Battleground: Europe [00] Arras: Gavrelle by Kyle Tallett & Trevor Tasker

Author:Kyle Tallett & Trevor Tasker [Tallett, Kyle & Tasker, Trevor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Arras, Battles, Military History, World War I
Amazon: B00LWF5SUY
Goodreads: 23147377
Publisher: Pen & Sword
Published: 1999-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

The raiders were to be in position by 12.45 am of 27 April. This was achieved with no problem. By 12.50 am, they were ready to go. The supporting creeping barrage opened at 01.00am. The raiders advanced at 01.01am. behind a perfect barrage, A and B groups following it closely. A group got into the German trench and encountered stiff opposition. This was mainly due to the personal bravery of an officer. He was shot and the enemy lost the will to fight on. Prisoners were taken, but some Germans were in the dugouts and refused to come out, so the dugouts were blown in, entombing the occupants. The Lewis gun section set up a block after killing the Germans in the way. The enemy attempted a counter attack, and were allowed to get close to the raiders. The raiders then showered them with bombs and bayoneted the survivors whilst they were still stunned. B group got into the German trenches and met some opposition, who were bayoneted. The defenders attempted to get a machine gun up onto the parapet, but the crew were stunned by a well-aimed rifle grenade and the survivors bayoneted. C group, who was there to support A and B, was not needed for that purpose and decided to pitch into the nearest fighting. D group met some opposition at the first of the blocks that they were to capture, but they overcame it and went on to the second block, overcame it in turn and took the machine-gun guarding it. E group encountered the hardest fighting. The Germans in Hussar Trench were hemmed in by a box barrage, and were left with only two options, surrender or fight; they chose to fight. The fought very well and held up the attack. Lieutenant McKean, E group’s officer, sent back to the Canadian lines for more grenades three times. The attack was still stalled, Lieutenant McKean decided to end it. He got out of the trench and jumped over the German block, headbutting the German defender whom he then finished off with a revolver. A German attempted to bayonet him and he was shot also. The rest of McKean’s men followed him over and they moved on to take another block. The Germans here also fought for a while and then ran for shelter in a dugout. This dugout was blown in by a charge laid by Sergeant Jones, who unfortunately was also killed by the blast. F party advanced on time but were held up by wire, and the Germans pelted them with bombs. The Canadians were not to be denied and jumped over the wire and bayoneted the defenders. They captured the rest of their objective, taking a ‘pineapple’ thrower. The parties withdrew without much retaliation and made it back to Canadian lines. The raid had taken just over forty-five minutes. Canadian losses were two killed and eleven wounded. They had taken twenty-six prisoners, two of whom died from wounds soon after capture, and it was estimated that total German losses in the raid were around forty.

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