Meanwhile, the Battalion was in Brigade Reserve, anxiously awaiting information which could be acted upon. The Millekruisse Line had been strengthened by the addition of D Company, but B and C Companies were both available for any action. All telephone lines had been broken within a few minutes of the opening of the bombardment, and it was extremely difficult to obtain any news. Lieut. J. C. Walton, the Battalion Intelligence Officer, was sent up to get in touch with the H.Q. of the 7th Battalion, which was in the line; but he was blown to pieces by a shell before he had gone more than two hundred yards. About 7-0 a.m. it was learned from wounded men who had come down, that the 7th Battalion had been heavily attacked, but that they had held their ground and still had a company in reserve. On receipt of this news, the Commanding Officer immediately communicated with Brigade H.Q., asking whether he should send a company to assist them. About 9-0 a.m. a wounded N.C.O. of the 7th Battalion reported a fresh massing of the enemy for the attack. Lieut.-Col. Sugden waited no longer, but at once ordered up B Company to reinforce. Though the barrage was almost as thick as ever, the company succeeded in finding a route by which it reached its objective with very few casualties. It arrived just in time to stop an urgent message which was being sent, asking for the assistance of a company. But the reinforcements were never required. The worst of the battle was over. After two violent attacks all along the front, the enemy made only local and spasmodic efforts for the rest of the day. His force was broken; he had been beaten to a standstill; and he had gained—nothing. As the Divisional Commander wrote shortly after—“It was a great day for British Arms.”
The battle of April 29th was far more than an ordinary defeat for the enemy. It was the final collapse of his offensive. During the next three months he was to launch other great attacks against the French, further to the south. But never again was he to try conclusions with the British in a great battle, until they took the initiative into their own hands, and, after driving him headlong from position after position, forced him to sue for an armistice from the men he had professed to despise. For the second time in less than three weeks the 147th Infantry Brigade had assisted in bringing the German attack to a standstill, and had consolidated and held a line which was to remain unbroken until all lines were left behind in the victorious advance of the autumn.
The following days were uneventful. Work continued on the Millekruisse Line, in which two companies were now permanently stationed. B Company remained under the orders of the 7th Battalion. Enemy artillery was active, but was as nothing compared with the barrage of April 29th. The 147th Infantry Brigade was strengthened by the temporary addition of a composite battalion, made up of the remnants of the 146th Infantry Brigade and the 19th Lancashire Fusiliers, each battalion furnishing one company. Among the many congratulatory messages, which poured in after the victory of April 29th, not the least appreciated was one from the G.O.C., IX. Corps, who had not forgotten the work of the 147th Infantry Brigade while serving under his command so recently.
On the night of May 1/2nd the Battalion relieved the 7th Battalion Duke of Wellington’s Regt. on the left of the Brigade Sector. The front held was a peculiar one, and lay almost at right angles to the general line. Its left rested almost on Cheapside, where A Company had been on April 26th. From that point it ran nearly due north to and across the Kemmelbeke, and then turned at right angles across the Milky Way. Three companies held this line, the men occupying small slits in the ground; the fourth and a company of the 6th Battalion, which had been relieved by the 146th Composite Battalion, were in support. There was still plenty of hostile shelling but it was very scattered, and the little slits in the ground were difficult targets to hit.
The labours and troubles of the Battalion were now nearly over for the time being. A French Army had come up and was gradually taking over the front, along the chain of hills. On the night of May 3/4th the Battalion was relieved by the 3rd Battalion, 80th Infantry Regt., of the 32nd French Division. This Battalion, which was very strong, took over the whole front of the 147th Infantry Brigade. They were a magnificent body of men, and the British were much struck with their fine appearance. While the relief was in progress some anxiety was caused by a heavy enemy bombardment, but, apart from this, everything went smoothly. Capt. Fenton, with a few N.C.O’s, was left in the line for twenty-four hours to assist the French; and the Battalion started on its march through the night to a well-earned rest.
It was daylight before the first halting-place was reached. This was a camp which, it was rumoured, had recently been occupied by a Chinese Labour Company. This fact did not altogether commend itself to the Battalion, but all men were so weary that it scarcely disturbed their sleep. In the afternoon a short march brought the Battalion to a hutment camp at St. Jans ter Biezen, where the rest period was to be spent.
The part taken by the Battalion, in what is generally known as the Battle of the Lys, is the most glorious chapter in its history. Never before nor since did the men fight so long continuously, nor against such overwhelming odds. They faced the enemy in the full flush of his successes on the Somme, when his morale was at its highest. They fought him again and again, and never yielded an inch of ground in battle. They taught him that he was no match for a British soldier, either in attack or in defence. They helped to pave the way for his crushing defeat a few months later.
And the men learned many things too. They learned that the German will never push home an assault in the face of a really determined resistance; that infantry fire alone is sufficient to stop his most violent attacks. In the many engagements that they fought during April, 1918, no man of them ever used a bayonet, for never did the enemy reach their lines. They learned too—those of them who did not know it well before—that the spade, almost as much as the rifle, is the infantry man’s weapon. And, perhaps most valuable lesson of all, they learned that what appear to be the blackest and most hopeless situations can be restored by men, if only they possess the necessary determination.
Throughout the most trying and uncomfortable conditions all ranks continued cheerful, and morale never declined. In spite of appalling casualties, the Battalion never became in the least disorganised. Camaraderie and good-fellowship were never more conspicuous. Though the Battalion was only about three hundred strong, a draft of two hundred was incorporated so thoroughly that the men of it fought, only two or three days later, as if they had never served with any other unit.