FOOTNOTES:
[21] See paragraph 3 of same.
CHAPTER XV
BELLICOURT AND BONY
A full account of the battle plan for the forcing of the main Hindenburg Line, on the front of the Australian Corps, would alone fill a volume. Nothing but brief references to the main outlines of the plan can be attempted here.
The forces now at my disposal, for immediate use, were greater than I had ever before committed to a single operation. They comprised, in all, five Divisions, of which two were American and three Australian, besides the whole of the Corps troops. The total personnel employed on that occasion, under my orders in one capacity or another, almost reached 200,000 men.
Besides 58 Battalions of Infantry, there were over 20,000 technical troops, including Engineers, Pioneers and Signallers, upwards of 1,000 guns of all calibres, more than 500 Machine Guns, over 200 Tanks, a Brigade of Cavalry, a Battalion of Armoured Cars, and numerous Air Squadrons. The subsidiary services made an imposing array, comprising observation balloons, supply trains, ammunition columns, auxiliary horse transport, ambulances, motor convoys and mechanical transport, together with railway, veterinary, sanitary and labour units.
It was no small task correctly to apportion to each fighting unit and to each service its appropriate place in the general scheme, so that these great resources should be employed to the best advantage, without overtaxing the capacity of any one of them. I had also to secure the greatest measure of co-operation between them all, and the punctual performance by each of the work prescribed.
In contrast with the great battle of August 8th, there was on this occasion no possibility of securing any advantage from surprise. The enemy command was bound to know quite as well as we did that we intended to deliver an attack on a gigantic scale, and there is no doubt that they put forth their utmost efforts, and marshalled their fullest resources in men and guns, to meet it.