April 1917 ... Into Action at Arras
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On April 9th the British attacked the German lines at Arras, a town that initially saw action in 1914 as the trenches raced to the sea. This attack was a diversion aimed to draw German troops from the Aisne where the French would launch an offensive seven days later. The Royal Naval Division was now so highly regarded that wherever there was a major offensive it was automatically assumed the Division would be there and it entrained at Aubigne.
On the eleventh Thomas was returned to England aboard the hospital ship St Andrew and admitted to Reading War Hospital. Over the night of the 14th-15th the Division was moved west of the strongly fortified village of Gavrelle. The Germans at Gavrelle had so far resisted all attempts to take the village. The Division relieved the 34th Division in the trenches with the 189th Brigade to the right of the 190th. Outposts on the 190th's front were within striking distance of the German trenches. An attempt was made to secure these positions on the morning of the fifteenth but the resistance was greater than expected and little progress was made.
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HS St Andrew
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On the sixteenth Thomas was transferred to the A Reserve Battalion from Howe and the French launched their attack on the Aisne. This was a hugely unsuccessful affair with the French sustaining heavy casualties. As the days progressed the French army mutinied and this lead to the removal of the French Commander-in-Chief Robert Nivelle. It was decided that the British would continue their attacks at Arras to keep German reserves in the sector and prevent them being moved to the Aisne for counterattacks. There was initial opposition on the British side but this was overruled. Over three nights from the sixteenth the Royal Naval Division managed to push its outposts forward and connected the line just two hundred yards from the German trenches as well as linking the fronts of the two brigades.
During the opening Allied actions at Arras four Canadian divisions had captured Vimy Ridge from the Germans and the Division's artillery had been attached for this initial attack. From this point British artillery controlled the area where enemy troops at Gavrelle could be reinforced from Droeux in the south and Fresnoy to the west. The British would advance in the direction of Cambrai and Douai by attacking on a nine mile front between Gavrelle and Croisilles.
The 189th and 190th brigades were in position for the attacks by midnight of 22nd-23rd. It was found that the wire to the right of the attack was largely uncut. The width of the attack front was reduced and would be covered on the flank by machine-guns and a Stokes mortar barrage. The 37th Division on the right flank was to capture Greenland Hill whilst the Royal Naval Division objectives were the trenches in front of Gavrelle, the road running through the centre of the village and a line six hundred yards beyond the village where the Division would be in touch with the 37th on Greenland Hill.
The assault commenced at 04:45 on the twenty-third as the preliminary barrage lessened in intensity and began to roll forward. The first objective was carried relatively easily although the 7th Royal Fusiliers were held up by the wire and could only gain a lodgement in the trenches. There was a fifteen minute pause before the Nelson and Drake battalions pushed on to the village with Hood in support. The village was taken by 09:00 following savage street fighting. Whilst the battalions waited at the second objective for the barrage to lift they were subjected to sniping and close range machine-gun fire.
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Artist's impression of the fighting at Gavrelle
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The 4th Bedfords were to push on from the first objective and capture the ridge and windmill overlooking the flank of the 189th's advance but the enemy had reinforced these positions and the advance of the Bedfords had been held up as the fighting proceeded with bombs. The Battalion eventually broke through but rather than proceeding along the slopes it had entered the village and suffered heavy casualties. As the 189th Brigade pushed on, the Hood Battalion had now taken the place of Nelson in the advance, its flank was exposed to the enemy and the attack had to draw up short of the final objective. These units were in a very poor position as they were not only covered by the enemy in the trenches but also by those on the ridge. A house containing a garrison on the left flank was captured and immediately occupied by a Lewis gun and snipers to keep the pressure on the enemy. Both battalions at the front were continually
shelled and suffered heavy casualties but eventually the new position at the house forced the Germans to withdraw without counterattacking. It is doubtful that the Division would have been able to hold the positions had the Germans counterattacked.
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Consolidation continued throughout the morning and by midday the position was reasonably secure. At 13:00 the Germans counterattacked against the Drake position but were thrown back. The enemy reinforced throughout the afternoon and both Hood and Drake were continuously fighting to prevent the Germans moving closer to their positions. The battalions were shelled without pause but the captured positions continued to be held. The Howe Battalion had been attached to the 189th Brigade as the reserve and overnight they moved into the line with Nelson to relieve Hood, Drake remaining in the line. The HAC relieved the 7th Royal Fusiliers on the 190th's front. This was complete by 01:00 and the night passed without major incident.
During the day on the twenty-fourth the enemy massed on the right and the barrages experienced by the Division increased from around midday peaking at 14:55 when the Germans advanced. There were a number of assaults over the next couple of hours and the Howe front was breached at one point. Both the Howe and Drake battalions counterattacked and the Germans were thrown back sustaining heavy losses. It appeared that the Germans may break through at the junction of the battalions but the position held firm and by 17:40 it was reported that the attack had failed.
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German counterattack at Arras
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On the 190th Brigade's front the HAC had managed to secure a flanking position and had linked up with the 2nd Division on the left although the windmill was still held by the Germans. Overnight the 188th Brigade relieved the Drake and Nelson battalions as well as the 190th Brigade.
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On the twenty-fourth the G.O.C. issued a Special Order of the Day:
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The Divisional Commander wishes to place on record his admiration of the magnificent work of the Division in the recent operations. As in the case of the Battle of the Ancre, the Division was entrusted with a most difficult and important task, and once more it has completely justified the trust reposed in it and has added still further to its great traditions. The infantry not only succeeded in capturing the whole of an important and strongly defended village on the flank of the Army's attack, but they withstood unshaken the heavy artillery fire which was directed on them during the whole period of consolidation, and successfully beat off no fewer than seven counter-attacks.
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Over the next few days the Brigade was subjected to heavy shelling and sustained numerous casualties. On the night of twenty-sixth a party of Marines attempted to advance the front line. They met with severe resistance and suffered numerous casualties before returning to the Division's trenches. To preserve the British positions it was necessary to advance the line and breech the Arleux loop German defensive system. This fell to the Canadian Corps and the 2nd Division with the 188th Brigade in a supporting role protecting the right flank.
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Disabled German Howitzer near Gavrelle | | IWM Cat Ref: Q 5529 |
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On the twenty-eighth the units for the attack were in position by 02:00 and at 04:25 two independent attacks were launched, the 1st RMLI Battalion to the north and 2nd RMLI supported by Anson to the south. Howe took on the role of carrying between the lines. The 1st RMLI assault immediately fell under devastating fire and, although it is not entirely clear what happened, the Battalion was annihilated with very few of the 1st RMLI returning to hold the trenches. It is possible that the Battalion was either held up on the wire or caught in enfilading fire on entering the German's front trench. The HAC subsequently captured this enfilading strongpoint but as the whole attack was driven back they were bombed out of the position by the enemy. The HAC continued to be pushed back 100 yards along the trench and by midday the positions were fifty yards back from those gained on the twenty-third. The first attack had
failed.
The 2nd RMLI assault to the south broke through the defensive lines and took the windmill strongpoint by 07:00. The Germans counterattacked in strength three times and the Battalion was driven back with heavy losses. The Germans captured the edge of the village isolating those at the windmill from the British line. Thirteen attacks were made on the village, each passing the remains of the shattered mill. Although without food or water and with ammunition running low the platoon at the windmill held out until the enemy's counterattacks became too expensive and they ceased.
The Anson Battalion had suffered heavy casualties and despite reinforcements being sent forward the Battalion was unable to secure the flank and withdrew. By the morning of the twenty-ninth a party of Anson had become isolated but were able to push back to the Division's lines taking 250 prisoners along the way. At 04:00 the 190th Brigade started to attack the enemy units in the British line. These lodgements were eventually cleared around 12:30 by bombing parties.
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Thomas Bashton and Dora Mitchell shortly
after their marriage. The wound stripe from
Bully Grenay can be seen on the left sleeve. |
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On the night of 29th-30th the Royal Naval Division was relieved by the 31st Division and went into billets at Rielincourt for rest and reorganisation. The Division had suffered three thousand causalities in the fighting at Gavrelle and virtually none of the men who had been at Gallipoli now survived. The Royal Marines had suffered the greatest losses in their history.
Now regarded as one of the elite fighting units in the Army the Division was reorganised and returned to the Arras sector on May 12th where it went into camp before returning to the trenches around Gavrelle on the nineteenth. Thomas, having been discharged from Reading War Hospital, married Dora Valentine Mitchell in celebrations that lasted for three days. The tendency to marry in haste had risen sharply in 1915, in the event of the man being killed his widow would receive a pension. Thomas was back in England for the first time since leaving for the Gallipoli campaign. On June 1st he reported back to the Division and was transferred to the 2nd Reserve Battalion the following day.
On the tenth a letter was received by the Division from the Corps Commander Lieutenant-General Sir W. N. Congreve commending the men on the work they had undertaken to improve the trenches at Gavrelle, a far cry from the assessment made by their former divisional commander a few months earlier. The same day the Division started work on the communication trenches for the upcoming attack between Gavrelle and Oppy Wood scheduled for the twenty-eighth. On the sixteenth Thomas was drafted back into the Howe Battalion and he embarked at Folkestone the following day, disembarking at Boulogne on the eighteenth. On the nineteenth the Admiral of the Fleet Charles Beresford inspected the Division and was greeted by great cheers as the Admiral was greatly respected by all ranks of the Division.
British advances in the area ground to a halt. As the disastrous French assault on the Aisne had ceased British action around Arras fizzled out. Sir Douglas Haig had never been in favour of the action and had only undertaken the battle at the insistence of the French. The Division re-entered the line over the night of July 4th-5th relieving the 5th and 31st Divisions. The 188th and 189th brigades entered the trenches as the 190th was unavailable. The 10th Dublins had been attached to the 16th (Irish) Division and the Artists Rifles had replaced the HAC two days earlier. The Division was again inspected on the ninth, this time by King George V. The line was edged forward during operations over the night of 14th-15th undertaken by The Hawke, Hood and 2nd RMLI battalions. The 5th Kings Shropshire Light Infantry was
attached to the 190th Brigade on the twentieth. Howe undertook a successful raid on the twenty-ninth which resulted in heavy casualties for the Germans. The three brigades rotated through the trenches with the 188th undertaking the largest portion of the duty.
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On August 11th Thomas rejoined his unit at Arras and was attached to the 176th Tunnelling Company on September 5th. This tunnelling unit had recently seen action at the Battle of Hill 70 but from the spring of 1917 all mining operations had virtually ceased as these required static fronts to be effective and the war was now more mobile. From this point the majority of tunnelling operations became the preparation of deep dugouts to accommodate the troops in safety. The following day Thomas was awarded his First Good Conduct Badge after three years unblemished service and would receive an extra 1d on his pay.
On September 7th the Anson Battalion undertook a hugely successful raid to establish the state of the German lines. The Division reorganised the machine-guns into a divisional unit, a revision that would later be adopted by the whole Army. The Division remained at Arras until the eighteenth when it was withdrawn and given a short rest, Thomas rejoining the Howe Battalion four days later.
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