The Story of the Great War, Volume 6 / History of the European War from Official Sources

by Unknown

Fresnoy, which was held by the Canadians, and which jutted into the German lines, was subjected to intense fire and showers of high explosives and shrapnel throughout the night of the 7th, and in the morning of the following day the Germans attacked in force. The British were overwhelmed, but served their machine guns to the last, and only fell back from their advanced lines when the village was no longer tenable. The greater part of the ground lost by them was recovered on the following day.

The French captured first-line German trenches over a front of three-quarters of a mile northeast of Chevreux near Craonne, during the night of May 8, 1917, capturing several hundred prisoners. Vigorous counterattacks made about the same time by the Germans to regain lost positions on the plateau of Chemin-des-Dames and on the Californie Plateau were shattered by the French artillery. The Germans here displayed the most intrepid bravery, sending forward successive waves of men again and again until the battle area was strewn with dead. Northwest of Rheims the French carried 400 yards of German trench, taking prisoner 100 men and two officers.

Severe and continuous fighting went on during May 9, 1917, in the neighborhood of Bullecourt, where the Germans tried vainly to shake the British hold on the position. East of Gricourt a portion of the German front and support lines were captured by the British, also a considerable number of prisoners. Counterattacks on the French front along the Chemin-des-Dames and in the region of Chevreux resulted in heavy losses to the Germans in men and guns.

Toward the close of the day, May 11, 1917, the British after the hardest and most sanguinary fighting won two positions at Roeux just north of the Scarpe, and at Cavalry Farm beyond Guémappe. The loss to the Germans was serious, for these were observation posts of the highest value. The British captured about 350 prisoners, mostly of Brandenburg regiments, who were found crouching in tunnels waiting for a pause in the storm of shell fire to rush out and meet the attackers with machine guns. But they waited too long, and Haig's troops were upon them before they could use their weapons. At Roeux the Bavarian garrison in the tunnels fought ferociously, and being unwilling to yield were destroyed.

Around Guémappe, by the Cavalry Farm, which the Scottish troops had been forced to abandon in the previous month, the fighting was less intense. The Scots went about their task in a businesslike way and routed the garrison and took ten guns and a number of prisoners.

Bullecourt, which had been the scene of some of the hottest fighting since the offensive began, and where the Australians had repulsed a dozen strong counterattacks, was in large part occupied by the British on May 12, 1917. North of the Scarpe, British troops established themselves in the western part of the village of Roeux, and improved their positions on the western slopes of Greenland Hill.

Along the Aisne and south of St. Quentin the French continued to bombard enemy lines. A violent attack made by the Germans on the 12th against French positions on the Craonne Plateau north of Rheims broke down under French artillery and machine-gun fire.

The British continued to hold their own in Bullecourt and to improve their position there and at Cavalry Farm and Roeux. In the three days' operations the British had captured 700 prisoners, including eleven officers and a considerable number of guns and war material.

May 14, 1917, was a successful day for the Germans when they captured Fresnoy. Early in the morning they succeeded by strong counterattacks in gaining a foothold in the British trenches northeast of the village. At a later hour the British attacked and regained the lost ground, but were forced to withdraw when the Germans brought forward two fresh divisions. The Germans continued their violent attempts to regain Roeux and that part of Bullecourt which was firmly held by the British. The struggle around these two places which had been raging for four weeks grew daily more intense, and the ground around the British positions was heaped with dead.

All of Roeux was by the 15th in British hands: the château with its great dugouts and gun emplacements, the cemetery from which a large tunnel ran westward to Mount Pleasant Wood, and the village itself.