At 1:00am the East Surreys had withdrawn from their positions, between Hattencourt and Hallu.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same time a message was sent to the East Surreys that their right flank had given way, and the Entrenching battalion withdrawn. 15 minutes later another message reported that the trench just 30 yards in front was now full of Germans, and a ‘great deal of machine gun firing’ ensued,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.’

 

 

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.’

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.’

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]

The East Surreys spent a very cold night in shallow trenches in the open at Licourt on 23 March, and next morning they – and the rest of the Brigade – were ordered to withdraw the 6 miles to Chaulnes. At 7:00am, according to the Brigade Diary, the men ‘marched out splendidly’. On the way the men saw ‘welcome signs of our own artilery…Big guns were in position and speaking to some purpose on all sides…’

The Brigade had a few hours rest at Chaulnes, during which the West Kents attended to the men’s feet, with ‘much needed water and soap’ brought into use. But ‘whilst dinners were being served’, news arrived that the Germans had crossed the Somme to the south, at Béthencourt, and the Brigade was detailed to march to Fonches to plug a gap between the 8th and 20th Divisions. En route they were warned that the enemy was in sight and they would never reach their destination, but they found instead, that it was ‘a place of perfect peace’.

The Brigade disposed its forces defending the Hattencourt-Fonches-Fonchette Road, with the East Surreys on the right and the 8/Royal West Kent on the left. Cookers were brought up to give the men a hot meal, and the rest of the day was spent in strengthening the trench positions behind an existing belt of wire, completing their work by midnight. There followed an ‘uneventful night’, with night patrols – sent out well forward – finding no signs of the enemy.

[Next post: 25 March]

The History of the 8th Royal West Kents recalls the night of the 22/23 March 1918 in Monchy Lagache:

‘All night the hangars at the great aerodrome at Monchy were burning, and lit up the country for miles. The enemy shelled the village in a random way, and the night was bitterly cold. At dawn breakfast and as fine a tot of rum as was ever drunk was issued…’

But the day was not set to go well, either for 72 Brigade or the East Surreys.

Early in the morning orders were received to withdraw to the Somme, with 72 Brigade detailed as a rearguard, to protect the Falvy bridge crossing for the 17th and 73rd Brigades. The fog would have worked to their advantage had the Divisions proceeded immediately, but the East Surreys didn’t start until 9:00, and the West Kents at 10:00. As a result the two Battalions were to cross the three miles of plain to Falvy under withering shellfire.As they left, the Rifle Brigade had begun to dig in behind Monchy to hold the village as the other Battalions withdrew. ‘D’ Company of the East Surreys remained with them to scout through woods on their left and act as a flank guard.

Retiring to Falvy, 72 Brigade – now reinforced by the 19th Entrenching Battalion, the Depot Battalion of the 24th Division and a couple of companies of the 12/Sherwood Foresters took up its rearguard position on high ground to the east, where they could see the Germans approaching. 

Meanwhile, the Brigade Diary records the dramatic adventures of its Signalling Officer, Lt G F Hopkinson who set off from Brigade HQ on his motorbike to make contact with the Entrenching Battalion. Stumbling onto a pocket of ‘Bosche’ he turned away, and, despite coming under heavy rifle fire ‘at point blank range’, he stopped to pick up a wounded soldier who was crawling back to the British lines – gallantry ‘worthy of the highest military honour’.

As it happened, the Entrenching Battalion, spotting the advancing Germans, had already made its way to the bridge at Falvy, which was just as well, as the Germans reached the east bank of the Somme, just to the south, at much the same time. The pressure was now on 72 Brigade to withdraw its men across the river before the bridges were blown. This they were able to do, apart from ‘D’ Company, which had become detached from the Rifle Brigade after some 4 miles of the retreat (fighting all the way). It had headed north, to the crossing at St Crist (where some of the cavalry and transport crossed), but by the time it made it to the river the Germans were pressing on the bridge. Michael Lucas quotes from an account given by 2nd Lt Orchard, after his return from captivity:

‘…to avoid being cut off the Company was marched to the riverbank and endeavour made to find a bridge. A disused bridge of planks was found near St Christ but it was found that there was a gap of 20 yards or so on the other side, which a few of our people swam across. The bridge at St Christ was now heard to be occupied by the enemy so we decided to tray along the river bank in an opposite direction. However , at this time we were seen by the Germans from a hill nearby and an officer and some men came forward to demand our surrender. As our Company by this time was only about 20 it was considered useless to put up a fight and we surrendered…’

By the end of a ‘horrible’ day – the worst of which might have been avoided if the Brigade had moved off earlier, in the fog (according to the West Kents History) – the East Surreys had now lost the bulk of two of their companies (‘B’ having been badly damaged on the first day of the battle, alongside the North Staffords), and suffered significant casualties in the two which remained. By about 6:00pm they arrived at Licourt, where they were fed and rested for the night, albeit in shallow trenches, mostly in the open.

[Next post: 24 March]