Thursday 15th March 1917 from
our correspondent in the field
At 8 am this
morning C Company, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment were ordered to attack
the Bihucourt Line, with A Company in support. On the opening of the attack a
very heavy machine gun fire developed from Achiet-le-Petit [south-west of Achiet-le-Grand] and the Bihucourt
Line itself, heavy shelling also took place. The advance under such conditions
became impossible and C Company dug in about 200 yards down the hill. A company
did not advance at all.
The position
was held without change from midday until 5 o’clock this evening. Under cover
of darkness C Company was withdrawn. A Company then held the original line on
the sunken road with B Company in support, D and C Companies in reserve.
Since 8th
March we have been hearing disquieting news from Russia where a revolution
seems to be under way against the government. This news got much worse today
when news began to trickle through that Tsar Nicholas II has abdicated. What
this means for that huge country no one here at the front knows, but all are
uneasy as it may mean that Russia seeks to withdraw from the Entente. If that
were the case all the German divisions currently on the Eastern Front fighting
the Germans could be unleashed here on the Western Front which might spell
catastrophe. The one hope, in this situation, would be a declaration of war on
Germany by the United States of America.
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