front attacked the German wire was effectively cut, but opposite the Indian Corps the German parapets successfully defied
the efforts of the British artillery and (on the left of the front
attacked) the Meerut Div. and the left of the 2nd Div. failed
to carry the hostile trenches. The rest of the 2nd Div. fared
better; the 6th Bde. and part of the 5th stormed the front German line, and reinforced by their reserves began pushing on
against the second line. At 3:15 A.M. on May 16 the 7th Div.
attacked, while the Meerut Div. made a fresh attempt. Once
again machine-guns sheltered behind Lille damaged parapets
and shot down the Gahrwal Bde., and this failure affected the
advance of the division, who had to establish a defensive flank
on their left and to devote their main efforts to getting touch
with the 2nd Div. whose attack had met with considerable success, especially in the centre, where the 2nd Scots Guards and 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers had penetrated deep into the German
positions. On their right also the 2nd Queen's, after a temporary check, had got well in, and while they pushed on towards
La Quinque Rue a bombing attack down the German front line,
S. of the point of entry, led to the clearing of 700 yd. and the
capture of 200 prisoners. But casualties had been heavy, and
on the left the stubborn resistance of a strong point held up the
left of the 20th Bde., which exposed the flank of the most advanced parties. These, out of touch with their supports, were
forced back by counter-attacks. Similarly, the progress of the
2nd Div. was retarded by the resistance of two fortified farms,
Cour d'Avoue and Ferme du Bois. Until these strong points
could be reduced substantial progress was impossible.
Next day (May 17) operations were continued, a special effort being made to close the gap between the 2nd and 7th Divs., after which it was hoped to push on towards Rue d'Ouvert and Chapelle St. Roch. The first of these objects was effected, after about 700 Germans in the angle between the two attacks had left their trenches, apparently intending to surrender, but had been shelled by their own guns and almost wiped out. But the Ferme du Bois held up the 2nd Div., which could only progress to some extent on its right. The 7th Div. started well and cleared the strong points which had checked the left of the 2otii Bde., but could not get much further in the direction of Cour d'Avoue, while the efforts of the 2nd Bedfords and 4th Camerons to push on against Rue d'Ouvert were not in the end successful. On May 18 the 4th (Guards) Bde. attacked Cour d'Avoue from the W., but could not carry it, and Canadian infantry, who on that day began relieving the 7th Div., did not succeed in doing more than master an orchard which had been reached (but lost again) on May 16 by some of the 7th Division. By this time the Germans had brought up considerable reinforcements and many machine-guns, and as the ammunition available was nearly exhausted all chance of substantial success seemed gone. For another week, however, severe fighting continued between La Quinque Rue and Givenchy, the brunt falling on the Canadians and on the 47th (London) Div. who were holding the Givenchy sector. These operations resulted in the capture of several hundred yards of trenches, including two formidable strong points, and the repulse of several German counter-attacks, but by May 25 Sir John French found it necessary to call a halt. It was now clear that though the great French effort further S. had won much valuable ground it had failed to break the enemy's line or to prove the decisive stroke that had been hoped for: the Allies had to resign themselves, therefore, to a suspension of active operations. Actually, it was not till the end of June that this became complete, and in the interval two minor attacks were made near Givenchy, one by the 7th and 51st (Highland Territorial) Divs., the other by the Canadians: neither, however, resulted in any appreciable gain of ground, and although on June 16 an attack by the 3rd Div., now in the V. Corps, carried some German trenches W. of the Bellewaarde ridge and improved the tactical situation in the Hooge neighbourhood, it did not lead to the recapture of Hooge and involved the assailants in heavy losses.
For three months, therefore, the position on the British front was one of almost complete stagnation. The only events of real importance were the arrival of the long-expected "New Army" divisions, the first of which, the 9th (Scottish) Div., actually began its disembarkation at Boulogne on the day of the disastrous repulse at Fromelles and Rue du Bois. By the end of July eight of these divisions were in the country, and their presence permitted the formation of a III. Army, which took over from the French a line to the N. of the Somme between Arras and Albert. During this period there was of course intermittent activity on the British front, mainly in the Ypres salient. Here at the end of July the Germans, making use for the first time against the British of their Flammenwerfer (liquid-fire projectors), attacked and captured the right trenches of the 14th (New Army) Div. just S. of Hooge. The battalion holding the trenches was overwhelmed, and a counter-attack next day was unsuccessful. Ten days later, however (Aug. 9), two brigades of the 6th Div. made a fresh attempt after careful reconnaissance and preparation. The German position was carried on a front of 1,000 yd., and heavy losses were inflicted on them; they brought up large reinforcements and strove desperately but unsuccessfully to regain the ground, but the 6th Div. held firm, retaining the trenches lost in the Flammenwerfer attack with a small spur N. of the Menin road.
It gives some indication of the difference in scale between the war of 1914-8 and the greatest of the previous campaigns of the British army that the 1,800 casualties of the 6th Div. in this quite minor action exceeded by 50% the losses of Wellington's army at Busaco.
(E) Loos. If in the Allied offensive of Sept. 1915 the British army, as in May, played only a subsidiary part, its contribution far outstripped both in men and in materials the meagre preparations of May. A four days' bombardment on a scale hitherto unprecedented preceded the attack, for which nine divisions were available as against the four of May 9, while six others contributed by undertaking diversions. The frontage attacked extended over nearly 6 m., from just S. of the mining village of Loos on the right to the La Bassee canal on the left. The line ran fairly straight from S. to N. for nearly 3 m., but then curved away in a N.W. direction towards Cuinchy, so that two of the three divisions of Sir Hubert Cough's I. Corps on the left had to attack N.E., while the right, Sir Henry Rawlinson's IV. Corps, was striking due east. Further, Cough's left division, the 2nd, was to attack on both sides of the canal, the 5th Bde. from Givenchy-les-La Bassee, the 6th and 38th Bdes. from Cuinchy. The 5th Bde.'s attack was one of the operations intended to distract the enemy and divert his reserves, but the other brigades aimed at reaching Auchy and linking up near Haisnes with the left of the main attack. A defensive flank would thus be established, under cover of which, and of a similar flank to be formed on Rawlinson's extreme right by the 47th Div., the central divisions of the I. and IV. Corps with the XI. Corps in support and the cavalry in readiness behind, would, it was hoped, break through between Haisnes and Loos, reach the Deule canal at Port a Verdin and unite E. of Lens with Gen. Foch's troops.
To improve the chances of success and introduce an element of surprise it had been decided to employ against the Germans their own device, gas. Elaborate preparations had been made for the use of this weapon, and on its expected effectiveness in surprising and demoralizing the defenders the highest hopes were based.
The operations to be undertaken as diversions were much more substantial in scale than those which had accompanied the Neuve Chapelle attack. The ipth Div. was to attack in the low ground E. of Festubert. North of Neuve Chapelle the Indian Corps, supported on the left by the 2oth Div., was to assault the German salient at Mauquissart, the legacy of the Neuve Chapelle fighting. Further N. again the 8th Div. was to attack at Bridoux, while the principal diversion was that to be undertaken against Hooge and the Bellewaarde ridge on the Ypres front by the 3rd and i4th Divisions. These attacks were more than mere raids; they all aimed at definite tactical improvements in the local situations, but their primary object was to
