consisting chiefly of youths of eighteen and nineteen years of age, were received almost daily by the 26th and 27th Brigades, but they could not be brought speedily to the same level of efficiency as that exhibited by the veterans of the Somme, while the process of absorbing so many new officers and men, which would have been slow at any time, was rendered even more difficult by the fact that both brigades were in the line. The physique of the drafts that joined the Division at this time was excellent. They were largely composed of lads who had been taken at the age of seventeen, and were splendid examples of the beneficial effect of good feeding, regular exercise, and military discipline on young Scotsmen. The South African Brigade[111] about 1300 strong, and now under the command of Brig.-General Tanner, appeared to have no immediate prospects of obtaining reinforcements, and while the several regiments meanwhile maintained their identity the question of forming it into one battalion was under consideration. Too weak to man a brigade front, it was stationed in divisional reserve in the vicinity of Ridge Wood, 1000 yards north of Vierstraat.
In order to hasten reorganisation as much as possible General Tudor decided to hold the whole of his line with the 27th Brigade, while the 26th was withdrawn to absorb its numerous reinforcements. This arrangement however was upset by Corps orders to take over from the Nineteenth Division 500 yards of line to the south of Hollebeke on the night of the 10th/11th. The Highland Brigade was instructed to do this, but on the morning of the 9th, the enemy made his surprise attack against the XV. and Portuguese Corps, which for some time jeopardised our grip on the Channel Ports, and the Division was required to carry out the relief on the night of the 9th/10th, and take over the remainder of the Nineteenth Division front on the night of the 10th/11th. Accordingly, the Lowland Brigade was ordered to relieve the 26th and garrison also the 500 yards of front in the Nineteenth Division’s sector on the night of the 9th/10th. The new area was a featureless and desolate waste of shell-holes, where it was hard enough to locate one’s position in broad daylight and with the aid of a map, and was therefore all but impossible in darkness. Yet in spite of the impossibility of reconnaissance through lack of time, and a heavy bombardment of the trench system and battery area with H.E. and gas, the relief was duly carried out, though it was after daybreak on the 10th before our outposts were in position. The satisfactory accomplishment of this relief was a very fine feat on the part of the 27th Brigade. To move in the dark over the most barren country in Europe under a really heavy bombardment, without losing cohesion, was an achievement that would have done credit to the finest soldiers of “The Contemptibles.”
Brig.-General Croft’s Brigade had a span of 4000 yards astride the Ypres-Comines Canal, with its right about 800 yards south-west of Hollebeke, and its left approximately 1200 yards east of Klein Zillebeke. As this sector formed the extreme right flank of the Passchendaele salient, the general direction of the lines of defence ran from south-west to north-east. The whole front was covered by a line of posts, some of which were in “Pill-boxes,” and 300 to 800 yards behind this and overlooking it was a continuous trench from the northern divisional boundary to 500 yards from the Canal, where the ground was swampy. From 300 yards south of the Canal another continuous trench ran as far as the Hollebeke road. In the part taken over from the Nineteenth Division there were no defences immediately in rear of the posts, except some 100 yards of trench leaning in a northerly direction.
Our position north of the Canal appeared the part most likely to be attacked, since it formed the hinge of the Passchendaele salient, while the Klein Zillebeke Spur and Hill 60 offered tempting objectives to the enemy, who could make his arrangements and concentrate his forces under cover of the Zandvoorde Ridge. South of the Canal the reserve line defences consisted of a strongly-wired line of posts stretching in a south-westerly direction to the Stables, and supported by the defences of White Château, a former residence of Leopold of Belgium, which, as it occupied a commanding position, was now tunnelled with dug-outs and held a permanent garrison. From the Stables two massive belts of wire extended south-south-east and south-west. Behind these were a few posts which it was impossible to man adequately, owing to the length of the brigade front and the necessity of holding in strength Hill 60, The Bluff, and White Château. No switch protected the right flank of the Division, but a section of machine-guns covered the space between the right of the support line and the Stables.
The front was covered by the 50th and 51st Brigades R.F.A. In divisional reserve were the 26th Brigade, south-west and north-west of Vierstraat, the South African Brigade between La Clytte and Scherpenberg, and the 9th Machine-gun Battalion (less two companies) about 1000 yards east of Ridge Wood.