Amabel Williams-Ellis

THE ROUT—MORMAL FOREST—THE BATTLE OF THE SAMBRE—THE ARMISTICE

I

On November 4, the 1st, 3rd and 4th Armies were to deliver an attack on a combined front of about thirty miles, from the Sambre to the north of Oisy and Valenciennes. The country across which our advance was to be made was exceedingly difficult: in the south, the river Sambre had to be crossed almost at the outset. In the centre the great Forest of Mormal, though here and there thinned by German foresters, still presented a formidable obstacle. In the north lay the strongly fortified town of Le Quesnoy, which was defended naturally by several streams which ran parallel to the line of our advance, offering the enemy repeated opportunities for a successful defence.

On November 2, we fought a small action west of Landrecies. We were anxious to improve our position near Happegarbes before the big attack on the 4th.

Only three Tanks of the 10th Battalion took part.

Unfortunately, although we took all our objectives, the Germans suddenly plucked up heart, launched a surprise attack, and we lost them again before nightfall.

The Battle of Mormal Forest was the last set Tank attack of the War, and for it we could only scrape together just thirty-seven machines.

Tank units were bled almost white. Sections took the place of companies, companies of battalions, and Tanks were parcelled out in such a way that the very most might be made of their scanty numbers.

At dawn, after an intense bombardment, Tanks and infantry moved forward to the assault under a heavy barrage, and it was not long before they had penetrated the enemy’s positions on the whole battle front.

On the right of the attack, zero was at 5.45. The 9th Corps, which, it will be remembered, was supported by four sections of the 10th Tank Battalion, pushed forward and captured Catillon, where the Tanks fought a particularly good action. The infantry were able to cross the Sambre at this place, capturing a lock some two miles to the south of it. By two hours after zero two battalions of infantry were east of the river.

The Tanks with the 13th Corps were also extremely successful, especially in the neighbourhood of Hecq, Preux and the north-western edge of the Forest of Mormal.

An account of the fighting on this central part of the line is given in the Tank Corps Intelligence Summary.

It was at Landrecies that three supply Tanks managed, despite their almost complete lack of arms or armour, to take a most gallant and effective part in the battle.

These three Tanks were working for the 25th Division, and were carrying up material to rebuild one of the numerous bridges that the Germans had destroyed; as they drew near their rendezvous they found that the enemy was still holding the place in some strength, and had succeeded in stopping the advance of our infantry. As the Tanks approached they began to draw fire and their situation became precarious. With great pluck and resource the Tanks decided to go on, and rely on their appearance (which was similar to that of the fighting Tanks) to drive the enemy from his position. One Tank became a casualty, but the other two went straight for the enemy. Even when the Tanks got close up, the Germans were still under the impression that they were being faced by fighters, and part of the garrison put up their hands, whilst the remainder fled.

With the 5th Corps, the 1st Company of the 9th Battalion encountered stiff resistance, but nevertheless they pushed forward far into the Forest of Mormal.

The Tanks were particularly active in the attack on Jolimetz, just south of Le Quesnoy, when they and the 37th Division took upwards of 1000 prisoners, and later in the afternoon and evening pushed on into the heart of the Forest. North of them the New Zealanders had surrounded Le Quesnoy by 8 a.m. Here also Tanks were operating.

By the end of the day we had made a five-mile advance, reaching the general line Fesny-Landrecies—centre of Mormal Forest—and five miles beyond Valenciennes.

II

But the Tank Corps was at last at an end of its resources both in machines and in men.

Pending reinforcements from England, they could at the moment muster but eight machines that could be sent after the flying enemy, and therefore, though the Armoured Cars went on, it was on November 5 that the last Tank action of the War was fought, when eight Whippets of the 6th Battalion took part in an attack of the 3rd Guards Brigade, on the northern outskirts of the Forest of Mormal.

The weather was atrocious and the country most difficult for a combined operation, for it was intersected by numerous ditches and fences, which rendered it ideal for the rearguard actions which the Germans were now fighting all along their front.

No definite orders had reached the Whippets’ Company Commander as to what part—if any—his machines were to play.

He and the General commanding the 3rd Guards Brigade, however, came to the conclusion that in view of the nature of the ground and the fact that the Bultiaux River would have to be crossed in the first stage of the battle, the Whippets should lead the attack upon the second, third and final objectives only.

Two Tanks proved unfit for action, owing to mechanical trouble. The three Tanks which covered the advance of the Grenadiers found themselves in a country of small orchards divided by extremely high hedges, where it was most difficult to locate the enemy machine-guns whose fire was here considerable.

The Whippets therefore worked up and down the hedges like ratting terriers, being ordered to106“fire short bursts along them for moral effect even when no enemy were visible.” This they did, and found a few fleeting targets before returning to get in touch with the infantry.

Two Whippets which were co-operating with the Scots Guards met with a good deal of opposition. Twice had they and the infantry attempted to capture and consolidate high ground beyond the village of Buvignies.

The driver of the first Tank was hit as he was endeavouring to put right a minor mechanical trouble, and the second Tank went on alone.

In attempting to run over an enemy rifle-pit, it ran on to a jagged tree stump and was damaged, finally breaking down in the enemy’s lines beyond Buvignies. 107 From accounts of civilians, who were behind the enemy’s lines, it appears that the crew held out till midnight, the Tank being then blown up.

The 3rd Guards Brigade pushed forward unopposed for a mile and a half during the night, but when darkness came the four remaining Whippets were ordered to rally.

For, though that through all this period we knew well enough that the end had come, in these last few days of the War we acquired a new tradition. It became the magnificent custom of the British Army to act as though the War would go on for ever.

The spirit that says, “I’ve been lucky so far. Why tempt Providence with the War won, anyway?” must have reared its head in every man. But it was rigorously kept down, and never among the attacking troops in these last tense days was there found any inclination to spare themselves or to spoil our victory by undue chariness of life and limb. Not only in the racking circumstances of the battlefield, but also behind the lines, this new tradition was manifest, and after the 5th the Tank crews were everywhere feverishly engaged, day and night, in refitting and furbishing up their machines on the complete assumption that they would surely be called upon to fight again. Everywhere, too, the Staffs were busy endeavouring to build up an organised fighting force from the scarred, battle-weary remnants of the Corps.

The Tank Corps’ record since August 8 was indeed a remarkable one. There had been ninety-six days of almost continuous battle since that great Tank attack, and in these ninety-six days about two thousand Tanks and Armoured Cars had been engaged.

Nearly half this number of machines had been handed over to salvage. Of these, 313 had been sufficiently badly damaged to be sent to Central Workshops, who had repaired no less than 204 of them and reissued them to battalions. Of the whole 887, only fifteen machines had been struck off the strength as beyond repair.

The personnel, too, had been lamentably reduced. However, the total strength of the Tank Corps on August 7, 1918, had been considerably under that of a single infantry division, and in the old days of the artillery battles, such as the First Battle of the Somme, an infantry division often sustained 4000 casualties in twelve hours. In comparison, the Tanks’ losses of just 3000 in three months, out of a fighting strength of under 10,000, seem comparatively light. They were heavy enough, however, effectually to cripple the Corps for several weeks.

III

Meanwhile the last act of the great drama was being played out.

Though there were for the moment no Tanks to share in the culminating glories, our forces were pushing forward along the whole front. On November 6 and 7 the enemy’s resistance had very much weakened. Early on the morning of the 7th the Guards entered Bavay; next day Avesnes fell. Six cars of the Tank 17th Armoured Car Battalion here did excellent service in conjunction with “Bethell’s Force,” the cars, “full out,” putting roadside machine-guns out of action and in many cases preventing the flying enemy from blowing up the crossroads behind his rearguards. Hautmont was captured, and our troops reached the outskirts of Maubeuge, the goal upon which our eyes had for so long been fixed. To the north of Mons the enemy was now rapidly withdrawing. All through the night of November 7–8 we could see the glare of burning dumps behind the German lines, and could hear the irregular clamour of their detonations. At Tournai the enemy abandoned his bridgehead without a fight.

On the 9th the enemy was in full retreat on the whole front; the Guards entered Maubeuge at the moment when the Canadians were approaching Mons. The whole of our 2nd Army crossed the Schelde, and next day all five British Armies advanced in line, preceded by cavalry, cyclists and Armoured Cars.

Only round Mons was any opposition met with, and at dawn on November 11 the Third Canadian Division captured the town, killing or taking prisoner the whole of the German garrison.

It was the last of the tasks of slaughter to which our hands were to be forced.

For four days there had been a coming and going of envoys and of messages. For four days men and women in England had listened and waited, restless and sick with expectancy, with a sudden realisation of their longing to emerge from the long nightmare.

On November 11, just after eleven in the morning, the church bells were rung in every town and village at home; and in France the expected message was quietly passed from mouth to mouth. There is no need to describe a moment which no reader of this book will ever forget.