Meanwhile, what was happening to C and D Companies? After crossing the Lys, C Company assembled near the top of the Rue Delpierre, while Capt. A. M. Luty, with Sec.-Lieut. T. T. Gilroy, C.S.M. N. Hobson and two N.C.O’s, went forward to reconnoitre. The ground was swept by machine gun fire, and it was only by crawling that the party was able to reach the point where the road crosses the railway. Capt. Luty at once realised that it was impossible for him to get to his objective, and decided to hold the line of the railway. He returned to his company which, by this time, had suffered several casualties from enemy artillery fire. The company moved down the road by platoons and took up a position along the railway line, with its right turned back to face south-west. The position was a bad one as the straight line of the railway was heavily enfiladed by machine guns near the Rue du Moulin. Losses were heavy from the very first. Sec.-Lieut. M. C. O’Dowd and several men had been hit coming down the road. C.S.M. N. Hobson was wounded soon after the line of the railway had been taken up. After a short time, one platoon was sent across the railway to take up a more advanced position. Here, except for sniping, this platoon was not much worried for some time, but the rest of the company was suffering appalling casualties. The numbers of wounded were soon far greater than the company stretcher-bearers could deal with. It was then that Pte. A. Poulter earned the highest decoration that a soldier can win—the Victoria Cross. Hour after hour he toiled, in the greatest danger, tending the wounded and carrying them into safety.[16]
About 1-0 p.m. the situation became even worse. The enemy brought up a field gun which enfiladed C Company’s position at a range of only a few hundred yards. Within half-an-hour scarcely twenty men were left unwounded. The position on the railway was clearly untenable, and soon it was decided that a move was necessary, if any were to escape unhurt. The few survivors crossed the railway and took up a position a little to the south of it. Here they suffered much less. About the middle of the afternoon the men of the 11th Battalion Suffolk Regt., who had been on the left of C Company all day, withdrew, having written orders to do so. As he had received no orders, Capt. Luty remained. It should be mentioned that orders to withdraw had been sent to him from Battalion H.Q. some time before, but the runners had become casualties and the orders never arrived. But before long the enemy was seen to be advancing rapidly, both from the south and west, and the position became hopeless. A withdrawal was ordered. Sec.-Lieut. F. D. Chippindale went forward to warn No. 9 Platoon, which was lying out in front; a hail of machine gun bullets was sweeping the ground, and he had barely given the order when he was struck down. The few survivors of this platoon were surrounded and captured. The rest of C Company made a dash for the railway, but only about twelve ever reached it. One by one they rushed across, suffering two more casualties before all were over, and then made for Erquinghem. Many wounded were collected on the way, practically every man of the party assisting one along. They found the bridge near the church destroyed, and, before another crossing could be found, enemy skirmishers were already in the village. At last another bridge was discovered, about half a mile towards Armentiéres, and over this the miserable remnants of the company crossed, remaining on the northern bank until the bridge had been demolished. Of the Company, 5 officers and 139 other ranks strong, which had crossed the Lys about six hours before, little more than the strength of a section remained.
Private A. POULTER, V.C.
D Company had crossed the Lys in rear of C Company in the morning, and had taken up a position in support, south of Erquinghem and astride the Rue Delpierre. Here they had come under heavy artillery and machine gun fire, and had suffered considerably. About 1-30 p.m. they received orders to support the 11th Battalion Suffolk Regt., and moved up to a position in rear of La Rolanderie Farm, where the H.Q. of that battalion was situated. They had not been there long when they received their orders to withdraw, and so returned to the north of the river.
Throughout the day Battalion H.Q. was at Wigan. It had originally been intended to move across the river, but, owing to the uncertainty of the situation, this was never done. The position had not been occupied long before it was realised that the enemy had crossed the Lys, away to the right. Indeed, it is very possible that German troops were actually across, a little to the west of Erquinghem, before any of the Battalion entered the village. By the middle of the morning the situation on that flank was rapidly becoming serious, and the Commanding Officer recommended that troops should be sent up to the neighbourhood of the line Lancashire—Jesus Farm. By 12-20 p.m. A Company’s signallers had established communication by means of a visual station in one of the houses, and throughout the day they and B Company remained in touch with Battalion H.Q. But no reports were received from C and D Companies until the afternoon. About mid-day the neighbourhood of Wigan began to receive attention from the enemy artillery, and, though few casualties were suffered, great inconvenience was caused by the destruction of the officers’ rations. At 12-40 p.m. orders were sent to D Company to move up in support of the 11th Suffolks, these orders anticipating a very urgent appeal from the Commanding Officer of that unit which arrived a little later. The first report from C Company, timed 1-7 p.m., arrived about 2-0 p.m., but gave no idea of Capt. Luty’s desperate situation. However, it was rapidly becoming clear that Erquinghem was untenable, though the real gravity of the situation was not known at the time. As a matter of fact, while the Battalion was still fighting in and to the south of Erquinghem, the enemy was right in its rear at Le Veau, looting the packs which had been dumped there in the morning, and fighting with the men of B Echelon who had been left behind. Early in the afternoon, machine gun bullets from the west began to fall about Wigan. But, by this time, the order to withdraw to Nieppe had been received, and had been passed on to companies. B Company and part of A Company withdrew by the bridge which they had been covering all day; the others crossed by bridges further to the east. Battalion H.Q. remained at Wigan until the early evening. Many buildings in Erquinghem were burning furiously, and numbers of the enemy could be seen moving about in the village.
All the companies had passed long before Battalion H.Q. moved. About 6-0 p.m. the line at Wigan was left in the hands of a very mixed garrison of Royal Scots, Suffolks, Australian tunnellers and others, and the Commanding Officer started for Nieppe. It was only then that the full gravity of the situation was realised. Enemy machine gun bullets were whistling across the road as the party moved along, and, when the level crossing by Nieppe Station was reached, it was found that an enemy machine gun was on the railway line to the north-west, shooting straight down the line. One or two casualties were suffered by H.Q. details in crossing the line. Near the entrance to Nieppe, the whole of D Company was met marching out towards the Station, and Lieut. B. M. Machin stated that he had received orders from the G.O.C. himself to seize and hold that point. Away to the north troops could be seen in extended order attacking towards Le Veau. These troops were A and B Companies, though this was not known at the time. From what he knew of the enemy’s position on the railway, near the station, it was obvious to the Commanding Officer that the left flank of this attack was in danger. To cope with the difficulty H.Q. details, organised in two platoons under Sec.-Lieut. H. A. Loudoun, and one platoon of D Company, were sent down the road to the Station. Two platoons of D Company were directed to prolong the left flank of the attack on Le Veau, and the other platoon was kept in reserve.
It is now necessary to return to A and B Companies. On reporting at 147th Infantry Brigade H.Q. in Nieppe they had been told to occupy some old trenches at Les Trois Arbres. They had not been there long before they were ordered to fall in and move along the Nieppe-Bailleul Road towards Pont d’Achelles. Here they were drawn up by Maj. A. L. Mowat[17] and directed to attack and expel the enemy, who was established in the farmhouses and enclosures at Le Veau. A Company was on the extreme left with B Company on its right; beyond B Company were some Royal Engineers and other troops, mainly Northumberland Fusiliers. Neither side had any artillery to support it.
The advance started and at first progress was easy; but, when the attacking force was about six hundred yards from the enemy, very heavy machine gun and rifle fire opened on it. Progress could now only be made by section rushes with covering fire, and even this became impossible when the line had got to about three hundred yards from the enemy. It was at this point that the arrival of the two platoons of D Company on the left restored the situation. These did not meet with strong opposition, and were able to push forward and gain a footing on the railway. Taken now in flank the Germans began to withdraw, and this enabled A Company to continue its advance and reach the railway on its whole front. Meanwhile B Company had met with strong resistance from the farms and enclosures of Le Veau. A sniper, firing from an attic window, had been particularly obnoxious. For a short time they too had been held up, but Sec.-Lieut. F. Akroyd, supported by heavy covering fire from the rest of the company, managed to push forward on the right and establish a footing, with his platoon, in the enclosures. The enemy then withdrew on this front too, and B Company advanced to the railway. As the H.Q. details had established themselves firmly in the neighbourhood of the Station, the Battalion now held the whole of the railway line from that point nearly up to the Steenwerck Road. The men dug in a few yards in front of the railway line and there settled down for the night, after a most strenuous and exciting day. During this attack A Company had suffered heavy casualties, but both B and D Companies had come through comparatively lightly. In all, the Battalion had lost nearly two hundred men since it had left Le Veau early that morning.