As dawn broke on 25 March, the East Surreys were dug in, behind their wire, along the Hattencourt road.
The Germans had attempted to cross the Somme, and, although beaten back in certain areas, had succeeded at Béthancourt, due west of 72 Brigade. At 2:00am, not long after the men had finished fortifying their positions, the Brigade was informed that the 8th Division and the French would be attacking in the direction of Béthancourt, and the 24th Division (comprising 72 Brigade, 73 Brigade and 17 Brigade) were to move up in support. At 9:00am the East Surreys moved forward, through Fonches, to the region of Curchy. But the Battalion Diary records that ‘the Germans attacked 8th Division in the early morning and when our troops were nearing Curchy Germans were almost in the village. The Brigade then became involved in the fighting.’
The Battlefield on 25 March, from Lucas, M., The Journey’s End Battalion: the 9th East Surrey in the Great War
Soon enough the Brigade (with 8/Royal West Kents on the left, the East Surreys in the middle and the entrenching battalion on the right) gave the order to withdraw back towards Fonches. The East Surreys were now reinforced by about 150 men from other Brigade and Divisional details, and, even though they were heavily shelled, they repelled several German attacks, causing ‘many enemy casualties’. The Royal West Kents history, noting that the Battalion had been commanded to ‘hold out at Fonches to the last’, commended the splendid heroism of the men, and observed that ‘the cross road at Fonches [on which the German artillery and machine gunners had drawn a bead] will surely always live in the minds of the little garrison who hung on by the teeth there through that awful day.’
LGR 109 (the regiment’s Ersatz-Battalion at Karlsruhe in Baden, 1918): courtesy of Andrew Lucas
Using German sources, Michael Lucas reports that the main enemy units ranged against 24th Division were from the German 28 Division:
‘[This] was a first-class formation. Its infantry were the Grand Duke of Baden’s lifeguard regiment, LGR 109…[which] in the afternoon, was moving towards 72 Brigade, “approaching Fonches from the east…At the Fonchette-Liancourt road they encountered strong resistance supported by artillery. Nevertheless by about 7:00pm they had approached very close to the road and had secured a favourable jumping-off point for the assault on the following day.”’
Even so, they continued their attacks throughout the night – being beaten back ‘most gallantly’ by the Brigade – despite the fact that the enemy shellfire was ‘terrific’, causing many casualties.
[Next post: 26 March]