Action of 22 August 1917

The Action of 22 August 1917, took place in the First World War, on the Western Front during the Third Battle of Ypres in the Ypres Salient, between the Fifth Army of the British Expeditionary Force and the German 4th Army. During the Battle of Langemarck (16–18 August), the British had advanced north of the village but had been defeated further south and failed to capture the Wilhelmstellung, the third German defensive position. At a conference with the Fifth Army corps commanders on 17 August, Gough arranged for local attacks to gain jumping-off positions for a general attack on 25 August. At the Action of the Cockcroft on 19 August, XVIII Corps assisted by the 1st Tank Brigade, had captured five German fortified farms and strongpoints for only 27–28 casualties.

The attack on 22 August was much bigger and costly attack, which advanced the British front line up to 600 yd in places on a 2 mi front but failed to reach the more distant objectives. On 24 August, a German Gegenangriff (methodical counter-attack) recaptured Inverness Copse and the bigger British attack due on 25 August was cancelled. The rains on 23 August and on 26 August torrential rain again flooded the battlefield. Haig transferred responsibility for the offensive to General Herbert Plumer and the Second Army to include the southern edge of the Gheluvelt Plateau in the offensive. The Fifth Army continued with minor operations and on 27 August, the Springfield and Vancouver blockhouses were captured by tanks and 48th (South Midland) Division troops but most British attacks were costly failures.

German defensive tactics
In July 1917, the 4th Army system of defence in depth began with a front system of three breastworks Ia, Ib and Ic, about 200 yd apart, garrisoned by the four companies of each front battalion, with listening-posts in no-man's-land. About 2000 yd behind was the Albrechtstellung (second or artillery protective line), the rear boundary of the forward battle zone (Kampffeld). About 25 percent of the battalions in support were divided into Sicherheitsbesatzung (security crew) to hold strong-points, the remainder being Stoßtruppen (shock troops) to counter-attack towards them, from the back of the Kampffeld. Dispersed in front of the line were divisional Scharfschützen (sharpshooters) in the Stützpunktlinie (strongpoint line) a line of pillboxes, blockhouses and fortified farms, prepared for all-round defence. The Albrechtstellung also marked the front of the main battle zone (Grosskampffeld) which was about 2000 yd deep, containing most of the field artillery of the Stellungsdivisionen, behind which was the Wilhelmstellung. In the pillboxes of the Wilhelmstellung were reserve battalions of the front-line regiments, held back as divisional reserves.

Battle of Langemarck
At the Battle of Langemarck, (16–18 August), the XVIII Corps (Lieutenant-General Ivor Maxse) had attacked at 4:45 a.m. with a brigade each from the 48th (South Midland) Division and the 11th (Northern) Division, supported by eight tanks. The tanks were ordered to keep off the roads but the approach to the front line was so boggy that the tanks were cancelled and sent back. The 48th Division attacked with one brigade and after a long fight managed to capture the last house at the north end of St Julien, taking forty prisoners and a machine-gun. The advance resumed and as the first wave went over a rise 200 yd east of the Steenbeek, it was caught in cross fire from Hillock Farm and Maison du Hibou 200 yd beyond. Border House and the gun pits either side of the north-east bearing St. Julien–Winnipeg road had been captured but attempts to press on were costly failures; parties that reached Springfield Farm disappeared.

The 48th Division consolidated on a line from the village to the gun pits, Jew Hill and Border House. At 9:00 a.m., German troops massed around Triangle Farm and made an abortive counter-attack at 10:00 a.m. Another counter-attack after dark was repulsed at the gun pits and at 9:30 p.m., a counter-attack from Triangle Farm was repulsed. The Germans in Maison du Hibou and Triangle Farm opposite the 48th Division caught the right of the 34th Brigade of the 11th Division in enfilade fire as it was fired on from pillboxes to the front. The British captured Haanixbeer Farm and the cemetery but lost the barrage and were unable to capture the Cockcroft and Bülow Farm. On the left, the brigade dug in 100 yd north-east of Langemarck opposite the White House and Pheasant Farm and on the right dug in facing Maison du Hibou and Triangle Farm to the east. With observation from higher ground to the east, German artillery fire inflicted many casualties on the British troops holding the new line beyond Langemarck.

Fifth Army
Major-General Oliver Nugent reported that German artillery could not bombard advancing British troops in the German forward zone, in which the defensive positions were lightly held and distributed in depth. The advance of British troops following-up had been much easier to obstruct but helping the foremost infantry was more important than counter-battery fire, even if it had failed to suppress the German guns. Nugent wanted fewer field guns in the creeping barrage and the surplus firing sweeping barrages (from side-to-side). Shrapnel shells should be fuzed to burst higher up, to hit the inside of shell holes and creeping barrages should be slower, with more and longer pauses, during which the barrages from field artillery and 60-pounder guns should sweep and search (move back-and-forth). The infantry should change formation from skirmish lines to mobile company columns, equipped with a machine-gun and Stokes mortar and advance on a narrow front, since skirmish lines were impractical in muddy crater fields and broke up under machine-gun fire. Tanks to help capture pillboxes had bogged down behind the British front-line and air support had been restricted by the weather, particularly by low cloud early on and lack of aircraft. One aircraft per corps had been reserved for counter-attack patrol and two aircraft per division for ground attack. Only eight aircraft had been available to cover the army front and engage German counter-attacks. Signalling had failed at vital moments and deprived the infantry of artillery support, making German counter-attacks much more effective where the Germans had artillery observation. The 56th Division report recommended that the depth of the advance be shortened, to give more time for consolidation and to minimise the organisational and communication difficulties caused by the muddy ground and wet weather. Artillery commanders asked for two aircraft per division exclusively to conduct counter-attack patrols.

British preparations
At the Battle of Langemarck, the XIV Corps and the French I Corps had overrun the Wilhelmstellung and the XVIII Corps had captured Langemarck and a short stretch of the Wilhelmstellung east of the village. On the rest of the corps front and on the XIX Corps and II Corps fronts, little ground had been gained and most had been lost to German counter-attacks. The dispersed German strongpoints, fortified farms and pilboxes area between the Albrechtstellug and the Wilhemstellung were greater in number than between the original front line and the Wilhemstellung. German artillery had concentrated on cutting off the leading British troops from their supports by bombarding the British front line and its approach routes, causing casualties and delays. German machine-gunners in the fortifications had severely depleted the British infantry as they advanced, even though German artillery had not been able to bombard the area for fear of hitting their infantry. Once the II Corps attack on the Gheluvelt Plateau had been repulsed, the divisions in the Steenbeek valley north of the Ypres–Staden railway were swept by machine-gun fire from the right flank. On 17 August, the fresh 15th (Scottish) Division and the 61st (2nd South Midland) Division relieved the 16th (Irish) Division and the 36th (Ulster) Division in the XIX Corps area. In the XVIII Corps, the 48th (South Midland) Division (Major-General Sir Robert Fanshawe) had been in the line since 4 August and the 11th (Northern) Division (Major-General Henry Davies) since 7 August. North of the Ypres–Roulers railway, five days of preparatory artillery-fire and constant patrolling had established the positions of some of the defenders. On 21 August, an attack on Borry House was stopped by German small-arms fire about 50 yd short.

Fifth Army plan
At a conference with the Fifth Army corps commanders on 17 August Gough, complained that troops had failed to hold captured ground and considered court-martialling some NCOs and officers. Gough also thought that divisions had been relieved too frequently, which had exhausted fresh divisions before the attack. The corps commanders were asked for proposals for attacks to reach the final objectives where their divisions had fallen short on 16 August. Lieutenant-General Claud Jacob (II Corps) wanted to attack the brown line and then the yellow line, Lieutenant-General Herbert Watts (XIX Corps) wanted to attack the purple line but Maxse (XVIII Corps) preferred to attack the dotted purple line, ready to capture the yellow line at the same time as XIX Corps. The attacks were intended to reach good jumping off points for an attack on the Wilhemstellung by II, XIX and XVIII corps on 25 August but attacks in different places at different times, risked defeat in detail. In June, the 1st Tank Brigade had been allotted to XVIII Corps, the 3rd Tank Brigade to XlX Corps and the 2nd Tank Brigade to II Corps. The small surprise attack by XVIII Corps and twelve tanks 1st Tank Brigade on 19 August succeeded but for the bigger effort on 22 August, the artillery would have to suppress the German artillery and machine-gunners on a much wider front, if the infantry were to struggle through the mud and waterlogged shell-holes to their objectives. On 19 August, a British intelligence estimate reported 558 German guns at Ypres, which meant that the Fifth Army had a 3:1 advantage but the British guns were firing outwards on a 15500 yd front, which diluted their effect.

The XVIII Corps was to advance to the Zonnebeke–Langemarck road and XIX Corps was to get across the morass of the Hanebeek stream and capture the Potsdam, Vampir, Borry Farm, Iberian Farm, Pommern and Bremen redoubts, Gallipoli Farm and Somme Farm, to advance up Frezenberg Ridge closer to the Wilhemstellung. To guard the right flank of the 15th (Scottish) Division, II Corps to the south was to provide smoke barrages and covering fire from artillery and machine-guns and the 47th (1/2nd London) Division was to set up posts along the railway line between Railway Dump and Potsdam. An overhead machine-gun barrage was to be fired and six platoons of pioneers were to consolidate new positions on Hill 35. On the five days before the attack, night harassing fire from artillery and machine-guns was conducted; field artillery and heavy artillery bombarded all known strongpoints and patrols covered the front, looking for German positions. On 21 August a patrol reached Beck House and bombed it, then a party was sent to occupy the post but were forestalled by the Germans and had to occupy a trench 50 yd short.

German defences
On 31 July, the German front line north of the Ypres–Roulers railway and the Kampffeld had been overrun and the garrisons lost. The front line had been pushed back between the Albrechtstellung and the Wilhelmstellung, behind which was the rearward battle zone (rückwärtiges Kampffeld). The main defensive engagement had been fought in the Grosskampffeld by the reserve regiments and Eingreif divisions, against depleted, tired and disorientated attackers, whose advance had been slowed by the forward garrisons. The new German front line was a line of shell holes backed by the fortified farms, strongpoints and pillboxes in the Grosskampffeld in front of the Wilhelmstellung. On 16 August, the British had tried to capture the Wilhemstellung but in the XVIII Corps area, the British artillery failed to destroy many of the pillboxes and fortified farms in the Grosskampffeld or overcome the German artillery, which inflicted 81 percent of the wounds suffered by the infantry of the 11th (Northern) Division. The division had captured most of its objectives but the 48th Division on the right barely advanced 100 yd After 16 August, the Germans increased the size of regimental sectors to enable even more dispersal and divided the field artillery, one part to be kept hidden and used only during big attacks. The Germans held observation posts on the high ground and their guns were concealed by the ridges and could fire inwards, concentrating their firepower. Dummy positions had been built to evade British counter-battery fire and British reconnaissance aircraft were grounded by bad weather; the muffling effect of the high ground made sound-ranging much less effective.

XIX Corps
In the 15th (Scottish) Division area, supported by patrols from the 47th Division south of the Ypres–Roulers railway, the 45th Brigade on the right was to attack behind four tanks, a creeping barrage and overhead fire from 32 machine-guns but the tanks ditched on the Frezenberg–Zonnebeke road short of the front line. As soon as the infantry advance began, German artillery-fire fell on a line from Frezenberg to Square Farm, followed by machine-gun fire on the attacking troops and on the support and reserve troops even before they left their trenches. The 13th Battalion, Royal Scots (13th RS) and the 11th Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (11th ASH) were supported by the 6th Battalion, Cameron Highlanders (6th Cameron). As soon as the advance began, German small-arms fire became so dense that runners could not go back or reinforcements move forward. Recognition flares were seen later at Potsdam, Borry Farm and Vampir Farm but nothing else was known of their progress. Survivors retreated to join the 6th Cameron along the track running north-west from the Railway Dump to Beck House.

On the left flank, the 8th Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders (8th Seaforth) and the 7th Cameron of the 44th Brigade, were to be preceded by six tanks but four of them bogged on the start line west of Pommern Redoubt. The infantry were caught by machine-gun fire on the start line and on the right some parties confused the Steenbeek with the Zonnebeke stream and lost direction. It was thought that the company advanced east of Beck House and were then caught by machine-gun fire from behind and annihilated. The advance of the left company of the 8th Seaforth was costly but got to within 40 yd of Iberian Farm and the support company went forward to reinforce by rushes from shell-hole to shell-hole and reached the forward company despite many casualties, linking with the 7th Cameron on the left. The 7th Cameron had reached the crest of Hill 35 where the advance was stopped by machine-gun fire from Gallipoli and the troops dug in. Iberian Farm had not been captured by the 8th Seaforth and the machine-gunners in the blockhouse fired on the 7th Cameron troops on Hill 35. The 8th Seaforth made several attempts to outflank Gallipoli but all failed. To the left of the 7th Cameron, the six pioneer platoons detailed to consolidate Hill 35 had advanced via Pommern Redoubt and then began to dig a defensive flank north-east from Pommern to Hill 35 and then north-west to Somme Farm. As the trenches were dug, fewer casualties were suffered.

By 7;00 a.m. it was clear that the 15th Division attack had failed; the line was only a few yards forward on the right and in the centre and the few survivors of the attack were back on the start line. At 8:00 a.m. the troops on the right flank of the 61st Division began to fall back until rallied on a line dug slightly north of Somme Farm. On the right flank, the 13th RS made several attempts to get forward by shell-hole rushes but found it impossible against the massed machine-gun fire from the German fortifications. Two small German counter-attacks from 1:00–3:00 p.m. were driven off with help from the 47th Division to the south and German small-arms fire was eventually subdued by constant rifle and Lewis-gun fire. During the evening, reports were received of troops near Beck House, Borry Farm, Iberian Farm and Gallipoli and orders were issued to rush the positions in the dark. The attacks failed against alert opposition but the line was advanced about 80 yd towards Gallipoli, until cross fire stopped the advance and the new position was consolidated.

The 184th Brigade of the 61st (2nd South Midland) Division attacked with the 2/1st Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (2/1st OBLI) and the 2/4th OBLI, supported by the 2/5th Gloucestershire Regiment (2/5th Gloucester). The 2/4th OBLI eventually managed to capture Pond Farm, after the garrison of fifty men surrendered in the afternoon, then the battalion pushed on and captured Hindu Cot. The 2/1st OBLI advanced on Kansas Cross but the supporting companies had many casualties capturing Aisne and Somme farms. Aisne Farm was re-captured during a German counter-attack and the 2/5th Gloucester came up from reserve to reinforce the new line, which had been advanced about 600 yd in places. On 24 August, attacks on Aisne Farm and Schuler Galleries failed.

XVIII Corps
The 143rd and 144th brigades of the 48th Division were to attack with an advance guard of tanks followed by a thin wave of infantry, to mop up German positions and capture the St Julien–Polcappelle road. On the right flank, a protective barrage began at 4:45 a.m. and ten tanks drove out of St Julien. Six tanks advanced eastwards up the road to Winnipeg followed by the 1/5th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment (1/5th Warwick) but the tanks were knocked out or bogged at Janet Farm. Four tanks drove along the St Julien–Polcappelle road and enabled the 1/5th Warwick to capture the Springfield strongpoint (recaptured in a German counter-attack). The infantry attacked the gun pits and captured Winnipeg further on, lost Winnipeg to a counter-attack then recaptured it but the German artillery and machine-guns prevented the British infantry in support from getting forward to reinforce the attacking troops. On the left flank the 1/6th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment (1/6th Gloucester) of the 144th Brigade managed to advance close to the Zonnebeke–Langemarck road in touch with the 1/5th Warwick and the tanks on the St Julien–Polcappelle road attacked Vancouver, which was captured at 8:15 a.m., then recaptured. The division had managed to get about half-way to the objective and during the night, outposts were pushed forward closer to the St Julien–Polcappelle road.

On the northern flank, the 11th Division attacked with the 6th Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment (6th Lincoln) and the 6th Battalion, Border Regiment (6th Border) of the 33rd Brigade, to reach the White House and join the 38th Division on the right flank of XIV Corps in the Wilhemstellung. On the right flank, two tanks were to lead an advance of 2500 yd to attack Bülow Farm, the most distant of the XVIII Corps objectives. The tanks followed the creeping barrage out of St Julien on the Poelcappelle road followed by the Lincoln and drove to the Vancouver blockhouse. The tank crews found that the Germans had cut down the tree trunks lining the road and managed to drive over the obstacles, machine-gunning as they went and found that the Lincoln had already arrived and begun their attack and been pinned down by machine-gun fire from Bülow Farm. The first tank was hit by a shell and blocked most of the road but the second tank managed to drive round and attack the farm, which was captured. The Lincoln formed a defensive flank through Keerselare along the St Julien–Poelcappelle road, to link with the 48th Division and on the left flank, the 6th Border managed to keep up with the barrage and reach the final objective, gaining touch with the 38th Division in the XIX Corps area close to the White House.

II Corps
At 7:00 a.m. the 43rd Brigade of the 14th (Light) Division (II Corps) on the Gheluvelt Plateau, attacked Inverness Copse and the open ground to the north. One battalion got into Inverness Copse south of the Menin road with few losses and defeated the 5th Company of II Battalion, Infantry Regiment 67 (IR 67). At about 8:00 a.m. the château south of the road was captured and 60 prisoners taken. The companies of IR 67 were almost obliterated in the fighting but reduced the British party to about 90 men. The advance of the second battalion was caught in machine-gun fire from Inverness Copse, lost the barrage and was forced under cover. Three of the supporting tanks bogged down but the fourth forced the Germans from Inverness Copse and the second battalion managed to move up another 200 yd but was still far short of the objective. IR 67 sent the I Battalion to counter-attack which found the survivors of II Battalion in the Albrechtstellung and took them forward. The British were far too depleted to repulse the attack and fell back to the western edge of the Copse. Reinforced by a fresh battalion, the British managed to hold a line about 250 yd south of the Menin road and gained touch with the battalion to the north. At around 5:00 p.m., two companies of III Battalion, IR 67 in the Albrechtstellung advanced into the copse but a counter-attack had to be postponed.

Analysis
Gough had received an intelligence report on 24 August describing the "chequerboard" layout of the German defensive positions and the tactic of holding back counter-attacking Eingreifdivisionen beyond artillery range. Gough ordered that more troops be used, to ensure that enough would survive to defeat counter-attacks and that the ratio of troops reserved for mopping up behind the foremost infantry should be increased, to make sure that by-passed positions were occupied. In 1931, Gough wrote that the attack had been made with reduced objectives because of the state of the ground, to limit the ordeal of the infantry, while conforming to his instructions to continue the battle. An advance of about 500 yd had been achieved on about a 2 mi front up to the II Corps boundary. The attack by II Corps on the Gheluvelt Plateau was a success but by 24 August, German counter-attacks had re-taken most of the captured ground. In 1948, James Edmonds, the British official historian wrote that the XIX and XVIII Corps were still overlooked by the German defenders in the Wilhelmstellung from the Ypres–Zonnebeke road northwards to the east end of Langemarck. In 1996, Prior and Wilson wrote that the success of XVIII Corps on 19 August had not been repeated in the wide-front attack on 22 August. The German strongpoints were further from the roads fit to drive on and when the tanks tried to get closer, they had sunk in the mud.

On the XIX Corps front, machine-gun fire from the German fortified posts had devastated the infantry of the 15th and 61st divisions as they struggled through the mud. A report from the 8th Seaforth described how the creeping barrage had failed to damage many pillboxes; the German defences had been underestimated and were insufficiently bombarded by the heavy artillery. The swiftness of the Germans in inflicting casualties left the survivors incapable of capturing strongpoints, even where the garrisons seemed willing to surrender. The attack by II Corps on Inverness Copse began two hours later, which gave the Germans on the Gheluvelt Plateau time to get ready. In 2008, J. P. Harris called the attack an "almost complete failure" and that rather than pausing, Gough continued to attack until 27 August, despite it raining from 23 August. In 2017, Nick Lloyd wrote that the attack had gained some ground but that the German pillboxes, blockhouses and fortified farms had been almost impossible to capture. Eighteen tanks and four from C Battalion had managed to drive along the Frezenberg–Zonnebeke road but it had been destroyed to the point where it was almost invisible. One tank had been knocked out and the others ditched. Six tanks of F Battalion had been able to suppress snipers and some machine-gunners but it had not been a successful operation for the Tank Corps.

After the Germans recaptured Inverness Copse on 24 August, Gough cancelled the general attack due for 25 August. Haig transferred responsibility for the offensive to the Second Army, which would use all the resources that could be assembled, to capture the Gheluvelt Plateau. The II Corps was to revert to the Second Army and the attack front was extended southwards to Klein Zillebeke. By the end of August, thirty German divisions had fought at Ypres, two of them twice and 23 had been exhausted and replaced but at full strength, German divisions had only 12,000 men, rather than the 20,000, in a British division. The British had used 21 divisions, two twice, of which 14 had been withdrawn. Including the four French divisions of the First Army, 26 Anglo-French divisions with an establishment of 520,000 men had engaged 37 German divisions with an establishment of 440,000 men. Nine of the German divisions had been transferred from Champagne and Alsace-Lorraine, easing the pressure on the French armies. It was conventionally assumed that an attacker needed a 3:1 superiority to prevail but the Fifth Army had a superiority of only about 1.2:2; the British would have needed another 40 divisions to outnumber the Germans by 3:1.

In 2007, Jack Sheldon wrote that during August the 4th Army inflicted "morale-sapping" defeats on the British and that after the attack on 22 August, British prisoners complained about their commanders and said that Germany could not be defeated without the Americans. Despite the undoubted success of the defence, the victories in August had been costly and had been the cause only of grim satisfaction. Doubts among the divisional staffs about the competence of Gough and the Fifth Army staff increased and relations were further strained by what was perceived as the abrasiveness of the chief of staff, Major-General Neill Malcolm but these complaints may have been influenced by personal considerations.

On 19 August, Sir Douglas Haig suggested that victory was possible in 1917 and ordered rear areas to be scoured for men capable of joining the infantry. Despite Haig's "endemic optimism", control of the battle was transferred to the Second Army (General Herbert Plumer) from 24 August, to capture the Gheluvelt Plateau, in a wider front attack to overcome its elaborate defences and counter-attack divisions, which were making the progress of the Fifth Army further north irrelevant. In 2014, R. A. Perry wrote that the success of the German defence had been likely, given the resources available to the Fifth Army; its achievements had been gained by resilience of the infantry, which had been exhausted. The 4th Army had also been severely shaken and its troops worn out. More German divisions were on the way to Flanders, denying the Germans the initiative and aiding the French recovery from the trauma of the Nivelle Offensive in the spring. The Fifth Army was far from defeat and it had inflicted a "severe mauling" on the 4th Army.

Casualties
In the History of the Great War the official historian, J. E. Edmonds, wrote that the 15th (Scottish) Division had 2,071 casualties, 1,052 casualties in the 44th Brigade and 1,019 in the 45th Brigade, the 61st Division lost 914 men in the attack and during German counter-attacks on 23 August. From 22 to 24 August, the 43rd Brigade, 14th (Light) Division had 1,523 casualties. Prior and Wilson wrote in 1996 that in the XVIII and XIX corps attacks, the British suffered 3,000 casualties. In 2014, R. A. Perry used the figures from the Official History.

25 August
Despite the failures on 22 August, the beginning of another rainy spell on 23 August and a downpour on 26 August, when 19.6 mm of rain fell, the offensive continued. On 25 August, two companies of the 15th (Scottish) Division advanced behind a creeping barrage and a Stokes mortar bombardment, to attack Gallipoli and Iberian farms at 11:00 p.m. The Scottish reached Gallipoli, only to be shot down from behind by a hidden machine-gun, then were caught in crossfire from the farm buildings and a derelict tank. The survivors fell back and dug in on a line 170 yd forward of the start line; during the attack, a patrol towards Iberian Farm was also repulsed. A 61st Division attack on Aisne Farm failed and in the XVIII Corps area, the 48th Division captured more gun pits.

27 August
On 27 August attacks were made by all the Fifth Army corps, II Corps on the right attacking at 4:45 a.m. and the corps to the north at 1:55 p.m. The attacking battalions had moved up during the night in rain and then had to remain hidden for ten hours, soaking wet in mud up to their knees, before attacking. Twenty minutes before zero hour, torrential rain began and high winds sprang up. Each man carried three smoke candles to form a smoke screen but they were soaked by the rain; the ground was covered in waterlogged shell-holes and became much muddier, causing to the infantry to lag behind the creeping barrage. In the XIX Corps attack, the 15th (Scottish) Division attacked with 120 men who were forced back after reaching Gallipoli. The 61st (2nd South Midland) Division troops was stopped about 100 yd short of Schuler Farm. After losing about a third of the men and half of their officers, the survivors fell back to the start line. In the XVIII Corps area, some of the Germans appeared willing to surrender but as the British struggled slowly through the mud, they began firing at close range. The 48th (South Midland) Division was to advance 800 yd with the 143rd Brigade on the right flank and the 144th Brigade on the left. The first objective of the 143rd Brigade was the trench from Winnipeg and Springfield and the second objective the south end of the Wilhemstellung. The creeping barrage and the overhead barrage by 64 machine-guns would lift twelve minutes after H-Hour and move at 100 yd in twelve minutes, then accelerate to 100 yd every eight minutes. The higher ground beyond was to be bombarded by smoke shell, shrapnel and gas for three hours. The attack was to be accompanied by four tanks of the 1st Tank Battalion to cover the advance to the final objective and five hours after zero, the 145th Brigade was to leapfrog the leading brigades to the final objectives.

On the left of the 143rd Brigade, Springfield was the first objective of three companies of the 1/8th Warwick, supported by two companies of the 1/7th Warwick. As the rain came down again, water pooled in stretches up to 30 yd wide. Four tanks drove up the road towards the Triangle and some troops reached the gunpits but two of the tanks bogged down beyond Hillock Farm. C Company of the 1/8th Warwick was ordered to use the road to advance on Springfield but most had already become casualties and only about 15 men advanced. In the rain and gathering darkness, German return fire was inaccurate until the party reached the bogged tanks. Amidst shrapnel-fire the party struggled on and when the survivirs reached the Triangle, they found that the German small-arms fire was too high and the artillery-fire had died down. Wounded in shell-holes nearby from the 1/8th Worcester and 1/7th Warwick joined the party and a tank drove behind the Springfield blockhouse to be knocked out soon after it opened fire. As the party got closer in the darkness, another party attacked from the opposite side and was eventually found to be from the 1/7th Warwick. The German garrison ran out and 16 prisoners were taken but they had only moved about 100 yd when they were hit by German machine-gun fire.

After a quick conference the British decided that Spot Farm and the cemetery were too formidable to attack and dug in on a line from east of the blockhouse to 100 yd west of the Langemarck–Zonnebeke road, where troops from the 1/7th Worcester had managed to advance 300 yd further and throw back a defensive flank. Springfield was found to be solidly built with three walls about 10 ft thick, each with a machine-gun post and the rear wall containing a 3 × opening. The 1/8th Warwick had lost 66 men killed; the rest of the brigade had been stopped short of the first objective. The 11th (Northern) Division on the left was only able to make a small advance near Pheasant Farm. The 38th (Welsh) Division on the right flank of XIV Corps attacked with the 16th (Cardiff City) Battalion Welch Regiment of the 115th Brigade was to advance from White trench and Bear Trench, to capture about 600 yd of the Wihlemstellung (Eagle Trench), either side of the Schreiboom crossroads. The infantry had waited in shell holes, which filled with water during the rainstorm, greatly impeding the troops as they climbed out to begin the advance. The Welsh lost the barrage in the mud and received small-arms fire from Pheasant Farm to the front and enfilade fire from the White House on the right flank; by evening the remaining troops were back where they began.