Major Clough assumed command on the death of Colonel Martin.ġ1.35 a.m. The enemy were observed moving in a westerly direction on both flanks of the position. under Captain Forwood at once moved across the road and occupied some old trenches east of the burial ground in the rear of the Monmouth’s trenches.ġ0 a.m.Ğnemy commenced attack in the support dugouts but were held in check when 200 yards from them. 3rd Monmouths called for one company to support the line and “B” Coy.
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The enemy advanced and captured the front line trenches, they then advanced against the support dugouts. 7 a.m.Ğnemy shelled trenches blowing them in, and rendering them untenable. Enemy shelled trenches intermittently.Ĩth. acting as support to the 3rd Monmouths.ĥth -7th.ěn. The trenches were new trenches and had not been completed. marched out and took over trenches in front of FREZENBERG. Orders were received to march out to the trenches and relieve the 5th Bn.
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![tannenberg fusiliers tannenberg fusiliers](https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/attachments/armour-weapons-aircraft-recovery/35421d1312767017t-mg-42-found-positions-5-kp-rgt-danmark-mg-2-.jpg)
The following reinforcements arrived on the 3rd May. The war diary is pretty sketchy - there was hardly anyone left to provide a comprehensive account.Įxtract from the War Diary of the 2nd Battalion, King’s own Royal Lancaster Regiment.Ĥth. Whilst the Australians were enjoying their success on the Somme, the French were about to go through hell in Flanders.Some details on the action Basil Lelliott was killed in (the worst day in the history of the King's Own and, I believe, the most fatalities suffered by any battalion on a single day during WW1). Their victory would be short lived, for Australian troops on the 25th (ANZAC Day) retook the town and made it so much their own, that today it hosts the major Australian commemoration. On 24 April away to the south the Germans launched an attack and took the town of Villers-Bretonneux to the east of Amiens on the Somme. In fact the Germans were merely preparing their assault on Mont Kemmel.īy the morning of 25 April the French had taken over the entire line between Bailleul (Now in German hands) and Spanbroekmolen, where the Irish and Ulster Divisions had, side by side, stormed through the German lines less than a year before. A quiet interludeįrom the 19th to the 24th April the Germans appeared to have called a halt to their attack, and new worries began in the Allied camp that a new strike was being planned elsewhere - perhaps once again on the Somme ? Such thoughts were rebuffed by General Foch who dispatched a further 3 French Divisions to bolster the British Line. The situation was becoming increasingly difficult for the Allies and considerations about a strategic withdrawal were put forward. They also held the rear at the Scherpenberg, a smaller hill to the north west of Kemmel and where the British had undergone training in June 1917 for the great victory at Messines - now back in German hands after the briefest of struggles. That evening the French 28th Division took over responsibility for the Front Line at Kemmel and the hill itself. South of Ieper Mont Kemmel was held in a thin defensive line by the British 19th Division.Īt 08:30 hours following two and a half hours of bombardment, the German infantry attacked the British lines but were bloodily beaten off and failed to break through. By holding the line on their own they had released British Divisions which would prove vital in the next few weeks. Within two weeks it would become apparent that this heroic stand by the Belgian Army had thwarted Ludendorff's aspirations in Flanders. The northern pincer movement of von Ludendorff's Operation Tannenberg had failed. They however inflicted three times as many casualties on the assaulting Bavarians. Most of the Belgian casualties were from their 3rd Division who have a monument just outside Kippe. The Belgians took nearly 800 prisoners and 60 machine guns. They tenaciously held the remainder of their front line and counter attacked with such vigour that they drove the Germans back and re-established their front line. The Belgians, however, were fighting for the last few kilometres of their country and were not going to be so easily dealt with. Just in front of the village they succeeded in breaking through and for a tantalising moment for the German High Command it looked as though they were going to achieve what all sides had been attempting since those heady days of glory in 1914 - the ability to out flank and roll up the enemy's line.
![tannenberg fusiliers tannenberg fusiliers](http://www.thirdreichruins.com/tannenberggroup.jpg)
On 16 April 1918 Méteren and Wijtschate fell and the Germans came to the foot of Mont Kemmel.Īt dawn on 17 April 1918 the Germans launched a thunderous assault from Houthulst Forest against the Belgian Front Line at Merkem and Kippe.