Bailleul. 12-15. 4. 18.
A few alarming rumours came through during the day, but little was thought of them at first. Then, about 4-30 p.m., came the order from Brigade which disillusioned all—the Battalion was to stand to at once, and work on the taped-out line was to be pressed on with as hard as possible. It was hinted that this line would probably be the front line before morning. Everyone responded with the greatest readiness and cheerfulness. Few shovels were available, but farm implements were seized and many of the men set to work with the long-handled spades of the district. The Battalion was responsible for a line, about half a mile in length, on the western side of the Bailleul—St. Jans Cappel Road. The 6th Battalion held a similar front on the opposite side of the road, but, apart from some Lewis guns manned by a battalion of the Tank Corps, there appeared to be no one for several hundred yards on the right. “When positions are taken up all ranks must definitely understand that no withdrawal is to take place excepting under written orders” was the Commanding Officer’s message to companies. The strength of the Battalion was very low—only 19 officers and 307 other ranks all told—little enough to hold half a mile of front. It was then that the Commanding Officer, thinking the extreme urgency of the situation warranted the step, ordered up practically the whole of B Echelon.
The night which followed was one of the most depressing in the whole history of the Battalion. About 8-30 p.m. a message had arrived from Brigade H.Q. to warn everyone that the 59th Division would probably withdraw through the new line. But the message was unnecessary. The men of the 176th Infantry Brigade were already coming along the road, and it was clear that Bailleul, the town which the Battalion had helped to defend for three days in spite of heavy losses, had fallen. Many of the men of the 5th Battalion North Staffordshire Regt. stopped to assist in the defence of the new line; but most of their Brigade passed through to Locre to reorganise. The Battalion was again holding the front line. Picquets were pushed out well in front, a wiring party under the 57th Field Company, Royal Engineers, did valuable work, while through the night the men dug hard, and by dawn there was quite a good line.
The chief anxiety was the gap in the line, on the Battalion’s right. This was eventually filled by the 5th Battalion North Staffordshire Regt. About 350 men of this battalion had remained in the line when the rest of their Brigade passed through, and these were now transferred to the right, where they took over the front under their own Commanding Officer. But, in accordance with the instructions of the G.O.C., 147th Infantry Brigade, Lieut.-Col. R. E. Sugden, D.S.O., retained supreme command of that part of the front, as well as of his own battalion.
The night passed without any enemy action. At dawn the next day, patrols pushed out well in front of the line, and located the enemy on the Becque de la Flanche. It was certain that he would soon make an attempt to continue his advance, but the Battalion now felt ready for him. Quite a respectable line had been dug during the night. This was held by B Company on the right and C Company on the left; D and A Companies were in support on the right and left respectively; B Echelon, which had arrived during the night, was kept at Battalion H.Q. in reserve. As time went on movement among the enemy became more and more pronounced, and early in the afternoon it was obvious that an attack was imminent. Large numbers of Germans were seen dribbling down the hedge-rows, from the direction of Bailleul, and massing about 500 or 600 yards from the Battalion front. Two companies of the 7th Battalion had been placed at the disposal of the Commanding Officer, to strengthen his right flank, and all ranks quietly awaited the enemy’s move.
About 4-0 p.m. the storm burst. The desultory shelling of the earlier part of the afternoon changed to a barrage, and large numbers of the enemy advanced to the attack. The Battalion settled down to fight. On the right such a hail of bullets was poured into the advancing masses by B Company that the attack scarcely succeeded in debouching from the hedge, behind which the assembly had been carried out. On the left C Company, whose line was packed with Lewis guns, brought the advance to a complete standstill 300 yards from the line. A detachment of the 176th Light Trench Mortar Battery, which was covering the road to Bailleul, was able to burst shell after shell in the midst of the enemy. The attack had hardly opened before it had failed. Nowhere did a German get within 300 yards of the British line. To the east of the road it was much the same tale; there the 6th Battalion Duke of Wellington’s Regt. first held up the attack by Lewis gun and rifle fire, and then, issuing from its trenches, collected a number of prisoners. Within half-an-hour, of the whole German regiment which had made the attack, nothing was to be seen but the little group of prisoners moving to the rear, and the scores of dead who littered the battlefield. “Well done all ranks” was the message received from the Brigadier; and “Well done old 147 Brigade” was the affectionate greeting of Major-General N. J. G. Cameron when he received the news.
Though the men of the Battalion knew it not, this was the last attack they were to sustain on that front. After eight days of almost continuous fighting, they had at length succeeded in bringing the enemy’s advance to a full stop. The line which they had started to dig late in the afternoon of April 15th, and which they had defended so successfully the following day, was to remain the front line until the beginning of the victorious British advance in the late summer. Through it the enemy was never to penetrate; and while the Battalion was in the neighbourhood he never again tried. For the time being the Germans had had enough of the 147th Infantry Brigade. But, at the time, the Battalion knew nothing of all this.
The days that followed were very anxious ones. So weak was the Battalion that it could not be expected to withstand many more attacks. Time after time reports came in that reinforcements were coming up, that French troops would soon be there. But as the days went by, and the Battalion still remained in that all-important part of the line, some began to doubt whether relief ever would come. At length one day a French cavalry officer arrived at Battalion H.Q., and informed the Commanding Officer that he had come for liaison purposes. His regiment was the advanced guard of considerable numbers of French troops, and was already bivouacing in the neighbourhood. He was authorised by his Commanding Officer to say that, although the regiment was not intended to take part in any fighting without orders from higher authority, if help were needed the Battalion need only let him know and the regiment would come.
Meanwhile the Battalion was hard at work improving the line. Patrols were active on the front, and were seldom interfered with. Two days after his unsuccessful attempt towards St. Jans Cappel, the enemy launched an attack further to the west, on the front which had been occupied by the men of the 5th Battalion North Staffordshire Regt. As luck would have it, these had been relieved the previous night by the 2nd Battalion Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders, who gave the enemy so warm a reception that afterwards he left that front severely alone. During these days the Battalion was not much troubled, except by intermittent artillery fire.
On the night of April 18/19th the Battalion was relieved by the 7th Battalion Duke of Wellington’s Regt., and went into Brigade Reserve. Battalion H.Q. was situated in the Convent at St. Jans Cappel which had large, though not very strongly built cellars. The Aid Post was in a brewery on the opposite side of the road, where considerable stocks of beer, rather better in quality than the normal French variety, were much appreciated. Most of the men held a new switch line, which had been dug to the south-west of the village.