Advance on Bapaume

Saturday 24th August 1915

The advance continued today with IV Corps busy west of Bapaume. Whilst it was still dark the gallant New Zealand Division attacked the shattered foliage of Loupart Wood and the remains of the village of Grevillers. Meanwhile 37th Division attacked Biefvillers north-east of Grevillers. The intention was then for the men from the Land of the Long White Cloud to go on and take the town of Bapaume - the target, it may be remembered of four months' fighting in 1916. Around two dozen tanks were available to help the Kiwis in their endeavours.

Despite the rather poor weather today the New Zealanders quickly took Grevillers, though at some cost. At this time 37th Division was fruitlessly struggling to get up to Biefvillers under very heavy fire. rather than making a dash for Bapaume the commander of the New Zealand 2nd Brigade decided to add his numbers to those of 37th Division, surely the correct decision, and by ten o'clock this morning the village was taken. By this time the Germans, seeing the danger of this attack rushed reinforcements to the locality and a counter-attack pushed the leading British and New Zealand troops back from Avesnes-le-Comte. Bapaume may not have fallen today but the Kiwis are confident that it will fall tomorrow.

Meanwhile in the early hours of this morning 38th (Welsh) Division recaptured Thiepval and the Schwaben Redoubt. It will be remembered that Thiepval first fell to 7th Bedfords on 26th September 1916 and was held by the 4th Bedfords for a while during March. Seizing this high ground is vital as it overlooks enemy positions. 

La Boiselle and Ovillers, or rather the pathetic little cairns which mark the graves of the houses in these settlements were also taken by 18th Division. We are given to understand that the Welshmen have captured nearly 150 enemy machine guns today. One hundred and fifty! The enemy usually gives up a single one of these weapons up about as willingly as a healthy man would give up a hand, a fact very suggestive as to the state of the enemy's morale. 

In the south 18th Division has taken the hamlet of Becourt and its wood and elements from three divisions (12th 47th and 58th) have retaken Grove Town. During the 1916 battles Grove Town Camp was a huge staging post for men and material moving up to the front line. Finally the Australians have recaptured the remains of the town of Bray on the north bank of the River Somme. Any of these gains would be significant in itself and so many on one day means that the army is really beginning to believe that the dam of German resistance has cracked and it will only take a determined effort to break it completely.

Day Three of Attacks on the Somme

Friday 23rd August 1918

Again today the business of war has been transacted by IV Corps in the north, around Achiet-le-Grand V Corps in the centre around Aveluy and Saint-Pierre-Divion and III Corps in the south near Albert and Meaulte. 42nd Division of IV Corps succeeded in taking a position known as the Dovecot near Achiet-le-Petit which was initially captured on 21st and lost to counterattack yesterday. 5th Division took the village of Irles and then attacked Loupart Wood and Grevillers, which, sadly, they were unable to take, whilst 37th Division seized the village of Bihucourt, moving through the line established by 63rd (Royal Naval) Division and 4th Bedfords who are being withdrawn this evening, their task, for the moment, over.

1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, part of 5th Division, moved up in front of the village of Achiet-le-Petit and went into the attack at eleven o'clock this morning. It secured all its objectives although it suffered quite heavily from machine gun fire. The commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel H Courtenay MC has been badly wounded(1), Lieutenants G Abbott, H J A Watson, E I F Nailer, A R C Eaton and R H Arnholz, Second Lieutanants F H Fox and W T Paine have all been killed and two other officers wounded. Altogether the battalion has lost 129 other ranks killed and wounded, a heavier "butcher's bill" than it has had for some time. This evening the battalion will withdraw into the reserve, its job emphatically done. 

The result of these three days of action by IV Corps is to have established the front line east of the railway line between Albert and Arras and almost all the high ground south and west of Bapaume has been taken. Only a ridge running from Loupart Wood through Grevillers to Biefvillers remains in enemy hands. It is reckoned that over two thousand prisoners have been taken along with twenty five pieces of artillery. Readers will be familiar with names such as Bihucourt and Achiet-le-Grand and Petit from the actions of 18th Division in the Spring of 1917 as it is here that Private Christopher Augustus Cox of the 7th Bedfords won the Victoria Cross. To those of us who have been with the armies since 1915 so many of the names of places where actions are currently being fought are horribly familiar.

Last night some soldiers from 38th (Welsh) Division finally managed to cross the marshy River Ancre north of Thiepval Wood. They managed to establish themselves near Saint-Pierre-Divion and, despite enemy counter-attacks have clung on. This morning the rest of the Welsh Division, deployed between the Albert to Bapaume Road and the Ancre attacked and seized Usna Hill meaning they now look towards the pathetic heaps of ruins that mark the sites of the twin villages of Ovillers and la Boisselle.

18th Division has pushed on another thousand yards, in the face of stiff opposition and 3rd Australian Division, again in the teeth of strong opposition has managed a short advance on the north bank of the River Somme towards the south end of Bray-sur-Somme. 2nd Bedfords remain in their positions, having taken no part in today's attack.

Sources: X550/2/5; X550/3/wd; X550/5/3

(1) He died later on that evening and is buried at Bagneux British Cemetery, Gezaincourt. He was just thirty years old.

Rumours of a German Retreat

Wednesday 21st February 1917 from our correspondent in the field

The 4th Bedfords are once more in the front line north of the River Ancre. They are in similar positions to last time.

Strange rumours are circulating around the army that the Germans may be on the cusp of retreating, or actually in retreat. Apparently enemy radio messages have been intercepted instructing wireless stations in the villages of Grévillers and Achiet-le-Petit as well as the town of Bapaume to close down and prepare to move back.

If so this is seen as vindication of the Battle of the Somme, begun in July last year, suspended in November and recommenced at the end of last month. Readers may remember that the town of Bapaume, which lies north-east of Albert along the old Roman road, was the main objective of the Somme offensive. If the enemy is now abandoning Bapaume and other ground the feeling is that they may at last be on the run and that brings the end of the war much closer(1)

Source: X550/5/3

(1) In fact the Germans were moving back to pre-prepared positions which they called the Siegfriedstellung and which the British christened the Hindenburg Line. This new line more or less directly south-east from a point just south of Arras to a spot south-east of Juvigny. By giving up ground, including the towns of Bapaume, Peronne, Roye and Ham and the cathedral city of Noyon, the Germans straightened their line meaning they had a shorter line to defend, thus using their man-power more effectively.