Part 11

If there had not been good grounds for confidence that the enemy was not capable of driving from this position troops who had shown themselves able to wrest it from him, the situation would have been an anxious one. In any case it was clear that the first requirement at the moment was that our right flank, and the French troops in extension of it, should swing up into line with our centre. To effect this, however, strong enemy positions had to be captured both by ourselves and by our allies.

From Delville Wood the main plateau extends for 4,000 yards east-northeast to Les Boeufs and Morval, and for about the same distance southeastward to Leuze and Bouleau Woods, which stand above and about 1,000 yards to the west of Combles. To bring my right up into line with the rest of my front it was necessary to capture Guillemont, Falfemont Farm, and Leuze Wood, and then Ginchy and Bouleau Woods. These localities were naturally very strong, and they had been elaborately fortified. The enemy's main second-line system of defense ran in front of them from Waterlot Farm, which was already in our hands, southeastward to Falfemont Farm, and thence southward to the Somme. The importance of holding us back in this area could not escape the enemy's notice, and he had dug and wired many new trenches, both in front of and behind his original lines. He had also brought up fresh troops, and there was no possibility of taking him by surprise.

The task before us was, therefore, a very difficult one and entailed a real trial of strength between the opposing forces. At this juncture its difficulties were increased by unfavorable weather. The nature of the ground limited the possibility of direct observation of our artillery fire, and we were consequently much dependent on observation from the air. As in that element we had attained almost complete superiority, all that we required was a clear atmosphere; but with this we were not favored for several weeks. We had rather more rain than is usual in July and August, and even when no rain fell there was an almost constant haze and frequent low clouds.

In swinging up my own right it was very important that the French line north of the Somme should be advanced at the same time in close combination with the movement of the British troops. The line of demarkation agreed on between the French commander and myself ran from Maltz Horn Farm due eastward to the Combles Valley and then northeastward up that valley to a point midway between Sailly-Saillisel and Morval. These two villages had been fixed upon as objectives, respectively, of the French left and of my right. In order to advance in co-operation with my right, and eventually to reach Sailly-Saillisel, our allies had still to fight their way up that portion of the main ridge which lies between the Combles Valley on the west and the River Tortille on the east. To do so they had to capture, in the first place, the strongly fortified villages of Maurepas, Le Forest, Rancourt, and Frégicourt, besides many woods and strong systems of trenches. As the high ground on each side of the Combles Valley commands the slopes of the ridge on the opposite side, it was essential that the advance of the two armies should be simultaneous and made in the closest co-operation. This was fully recognized by both armies, and our plans were made accordingly.

To carry out the necessary preparations to deal with the difficult situation outlined above a short pause was necessary, to enable tired troops to be relieved and guns to be moved forward; while at the same time old communications had to be improved and new ones made. Intrenchments against probable counterattacks could not be neglected, and fresh dispositions of troops were required for the new attacks to be directed eastward.

It was also necessary to continue such pressure on the rest of our front, not only on the Ancre, but further south, as would make it impossible for the enemy to devote himself entirely to resisting the advance between Delville Wood and the Somme. In addition, it was desirable further to secure our hold on the main ridge west of Delville Wood by gaining more ground to our front in that direction. Orders were therefore issued in accordance with the general considerations explained above, and, without relaxing pressure along the enemy's front from Delville Wood to the west, preparations for an attack on Guillemont were pushed on.

During the afternoon of July 18, 1916, the enemy developed his expected counterattack against Delville Wood, after heavy preliminary shelling. By sheer weight of numbers, and at very heavy cost, he forced his way through the northern and northeastern portion of the wood and into the northern half of Longueval, which our troops had cleared only that morning. In the southeast corner of the wood he was held up by a gallant defense, and further south three attacks on our positions in Waterlot Farm failed.

This enemy attack on Delville Wood marked the commencement of the long, closely contested struggle which was not finally decided in our favor till the fall of Guillemont on September 3, 1916, a decision which was confirmed by the capture of Ginchy six days later. Considerable gains were indeed made during this period, but progress was slow, and bought only by hard fighting. A footing was established in High Wood on July 20, 1916, and our line linked up thence with Longueval. A subsequent advance by the Fourth Army on July 23, 1916, on a wide front from Guillemont to Pozières found the enemy in great strength all along the line, with machine guns and forward troops in shell holes and newly constructed trenches well in front of his main defenses. Although ground was won, the strength of the resistance experienced showed that the hostile troops had recovered from their previous confusion sufficiently to necessitate long and careful preparation before further successes on any great scale could be secured.

An assault delivered simultaneously on this date by General Gough's army against Pozières gained considerable results, and by the morning of July 25, 1916, the whole of that village was carried, including the cemetery, and important progress was made along the enemy's trenches to the northeast. That evening, after heavy artillery preparation, the enemy launched two more powerful counterattacks, the one directed against our new position in and around High Wood and the other delivered from the northwest of Delville Wood. Both attacks were completely broken up with very heavy losses to the enemy.

On July 27, 1916, the remainder of Delville Wood was recovered, and two days later the northern portion of Longueval and the orchards were cleared of the enemy, after severe fighting, in which our own and the enemy's artillery were very active.

On July 30, 1916, the village of Guillemont and Falfemont Farm to the southeast were attacked, in conjunction with a French attack north of the Somme. A battalion entered Guillemont, and part of it passed through to the far side; but as the battalions on either flank did not reach their objectives, it was obliged to fall back, after holding out for some hours on the western edge of the village. In a subsequent local attack on August 7, 1916, our troops again entered Guillemont, but were again compelled to fall back owing to the failure of a simultaneous effort against the enemy's trenches on the flanks of the village.

The ground to the south of Guillemont was dominated by the enemy's positions in and about that village. It was therefore hoped that these positions might be captured first, before an advance to the south of them in the direction of Falfemont Farm was pushed further forward. It had now become evident, however, that Guillemont could not be captured as an isolated enterprise without very heavy loss, and, accordingly, arrangements were made with the French Army on our immediate right for a series of combined attacks, to be delivered in progressive stages, which should embrace Maurepas, Falfemont Farm, Guillemont, Leuze Wood, and Ginchy.

An attempt on August 16, 1916, to carry out the first stage of the prearranged scheme met with only partial success, and two days later, after a preliminary bombardment lasting thirty-six hours, a larger combined attack was undertaken. In spite of a number of enemy counterattacks the most violent of which leveled at the point of junction of the British with the French, succeeded in forcing our allies and ourselves back from a part of the ground won--very valuable progress was made, and our troops established themselves in the outskirts of Guillemont village and occupied Guillemont Station. A violent counterattack on Guillemont Station was repulsed on August 23, 1916, and next day further important progress was made on a wide front north and east of Delville Wood.

Apart from the operations already described, others of a minor character, yet involving much fierce and obstinate fighting, continued during this period on the fronts of both the British armies. Our lines were pushed forward wherever possible by means of local attacks and by bombing and sapping, and the enemy was driven out of various forward positions from which he might hamper our progress. By these means many gains were made which, though small in themselves, in the aggregate represented very considerable advances. In this way our line was brought to the crest of the ridge above Martinpuich, and Pozières Windmill and the high ground north of the village were secured, and with them observation over Martinpuich and Courcelette and the enemy's gun positions in their neighborhood and around Le Sars. At a later date our troops reached the defenses of Mouquet Farm, northwest of Pozières, and made progress in the enemy's trenches south of Thiepval. The enemy's counter-attacks were incessant and frequently of great violence, but they were made in vain and at heavy cost to him. The fierceness of the fighting can be gathered from the fact that one regiment of the German Guards Reserve Corps which had been in the Thiepval salient opposite Mouquet Farm is known to have lost 1,400 men in fifteen days.

The first two days of September, 1916, on both army fronts were spent in preparation for a more general attack, which the gradual progress made during the preceding month had placed us in a position to undertake. Our assault was delivered at 12 noon on September 3, 1916, on a front extending from our extreme right to the third enemy trenches on the right bank of the Ancre, north of Hamel. Our allies attacked simultaneously on our right.

Guillemont was stormed and at once consolidated, and our troops pushed on unchecked to Ginchy and the line of the road running south to Wedge Wood. Ginchy was also seized, but here, in the afternoon, we were very strongly counterattacked. For three days the tide of attack and counterattack swayed backward and forward among the ruined houses of the village, till, in the end, for three days more the greater part of it remained in the enemy's possession. Three counterattacks made on the evening of September 3, 1916, against our troops in Guillemont all failed, with considerable loss to the enemy. We also gained ground north of Delville Wood and in High Wood, though here an enemy counterattack recovered part of the ground won.

On the front of General Gough's army, though the enemy suffered heavy losses in personnel, our gain in ground was slight.

In order to keep touch with the French who were attacking on our right the assault on Falfemont Farm on September 3, 1916, was delivered three hours before the opening of the main assault. In the impetus of their first rush our troops reached the farm, but could not hold it. Nevertheless, they pushed on to the north of it, and on September 4, 1916, delivered a series of fresh assaults upon it from the west and north.

Ultimately this strongly fortified position was occupied piece by piece, and by the morning of September 5, 1916, the whole of it was in our possession. Meanwhile further progress had been made to the northeast of the farm, where considerable initiative was shown by the local commanders. By the evening of the same day our troops were established strongly in Leuze Wood, which on the following day was finally cleared of the enemy.

In spite of the fact that most of Ginchy and of High Wood remained in the enemy's hands, very noteworthy progress had been made in the course of these four days' operations, exceeding anything that had been achieved since July 14, 1916. Our right was advanced on a front of nearly two miles to an average depth of nearly one mile, penetrating the enemy's original second line of defense on this front, and capturing strongly fortified positions at Falfemont Farm, Leuze Wood, Guillemont, and southeast of Delville Wood, where reached the western outskirts of Ginchy. More important than this gain in territory was the fact that the barrier which for seven weeks the enemy had maintained against our further advance had at last been broken. Over 1,000 prisoners were taken and many machine guns captured or destroyed in the course of the fighting.

Preparations for a further attack upon Ginchy continued without intermission, and at 4.45 p.m. on September 9, 1916, the attack was reopened on the whole of the Fourth Army front. At Ginchy and to the north of Leuze Wood it met with almost immediate success. On the right the enemy's line was seized over a front of more than 1,000 yards from the southwest corner of Bouleau Woods, in a northwesterly direction, to a point just south of the Guillemont-Morval tramway. Our troops again forced their way into Ginchy, and passing beyond it carried the line of enemy trenches to the east. Further progress was made east of Delville Wood and south and east of High Wood.

Over 500 prisoners were taken in the operations of September 9, 1916, and following days, making the total since July 1, 1916, over 17,000.

Meanwhile the French had made great progress on our right, bringing their line forward to Louage Wood (just south of Combles)--Le Forest-Clery-sur-Somme, all three inclusive. The weak salient in the allied line had therefore disappeared and we had gained the front required for further operations.

Still more importance, however, lay in the proof afforded by the results described of the ability of our new armies, not only to rush the enemy's strongest defenses, as had been accomplished on July 1 and 14, 1916, but also to wear down and break his power of resistance by a steady, relentless pressure, as they had done during the weeks of this fierce and protracted struggle. As has already been recounted, the preparations made for our assault on July 1, 1916, had been long and elaborate; but though the enemy knew that an attack was coming, it would seem that he considered the troops already on the spot, secure in their apparently impregnable defenses, would suffice to deal with it. The success of that assault, combined with the vigor and determination with which our troops pressed their advantage, and followed by the successful night attack of July 14, 1916, all served to awaken him to a fuller realization of his danger. The great depth of his system of fortification, to which reference has been made, gave him time to reorganize his defeated troops, and to hurry up numerous fresh divisions and more guns. Yet in spite of this, he was still pushed back, steadily and continuously. Trench after trench and strong point after strong point were wrested from him. The great majority of his frequent counterattacks failed completely, with heavy loss; while the few that achieved temporary local success purchased it dearly, and were soon thrown back from the ground they had for the moment regained.

The enemy had, it is true, delayed our advance considerably, but the effort had cost him dear; and the comparative collapse of his resistance during the last few days of the struggle justified the belief that in the long run decisive victory would lie with our troops, who had displayed such fine fighting qualities and such indomitable endurance and resolution.

Practically the whole of the forward crest of the main ridge on a front of some 9,000 yards, from Delville Wood to the road above Mouquet Farm, was now in our hands, and with it the advantage of observation over the slopes beyond. East of Delville Wood, for a further 3,000 yards to Leuze Wood, we were firmly established on the main ridge, while further east, across the Combles Valley, the French were advancing victoriously on our right. But though the centre of our line was well placed, on our flanks there was still difficult ground to be won.

From Ginchy the crest of the high ground runs northward for 2,000 yards, and then eastward, in a long spur, for nearly 4,000 yards. Near the eastern extremity of this spur stands the village of Morval commanding a wide field of view and fire in every direction. At Leuze Wood my right was still 2,000 yards from its objective at this village, and between lay a broad and deep branch of the main Combles Valley, completely commanded by the Morval spur, and flanked, not only from its head northeast of Ginchy, but also from the high ground east of the Combles Valley, which looks directly into it.

Up this high ground beyond the Combles Valley the French were working their way toward their objective at Sailly-Saillisel, situated due east of Morval, and standing at the same level. Between these two villages the ground falls away to the head of the Combles Valley, which runs thence in a southwesterly direction. In the bottom of this valley lies the small town of Combles, then well fortified and strongly held, though dominated by my right at Leuze Wood and by the French left on the opposite heights. It had been agreed between the French and myself that an assault on Combles would not be necessary, as the place could be rendered untenable by pressing forward along the ridges above it on either side.