Hell in Flanders Fields by George H. Cassar

Author:George H. Cassar
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HIS000000, HIS027000, HIS027090
Publisher: Dundurn Press
Published: 2010-08-30T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

24 April: The Crisis Deepens

(1:40 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.)

During the late morning of 24 April, troops belonging to the 2nd and 3rd Battalions south of Kitchener’s Wood saw line upon line of German infantrymen emerging from the dead ground for the assault on St. Julien. Both battalions had been placed under the jurisdiction of Turner during the first night of the battle. The 2nd Battalion — which had replaced the survivors of the 10th and 16th Battalions — was holding the trenches on the left and two companies of the 3rd were manning those on the right, in front of St. Julien. The 2nd Battalion from eastern Ontario was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel David Watson. The 3rd Battalion was raised chiefly from three well known Toronto militia regiments — the Governor General’s Body Guards, the 10th Royal Grenadiers, and the Queen’s Own Rifles — and was under Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Rennie, with its two front-line companies directed by Major Kirkpatrick.

The sight of many battalions of German infantry advancing in close formation made inviting targets. The 2nd Battalion opened up with rifles and machine guns and the volume of fire rose when the companies of the 3rd Battalion joined the action. Once more, the entire sector was the scene of furious fighting. The Germans assailed Doxsee’s House on the 2nd Battalion’s front, but a well regulated stream of lead drove them back.1 Turner was worried about the exposed position of the 2nd Battalion, and at 1:00 p.m. ordered Watson by telephone to withdraw. Watson was loath to do so and sent his adjutant, Captain Willis O’Connor, to plead with Turner to defer his decision until nightfall when disengagement would be easier. Turner agreed to cancel the order.

The Germans had no more success against the 3rd Battalion companies. Then came the German penetration of St. Julien, which spelled trouble, especially for the right company led by Captain John Streight. He notified Major Kirkpatrick that the Germans were in his rear, and, to avoid being cut off, advocated a withdrawal. He received a blunt reply that he was to hang on “at all costs.” 2 Kirkpatrick had his own orders: “Do not lose touch with St. Julien. Hang on. A counterattack is being made on your right.”3 The counterattack never took place.

As mentioned earlier, Alderson had sent the 150th Brigade forward to the GHQ Line in response to Turner’s call for help. Alderson sent Turner new instructions at 10:30 a.m., telling him that he could use, if absolutely necessary, only one York and Durham battalion as he intended to use the Brigade to relieve his own that evening. With everything around him collapsing, Turner must have wondered what was going through Alderson’s mind. Unless the Yorks and Durhams were thrown immediately into the fray, there would be few of his men left to relieve. In light of messages from different quarters of worsening conditions, Alderson changed his mind again and became convinced that the lost ground must be regained. At 11:35 a.m., he assigned

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.