At 1:00am the East Surreys had withdrawn from their positions, between Hattencourt and Hallu. As the History of the 8/West Kents noted:

‘the withdrawal had to be done with great care. It took a long time creeping, section by section, along the grass border of the village road, out beyond the village, until it was safe to march in column of route on the road itself. The withdrawal was made in perfect order, without casualties and we took up positions at Hallu by 3:30am.’

The Battalion took its place in trenches which had, in 1916, been the old German front line. The position ‘did not inspire us with a great deal of hope’.

As early as 7:45am, the Entrenching Battalion on the East Surreys’ right (the West Kents were to their left) reported to Brigade that there was a gap of several miles in the line between the Brigade and the French on their right, and the enemy were advancing in large numbers. They were told to withdraw fighting to the Rouvroy-Rozieres line.

At the same time a message was sent to the East Surreys that their right flank had given way, and the Entrenching battalion withdrawn. 15 minutes later another message reported that the trench just 30 yards in front was now full of Germans, and a ‘great deal of machine gun firing’ ensued, with many casualties inflicted. The Battalion was holding a front of almost 1400 yards, and beat back the Germans time and again.

Shortly afterwards, 73 Brigade, on the left flank was forced to withdraw from its position on the Brigade’s left, leaving the West Kents and the East Surreys in line ‘with both flanks in the air’. The West Kents informed the East Surreys that they were proceeding to withdraw, by platoons, from the left, and ‘an orderly retirement commenced’.

But as the East Surrey Diary noted, they were:

‘determined to hold on at all costs, and would not withdraw. Under Major C A Clark’s command, defensive flanks were at once formed and still we held the enemy back, against terrific odds. The Battalion continued the great stand against overwhelming numbers, every officer and man fighting to the last, until 9:30am when it was completely surrounded.’

Clark’s indomitablility was later recalled by Private Eatwell (as quoted by Michael Lucas):

‘[Major Clark] said: “We have nothing on our flanks, and there are no supports behind. You will either be killed or captured before the morning is out. Stick it out for the honour of the Regiment.’

At one point in the battle Clark attempted to withdraw his men, only to find Germans to the rear as well as in front. He later recalled:

‘We took up position in an old communication trench and used our rifles with great effect. [Lieutenant] Grant was doing excellent work until shot through the head, and Warre-Dymond behaved admirably. It was a fine fight and we held them up until the ammunition gave out. They charged in and mopped up the remainder. They were infuriated with us.’

The 72 Brigade Diary is quietly critical of Clark’s decision to stand and fight: ‘9th East Surrey hung on too long and lost heavily. Major Clark MC, Lt Grant, Capt Dymond, Lt Blower and RSM Phillips all missing. Reported surrounded and fighting to the last.’ But everyone in the Brigade were impressed at their bravery:

‘We can well imagine Clark, dogged old solider that he was, hanging on like grim death to that bit of trench. It was not till long afterwards that we heard he was wounded and a prisoner, and we all missed him greatly in the Brigade for the rest of the war. There can be no question of the gallantry of himself and his officers and men.’

* * * *

The final scene in Sherriff’s Journey’s End marks the beginning of the German onslaught on the first day of the Kaiserschlacht. What happened next was left to the audience’s imagination. The old soldiers among those who were first to see the play would have had no doubt about the likely fate of Stanhope and his fellow officers, being well aware of the casualties the battle inflicted on both sides.

A couple of years after the play was first produced, Sherriff turned his hand to writing a sequel, in movie-style, hoping that the film companies might be interested in what happened to Stanhope after the curtain fell. The opening scene shows Stanhope, Trotter and the men continuing to fight, but the Germans are superior in numbers and firepower. When they offer him the chance to surrender, he declines, and the Germans begin to pound his trenches. With his men dying around him, Stanhope leads the remainder on a forlorn charge against the German trenches, where those that survive are easily overpowered:

‘It is soon over. Some are shot down. Others fling themselves blindly into the German trench. Stanhope is struck and stunned by the butt of a rifle – Trotter struggles violently and is overpowered. A German officer glances down at the captives and gives an order to the German soldiers who line the trench. The soldiers climb out of the trench and walk silently in line across No Man’s Land, into the ruined trenches of Stanhope’s Company and into the distance beyond.’

There seems little doubt that the opening scenes in Sherriff’s sequel to Journey’s End were, at the very least, heavily influenced by the heroic sacrifices of the 9th East Surreys on the 6th day of the Kaiserschlacht – perhaps not in all its detail, but probably as it was handed down at Regimental dinners and reunions by those who were there that day (and especially by two of Sherriff’s closest friends in the Battalion – ‘Nobby’ Clark and Godfrey Warre-Dymond)

* * * *

The East Surrey Diary reports that only three officers and about thirty men succeeded in escaping German clutches. From 26 March until 8 April, ‘the remnants of the Battalion were attached to the 8/Royal West Kents until the arrival of the Brigade at Franlen, when the Battalion became a separate unit once more.’