Wednesday 26th
September 1917
It seems that
the armchair generals of the press corps were right in their guess, reported
Monday, as today seven divisions have launched another attack, including
assaults on Polygon Wood.
Only one of
these attacks has been made south of the Menin Road, and that by 39th Division
which began its attack in a V-shaped position where a German salient extended
into our lines as a result of the failure of 41st Division to take the Tower
Hamlets strong-point complex on 20th of this month. The two assaulting brigades
were 116th and 118th, and the assaulting units included the 1st/1st Battalion,
Cambridgeshire Regiment, the only battalion of this Territorial Army regiment
to be overseas on active service. The ground here was in the usual state for
this battle - a stinking marsh - however the men from Cambridgeshire were able
to take their objective, Joist Redoubt and the division as a whole has taken
Tower hamlets and smoothed out this bulge into our lines into something like a
more pleasing straight line up to the Menin Road.
Incidentally,
speaking with the adjutant of the Cambridgeshires, your correspondent learned
that this battalion reckons it has suffered deaths of 475 of its number since
its war began, including fourteen officers of captain’s rank and twenty one
other officers.
Immediately
north of the Menin Road is 33rd Division. Their task was to support the attack
made by the Australians on their left flank and to regain the ground the
Glasgow Highlanders lost yesterday. The latter task they have largely succeeded
in achieving. At one point the Glasgow men are said to have performed something
akin to the famed Highland Charge of days of yore in driving off an enemy
counter-attack, so eager were they to be avenged on their for.
Both
Australian Divisions, 4th and 5th, went into action again today after their
successes on 20th of this month. The 5th Division used two brigades to attack
Polygon Wood which, we understand, they have largely, if not wholly, taken. 4th
Division’s first task was to take the northern parts of Polygon Wood and push
on towards Molenaarelshoek and the ground south of Zonnebeke, which they
achieved, occupying the brickyard south-west of the latter village. Both these
Australian divisions have again performed very well and accomplished all that
has been demanded of them.
On the left
flank of the 4th Australian Division is 3rd Division, new to the line and to
this struggle. Their attack was to head in a north-easterly direction. The
division used 76th Brigade on the right and 8th Brigade on the left. Both
brigades crossed the Steenbeck, quite a major feature of this part of the
landscape, 76th Brigade, we understand, has occupied the western portion of
Zonnebeke, certainly as far as the church. We believe that capture of the whole
of this place, as well as its station, just to the north, was the prize, in
which case the brigade has come up short, if not by much. 8th Brigade has also
ended their advance, it seems, just short of their final objective but are
consolidating the western slopes of Hill 40, though an attempt is underway to
take the summit and east side too, as I write these lines(1).
On the left
flank of 3rd Division, 59th (2nd North Midland) Division, began from a line
which bent back sharply as it went north. Their attack, again, utilised two
brigades. The attack has taken Dochy and Fokker Farms and a good long list of
blockhouses - Toronto, Schuler Farm, Cross Cottages, Kansas House, Martha
House, Green House, Road House, Riverside, Deuce House and Kansas Cross. The
division is now not far from the hamlet of s’Gravestafel. Otto Farm was taken
but has been threatened in the last half hour by a German counter-attack(2).
The final
division in action today has been 58th (2nd/1st London) which attacked using
175th Brigade. This brigade has taken Dom Trench and pillboxes called Nile and
Cairo; Dear House, Aviatik Farm and Vale House also fell but we understand that
the enemy have made a strong counter-attack this evening and seem to have
re-taken Aviatik Farm and Dear House, leaving the the brigade about four
hundred yards short of its objective.
So ends
another day of steady success. So fast on the heels of the advance of 20th
September this advance gives hope that the elusive breakthrough might just be
in reach, though the state of the ground and the depth of the strong German
defences probably militate against this. Indeed, this battle has been
characterised by slow, steady advances, immediately consolidated, what high
command likes to call “bit and hold” rather than by any attempted rupture of
the enemy line and eruption into the rear areas, which are seen, on the whole,
as unrealistic expectations
(1) This
attempt failed.
(2) Some of
the advanced posts gave way in this attack but reinforcements were brought up
and the line, including Otto Farm, re-established.
