1st Battalion at Arras & Monchy-le-Preux (1917): Difference between revisions
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{{1st Battalion (history nav)}}__NOTOC__
== A New Year brings new Operations ==
[[File:German dead
This, particularly with any history written about events that took place anywhere throughout the various theatres of war, is all too common whereby only those campaigns deemed more interesting have been committed to paper.<ref
As we saw in the previous chapter, the [[1st Battalion]] of the [[Border Regiment]] saw the old year out at Hangest. By the opening of the new year, 1917, they were still very much engaged in training until the
▲[[File:German dead at Guillemont Sept 1916.jpg|thumb|220px|German dead near Guillemont, September 1916, showing a destructive aftermath of shelling in the trenches, dugouts and the mass of waste ground behind, what would have originally been fields.]]
▲As we saw in the previous chapter, the 1st Battalion saw the old year out at Hangest. By the opening of the new year, 1917, they were still very much engaged in training until the 12th January when they moved onto Bresle via train and then march. Their stay was a short one as they soon packed up and moved again, this time by march again to Meaulte, Carnoy and finally to Guillemont on the 17th. Here they remained for 10 days before being ordered to take positions alongside the 1st Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers to attack an area just south of Le Transloy, particularly the Landwehr Trench. This attack, which commenced in the early hours of the 27th was seen through to success and as a result of the first stages, 117 German prisoners had been taken and passed back behind British lines. Each of the objectives had been achieved, a further 45 prisoners had been captured shortly after and by mid morning so had another 75 prisoners. The ground that had been taken was however difficult to consolidate owing to a combination of shelling, [[sniping]] from the enemy, and the frozen ground before them did not make matters any easier.
Their work was not over and fortifying the area was taking time. Some wire had been laid around a strong point, which at that time was still being dug and several [[Lewis
The 1st Battalion alone (from a total of 6 officers and 355 unwounded other ranks) captured 4 officers and 200 men along with three of the five [[machine
Although the Battalion was involved in minor operations and battles throughout the months of February and March, they found themselves in the daily routine of training around the area of Bussy where they received further drafts in smaller numbers to recoup their strength. By the end of March the Battalion was in and around the area of Vignacourt, thus waiting to be called upon to take part in the Arras Offensive in April.
==
[[File:
The 1st Battalion were glad to be taking decent shelter from the elements that were pretty unpleasant to say the least, according to the war diary there was
A few days later on the
▲[[File:18 Pdrs under fire at Battle of Arras.jpg|thumb|center|600px|18 pounder guns under fire at the Battle of Arras, 24th April, 1917]]
▲A few days later on the 17th the 1st Battalion moved up to the firing line; here they stayed holding the line as they had done so many times before. The next day, with a platoon of B Company, Second-Lieutenant Cox leading the attack, attempted to capture what was considered a German strong point about 250 yards distant from the British front line. Little did they know how well this area was protected and the result of the attack was unsuccessful, inevitable maybe as the actual location of the strong point was not accurately known. When they eventually found the location, it was far too strongly held with machine guns and in their actions, Second-Lieutenant Cox and five of his men were wounded. Fortunately, none of his men were killed either during the action or whilst in retreat.
There were caves situated at Arras and on the
The task of trying to get the men through the village of Monchy-le-Preux was a difficult and risky one for the main reason that the village was being heavily shelled at the time. The village was greatly congested with [[troops]] and animals but the Battalion, generally unscathed, was ready and in position by 2.30am on the 23rd. There were few casualties, one officer, Second-Lieutenant V. Blomfield, and six other ranks wounded. At some point it was deemed that Battalion Headquarters were not in a satisfactory position and so the [[Adjutant]], Lieutenant R.G. Cullis, was sent forward to scout for a more suitable location to set up Battalion HQ. He did not return until half an hour later, around 3am, reporting that he had found a place to establish the Battalion HQ, situated in a deep hollow in the nearby Château Wood.
[[File:Rue des Grands Vieziers, Arras.jpg|thumb|250px|Rue des Grands Vieziers, Arras.]]
The Battalion Aid Post had already been established there and soon the Battalion HQ would join them on the safer east slope of the hill, which afforded decent cover from enemy fire. The South Wales Borderers were on the attacking lines and at 4.45am, C and D Companies of the 1st Battalion Border Regiment, made their way to the rear reinforcing the S.W. Borderers, with A and B Companies taking temporary accommodation in the old firing line. All was not well as the barrage from our own guns was falling far too short. Into the mix of deadly enemy barrages from two separate locations, the situation had gotten worse and the smoke by that point was so thick it was virtually impossible to see what was going on. Two hours later, Captain Ewbank, commanding B Company, reported stating that the South Wales Borderers were successful in their attempts to gain their objectives but the combined barrages of both British and German had cost many lives and the 1st Battalion had suffered heavily. While the South Wales Borderers were [[dig in|digging in]] and creating strong points along the ground they had just taken, C and D Companies of the 1st Battalion had established themselves in the enemy front line.
The G.O.C. Brigade had sent orders with instruction that a company of the Border Regiment was to be at the disposal of the South Wales Borderers in case the enemy turned their flank. Captain Ewbank was then ordered to clear the German trench from the general area of Arrowhead Copse to the Sunken Road; this he did by sending Second-Lieutenant Layard with a bombing party to complete the task. However, later in the evening, upon his return he reported that the enemy section of trench mentioned prior did not actually exist, yet there was a section of trench further up Sunken Road where he had found some of the enemy, around 80 in number. With this information he made his way back to Arrowhead Copse where he secured a Lewis Gun. On returning to the Sunken Road, it was positioned in such a way as to successfully enfilade the enemy, which he did causing many casualties in the process before his location was pin-pointed. That kind of fire was not going to go by without retaliation and soon the entrenched Germans returned fire, four of Layard’s men were hit. He knew when to retire and swiftly withdrew his gun before there was further loss of life to his party. Upon orders, no further advance was to be taken, at least for the time being.
==
Along the edge of the Arrowhead Copse and the village of Monchy-le-Preux the enemy shelling had become a heavy, continuous stream of hostile action. Somewhere in the Pelves Valley there was German [[enfilade|enfilading fire]] cutting into the Battalion Headquarters, which was now no longer in a safe location as had originally thought.
By 1pm the Battalion Headquarters had been moved again back to the Château dugout and later on after dusk, to yet another dugout, larger in size. Two platoons set up a defensive flank that was parallel to the Sunken Road, because the situation was neither clearing nor satisfactory. For the time being, the men had to settle in for another night in the firing line as relief would not be possible for another 24 hours. The evening came quickly and passed by without too much action. The day's fighting had been fierce and had taken its toll on both sides. Full scale bombardments had died down and there was now only intermittent shelling as the hours rolled by. The morning of the 24th saw no change and throughout the day the main cause of losses to the battalion was through [[sniping]]. If the enemy spotted movement of any kind it was fired upon. It wasn’t until the following morning on the 25th that three of the Battalion companies were relieved. The full relief of the Battalion was not possible owing to the recommencement of the enemy barrage, which meant that D Company had to remain in the front line for further 24 hours. On the
[[File:
Almost two weeks passed where the Battalion had been given numerous orders to stand by in readiness to move out only for those orders to be cancelled and to stand down again. Each time the men were prepared to move up to the front line, ready to continue the fight wherever they were instructed to do so. The order was given again but this time, on the
On the evening of the
Along side the attack to be made on the right, two further objectives for the 87th Brigade were thus: to capture Infantry Hill and the Bois des Aubepines, including the immediate establishment of strong points along Devil’s Trench, Cigar Copse, May trench, Long Trench and Tool Trench. Each company of the 1st Battalion had allotted objectives, which were as follows:
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Included in these objectives was also carrying and wiring parties and that of a company of the South Wales Borderers, whose objectives were to dig in strong points along Devil’s Trench at 50 yard intervals. There were many preparations to be made but by the morning of the 19th, most had been completed. The Battalion was again proving that it was working well together, like a well oiled machine. Orders were followed to the instruction and the work was done. The men were ready in their positions and the ground ahead carefully examined prior to the attack. The day grew lighter and the men found themselves starting a new day, cloudless and hot with almost no wind. The attack had been planned to start at 9pm that evening and so the men waited under the increasing spring heat for the inevitable to unfold. The final orders were given prior to 9pm and with this the British bombardment opened on the German lines. Little damage was being caused as many of the shells were falling too short from their targets but to the second, upon zero hour when the barrage fell, the men leapt from their positions and commenced the planned attack. Up to an hour had passed and little to no information had made its way back to Battalion Headquarters on the progress made so far. It was a message received from Private Crook, who had returned to HQ stating that the waves had gone “over the top” and the rear parties followed suit with wires and trestles in hand. However, German retaliation soon took a firm grip and sent up S.O.S. signals for their own barrage to open.
The
By 1.30am, all indications were clear that a successful outcome of this attack was no longer viable. All the indications stipulated that the continuation of this attack would not yield the outcome they had planned and so with this information in mind the Battalion Commander sent out a message as quickly as possible to Lieutenant Thornburn-Brown, who, injured shortly after the initial attack commenced, was still carrying on as O.C. of C Company. His orders were to fall back to the original front line and consolidate all the men before dawn as a defensive move in case of an enemy counter-attack. The adjutant returned from the front line around 3.10am and surmises with the following detailed information:
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The original front line was re-established as ordered with the strength of all available men and two Vickers Guns. During this time the stretcher bearers had a exhaustive time working continuously to bring in the wounded before the cover of darkness turned to light. This had mostly been achieved by dawn and throughout the rest of the day, the stretcher cases were subsequently evacuated. The Battalion had again suffered greatly with casualties including a total of 10 officers, these being: ▼
| style="background:#b0c4de;" | <center>'''Killed '''</center>▼
| <center>Lieutenant L.W. Armstrong </center>▼
| <center>Lieutenant P. New </center>▼
{| class="wikitable" style="width:auto; float:right; margin:5px 0 5px 15px; text-align:left;"
|-
| ▼
|[[Captain]] H. Palmer
| <center>Second-Lieutenant E.B. Dunlop </center>▼
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|-
▲| style="background:#b0c4de;" | <center>'''Wounded '''</center>
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|-
| ▼
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|-
| ▼
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▲| <center>Second-Lieutenant A.J. Durham </center>
|-
▲| style="background:#b0c4de;" | <center>'''Wounded & Missing '''</center>
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|}
▲The original front line was re-established as ordered with the strength of all available men and two [[Vickers
The 1st Battalion’s next action would see them in the Third Battle of Ypres, but for now the men, who were battered and bruised from the fierce battle of Monchy-le-Preux, spent the remainder of May and most of June at Candas, in the Picardy region of the Somme, making the most of their time away from front line action.▼
▲The 1st Battalion’s next action would see them in the [[1st Battalion in the Third Battle of Ypres (1917)|Third Battle of Ypres]], but for now the men, who were battered and bruised from the fierce battle of Monchy-le-Preux, spent the remainder of May and most of June at Candas, in the Picardy region of the Somme, making the most of their time away from front line action.{{clear}}
== References / notes ==▼
== Footnotes ==
{{Reflist|5}}
*[[Harold Carmichael Wylly|H.C. Wylly]], C.B. (1925). ''[[The Border Regiment in the Great War]]''. Gale & Polden Ltd. ISBN 1843425408
[[Category:1st Battalion]]
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