A History of the Gre

ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS VOLUME VI—JULY TO NOVEMBER 1918 This volume first published by Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1920 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I. THE OPENING OPERATIONS From July 1 to August 8, 1918 The general position—German attack of July 16—French counter-attack of July 18—Turn of the tide—Fifty- first and Sixty-second Divisions on the Ardres—Desperate fighting—The Fifteenth Scots Division at Buzancy—Le Glorieux Chardon d'Ecosse—Nicholson's Thirty-fourth Division at Oulchy-le-Château—The campaigns on the periphery CHAPTER II. ATTACK OF RAWLINSON'S FOURTH ARMY The Battle of Amiens, August 8-22 Great British victory—Advance of the Canadians—Of the Australians—Of the Third Corps—Hard struggle at Chipilly—American assistance— Continuance of the operations—Great importance of the battle CHAPTER III. CONTINUATION OF THE OPERATIONS OF RAWLINSON'S FOURTH ARMY From August 22 to the Battle of the Hindenburg Line, September 29 Further advance of the Australians—Of the Third Corps—Capture of Albert —Advance across the old Somme battlefield—Capture of Mont St. Quentin —Splendid Australian exploit—Fall of Peronne—Début of the Yeomanry (Seventy-fourth) Division—Attack on the outliers of the Hindenburg Line —Appearance of the Ninth Corps—Eve of the Judgment CHAPTER IV. THE ATTACK OF BYNG'S THIRD ARMY August 21, 1918, to September 29, 1918 Advance of Shute's Fifth Corps—Great feat in crossing the Ancre—Across the old battlefield—Final position of Fifth Corps opposite Hindenburg's Main Line—Advance of Haldane's Sixth Corps—Severe fighting— Arrival of the Fifty-second Division—Formation of Fergusson's Seventeenth Corps—Recapture of Havrincourt—Advance of Harper's Fourth Corps—Great tenacity of the troops—The New Zealanders and the Jaeger—Final position before the decisive battle CHAPTER V. THE ADVANCE OF HORNE'S FIRST ARMY From August 26 to September 27 The indefatigable Fifty-first Division—Capture of Greenland Hill—Fine advance of the Canadians—Breaking of the Drocourt-Quéant line—Fine work of the Sixty-third Naval Division—Great day for the Dominion— Demeanour of German prisoners CHAPTER VI. THE OPERATIONS OF RAWLINSON'S FOURTH ARMY From the Battle of the Hindenburg Line (September 29) to the Battle of the Selle (October 17) The first American operations—The rupture of the Hindenburg Line—Predicament of Twenty-seventh American Division—Their gallant resistance—Great Australian attack—Remarkable feat by the Forty-sixth North Midland Territorial Division—Exeunt the Third Corps and the Australians—Entrance of the Thirteenth Corps—Rupture of the Beaurevoir line—Advance to the Selle River CHAPTER VII. THE OPERATIONS OF RAWLINSON'S FOURTH ARMY From the Battle of the Selle, October 17, to the end Attack upon the line of the Selle River—Stubborn work by the Second American Corps—Success of the Ninth Corps—Hard fighting at Le Cateau—Great feat of the South Africans—Continued advance—Delay-action mines—Capture of Landrecies—Dramatic exit of the German machine-gunner—Splendid work of the First Division CHAPTER VIII. OPERATIONS OF BYNG'S THIRD ARMY From the Battle of the Hindenburg Line (September 29) to the Battle of the Selle (October 17) Fighting at L'Escaut Canal—Dash of the New Zealanders—The Guards in a hot corner—Crossing of the Canal—Back on the old ground—Great work by all four Corps of the Third Army CHAPTER IX. OPERATIONS OF BYNG'S THIRD ARMY From the Battle of the Selle, October 12, to the end The battle of the Selle River—Reversion to open warfare—The valour of Lancashire—Haig's incessant blows—Weakening of the German morale—The battle of Mormal Forest—New Zealanders and the mediaeval fortress—Capture of the great forest—The Sambre bridged—A grand Division—Advance of Fergusson's Seventeenth Corps—The last phase CHAPTER X. THE ADVANCE OF HORNE'S FIRST ARMY From September 27 to the end The Canadians at the Canal du Nord—Hard fighting at Bourlon—Strong counter-attack at Abancourt— Canadian valour—Godley's Twenty-second Corps—The Ecaillon valley—Forcing of the Rhonelle—General Heneker's attack—Capture of Douai CHAPTER XI. OPERATIONS OF THE SECOND AND FIFTH ARMIES September 28—November 11 King Albert in the field—Great Belgo-Franco-British advance—The last act on the old stage—The prophet of 1915—Renewed advance—Germans desert the coast—Relief of Douai and Lille—The final stage in the subsidiary theatres of war CHAPTER XII. THE END APPENDIX MAPS AND PLANS 1. Advance of Fourth Army, August 8, showing Gains up to August 12, and Final Position after the Fall of Peronne. 2. Position of British Corps, end of September 1918. 3. Advance of First, Third, and Fourth British Armies from August 21, 1918, to September 2, 1918. Arrows point to the Rupture of the Quéant-Drocourt Line. 4. The Attack on the Selle 5. General Position of the Allies immediately before the Armistice of November 11, 1918 6. Allied Advance in the North I. THE OPENING OPERATIONS From July 1 to August 8, 191 The general position—German attack of July 16—French counter-attack of July 18—Turn of the tide—Fifty- first and Sixty-second Divisions on the Ardres—Desperate fighting—The Fifteenth Scots Division at Buzancy—Le Glorieux Chardon d'Ecosse—Nicholson's Thirty-fourth Division at Oulchy-le-Château—The campaigns on the periphery WHEN the year 1918 had run half its course the Germans appeared to be triumphantly in the ascendant. In Flanders they had pushed back the British to positions which were, on an average, to the rear of those occupied in 1914. On the Somme they had more than neutralised all the Allied gains of 1916, and were stretched now from Arras to Montdidier, covering ground which they had not touched since the early days of the war. On the Aisne they had reconquered all that the French had so laboriously won in three campaigns, and were back along the Marne and within gun-shot of Paris. These results had been achieved in three great battles which had cost the Allies some 200,000 prisoners and nearly 2000 guns. In July it would have seemed that the German Empire was victorious, and yet ere the year had ended the very name had changed its meaning in the map of Europe, and was known only in the list of evil things which have had their day and then have passed. How this extraordinary change—the most sudden and dramatic in all history—came to pass is the theme of this final volume. There were certain factors which even at the zenith of Germany's fortunes may have prepared a cool-headed critic for a swing of the scales, though the wisest and best informed could not have conceived how violent the oscillation would be. In the first place, the ever-pressing strangle-hold of the Navy, combined with an indifferent harvest and the exhaustion of certain stocks within the Empire, notably of copper, rubber, wool, and lubricants, produced great internal difficulties which grew worse with every month. Then again German successes had been bought in reckless fashion at a very heavy price, and if they brought a million men across from the Russian frontier it is probable that they had squandered nearly as many in the three great battles. Finally, there was the all-important factor of the American reinforcements which had been speeded up to meet the pressing emergency. By splendid international co-operation the Americans put all their proverbial energy into marshalling and equipping the men, while Great Britain threw every available unit of her sea power, mercantile or naval, into the task of getting them across. The long-suffering people of this island gladly cut down their requirements in every possible direction so as to secure the tonnage for this marvellous transfer. At a steady rate of a quarter of a million every month the Americans flowed into France—magnificent raw material which was soon to show how quickly it could develop into the most highly finished article. This constant addition to the Allied forces, with the moral confidence which they brought with them, was the third contributory cause to the sudden change of fortune. It would be ungenerous, however, not to add that a fourth, without which all others might have been vain, lay in the commanding personality and extraordinary genius of the great Frenchman who now controlled the whole Allied battle front from the sea to the Alps, while two great civilians, Lloyd George and Clemenceau, rallied the home fronts of the two weary nations which had borne the brunt of the war. It will be remembered from the last volume that in the first half of 1918 the sun of victory had never once in Western Europe rested upon the standards of the Allies save in Italy, where the Austrians had been defeated upon the Piave. June 17 was in truth the turning-point of the war, for from that date everything went well with the forces of freedom. The change in the West came later, however, than in Italy, and on July 16 the Germans attempted a new advance upon the largest scale, which seemed to have some small success at first though it was in truth the starting-point of all their misfortunes. Their previous advances had brought them forward on the line from Montdidier to Rheims, and now they enlarged their front by 25 miles on the eastern side of Rheims, while their attack also covered about the same distance to the west of that city, making some progress in this latter sector, which led them down the valley of the Oise, towards Villers-Cotterets, Compiègne, and finally Paris.

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