Somme
Page 56
Now it was the turn of the 151st (Durham) Brigade who moved into the line as part of the 50th (Northumbrian) Division on 3 November. Even that simple-sounding manoeuvre was no easy task. The communications trenches that meandered across the shell-blasted landscape were full of glutinous, thigh-deep mud that could exhaust a man beyond reason. The tired men of the 1/9th, 1/6th and 1/8th Durhams took over the frontline positions, while the 1/5th Border Regiment came up behind them as the reserve battalion. In view of the atrocious conditions Brigadier General B.G. Price decided to hold his brigade frontage with just one company of each of the Durham battalions. On the left were the 1/9th Durham Light Infantry—the ‘Gateshead Ghurkhas’ as they optimistically hoped they would be known to posterity—who were under the command of a truly remarkable young man, Lieutenant Colonel Roland Bradford. Although just 24 years old, this naturally brilliant soldier had already demonstrated a combination of considerable administrative abilities and tactical skills of the highest order, all underpinned by a raw courage that inspired all who met him. In the centre were the 1/6th Durhams, a battalion recruited mainly in Bishop Auckland and the upper valley of the river Wear, who to the rest of the Durham Light Infantry were cheerily known as the ‘black-buttoned bastards’. On the right of the brigade front were the 1/8th Durhams. Together they were to attack the Butte on 5 November 1916.
The German guns never seemed to stop and the weather was truly awful. The all-important artillery support was ready, but there was no real confidence amongst the gunners that they could deliver the barrage needed for such a desperate enterprise.
The attack is fixed for tomorrow, in spite of the weather. It seems rather hopeless expecting infantry to attack with any success in this mud. The trench mortars have only their muzzles showing above it. Yesterday we had two barrages by brigades. They seemed fairly good; but I should like more guns. To be effective, a barrage should be an 18-pounder to every 7 yards of enemy front, and the guns should be capable of firing 4 rounds a minute, at least to start with, without the recuperator springs giving out.3
Brigadier General Hugh Tudor, Commander Royal Artillery, 9th Division
The 1/9th Durhams were charged with capturing the Butte and a quarry beside its west face. Meanwhile, the 1/6th and 1/8th Durhams were to seize the Gird Trench and Gird Support Trenches. The 1/6th and 1/4th Northumberland Fusiliers were in support on the left and right respectively, while the 1/5th Border Regiment stood ready in reserve. Zero Hour was set for 0910 on 5 November.
Time passed on leaden wings up to the Zero Hour. The Lewis gunners and bombers were heavily laden with their extra ammunition but calmly awaited the time for action. Rain fell during the whole time and early on the morning of Sunday Nov. 5th 1916 the companies in close support moved forward to man the front-line trench. The distance between the close support was not great, but owing to the boggy ground progress was dreadfully slow. I was a lance corporal in X Company in command of two Lewis gun sections composed of seven men per section carrying gun, spare parts and old-fashioned panniers holding four magazines each. Lieutenant Ludgate was acting-captain in command of my company. Owing to the slow progress of the troops it was daylight when we reached the front-line trench to be greeted by the gallant W Company. The trench was in such a deplorable state that we marched along the parados in order to reach our places quicker. As we were in full view of the enemy he met us with a terrible hail of shell, machine guns and rifle fire, and we were glad to take advantage of the slimy trench and reach our places as best we could.4
Lance Corporal Harry Cruddace, 1/6th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, 151st Brigade, 50th Division
Corporal Cruddace found himself acting as the link with the neighbouring 1/8th Durhams to his immediate right. That night was hell: heavy rain, a howling gale, there were rumours circulating that men had drowned in the mud and it was bitterly cold. Worst of all they had a good idea of what lay ahead of them in the morning.
Every man then looking to the loading of his rifle and the fixing of his bayonet as the Zero Hour was almost upon us. Serious men gazed eagerly into one another’s faces and some muttered thoughts of God and their loved ones at home. Chums clasped hands and said, Cheerio! not knowing what the day had in store for them. Officers were in eager conversation with the senior NCOs regarding the readiness of the men. The enemy kept up a ceaseless bombardment of our trenches in conjunction with the merciless rain and cold.3
Lance Corporal Harry Cruddace, 1/6th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, 151st Brigade, 50th Division
As Zero Hour struck, all the available guns in the area laid down a barrage some 200 yards in front of the jumping-off line.
Nothing but HE was used. We began with a stationary barrage of four minutes whilst the infantry were getting out of their trenches and thereafter the creeping barrage was lifted in range 50 yards every minute and firing continued at the rate of 4 rounds per minute.6
Brigadier General Hugh Tudor, Commander Royal Artillery, 9th Division
As the moment came, the Durhams went over the top on their modern day ‘forlorn hope’. With mud high above their knees, wading, slipping, stumbling and falling forward, laden as they were with the usual infantry equipment necessary in an attack: rifle, packs, grenades, entrenching tool, pick, Lewis gun drums—it was worse than they could have ever imagined.
At last the Zero Hour arrived and the officers’ whistles sounded the advance. Immediately the first wave mounted the trench and made off in the direction of the enemy trenches. They were met by terrific and annihilating fire and crumpled up like snow in summer. The second wave was by this time on its way. I was in that wave and placed my gun sections in single file to make a less target. The enemy barrage was doing enormous damage and our fighting strength was fast diminishing.7
Lance Corporal Harry Cruddace, 1/6th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, 151st Brigade, 50th Division
Whatever the hopes, the Germans were clearly not caught by surprise and on such a narrow-front attack they were able to concentrate a devastating machine-gun fire from all around on to the hapless Durhams and the Australian brigade that was also advancing alongside them, immediately to the south. It was also apparent that the British artillery had by no means succeeded in eliminating the German batteries designated to fire in support of the Warlencourt sector. Inevitably, the German guns opened up with a roar and splattered a barrage of shells all along the threatened sector. The Germans were deliberately isolating the British front line in an attempt to cut off the assaulting troops from any reserves that were intended to continue the assault or consolidate any gains. That impenetrable wall of bursting shells meant that the Durhams would have to fight the battle on their own.
On the right the 1/8th Durhams were badly hit by a combination of both German shell fire and British shells dropping short. Even the long-distance, indirect machine gun barrage that was meant to be supporting them was inaccurately ranged and their parapet was laced with machine-gun bullets from behind. Many of the men could barely get out of the trenches because of the mud and individuals were forced to help each other out—all under heavy fire. Although, with exemplary heroism, the left of their line managed to get within 30 yards of the Butte the fire eventually overwhelmed the Durhams and the few survivors fell back in disarray to their original front line. The wounded were left scattered around No Man’s Land, marooned in shell holes and slowly sinking down. Many who were too weak to save themselves must have slowly drowned—an awful death.
Meanwhile, the ‘black-buttoned bastards’ of the 1/6th Durhams were dying one by one as they found themselves marooned between the lines.
By this time the whole line was held up and Lieutenant Ludgate ordered me to proceed and engage the enemy machine guns, a task almost impossible. Out of my two sections of fourteen men there were two of us left—a No. 1 on the gun by the name of Private Allen and myself. I pushed on with one gun and a quantity of ammunition to about 30 yards from the German trench and took up a position in a shell hol
e. We opened fire on the opposing troops who formed an excellent target. In taking up my position, in the excitement I placed myself on the right side of the gun instead of on the left, which was fortunate for me. After firing one or two magazines, the enemy found us with a machine gun and succeeded in wounding my No. 1 in four places down his left side. Thinking him dead, I pushed him aside and carried on until want of ammunition forced me to withdraw to our troops in the rear. I took back my gun and spare parts, and came in contact with an officer of another company, to whom I made my report. A few minutes later I saw my No. 1, who was out in front lifting an arm in an appealing manner, and I knew he whom I had thought dead was still alive. I immediately ran out in a zig-zag method and brought him back to the shelter of the shell hole we were then manning. After tending to his wounds we set about organising and consolidating in preparation for a counter-attack from the enemy.8
Lance Corporal Harry Cruddace, 1/6th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, 151st Brigade, 50th Division
The only success came on the left where the 1/9th Durhams who directly faced the Butte de Warlencourt, advanced with considerable success, under the influence of the dashing young Lieutenant Colonel Roland Bradford. Why they should have succeeded is unclear—perhaps it was just a fluke and the Germans here had simply sunk into a fatal lethargy dragged down by the dreadful conditions. Whatever the reason, the 1/9th Durhams broke through to sweep up and over the Butte. The watchers crouched in the British line even caught a glimpse of one man caught in dramatic silhouette as he paused for a moment on the very peak of the Butte, some even said he waved, before plunging on down the other side. By 1000 such men had grabbed most of the low mound and the surrounding trenches.
Four posts were established in the Gird front line, the left one being on the Albert–Bapaume Road. There were four posts between the Butte and the Gird front line. The front edge of the Quarry was strongly held and two company headquarters were situated in the Quarry in telephonic communication with battalion headquarters. Each of the assaulting platoons had a reserve platoon in Butte Alley, the trench running immediately south of the Butte. Two machine guns were sited in Butte Alley and a 2-in Stokes Mortar in the Quarry. Two battalion observers were on the Butte. The reserve company of the battalion was in Maxwell Trench. Eight Bavarian prisoners had been sent back to battalion headquarters. Some other prisoners who were on their way back had together with their escorts been annihilated by the German artillery fire. The Germans were still holding a dugout on the north-east side of the Butte. The parties who should have ‘mopped up’ the Butte dugouts had either gone forward without completing their work, carried away in the enthusiasm of the assault, or had been shot by German snipers while at their work.9
Lieutenant Colonel Roland Bradford, 1/9th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, 151st Brigade, 50th Division
With the wall of shells falling behind them and an awareness burning within them that the German reserves would be making their way forward they knew they had to consolidate as fast as possible.
The ground had been so pulverised by our bombardments and was so muddy that it was not possible to do much in the way of consolidation. But the men were ready with their rifles.10
Lieutenant Colonel Roland Bradford, 1/9th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, 151st Brigade, 50th Division
In the event it proved that the failure to complete the ‘mopping up’ was crucial. It was soon apparent that over a hundred German soldiers were lurking in the dark warren of dugouts and tunnels beneath and around the Butte. A murderous game of chance began to be played out with bomb and bayonet, with little or no quarter on either side.
The Germans in the dugout on the north-east edge of the Butte had brought a machine gun into position and were worrying us from behind. Many gallant attempts were made throughout the day to capture this dugout but without success. All our parties who tried to rush it were destroyed by the German machine-gun fire from the direction of Hook Sap and by the fire of the large number of snipers in Warlencourt. However, a party did succeed in throwing some Mills grenades into the dugout and this made the Boches more cautious.11
Lieutenant Colonel Roland Bradford, 1/9th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, 151st Brigade, 50th Division
The first German local counter-attack was launched at about 1200 and this began a series of harassing bombing attacks, all of which were only repulsed after hard fighting. Over the afternoon the Germans were heavily reinforced and their counter-attacks began to hammer home with a real menace. The 1/9th Durhams were entirely cut off from any reinforcement by the German artillery and well-directed machine guns and as their numbers dwindled they were forced gradually back. At 1530 they held a line that stretched round the north of the Quarry to Butte Alley, south of the Butte, and then by shell hole positions to where the 1/6th Battalion had its block. At 1700, Colonel Bradford sent one of a series of messages back to his brigade headquarters.
We have been driven out of the Gird front line and I believe my posts there were captured, and have tried to get back but the enemy is in considerable force and is still counter-attacking. It is taking the all my time to hold Butte Alley. Please ask artillery to shell area north of Bapaume road, as Germans are in considerable force there. Enemy is holding Gird front line strongly on my right and in my opinion a strong advance to the right of the Butte would meet with success. I have a small post in a shell hole at the north-western corner of the Butte, but the enemy still has a post on the Butte on the north side. I am just going to make another attempt to capture this post.12
Lieutenant Colonel Roland Bradford, 1/9th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, 151st Brigade, 50th Division
In between the cool situation reports were interspersed periods of desperate hand-to-hand fighting, the impact of which the dry language of his laconic reports cannot possibly convey.
We are holding Butte Alley. We have a post on the north side of the Butte. The enemy still has a post on the northern slope of Butte, but I am hoping to scupper this. I am now endeavouring to establish posts in the Gird front line. Germans are still attacking and a good deal of hand-to-hand fighting is taking place. We killed large numbers of enemy on the Butte and in the Quarry and, owing to heavy fire could not take so many prisoners as we might otherwise. If another battalion were attached to the I could probably take the Gird front line. The work on the communication trench to Butte is progressing.13
Lieutenant Colonel Roland Bradford, 1/9th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, 151st Brigade, 50th Division
Despite the desperate need for urgent reinforcements the sustained German barrage crashing down behind them on the communications trenches and rear areas would have destroyed any that tried to get forward in a gesture that could only have added to the casualty figures. The 1/9th Durhams would have to fight on alone supported only by a few machine-gun teams from the 151st Machine Gun Company.
About 6 p.m. the Germans made a determined counter-attack preceded by a terrific bombardment and were able to get to close quarters. A tough struggle ensued. But our men who had now been reinforced by the reserve company and who showed the traditional superiority of the British in hand-to-hand fighting, succeeded in driving out the enemy. The 9th DLI was getting weak, but it was hoped that the Boche had now made his last counter-attack for that day.14
Lieutenant Colonel Roland Bradford, 1/9th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, 151st Brigade, 50th Division
Unfortunately, just as Bradford thought they were weakening, the Germans received yet more reinforcements and their attacks took on a new and deadly lease of life. The showers of bombs and the desperate bayonet charges bit deep. The exhausted Durhams had been fighting all day with no respite. As the Germans pressed forward, retreat had become inevitable. One by one the precious morning gains were surrendered back to the Germans.
At about 11 p.m. battalions of the Prussians delivered a fresh counterattack. They came in great force from our front and also worked round from both flanks. Our men were overwhelmed. Many d
ied fighting, others were compelled to surrender. It was only a handful of men who found their way back to Maxwell Trench and they were completely exhausted by their great efforts and the strain of the fighting.15
Lieutenant Colonel Roland Bradford, 1/9th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, 151st Brigade, 50th Division
Eventually the survivors fell right back across No Man’s Land and the hard-pressing Germans were soon threatening even the jumping-off positions in the British front line. Back in the front line the Durhams rejoined their comrades of the 1/6th and 1/8th Battalion, who had fallen back hours before.
The brigade position now ran in an irregular line, but despite extremely heavy casualties we held on. As night drew in we were made stronger by our comrades from W Company in linking up and gathering the Lewis guns from the men who had fallen. The expected happened and the enemy counter-attacked under cover of darkness, but we staved off the assault at a great price. Despite our weakened condition we held on till the night of 6th November.16
Lance Corporal Harry Cruddace, 1/6th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, 151st Brigade, 50th Division
After hard fighting the Germans were held back and so, after a day of drama and death that brought misery to countless Durham homes, the situation was exactly as it had been before they started. On the evening of 6 November, they were relieved by the 1/5th Durhams who formed part of the 150th Brigade.