[Sidenote: Main effort against Rancourt and Fregicourt.]
The general plan of the combined allied attack which was opened on September 15 was to pivot on the high ground south of the Ancre and north of the Albert-Bapaume road, while the Fourth Army devoted its whole effort to the rearmost of the enemy"s original systems of defense between Morval and Le Sars. Should our success in this direction warrant it I made arrangements to enable me to extend the left of the attack to embrace the villages of Martinpuich and Courcelette. As soon as our advance on this front had reached the Morval line, the time would have arrived to bring forward my left across the Thiepval Ridge. Meanwhile on my right our allies arranged to continue the line of advance in close co-operation with me from the Somme to the slopes above Combles, but directing their main effort northward against the villages of Rancourt and Fregicourt, so as to complete the isolation of Combles and open the way for their attack upon Sailly-Saillisel.
A methodical bombardment was commenced at 6 a.m. on September 12, 1916, and was continued steadily and uninterruptedly till the moment of attack.
[Sidenote: Bombardment and infantry a.s.sault.]
At 6.20 a.m. on September 15, 1916 the infantry a.s.sault commenced, and at the same moment the bombardment became intense. Our new heavily armored cars, known as "tanks," now brought into action for the first time, successfully co-operated with the infantry, and, coming as a surprise to the enemy rank and file, gave valuable help in breaking down their resistance.
[Sidenote: Tanks enter Flers.]
[Sidenote: High Wood carried.]
[Sidenote: Capture of the Quadrilateral.]
The advance met with immediate success on almost the whole of the front attacked. At 8.40 a.m. "tanks" were seen to be entering Flers, followed by large numbers of troops. Fighting continued in Flers for some time, but by 10 a.m. our troops had reached the north side of the village, and by midday had occupied the enemy"s trenches for some distance beyond. On our right our line was advanced to within a.s.saulting distance of the strong line of defense running before Morval, Les Boeufs, and Gueudecourt, and on our left High Wood was at last carried after many hours of very severe fighting, reflecting great credit on the attacking battalions. Our success made it possible to carry out during the afternoon that part of the plan which provided for the capture of Martinpuich and Courcelette, and by the end of the day both these villages were in our hands. On September 18, 1916, the work of this day was completed by the capture of the Quadrilateral, an enemy stronghold which had hitherto blocked the progress of our right toward Morval.
Further progress was also made between Flers and Martinpuich.
[Sidenote: Results of four days" fighting.]
The result of the fighting of September 15, 1916, and following days was a gain more considerable than any which had attended our arms in the course of a single operation since the commencement of the offensive. In the course of one day"s fighting we had broken through two of the enemy"s main defensive systems and had advanced on a front of over six miles to an average depth of a mile. In the course of this advance we had taken three large villages, each powerfully organized for prolonged resistance. Two of these villages had been carried by a.s.sault with short preparation in the course of a few hours" fighting. All this had been accomplished with a small number of casualties in comparison with the troops employed, and in spite of the fact that, as was afterward discovered, the attack did not come as a complete surprise to the enemy.
[Sidenote: Prisoners taken.]
The total number of prisoners taken by us in these operations since their commencement on the evening of September 14, 1916, amounted at this date to over 4,000, including 127 officers.
[Sidenote: General attack launched.]
[Sidenote: Objectives taken.]
Preparations for our further advance were again hindered by bad weather, but at 12.35 p.m. on September 25, 1916, after a bombardment commenced early in the morning of the 24th, a general attack by the Allies was launched on the whole front between the Somme and Martinpuich. The objectives on the British front included the villages of Morval, Les Boeufs, and Gueudecourt, and a belt of country about 1,000 yards deep curving round the north of Flers to a point midway between that village and Martinpuich. By nightfall the whole of these objectives were in our hands, with the exception of the village of Gueudecourt, before which our troops met with very serious resistance from a party of the enemy in a section of his fourth main system of defense.
[Sidenote: French take Rancourt.]
[Sidenote: Combles occupied.]
On our right our allies carried the village of Rancourt, and advanced their line to the outskirts of Fregicourt, capturing that village also during the night and early morning. Combles was therefore nearly surrounded by the allied forces, and in the early morning of September 26, 1916, the village was occupied simultaneously by the allied forces, the British to the north and the French to the south of the railway. The capture of Combles in this inexpensive fashion represented a not inconsiderable tactical success. Though lying in a hollow, the village was very strongly fortified, and possessed, in addition to the works which the enemy had constructed, exceptionally large cellars and galleries, at a great depth under ground, sufficient to give effectual shelter to troops and material under the heaviest bombardment. Great quant.i.ties of stores and ammunition of all sorts were found in these cellars when the village was taken.
[Sidenote: Gueudecourt carried.]
[Sidenote: Few casualties.]
On the same day Gueudecourt was carried, after the protecting trench to the west had been captured in a somewhat interesting fashion. In the early morning a "tank" started down the portion of the trench held by the enemy from the northwest, firing its machine guns and followed by bombers. The enemy could not escape, as we held the trench at the southern end. At the same time an aeroplane flew down the length of the trench, also firing a machine gun at the enemy holding it. These then waved white handkerchiefs in token of surrender, and when this was reported by the aeroplane the infantry accepted the surrender of the garrison. By 8.30 a.m. the whole trench had been cleared, great numbers of the enemy had been killed, and 8 officers and 362 of the ranks made prisoners. Our total casualties amounted to five.
[Sidenote: Tactical value of the main ridge.]
The success of the Fourth Army had now brought our advance to the stage at which I judged it advisable that Thiepval should be taken, in order to bring our left flank into line and establish it on the main ridge above that village, the possession of which would be of considerable tactical value in future operations.
[Sidenote: New attack on Thiepval.]
Accordingly at 12.25 p.m. on September 26, 1916, before the enemy had been given time to recover from the blow struck by the Fourth Army, a general attack was launched against Thiepval and the Thiepval Ridge. The objective consisted of the whole of the high ground still remaining in enemy hands extending over a front of some 3,000 yards north and east of Thiepval, and including, in addition to that fortress, the Zollern Redoubt, the Stuff Redoubt, and the Schwaben Redoubt, with the connecting lines of trenches.
[Sidenote: Strong enemy resistance.]
The attack was a brilliant success. On the right our troops reached the system of enemy trenches which formed their objectives without great difficulty. In Thiepval and the strong works to the north of it the enemy"s resistance was more desperate. Three waves of our attacking troops carried the outer defenses of Mouquet Farm, and, pushing on, entered Zollern Redoubt, which they stormed and consolidated. In the strong point formed by the buildings of the farm itself, the enemy garrison, securely posted in deep cellars, held out until 6 p.m., when their last defenses were forced by a working party of a pioneer battalion acting on its own initiative.
[Sidenote: Thiepval taken.]
On the left of the attack fierce fighting, in which "tanks" again gave valuable a.s.sistance to our troops, continued in Thiepval during that day and the following night, but by 8.30 a.m. on September 27, 1916 the whole of the village of Thiepval was in our hands.
[Sidenote: Prisoners.]
Some 2,300 prisoners were taken in the course of the fighting on the Thiepval Ridge on these and the subsequent days, bringing the total number of prisoners taken in the battle area in the operations of September 14-30, 1916, to nearly 10,000. In the same period we had captured 27 guns, over 200 machine guns, and some 40 trench mortars.
[Sidenote: Stuff and Schwaben Redoubts.]
On the same date the south and west sides of Stuff Redoubt were carried by our troops, together with the length of trench connecting that strong point with Schwaben Redoubt to the west and also the greater part of the enemy"s defensive line eastward along the northern slopes of the ridge.
Schwaben Redoubt was a.s.saulted during the afternoon, and in spite of counterattacks, delivered by strong enemy reenforcements, we captured the whole of the southern face of the redoubt and pushed out patrols to the northern face and toward St. Pierre Divion.
Our line was also advanced north of Courcelette, while on the Fourth Army front a further portion of the enemy"s fourth-system of defense northwest of Gueudecourt was carried on a front of a mile. Between these two points the enemy fell back upon his defenses running in front of Eaucourt l"Abbaye and Le Sars, and on the afternoon and evening of September 27, 1916, our troops were able to make a very considerable advance in this area without encountering serious opposition until within a few hundred yards of this line. The ground thus occupied extended to a depth of from 500 to 600 yards on a front of nearly two miles between the Bazentin-le-Pet.i.t, Lingy, Thilloy, and Albert-Bapaume roads.
[Sidenote: Destremont Farm carried.]
Destremont Farm, southwest of Le Sars, was carried by a single company on September 29, 1916, and on the afternoon of October 1, 1916, a successful attack was launched against Eaucourt l"Abbaye and the enemy defenses to the east and west of it, comprising a total front of about 3,000 yards. Our artillery barrage was extremely accurate, and contributed greatly to the success of the attack. Bomb fighting continued among the buildings during the next two days, but by the evening of October 3 the whole of Eaucourt l"Abbaye was in our hands.
[Sidenote: Fourth Army attacks.]
At the end of September, 1916, I had handed over Morval to the French, in order to facilitate their attacks on Sailly-Saillisel, and on October 7, 1916, after a postponement rendered necessary by three days"
continuous rain, our allies made a considerable advance in the direction of the latter village. On the same day the Fourth Army attacked along the whole front from Les Boeufs to Destremont Farm in support of the operations of our allies.
[Sidenote: Enemy"s trenches east of Gueudecourt taken.]
The village of Le Sars was captured, together with the quarry to the northwest, while considerable progress was made at other points along the front attacked. In particular, to the east of Gueudecourt, the enemy"s trenches were carried on a breadth of some 2,000 yards, and a footing gained on the crest of the long spur which screens the defenses of Le Transloy from the southwest. Nearly 1,000 prisoners were secured by the Fourth Army in the course of these operations.
With the exception of his positions in the neighborhood of Sailly-Saillisel, and his scanty foothold on the northern crest of the high ground above Thiepval, the enemy had now been driven from the whole of the ridge lying between the Tortille and the Ancre.
[Sidenote: Germans make repeated counterattacks.]
[Sidenote: British situation satisfactory.]
Possession of the northwestern portion of the ridge north of the latter village carried with it observation over the valley of the Ancre between Miraumont and Hamel and the spurs and valleys held by the enemy on the right bank of the river. The Germans, therefore, made desperate efforts to cling to their last remaining trenches in this area, and in the course of the three weeks following our advance made repeated counterattacks at heavy cost in the vain hope of recovering the ground they had lost. During this period our gains in the neighborhood of Stuff and Schwaben Redoubts were gradually increased and secured in readiness for future operations; and I was quite confident of the ability of our troops, not only to repulse the enemy"s attacks, but to clear him entirely from his last positions on the ridge whenever it should suit my plans to do so. I was, therefore, well content with the situation on this flank.
Along the centre of our line from Gueudecourt to the west of Le Sars similar considerations applied. As we were already well down the forward slopes of the ridge on his front, it was for the time being inadvisable to make any serious advance. Pending developments elsewhere all that was necessary or indeed desirable was to carry on local operations to improve our positions and to keep the enemy fully employed.
[Sidenote: Strong enemy positions in eastern flank.]
[Sidenote: Enemy resistance weakens.]
On our eastern flank, on the other hand, it was important to gain ground. Here the enemy still possessed a strong system of trenches covering the villages of Le Transloy and Beaulencourt and the town of Bapaume; but, although he was digging with feverish haste, he had not yet been able to create any very formidable defenses behind this line.