Read Delphi Complete Works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Illustrated) Online
Authors: SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
Delphi Complete Works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Illustrated) (1377 page)
As March 24 wore on the position of the Thirty-ninth Division became untenable, as they heard upon one side of the loss of Saillisel, and on the other of the forcing of the Somme at Brie, Pagny, and Bethencourt. They moved back, therefore, at night with orders to hold the line from Buscourt to Feuillères. The average strength of brigades at this time was not more than 20 officers and 600 men. From the morning of March 25 the Thirty-ninth Division passed to the command of the Nineteenth Corps, and its further arduous. work will be found under that heading. During all this day Campbell’s Twenty-first Division, still fighting hard in a succession of defensive positions, had its right upon the Somme, while its left was in Battle intermittent touch with the Ninth Division.
The Ninth Division had fallen back, the two seventh Scottish brigades being continually in action until they reached the Maricourt — Montauban line, where they supported the First Cavalry Division who were in front of Bernafoy Wood. The general line at this period from Montauban southwards was held ^ by the Ninth Division, the First Cavalry, the newly-arrived and most welcome Thirty-fifth Division (Franks), the Twenty-first Division, now reduced to a single composite brigade under General Headlam, and then some oddments under Colonel Hunt. This brought the line to the Somme, on the south side of which were the remains of the Sixteenth and Thirty-ninth Divisions. This might sound an imposing force upon so short a front, but save for the Thirty-fifth each division was
nominis magni umbra
, none of them stronger than brigades. The Forty-seventh Division was retiring at this time upon Contalmaison, and a gap of several miles was appearing between the Fifth and Seventh Corps. During the movements upon March 24 the guns of the 65th and 150th K.F.A. did great work and earned the warm gratitude of the weary infantry. The enemy targets round Combles were all that a gunner could wish.
All troops north of the Somme were upon March 25 transferred to the Fifth Corps, and became part of the Third Army. The 27th Brigade was drawn out of the line, and the 26th was under the orders of the Thirty-fifth Division which took over the defence of this sector, relieving the exhausted Twenty-first Division. March 25 saw heavy attacks on Bernafoy, which was lost once, but regained by the 106th Brigade. There was still a gap to the north, and no touch had been made with the Seventeenth Division, though the cavalry had built up a defensive flank in that direction. At 2 P.M. the Germans attacked from Ginchy towards Trones Wood, names which we hoped had passed for ever from our war maps. In the first onset they pressed back the 12th and 18th Highland Light Infantry of the 106th Brigade, but there was a strong counter-attack headed by the 9th Durhams which retook Faldere Wood and restored the situation. A second attack about 3 P.M. upon the Thirty-fifth Division was also repulsed. The German pressure was so great, however, that the line of defence was taken back during the night to the Bray — Albert position. The enemy followed closely at the heels of the rearguards, though the guns were active to the last so as to conceal the retreat as long as possible. Early in the morning of March 26 the Lowland Brigade was again attacked with great violence, but the 12th Royal Scots, upon whom the main assault fell, drove it back with loss. Changes in other parts of the line, however, necessitated a withdrawal across the Ancre, so as to keep in touch with the Twelfth Division which had now come up on the left. The Ninth Division upon this date numbered 1540 rifles with 20 machine-guns. It was shortly afterwards drawn from the line after as severe a spell of service as troops could possibly endure. The story of the retreat of the Seventh Corps has been indicated mainly from the point of view of this northern unit, but it will be understood that the Twenty-first, as tried and as worn as its Scottish neighbour, was keeping its relative position to the south, while the Sixteenth was conforming in the same way until the time when it passed into the Nineteenth Corps.
The Thirty-fifth Division, newly arrived from Flanders, did great and indeed vital work in upholding the weakening-line at the moment of its greatest strain. A consecutive account of its work may make this clear. Pushing through the remains of the Twenty-first Division on March 24, Franks threw his men instantly into the thick of the fight, attacking the Germans in front of Clery. Marindin’s 105th Brigade did great work that day, the 15th Cheshires on the right and 15th Sherwood Foresters on the left, attacking and, for a time, carrying the ridge of Clery, though it was impossible in view of the general retreat to hold it for long. The Germans were staggered by the sudden, unexpected blow, and they poured troops against their new antagonist, losing very heavily in their reconquest of the ridge. Finally the front line of the Sherwoods was practically annihilated, and the Cheshires were in almost as bad a way, but with the help of some Sussex men who were formed into an emergency unit, together with some signallers, they were able to draw off, and a line of defence was organised under General Marindin, but general orders arrived for a withdrawal to the front Curlu — Maurepas, which was safely carried out, the 17th Royal Scots covering the rear. It was a most ticklish business, as touch had been lost with the Ninth Division, but the wounded were safely evacuated, and all withdrew in good order, the 12th Highland Light Infantry finally bridging the gap upon the left. This battalion had lost in these operations its splendid Colonel, Anderson, whose work has earned a posthumous V.C. The enemy followed closely, and attacked again before dusk. but was driven off. The attack was renewed on the morning of March 25, but still without success, the 4th North Staffords bearing the brunt. The weary troops of the Scottish division, who had been engaged for four long days, were rallied here and formed into provisional fighting units, which did good service by relieving the 106th Brigade at Maricourt, when it was forced back. The pressure upon the division was desperately severe, but was slightly eased by the arrival of a Northumberland Fusilier battalion from the Twenty-first Division. That night the order was to withdraw to the line Bray — Albert.
The general command of the retiring line in this section, including the Ninth, Twenty-first, and Thirty-fifth Divisions had for the time fallen to General Franks, who handed his own division over to General Pollard. The position was exceedingly critical, as not only were the units weak, but ammunition had run low. The line was still falling back, and the enemy was pressing on behind it with mounted scouts in the van. In this retreat tanks were found of the greatest service in holding the German advance. The route was through Morlancourt and Ville-sur-Ancre to a defensive position upon the right bank of the Ancre in the Dernancourt area, the orders being to hold the line between that village and Buire. Both villages were attacked that evening, but the Thirty-fifth Division on the right and the 26th Brigade on the left, drove back the enemy. By the morning of March 28 the line seemed, to have reached equilibrium in this part, and the welcome sight was seen of large bodies of troops moving up from the rear. This was the head of the Australian reinforcements. During the day the enemy got into Dernancourt, but was thrown out again by the 19th Northumberland Fusiliers Pioneer Battalion. The 104th Brigade also drove back an attack in front of Treux Wood. It was clear that the moving hordes were losing impetus and momentum. That same evening the Australians were engaged upon the right and inflicting heavy losses on the enemy. On the night of March 30 the Thirty-fifth Division, which had lost nearly half its numbers, was relieved by the Third Australians.
We shall now follow the Nineteenth Corps in its perilous retreat. It will be remembered that on the evening of the first day of the battle it had been badly outflanked to the north, where the Sixty-sixth Division had made so stout a resistance, and had also lost a great deal of the battle zone in the south, which was made more disastrous by the fall of Le Verguier at nine on the morning of March 22. The supporting line formed by the Fiftieth Division had also been pushed in at Poeuilly and other points, and it was with no little difficulty that the depleted and exhausted corps was able to get across the Somme on the morning of March 23, where they were ordered to hold the whole front of the river, including the important crossings at Brie. This, as a glance at the map will show, was a very considerable retreat, amounting to no less than ten miles in two days, but it was of the first importance to get a line of defence, and also to lessen the distance between the sorely tried army and its reserves. It was hard indeed to give up ground and to be back on the line of Peronne, but there was at least the small solace that this was the ravaged ground which the Germans had themselves turned into a waste land, and that there was no town of any consequence nor any military point of importance in its whole extent.
By the late afternoon of March 23 the bulk of the Nineteenth Corps was across the Somme. The Germans had followed closely, and there was rear-guard fighting all the way in which the Fiftieth Division slowed down the pursuit of the enemy. The officers who were entrusted with the defence of the line of river soon realised that they had a difficult task, for the dry weather had shrunk it into insignificance in this section, and owing to trees and thick undergrowth the fields of fire were very limited, while the thin line of defenders scattered over some twelve miles of front offered, even after the advent of the Eighth Division, an ineffective screen against the heavy advance from the east. Heneker’s Eighth Division, a particularly fine unit consisting entirely of Regular battalions, had made heroic exertions to reach the field of battle, ‘and fitted itself at once into its correct position in that very complicated operation in a way which seemed marvellous to soldiers on the spot.
In the evening of March
It was on the front of the Eighth Division, at Bethencourt, at Pargny, and at St. Christ, that the Germans made their chief lodgments upon the western banks of the river on the morning of March 24. The Bethencourt attack was particularly formidable, both for its energy and because it aimed at the junction of the two corps. By two in the afternoon the German infantry were across in considerable numbers, and had forced back the right flank of the Eighth Division, which fell back hinging upon the river farther north, so as to oppose the repeated efforts which were made to enfilade the whole line. General Watts’ responsibilities were added to next morning, March 25, for the two much exhausted divisions of the Seventh Corps which were holding the northern bend of the river from Biaches to beyond Frise were handed over to him when the rest of Congreve’s Corps was incorporated in the Third Army. These two divisions were the Thirty-ninth and the Sixteenth, the former holding as far as Frise and the latter the Somme crossings to the west of that point.
March 25 was a day of great anxiety for General Watts, as the enemy were pressing hard, many of his own units were utterly exhausted, and the possibilities of grave disaster were very evident. A real fracture of the line at either end might have led to a most desperate situation. The French were now at the south end of the river position, but their presence was not yet strongly felt, and with every hour the pressure was heavier upon the bent line of the Eighth Division, on which the whole weight of the central battle had fallen. By 10 o’clock on the morning of March 25, the defensive flank of the Eighth Division had been pushed back to Licourt, and had been broken there, but had been mended once more by counter-attack, and was still holding with the aid of the Fiftieth. The cyclists of the Nineteenth Corps, the armoured-car batteries, and other small units were thrust in to stiffen the yielding line, which was still rolled up, until after one o’clock it lay back roughly from Cizancourt to Marchelepot and the railway line west of that place. Later in the day came the news of fresh crossings to the north at St. Christ and Éterpigny where the Sixty-sixth Division had been pushed back to Maisonette. It was evident that the line was doomed. To stay in it was to risk destruction. At 4:15 the order was given to withdraw to a second position which had been prepared farther westward but to retain the line of the Somme as the left flank. During these operations the Eighth Division had performed the remarkable feat of holding back and defeating fourteen separate German divisions during thirty-six hours on a nine-mile front, and finally withdrew in perfect order. Every unit was needed to cover the ground, and the general disposition of divisions was roughly as drawn:
R. - Hattencourt. Chantres. Estrées. Assevillers. Herbecourt. Frise - L.
24
8
50
66
39
16