During the day the enemy made several attempts to enter the trenches of the 60th Brigade. A determined bombing attack launched at 1.30 P.M. against the 12th K.R.R.C. was driven back with great loss after fighting lasting for an hour and a half. At the same time an attack was made against the 6th K.S.L.I. A party rushed the bombing post on the left of this battalion, while large numbers of men in small groups tried to come across the open from Lesbœufs. The latter were repulsed, and the N.C.O. in charge of the bombing post collected his men, who by out-throwing the Germans drove them back. Several other attempts were similarly defeated by the superior throwing of our bombers. The artillery opened fire, and accounted for many of the enemy. The casualties—due partly to these attacks and partly to hostile shelling—amounted to 3 officers and 35 other ranks in the 12th K.R.R.C., and 62 other ranks in the K.S.L.I.
On the same day three battalions of the 59th Brigade—the 11th R.B., the 10th R.B. and the 11th K.R.R.C.—were called upon to carry out a most difficult operation. The objective was some 800 yards of the Blue Line which still remained in the enemy’s hands. The battalions from the first were placed at a serious disadvantage, as the trenches they had taken over the night before ran almost at right angles to the enemy’s line; they were, in fact, old communication trenches. British troops were reported to be holding the Blue Line on each flank of the objective, but it was not discovered until too late that this information was incorrect. The brigade on the left of the 59th was therefore unable to give the expected assistance by bombing down the flank of the enemy’s line. Owing to the uncertainty of the situation and the difficulty of communicating with the front line, the companies did not receive their orders until a short time before the attack; one company of the 11th R.B. did not take part in the operation, as all runners sent to this company were hit before they could reach it. Moreover, owing to the little time available for the preparation of barrage tables and to the uncertainty of the ammunition supply, the artillery could not give the necessary support.
These three battalions, then, on leaving their trenches had to swing round on a forward slope. As soon as they showed themselves, the enemy, obviously ready for the attack, put down an extremely quick and accurate barrage, and met the assaulting line with a hail of bullets. Although nearly all the most advanced troops became casualties, some of the 11th K.R.R.C. fought their way forward to the objective, and Captain O. R. Ord, with a few riflemen of the 10th R.B., reached the enemy wire, where they were all killed in making a gallant attempt to get through. Most of the troops, coming under overwhelming machine-gun fire from the front and flanks, were unable to make much progress. In the end all three battalions had to retire to their original line with very heavy losses.
Captain Johnson, medical officer to the 10th R.B., was awarded the M.C. for attending the wounded for many hours after he had been severely wounded himself.
This attack resulted in the only failure sustained by the Division during the battle of the Somme.
On the 18th the 6th Division made another attack on the Quadrilateral and succeeded in breaking down the very determined resistance of the defenders and in capturing the position. A patrol of the 12th R.B. under Lieut. Breckon and 2nd Lieut. Ruddle was sent out to assist on the left flank of the attack, and was most successful. About 300 yards from the 12th R.B. trenches was the head of the valley which runs north from Combles. Here the patrol cut off several parties of the enemy as they retired from their trenches, and captured a machine gun and 26 prisoners (one party alone, under Cpl. Chitty, took 14 of them), besides accounting for some 50 more who tried to get away down the valley. One of the 12th R.B. bombing sections, which had been lent to the 12th K.R.R.C., was at this time holding an advanced bombing post. A man of this section, Rifleman Yates, went out by himself against a party of Germans who had been seen collecting for a counter attack behind a barricade in their trench. Bombing the Germans as he went he inflicted considerable loss upon them and broke up the attack. In the meantime a bombing attack had been made against the 6th K.S.L.I., and had been defeated.
The 7th K.O.Y.L.I. were moved up in the early hours of the 19th to the support of the 59th Brigade. They arrived at their position forty minutes after dawn, having suffered 60 casualties in passing through a very heavy barrage and in advancing across ground swept by machine-gun fire. Here they remained till they were relieved on the 21st, having lost 30 more men on the 20th from enemy shelling. The 12th King’s also came up on the 19th to reinforce the 59th Brigade, and the 10th and 11th R.B. were withdrawn from the line.
Between the 17th and the 21st, when the Division was relieved, the nights were largely spent in digging a new line of trenches. The battalions of both brigades, the 84th Field Company R.E. and the 11th D.L.I., were employed on this work, which was carried through in spite of bad weather and a good deal of hostile fire.
Meanwhile the 92nd and 93rd Field Artillery Brigades had taken their part in the operations. The 93rd moved to Guillemont on the 19th, coming under the Guards Divisional Artillery, and the 92nd came into action on the 20th in support of the 18th Infantry Brigade of the 6th Division. The 91st Field Artillery Brigade remained with the 56th Division, which was working towards Combles. All three brigades were engaged in a general attack which was made on the 25th of September. In this action Morval and Lesbœufs were taken; Combles was practically surrounded, and was entered by British and French troops simultaneously on the 26th, when Gueudecourt also fell. This success was then extended to the left flank by the capture on the 27th of Thiepval.
After a few days’ rest in the neighbourhood of Treux the Division again moved forward on the 26th into the line near Morval, only to be relieved next day by the 2nd French Division, which took over that part of the line in preparation for an attack on Sailly-Saillisel. The 20th then took over from the 21st Division of the XVth Corps a line extending from the cross-roads half-way between Gueudecourt and Lesbœufs to a point 250 yards east of Gueudecourt.