A Serious Disappointment by Adrian Bristow

Author:Adrian Bristow [Bristow, Adrian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Military, Naval
ISBN: 9780850524628
Google: AObNAwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 1995-09-28T02:54:19+00:00

So ended General Haig’s opening attack on Aubers Ridge. Above the battle the sun climbed steadily into the sky and the bright promise of the early morning was ironically fulfilled.

CHAPTER NINE

* * *

Battle : The Second Attack

* * *

The 9th of May dawned warm and sunny; a marvellous Sunday – no, a bloody Sunday.

History of the 55th Regiment

Thus, about 6 am, twenty minutes after zero hour, both the First Army’s attacks had been stopped in their tracks. On the southern sector it had been a bloody fiasco with nine battalions suffering frightful loss and no gains to show for it. There were not even any modest lodgements which might be reinforced. On the northern sector fierce fighting was still going on in the four breaches that had been made in the German front line but a grievous price had been paid for them. In both sectors of the First Army’s assault the front-line trenches were an appalling sight, filled with dead and wounded, with stretcher parties, leaderless men and all the débris of attack. The narrow stretch of no-man’s-land was strewn with the bodies of the dead while the survivors sought what little cover the ground and the shell-holes provided. During any brief lull in the tumult moans and piteous cries for help could be heard from the wounded lying out beyond our breastworks.

In his headquarters in the Rue du Bois General Haking had been unable to follow the progress of the slaughter on the 1st Division’s front. Peering through the sandbagged loopholes, he could see little because of the smoke and dust. He was considerably disappointed, though far from downcast, when he learned of the fate of the first assault and he determined to press the attack. Brigadier Davies (3rd Brigade) asked for a further fifteen-minute bombardment, but Brigadier Thesiger of the sorely stricken 2nd Brigade told Haking he did not think this was long enough. He had already received several pleas for increased artillery support from his battalion commanders, together with reports that the enemy wire had not been satisfactorily cut. Haking quickly made up his mind. He told Fanshawe to renew the bombardment for a further forty-five minutes and ordered his two brigade commanders to mount a fresh attack at 7 am. He also got in touch with the commander of the Meerut Division, General Anderson, and explained that his initial assault had failed and that he was preparing to renew it at 7 am. He asked if the Dehra Dun brigade would co-operate on his left flank, and to this Anderson agreed.

Fanshawe had specifically instructed the artillery to concentrate on cutting the enemy wire. Yet lying out in no-man’s-land at varying distances from the wire were hundreds of men, most of them wounded, and they suffered further torment as a torrent of shrapnel suddenly broke over the wire. The unreliability of our ammunition and the inexperience of our gunners caused much of the shelling to fall short. Devoid of cover, our men could only press their bodies closer into the earth as the shrapnel tore and flayed the ground around them.

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