The Highland Division

by Eric Linklater

  By the end of the day twenty-three officers and some five hundred other ranks of the 7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were killed, wounded, or missing.

  8. Fight and March and Fight Again

  At dawn on June 6th, the Division, with certain French troops between the centre and right Brigades, was extended along a line from Oisemont, through Vismes and Fressenville, to Friaucourt or thereabout. There was, however, no hope of holding this line. The Division had orders to delay the German advance beyond it for a limited period only. Withdrawal across the Bresle was already decided, and the new front would run from Blangy to the sea. The French 31st Division, side-stepping to the east, was removing from the area. Eastward of the Somme the French were now on the line of the river Aisne.

  The Friaucourt–Oisemont line was never water-tight: there was considerable German leakage in the neighbourhood of Dargnies, where were the Headquarters of the 154th Brigade; and an anti-tank battery which, during the night of June 5th, had been ordered to retire from the vicinity of Saucourt across the Bresle, had been fired on by German mortars on the east bank of the river in the vicinity of Ponts-et-Marais. In the early hours of the 6th the remnants of “D” company of the 7th Argyll and Sutherlands had exchanged grenades with the enemy at Woincourt, and then retired to Dargnies. There it was heavily mortared, and withdrawing to Fucheville on the Bresle, held the bridge with the Headquarters Company of the 8th Argylls, which at daybreak had been in Yzengrèmer.

  A squadron of tanks had gone from Dargnies to Yzengrèmer in the early morning. Reconnoitring forward, the tanks found a number of German machine-gun posts, and went to look for roads of approach and attack; but without success. Mortar-fire, moving from north to north-west, grew heavier on the Argylls’ position, and was aggravated by machine-guns. The Argylls had nothing better than Bren guns with which to reply, and had to fall back on Dargnies. There it was learnt that light mechanised forces of the enemy were already in Eu.

  The tanks brought thirty-five prisoners into Dargnies, and returned to hold the railway-line south of Yzengrèmer. The 4th Black Watch, ordered to withdraw from Friville and Fressenville, occupied a line from Dargnies to Hoquelus, and the 153rd Brigade still maintained its Headquarters at Aigneville. On the extreme left of the 154th Brigade front there was no defence but some posts on the river Bresle held by the Pioneer battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers.

  “B” echelon of the 7th Argylls, with the survivors of Franleu, had been ordered across the Bresle to the Incheville Forest and thence to St Rémy. But in St Rémy it was reported that German tanks had broken through in the neighbourhood of Incheville, and the Argylls went back to a position in the forest.

  The pretence of holding, even for a day, an intermediate line between the Somme and the Bresle had to be abandoned. We had neither enough troops nor sufficient fire-power to meet the enemy’s attack, the main stream of which was now flowing against our coastal flank. The Germans could no more be contained than water in a basket; our line, torn open on the left, was as full of holes as wattle, and there were no adequate reserves with which to close them. It had become perfectly clear that General Fortune could hope for nothing better than a rearguard action, by which he might punish and delay the German advance, maintain the cohesion of the Division, and keep touch with the French formations that were falling back on his right.

  From Dargnies and Hoquelus the 4th Black Watch, under cover of fire from a company of the 1st Gordons, retired to new positions overlooking Beauchamps. They had been heavily shelled, they had no food, the men were nearly exhausted. By now, indeed, the whole Division was feeling the effect of its long period of almost incessant movement, of battle and march and battle again, with little time for sleep and none to recuperate and reorganise. To the east of Gamaches the 1st Black Watch were for a little while remote from the enemy’s ground forces, so they “slept for a few hours, being bombed and machine-gunned from the air, but suffered no casualties, and all were much too tired to mind.”

  Oisemont was attacked by the Germans in the early afternoon. French motor-cyclist machine-gunners shared the defence with the Lothians and did well. The attack was reinforced from the air, a petrol storage tank was set ablaze, and the flames spread through the village. The position was held till nine at night, when the Lothians withdrew, and, crossing the Bresle at Blangy, found harbour in the western end of the Haute Forêt d’Eu.

  A Bottle and a Bridge

  Three nights before, the Route Nationale north-east of Blangy had been thickly crowded with the troops and ammunition-trucks of the 31st French Division. Now, for long intervals, it was empty as a desert. Darkness descended upon the village of Biencourt, and Lord Cawdor, commanding the 4th Camerons, sent back his last section of carriers. No other transport remained in the village, so he and his French liaison officer had to walk. Except for themselves the road was empty. But for the noise of their boots on its hard surface, the night was altogether silent. In this desolated quietness they walked to Le Transloy, and there at the cross-roads they found a military policeman. There were still some troops on the enemy’s side of the Bresle, and the Red-cap was calmly waiting to direct this remaining traffic.

  They waited together, and presently there appeared a platoon of the 4th Seaforths, and then the remains of a company of the 4th Camerons from the Oisemont railway-line. Then, some time after one o’clock, they came to Blangy, where a Sapper officer was waiting to blow the bridge at two. But the demolition was postponed till four o’clock, to give any stragglers a chance to cross.

  The night was hot, and there was an estaminet at the bridge. It had been abandoned, and the door was locked. But the cutting-charge under the bridge was very heavy, said the Sapper, and would certainly destroy the estaminet as well. To break open the door would merely be anticipation of the inevitable. So they entered and fortunately discovered a bottle or two of Châteauneuf du Pape, which they drank sitting on the parapet of the bridge. Then, at four in the morning, when it was near daylight, the Sapper pressed a button, and bridge and estaminet collapsed together.

  West of Blangy in the Haute Forêt was the 51st Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery. During the afternoon of the 6th it had been in action against the German left. Then orders came to shell Ponts-et-Marais, and to engage this target the guns of the 215th troop had to be manhandled and swung round 120 degrees. Maps were scarce. The troop had one only, which was very crumpled and showed no contours. But line and range were measured on it, the angle of sight was guessed, a hundred yards was added for the meteorological factor—or for luck—and the new line transferred to the gun from a director seventy-five yards away. … An O.P. reported that the shelling was most effective.

  In front of Gamaches, which was burning fiercely in places, there was typical uncertainty about the enemy’s movement. The 1st Gordons were about to cross the river, but the Commanding Officer had some reason to fear that the Germans had broken through on his left, and might reach the bridge before him. Then he made contact with the 75th Field Regiment, who in the early afternoon had found themselves short of ammunition, and were also withdrawing. Some of their guns were retiring through Gamaches, and the Colonel of the Gordons arranged with them to cover the infantry’s withdrawal from a position three hundred yards south of the bridge.

  At nightfall the 4th Black Watch crossed the river at Beauchamps after holding a position in front of the bridge, enduring a heavy bombardment there, and suffering a good many casualties. Their new positions skirted the Incheville Forest, to which the enemy had already penetrated and where his menace was obviously dangerous. The 154th Brigade, after fighting all day on its eight-mile line, was reduced to less than fifty per cent. of its effective strength. A new Brigade had been brought up to its support, thanks to the fact that the Highland Division was still in touch with the lines of communication originally established for the main B.E.F. The battalions of this new Brigade had been working independently of each other on the lines of communication. They had never served togethe
r as a formation, and had had no Brigade training. Thus, though essentially fine troops, the formation was in some degree improvised. It was named “A” Brigade, and was composed of the 4th Battalion Buffs, the 4th Battalion Border Regiment, and the 5th Battalion Sherwood Foresters. It now lay south of the Bresle, facing the Forêt d’Incheville.

  A Nest of Wrathful Englishmen

  The defensive scheme on the morning of June 7th exhibited five sectors. On the right, from Blangy to Monchaux, was the 152nd Brigade. Left of them, to Gamaches, was the 153rd. To their left, as far as Beauchamps, the 154th Brigade. From Beauchamps to Eu was “A” Brigade, and from Eu to the sea the 6th Royal Scots Fusiliers.

  That was the position on paper. But the 152nd Brigade had been so grossly mutilated in the last two days of fighting that what was left of it was presently withdrawn into reserve in the Haute Forêt, and its sector was taken over by the French. There was, too, some confusion on the left, for “A” Brigade, arriving in rather precipitous fashion, had occupied certain positions that properly belonged to the 154th. And in this area there were appreciable numbers of the enemy, who had crossed the river at Beauchamps.

  The immediate task was to close the exits from the Incheville Forest, and eliminate its German occupants. This was “A” Brigade’s duty, and initially it made progress. It was reported, indeed, that the counterattack had been successful, and “A” Brigade had made good the line of the Bresle. But in spite of artillery support, the forest was not easy to clear. The 4th Battalion of the Border Regiment made the most strenuous and gallant efforts to dislodge the enemy, and Lieut.-Colonel Tomlinson, commanding the Battalion, handled his companies with great daring and imaginative energy. It was found at one time that his Headquarters Company was in action with the others, and he had no reserve whatsoever. He was given a company of the Sherwood Foresters—and very soon they also were in the battle. If the Germans could not be destroyed, they must at any cost be prevented from filtering to the south and turning the whole line. Tomlinson, moving his companies here and there, infecting his men with his own courageous enthusiasm, for two days sustained this vital responsibility, and with his half-trained Territorials pinned the enemy to a harmless corner of the forest. When at last the Battalion was ordered to withdraw, one of the companies, surrounded near the river bank, could not be extricated. It remained, and continued to fight. Beyond all hope of relief it went on fighting, and five days later there was still a nest of wrathful, indomitable Englishmen maintaining their cause in the Incheville wood. …

  To the right of “A” Brigade was the 4th Black Watch, with a composite company made of the remnants of the two Argyll and Sutherland battalions and the 26th Field Company, Royal Engineers, and east along the Bresle from them, towards Gamaches, were the 1st Gordons.

  Throughout the day the artillery was active on both sides. From an observation post overlooking Incheville the German columns could be seen advancing, a steady stream, from the direction of Dargnies, and concentrating on Beauchamps. Our twenty-five-pounders shelled them there, but could not stop their progress. The 51st Medium Regiment, with only six guns serviceable, did some admirable shooting from the neighbourhood of Millebosc. The 4th Black Watch suffered considerably from the enemy’s fire, but held their front, and all day the enemy—except for minor infiltration and the break at Incheville—was confined to his own side of the river.

  Unfortunately, however, there was very little to restrain the Luftwaffe’s activity, despite the assistance of some of our fighter aircraft, and the Division had to endure again the repeated attack of dive-bombers.

  The Royal Air Force could only give Fighter support to the battle in Normandy from the few aerodromes which had been hurriedly prepared. Fighter squadrons flew over from England for the day’s work and returned at night. For the most part, these Fighters went into action over the French portion of the front, where the tactical situation was even more critical and the Highland Division had to suffer. Bomber squadrons based in England were continually attacking targets on the German communications. These attacks were out of sight of the fighting troops in the line, who almost always find it difficult to weigh the effect of such air action on the general course of a battle.

  In the early morning of June 7th a reinforcement of nine hundred men had arrived from Rouen, a welcome aid; but in the evening disastrous tidings came from there. The enemy’s armoured divisions had broken through the French at Amiens, and were advancing on the axis Amiens–Poix–Rouen. The French IX Corps was being torn apart from the rest of the Xth Army, to which it belonged; and the Fifty-First would be cut off from Rouen, which was its base of supply.

  Hurried arrangements were made to use Le Havre as an alternative source of fuel and ammunition. It would mean long journeys for the R.A.S.C. echelon, but the handicap must be accepted. There was, however, no gun ammunition available at Le Havre, so a last train was loaded at Rouen, with shell and anti-tank mines, and sent from there to be left en cas mobile in the neighbourhood of Foucart. But it never arrived. It was searched for and could not be found. The Germans must have intercepted and captured it somewhere between Clères and Bolbec.

  9. Exploit of the Argylls

  The line of the Bresle was held till the evening of June 8th, and that day broke with a pleasant surprise: somewhat reduced in strength, “A” and “B” companies of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, who had been cut off at Ault, rejoined their Brigade. …

  About four o’clock on the afternoon of June 5th, Major Lorne Campbell had gone to withdraw the two companies from their exposed positions in Brutelles and Hautebut. His mission was somewhat retarded by four German tanks, and when at last he led “A” company into the village of Woignarue, they found a German soldier directing traffic and a continuous stream of enemy transport passing through.

  They were fired on. They examined the possibility of attacking the village, but decided that a more useful move would be to occupy the villages of Ault and Friaucourt, and so prevent any further German penetration to the south. But the Germans, unfortunately, had already gone through Friaucourt, and the two companies were completely cut off.

  On a cliff overlooking the village of Ault there is a lighthouse with neighbouring buildings, and a nearby school. Major Campbell decided to occupy and hold this commanding area, and found there, already in residence, a platoon of the 6th Royal Scots Fusiliers and fifteen French Marines with a 75-millimetre gun. It was, however, not a very good gun: it broke the first time it was fired. The defence was organised and when evening came the defence could see, on the road to Eu, a stream of traffic, and throughout the night they heard the noise of its continuing flow.

  Taking a sanguine view of the battle that was going on, the lost garrison expected an Allied counter-attack which, from their advanced position, they would be able to help. But on the 6th they heard the sound of fighting grow fainter as it withdrew to the south-east, and of the counter-attack no hope could be discerned. The Germans ignored them, and the garrison resented this unprofitable state of peace: Campbell and the two Company Commanders agreed that they should try to get back to the Division.

  In the afternoon they were somewhat worried by snipers, and took a couple of prisoners. At eight o’clock, when Campbell was detailing orders for the move, the Germans attacked with tanks that took station some distance away and bombarded the buildings with small quick-firing cannon using tracer shells. The building which the French Marines were holding was set on fire, and they surrendered. Half a dozen aeroplanes gave a demonstration of dive-bombing, but without bombs. The tank attack was not pressed, and presently concluded. The air attack appeared to be a skirmish in the war of nerves rather than a serious assault.

  The Garrison Marched Out

  The Jocks were delighted to hear of the promised sortie; preparations were quickly made, and transport destroyed. The garrison moved out at a quarter to twelve, taking with them their unwounded prisoner. The march was led by three fighting patrols, each commanded by an officer, a
nd carrying wire-cutters to open gaps in all fences. If the columns were fired on, they would continue to march. If forced to a halt, they had a plan for all-round defence and would fight to a finish. If they were scattered, then sauve qui peut. Wounded, if they could not walk, must be left behind.

  They marched on a compass-bearing, taking right angles to it for measured distances to avoid villages, and returning to the bearing. Their dawn objective was a wood at Bouvaincourt; but the German tank demonstration had delayed their start, and when daylight came they were west of the village of Méneslies. It was hard to find good cover. They tried an orchard, then a field of wheat. A German plane came over the wheat and quartered it like a hen-harrier. They moved to a hillside of whins and lay there all day in windless hot weather, with very little to eat or drink and nothing to do but keep still. They saw German motor-cyclist patrols, and German officers searching the countryside with glasses. But anywhere behind the actual battle zone, it appeared, the Germans were still thin on the ground.