On the 16th Brig.-General Croft drew up his plans for forcing the passage of the Lys. Guns, both field and heavy, were moved into position to cover this operation, and arrangements were made for the construction of bridges. The 51st Brigade R.F.A. took up positions on the general line of the Heule-Stokerij road, each brigade sending forward two guns in close support, while four howitzers of the 50th Brigade went into action in Cuerne. The 28th Brigade A.F.A. was active in rear of the 50th and 51st, and twelve 60-pounders and eight 6-inch howitzers of the 59th R.G.A. had opened fire by the evening. At 2 P.M. and again at 5 P.M. all the Field Artillery Brigades shelled the Courtrai-Harlebeke road where the K.O.S.B. had observed numerous parties of Germans, and excellent work was accomplished by our forward guns in silencing machine-guns firing from houses in Harlebeke, a large and substantial village.
Brig.-General Croft’s plan arranged that the river, about seventy feet wide, should be crossed at two places simultaneously; on the left, the 11th Royal Scots with the aid of the 90th Field Coy. R.E. were to throw a bridge over the ruins of the Hoogebrug Bridge on the Harlebeke-Stokerij road and attack the village of Harlebeke; on the right, the K.O.S.B. were to pass over by boats and improvised bridges in the loop of the river south-east of Cuerne, secure the Courtrai-Harlebeke Railway with the high ground east of it, and effect a junction with the 11th Royal Scots at the level-crossing in Harlebeke.
The attempt was made at 8 P.M. On the left, it was completely repulsed in spite of the gallant and costly efforts of the Royal Scots and sappers of the 90th Field Company, who were swept away by machine-gun fire at close range. On the right, Lieut.-Colonel Ker sent three companies across a boat bridge erected by the sappers of the 64th Field Company. Under a powerful barrage of H.E. and smoke, the K.O.S.B. scrambled up the marshy slope of the east bank, and reaching the Courtrai-Harlebeke road where several Germans were captured, pushed out towards the Railway. The left company then moved north towards Harlebeke but met with obstinate resistance, and the battalion was ordered to maintain the ground it had won, holding the loop of the river with an outpost line on the Railway.
A half-hearted counter-stroke during the night against the right flank garrison of the bridgehead was easily defeated. Before dawn the Sappers had constructed a relief bridge close to the first, and by these two bridges, two sections of the 9th Machine-gun Battalion and two platoons of the 2nd Hampshire Regiment (Twenty-ninth Division) crossed. The left company of the K.O.S.B., which had suffered severely in the attempt to force Harlebeke, was relieved by the reserve company and drawn back to the west of the Lys.
Owing to the failure on the left the operation had fallen short of complete success. It was suggested that the rest of the brigade should be taken over the river during the hours of darkness by the K.O.S.B. bridges, and an assault made on Harlebeke at dawn with a view to extending the bridgehead, but it was ultimately decided to consolidate the ground that had been gained. Our position on the east of the river could hardly be considered satisfactory, and it was doubtful if under the conditions of modern war it could be regarded as a bridgehead in the true sense of the term, since the enemy’s guns in Harlebeke commanded the river and were in a position to demolish the bridges when daylight came; in fact, if the Germans had possessed a tithe of the spirit that animated them before April there would have been good reason to dread the utter destruction of our forces on the east of the Lys. The attempt was made because it was evident that the enemy’s moral was on the wane.
The 17th October was a day of acute anxiety. At 5.10 A.M. the Germans barraged the Courtrai-Harlebeke road and a few minutes later their infantry advanced to the attack. The centre of the K.O.S.B. was pierced and four machine-guns were knocked out, but the flanks held firm and a timely bayonet charge by the reserve of the right company under Captain White put the enemy to flight. At the same time the centre company was rallied by Major McDiarmid of the 9th Machine-gun Battalion, who had swum the river under heavy fire, and it reoccupied its position. On the first news of the attack two companies of the 12th Royal Scots, who had been warned to be ready to reinforce, crossed the river with fine steadiness under intense artillery-fire which speedily sank both bridges. This addition to the garrison now made our position on the east bank reasonably secure; for the dismal failure of the enemy’s counter-stroke showed clearly that he was losing heart. Over thirty dead Germans were counted after the bayonet charge, and of those who fled many were shot down by our riflemen and Lewis Gunners.
But though the attack had been brilliantly repulsed and was not renewed, the position of the K.O.S.B. and the Royal Scots caused Brig.-General Croft the keenest concern. The slightest movement provoked machine-gun fire, and as both bridges had been sunk the men could be neither reinforced nor withdrawn during daylight without enormous losses and the risk of virtual annihilation. Nevertheless it was necessary to keep the garrison supplied with ammunition and rations, and two platoons of the 12th Royal Scots, in single file, working their way along the wreckage of the bridges and wading over their waists in water under a constant fusilade of bullets, crossed the river with supplies of ammunition. In similar fashion, runners succeeded in maintaining communication between the troops on both sides of the Lys. Aeroplanes were also employed and carried over abundant rations and ammunition, which they dropped by means of parachutes. Thus with ample provisions the men on the east bank were in good heart, and later when they were withdrawn they declared that they had never been so well fed in all their previous war experience.
About noon instructions were received from the II. Corps to make no further attempt to establish bridgeheads across the Lys. Our efforts were to be devoted to the reconnaissance of suitable crossing places and to the collection of bridging material. If it were practicable the K.O.S.B. bridgehead was to be maintained, and this matter was left to the discretion of the G.O.C. But since the Ninth was now to take over the front north of Hoogebrug as far as the junction of the Vaarneuykbeek with the Lys north-east of Bavichove, the decision as to the bridgehead was left to the Twenty-ninth Division, which relieved our troops on the east bank after dusk by means of boats and bridges constructed by the Sappers of the 63rd Field Company. Brig.-General Freyburg, who went over in person, decided to abandon the bridgehead, and the 27th Brigade on being drawn back was concentrated in the vicinity of Laaga Cappelle Wood.
The operations[131] in Flanders had fully realised the expectations of Marshal Foch and Sir Douglas Haig. The enemy was obliged to relinquish his grip on the Flanders coast and to withdraw his forces to the neighbourhood of Ghent, and farther south he was compelled to abandon Lille on the 17th October and soon after the industrial centres of Tourcoing and Roubaix. It was necessary to follow up our successes and to press our advantage. Accordingly preparations were made on the 18th and 19th for crossing the Lys on a large scale, and the night of the 19th/20th was fixed for the attempt. New gun positions were selected and ammunition brought up, and the 26th and 28th Brigades with the Sappers reconnoitred all possible crossings.
The boundary between the Ninth and the Twenty-ninth Division stretched from Hoogebrug—south of Ingoyghem—to the Scheldt south of Trappelstraat. On our left was the Thirty-sixth, which had relieved the Third Belgian Division, and the boundary on this flank ran from the junction of the Plaatsbeek and the Lys—south of Beveren—north of Vichte and Ingoyghem—to the Scheldt north-west of Berchem. Our first objective was the line running north-east and south-west about 500 yards east of the Lys, and the attack was to be carried out by the 26th and 28th Brigades. Divisions were allowed to choose their own time for crossing the river and securing this objective, but all had to be ready to take part in a general advance from it at 6 A.M. on the 20th. The objective for the next advance was the St Louis-Vichte road, but, if the army on our left did not move forward, then the line St Louis-Belgiek about four miles from the Lys.