They Called it Passchendaele by Lyn Macdonald

Author:Lyn Macdonald
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780141960319
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 1993-03-25T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

It continued more or less fine until 10 August, and the ground dried up sufficiently to allow three divisions of infantry to fight their way up the last hundred yards of the Westhoek Ridge and take the hamlet of Westhoek itself. But before any significant progress could be made, the bastion of Glencorse Wood must be stormed and taken. And on the left of the salient, beyond the Pilkem Ridge, it was equally vital to take the village of Langemarck. If only the capricious weather would settle down.

The preliminary attacks were planned for 13 August. On the night of the eleventh, just as the troops were assembling to move into position, the weather broke and for the next three days the skies thundered, winds blustered and rain poured down almost incessantly. But, bad weather or not, Langemarck must be taken and the swamp of the Steenbeek would first have to be crossed.

The only means of doing so was to make a bridge – or rather a series of pontoon bridges – and for the last week, the Engineers had been constructing them by the dozen. Bill Worrell of the 12th Battalion, The Rifle Brigade, was one of the weary men who, night after night, collected them from the REs and carried them up to a dump on the Pilkem Ridge, ready for the attack. It was to take place on 15 August. The morning before, Captain Alan Goring, who was a Platoon Commander in C Company of the 6th Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment, took No. 11 Platoon across to ‘do a little show’.

The idea of the operation was to pave the way for a full-scale attack on Langemarck village by establishing a foothold on the other side of the Steenbeek two hundred yards deep and half a mile wide; and after subduing its bristling defences, to hold the sector, so that when the big attack came, the major problem of getting the men across could take place with comparative ease two hundred yards behind the outposts. If this were not done, it was perfectly obvious that, as they struggled across the flooded ground, the soldiers would simply be mown down at point-blank range by fire from the strongpoints fifty yards beyond the morass. The preliminary operation was to take place at five o’clock in the morning, and during the dark, rainy night, working parties had managed to lay a duck-board bridge across the Steenbeek and cut gaps in the wire on the other side. 2nd Lieutenant Jelly went across first with 9 and 12 Platoons, and Alan Goring followed with 11 Platoon in single file behind him.

Captain A. Goring MC, C Company, 6th Btn., The Yorkshire Regiment

Well, the first thing that happened was that I lost my platoon. I waded across, got through the gap in the wire, turned round and there was nobody there. I thought, My God! – what the hell do I do now. I waited and waited, wondering what had gone wrong and eventually they began to come through.

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