A Better Rifle at Halloween

[diesal]

19th September 1914, Ath.

The troops holding Ath were drawn from VI Corps, consisting of the 1st London Division and the East Lancashire Division, under the command of General Byng. The British had extensively reorganised in response to the success of attacks conducted by I and II Corps, these regular units had advanced capturing all of the initial objectives. The next phase of the campaign to envelope the German First army would soon be launched but for now VI Corps would hold the line. The main defensive positions were inside the town itself, the canal which wrapped around Ath forming a useful barrier. The two divisions initially sent to Hazebrouk when it was thought Lille might fall had moved up towards the Mons sector, replacing VI Corps and the Cavalry Corps.
The initial damage from the British assault on the town was being cleaned up, the wounded had all been moved back down the line to the field hospitals and the dead had been buried. The German soldiers who had been captured were also being moved back to prisoner of war camps in the south of France, the more senior officers were undergoing interrogation.The British were not content to rest on the defensive but were continuing to move up supplies and additional troops. Now neither side was attacking, the British as was their custom had continued their aggressive patrolling. There was a thin skirmishing line and picket placed on the other side of the canal, the battalions tasked with this role were widely spaced but they had good fields of fire from where any attack was likely to come.
They had been exchanging desultory fire with units of German infantry as they blundered about, for the most part the Kaisers troops seemed content to retire back towards cover when they came under fire. Interrogation of captured troops and other intelligence work had identified that the German VII Corps was the major formation currently facing the British at Ath, they were in the process of retiring from the salient created by the capture of Ath and the subsequent French attack on Leuze-en-Hainaut. Aerial reconnaissance had identified the axis of their withdrawal as being north towards the Chateau de La Berliere. The German VII corps had suffered heavily in the British attacks and like the units of First Army was not being fully resupplied.
General Smith Dorien had issued orders to all subsidiary units of the BEF to be on standby for heavy attacks by the German Army as they sought to extricate themselves from the salient they were now at risk of being trapped in.
Yesterday the French had suffered a heavy blow as elements of the 6th Army was counterattacked by the German IV and III corps, the French had been forced to retire several kilometres and had taken heavy casualties in the process. The Germans had not sought to capitalise on this local success but instead had used the breathing space it provided to continue their withdrawal.
The Royal Marine brigade and Yeomanry were continuing to press IX and the Cavalry Corps as they retired towards the Sottegem-Ath gap, they had not been decisively engaged by the Germans but they had had to fight through numerous strongly held rear guard units. The Royal Marines had made extensive use of the RNAS armoured cars which had been attached to the brigade when they came ashore, a number of trucks were also being used as extemporaneous gun trucks with a 1 ½ pounder pom pom gun mounted in the bed, these guns were very effective when used on machine gun positions or farm houses being used as strong points. The Yeomanry lacked the armoured cars and the gun trucks but they did have horse artillery and those units were being used hard.
Despite the best efforts of the British forces the majority of IX corps would re-join the remainder of First Army, less of the cavalry would make it back, they were being used for the majority of the rear guards. Command taking the decision that they would be less useful in the attacks that would be needed to clear the BEF from their path.
Back at Ath the day wore on, occasional cavalry and foot patrols were seen but nothing to warrant concern, overhead aircraft in the livery of France, Germany and Britain criss-crossed the sky, scouting for enemies, evaluating defences revealing what was on the other side of the hill.

 

[diesal]

19th September 1914, Renaix
Colonel General von Kluck was reviewing the plans for his attack on the British forces which threatened to envelope his army. He could not wait any longer for the full force to be brought up, instead he would use II Corps to attack the British position at Sottegem whilst the remnant of VII Corps and IV Corps would attack Ath from the Northwest and North respectively. The forces holding the rest of Belgium were fully extended by the attack of the Antwerp Garrison and the ongoing fighting around Namur. His forces were the only units available to make the attack, the Brussels Garrison was being deployed to try to counter the Belgian Army and to prevent the increasingly restive civilian population from further acts of sabotage. Francs Tireurs had never ceased their attacks on the garrison units and even now German soldiers never went out of barracks in numbers fewer than four and always armed.
IV Corps had fought off the French Army which was following them, the battle fought near the village of Rumes had resulted in moderate losses for the French 6th Army but more importantly it had caused them to pause their pursuit allowing IV Corps time to cross the river at Antoing in good order and then destroy the bridges behind them. IV Corps was still in a dificult position, it lacked the strength to guarantee victory against the force in Leuze-en-Hainaut whilst still guarding against a renewed attack by the 6th army. In addition whilst the battle of Rumes had not cost many German lives they had been forced to use a significant fraction of the available artillery and machine gun ammunition, this reduced the amount that would be available to support any attack until resupplied. Those men who had been wounded in the fighting were in a parlous position, the field hospitals were being evacuated along with all the other units and that was causing confusion and uncertainty.
The attacks would begin in the morning with a heavy artillery bombardment, every gun was to fire three quarters of its ammunition allocation, targeting the positions identified by aerial reconnaissance and scouting parties. Ammunition stocks were low most batteries had their full load of ammunition but there was nothing left in the supply chain beyond that. A train with additional 7.7cm and 15cm shells had disappeared somewhere near Ath, those shells would have been enough been a very useful fillip to a strained supply system, von Kluck’s gunners would just have to fight with what they had.
As for the infantry they had also suffered from shortages caused by the capture of the railway lines, it had taken 3 days to turn around the army from its attack on Lille and get it into position to attack the British positions, von Kluck was surprised that he had had time to march his men back all that way. He had truly believed that the British would act with greater haste to close the trap and surround his army. As it was if his men could inflict sufficiently stinging defeats on the British he may be able to resume the attack towards Paris or perhaps the Belgian coast line. Both options could turn the tables on the Entente, but before he could do either the jaws of this trap must be broken.

His orders had stressed the challenging position the army was it, pressed on all sides by Entente forces and dependent on a single railway line for supplies his army was at grave risk. Corps, Divisional, Brigade and Regimental Commanders had been given clear instructions attacks were to be pressed with maximum force. Stragglers and shirkers were to be given short shrift. German intelligence had indicated that Britain was being steadily drained of any bodies of trained men. The territorial divisions were being steadily transferred to France, these men lacked the training that made the British Regulars so effective, likewise their equipment was older and often obsolescent, they had performed surprisingly well so far confounding intelligence assessments, assessments that were often drawn directly from the comments of regular British officers. Von Kluck remembered that Kitchener had been damning of the territorials, referring to them as mere amateurs playing at soldiers and a waste of money. There was nothing to do now but wait, hope still played at von Klucks breast but he also had a nagging worry, he was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

 

[diesal]

20th September 1914, Sottegem

The crash of artillery broke the still of the night, the British lines were being pummelled by high explosive rounds, the gunners aim was not perfect, many of the shells were falling short of the line but enough were landing nearby to create a suitable facsimile of hell. The territorial soldiers were hunkered down in the trenches, waiting out the storm of steel. The older men who had served in South Africa had some idea of what it was like to be under shell fire but for the majority it was a horrifying ordeal. Their training had not adequately prepared them for the ferocity of the German guns, fortunately the lines were long and the Germans lacked the numbers, weight of guns, time and ammunition for truly heavy shelling such as that endured at Liege, Lille and Namur. Casualties amongst the British forces were relatively light, requiring a direct hit on the trenches to have any significant effect.

More shell fire had fallen on the British artillery positions, little thought had been given as to camouflage from the air and with the gunners laying their pieces out as if on parade the Germans had been able to identify suitable targets for the heavy guns. Many 15 pounder guns were damaged and dismounted in the initial shelling and worse than that many of the field telegraph lines had been cut, their vulnerability to shell fire was another lesson that would be rapidly learnt in the crucible of war. The territorial force artillery units would start this battle with another challenge to add to inexperience and poor equipment.

The gunfire ceased with the rising of the sun, to the southwest of the positions held by the Seaforth and Cameron Highlanders brigade there appeared a solid mass of German infantry, at least a brigade in strength with another forming up behind it. The infantry had stood too as soon as the shelling ceased, each man taking confidence by the presence of his comrades beside him. Each man had several of the 12 round box magazines ready, more rounds in preloaded stripper clips that could load either directly into the rifle with the bolt locked open or more usually with an adapter that fitted onto the top of the magazine.

The rimless bottle necked rounds were shorter than a .303 round but slightly thicker, this made them easier to load and feed into the rifle. The rifle had dual extractor claws to reduce the risk of jamming, this was also aided by the taper of the round that made it unlikely to seize in the barrel when rapid fire was taking place.

The highlanders did not have their sword bayonets fitted, the FHSLR having been designed from the outset to take a Pattern 1907 Sword bayonet, the territorials who had all carried the pattern 1888 bayonet found the greater length of the new model to be reassuring. The young private commenting on the bayonet to his Corporal said “Cha toil iad tha suas iad fein” his corporal liking the joke repeated it loudly in English for the rest of the section, “They do not like it up em”. Then the bugles blew and the German infantry spaced much more closely than any British unit would think sensible, began to advance.

The German line was 1600 yards away when the advance began, the Cameron Highlanders had a machine gun section of consisting of four maxim guns. Every battalion in the brigade had four guns rather than the usual two, the value of the additional firepower had been demonstrated by the London Scottish. With their wealthy London backing pre-war, they had privately purchased four Vickers Machine guns of a newer and superior design to that being used by the rest of the army. When they had joined the Seaforth and Cameron Brigade the Battalion commander had prevailed on the Brigade commander to double the size of each machine gun section from two to four guns, these guns had been sourced by means both fair and foul. Two guns was the normal pattern throughout the army and the Command team of the London Scottish felt it was insufficient, speaking to the innovative approach taken by the Battalion. Like their adaption of the FHSLR and the improved tactical drills they had practised pre-war and shared with their new comrades, they were an elite regiment and it showed.

Many of the London Scottish had served with in the Boer war and when the war started, older former men had re-joined the colours. Many electing to transfer to the other battalions of the Seaforth and Cameron Brigades bringing them up to strength and bringing useful battlefield experience. The others joining the rush of volunteers into the newly forming 2nd/14th Battalion, The London Regiment (London Scottish).

The machine guns were well positioned, one of the brigade staff officers was a former regular who had been a machine gun officer in South Africa and in Waziristan and his notes on gun deployment and use were being circulated throughout the Division.

The machine gun crews had sheltered in the bottom of their trenches along with the other members of the Battalion, when the shelling ceased, they had quickly mounted the firing step taking their positions. They did not open fire, the orders were to wait until the leading brigade advanced to within 600 yards. The section officer was using a range finder, counting down the advance 1200 yards, 1000 yards with respective sights being adjusted as the advance continued.

It was felt that allowing the Germans to advance to within 600 yards before opening fire would maximise the effectiveness of both the rifles and the machine guns. This decision was a risk as this was within the effective range of the German Gewehr 98 but the German soldiers would be in the open, whilst the Highlanders were behind cover.

The Brigade’s artillery was unavailable, runners had been sent back to try and get the guns on target but with the field telegraph system disrupted it was unlikely they would contribute much to this first attack.

The steady advance of the German brigade was unnerving, they marched in near line abreast, a solid phalanx of Teutonic terror grinding forward. Their polished pickelhaubes glinting in the sun and regimental flags aloft. The advance was more widely suited to the Napoleonic war than anything else, all that the German’s were missing was the bands, the men were there of course but as stretcher bearers. The Highland Brigade’s pipers and drummer were likewise ready as runners and stretcher bearers, but each company had at least one piper and drummer available to keep up suitable music for military occasions.

The piper attached to D company the Queens own Cameron Highlanders was a Macleod, his company commander was a nephew of the Chief and many a time had the piper played for the Chief and his family, the young officer was his uncle’s heir and the piper hoped to play for him in the future when they were safely back on Skye. The tune he had selected to give heart to his comrades was the Black Bear and a useful reminder to all the Cameron’s that on the line were the London Jocks in their funny looking kilts. Much sport had been made of the Londoners but whilst their connections to Scotland were often more romantic than real, they were held in high regard by most.

The Germans had finally covered the 1000 yards from their start line to within 600 yards of the British front line, the pace of the advance had not been even with some German units faster and others slower so that what had started out as a solid line had degenerated slightly, the Officers and NCO’s were doing their best to tighten up the advance but the unit advancing on the Cameron’s was in the lead it had advanced almost 100 yards ahead of the regiments on either flank. The battalion commander of the Cameron’s took the decision to have his battalion hold fire until either the London’s or the Seaforth’s opened fire, giving the German’s another 100 yards of life but drawing more men into the trap.

From the right came a sudden tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat as the Seaforth’s machine gun section began its work. With that the command to open fire was given and death was the order of the day, the machine guns cut down the advancing Germans like a scythe each gun was not firing at the men directly in front of it rather they were aimed in enfilade, a bullet that missed one man assured by the density of the target striking the man beside or behind him.

Even without the rifles it was likely that the advance across open ground against guns capable of firing 600 rounds a minute would have failed, when the individual highlanders with their FHSLR’s opened up, it turned a massacre into an annihilation. Each man had benefited from weeks of brutally hard training since receiving the FHSLR, marching all over England and firing hundreds of rounds at targets both near and far, out to the almost ludicrous range of 1200 yards on more than one occasion. Whilst their skills were not as good as the regulars they were trained and equipped with a rifle that was superior in range, accuracy, rate of fire and killing power to any other small arm on the battlefield. They had had time to become accustomed to the rifle and they were in a simple tactical position, stay in your trench and keep shooting till the enemy run away or die.

The attacking brigade melted as it was flailed with fire, after what only seemed like minutes the brigade broke, men fleeing back to the German lines, the machine gunners delighted in shooting these men in the back cutting them down hundreds of yards from safety. Others sought cover and returned fire on the British troops, those men braver or more foolish than their comrades and figuring that fleeing was likely as dangerous as fighting were soon targeted by numerous British rifles, putting an end to their resistance one 160 grain round at a time.

The dead and wounded carpeted the slope before the Highland division, the other two brigades, lacking the additional machine guns and with the older Magazine Lee Enfield rifles had had a harder time of it. They had managed break up the German attack before it even reached the barbed wire, the entanglements were somewhat the worse for wear after the initial bombardment, but still presented something of a barrier. The Germans now pushed their artillery forward, they had identified the front line now are they resumed shelling shrapnel and high explosive shells being intermixed, the British remained in their trenches waiting out the barrage. The signallers had managed to repair the telegraph lines, with the first attack having been repulsed the surviving 15 pounder guns had no targets and they remained silent. All eight of the 5” howitzers had been undamaged by the initial artillery attack and they did have targets to service. Artillery observers for both batteries were able to identify a number of German 7.7 cm gun positions, these guns were being pushed forward to support the next attack and they made a suitable target for the elderly British Howitzers. The howitzers had been positioned almost 2000 yards back from the British front lines, at maximum range they could therefore reach 1200 yards into the German lines and with the observers looking down slope at the germans their positions were clearly laid out and vulnerable.

The guns fired slowly, their shells failed to explode as often as not, and the accuracy was poor but the 8 guns of the 3rdHighland Brigade RFA were adding to the challenges faced by their opposite number. The artillery duel eventually petered out, ammunition and gunners exhausted on both sides, again little damage had been done on the front line.

The second attacking brigade now marched forward, they had seen what had happened to the first brigade and it was obvious that their morale had not been improved by the experience. The file closers were having to work twice as hard to keep the men in their lines, again the British let them advance without any response. This time the Artillery would get in on the act, the fifteen pounders had repositioned under fire, moving closer to the front lines but without the parade ground dressing that had made them such an inviting target.

Seventeen of the fifteen pounder guns were ready to fire, they watched the advancing grey tide with interest but little in the way of fear, infantry in the open was the best target for the fifteen pounder guns. Lacking a explosive shell it was in fact just about the only target for guns of the 1st and 2nd Highland Brigades RFA and they would do their part. The command soon came and with it the seventeen guns fired, like the howitzers their shooting was not particularly spectacular, but no rounds fell so far short as to harm the British lines. Many were short, a few were long, and others were dud’s but at least one round in 4 was on target, each well targeted round released hundreds of half ounce balls in a deadly swath. The fifteen pounder gun was nothing like as good as the eighteen pounder which had replaced it, they were noticeably slower to fire, but the crews serving the guns had seen many of their comrades killed or horribly wounded this morning and they had something to prove. They loaded their guns as well as they had ever done keeping up a steady 8 rounds per minute for two minutes before slowing to a more sustainable 3 rounds per minute. Allowing for duds, overs and unders, the effect of the artillery on the second wave was almost as devasting as the concentrated machine gun fire on the first. The second wave made it to within 800 yards of the British front line, when the machine gunners added to the carnage, the second wave broke.

A significant fraction of an entire German division was lying dead, dying or wounded before the British front line, a line they never managed to reach.

 

[diesal]

20th September 1914,

The negotiations between General Humbert of the Moroccan Division and General Friedrich Sixt von Armin, commanding IV Corps had resulted in the German army delaying its attack on Leuze-en-Hainaut whilst the wounded were evacuated. The French general had promised that he would allow the repatriation of any of the severely wounded along with the doctors and nurses once they had been evacuated. Von Armin was happy to comply, his own Corps was able to use the time to reposition its forces after the victory at the Battle of Rumes previously. He had destroyed the bridges of the Scheldt and placed blocking forces at any of the likely crossing points. The delay was agreed until midnight on the 19th of September, by this stage von Armin had also received the orders from von Kluck that he was to attack at dawn on the 20th. As well as repositioning his infantry and artillery von Armin had gathered up every spare soldier that could be found, landswehr garrisons, transport drivers, military policemen, they were formed into three ersatz battalions ready as reserves for the big push.

The French had managed to bring up their 75mm guns along with the 65mm mountain guns, the French artillery men had been learning the hard lessons of the siege of Namur and the blood-letting in Lille and they had dug their guns in well, they would not expose the guns to counter battery fire until the last minute.

The captured 15cm guns were being moved back down the line. General Humbert having telegraphed for some heavy tractors to help with the evacuation of these guns whilst he was negotiating over the issue of the hospital train. Of the 8 15cm guns captured 4 were successfully evacuated when the truce ended along with samples of ammunition. None of the gunners had been captured when the town fell, they had retreated along with the surviving landwehr.

The 7.7cm guns were moved into reserve positions to support the defences these guns were given scratch crews made up of a leavening of the divisions gunners and anyone else detailed to the task including a number of Belgian men who claimed to have received artillery training in the past.

General Humbert had made an attempt to evacuate the civilians from the town, many had tried to resist but they had been prevailed upon to leave, Humbert knew what was coming and he didn’t want any more dead Belgians than could be helped. That said he did compel the assistance of many of the men of the town, those that had received military training in the past and with the Kings proclamation of a Levee En Masse were subject to military conscription anyway. Their weapon was the shovel, trenches were being dug everywhere, breastworks and roadblocks were prepared, and the engineers checked that their demolition charges were ready. The towns medical personnel were also compelled to remain, casualties would be heavy and the extra doctors would prove invaluable. The local priest remained along with several nuns and monks, they would give comfort and aid to the wounded.

General von Armin had used his machine guns and artillery effective to break the assaults of 6th army at Rumes, he new that the French force he was facing would have their highly effective 75mm gun with them and those guns and their machine guns would devastate his assault regiments unless they were supressed. The days pause had given his troop enough time to get a single spotting ballon aloft, they had dragged the thing backward and forward through France and Belgium but finally it had paid for all the trouble it had caused. It was connected directly to the heavy batteries attached to his Corps and his artillery observers had used it to identify suitable targets, nothing had been done at the time given the truce but that peace was about to end. The French were aware of the impact of observation ballons having a long history of them within their own armed forces and they had made serious efforts to avoid exposing anything of military value to the pitiless eyes in the sky. This contest was an unequal one between the unhurried observer looking down from above and the scurrying ant below knowing that he would soon be stomped by a furious weight of metal.

The truce expired at midnight, at one minute past midnight the German Artillery opened fire, most of the artillery strength of IV corps was available saving those 7.7cm guns that were overwatching the Scheldt. Every 10.5cm howitzer and all seven of the surviving 15cm guns were dedicated to reducing the French defences to rubble. The German gunners had more ammunition available than their comrades facing the north and they decided not on a hurricane of fire before the initial infantry assault but rather on a steady and methodical bombardment. Each gun was to fire at a steady 2 rounds per hour from midnight, a total of over 200 rounds aimed at the town and the outer defensive line. This steady drumbeat of fire was enough to disrupt the sleep of the French defenders, to knock down houses and render any movement above ground hazardous.

Whether by chance or good shooting the train carrying the German Artillery was hit by a 15cm shell from the heavy battery, the resulting chain of detonations was cataclysmic as over 10 tonnes of ammunition and propellant exploded. The blast stunned many of the defenders, however less were wounded or killed than perhaps a blast of that magnitude should have warranted as the French had recognised the risk of the train being hit and exploding and had ensured that as far as practical the area was unmanned. Little remained of the train and its cargo but twisted metal and a shallow crater blasted in the roadbed. Even if the Germans recaptured the town their own handy work had crippled the railway line for days until it could be repaired.

In the hour before dawn the gunners changed tempo. What had been a leisurely rate of fire was picking up, like the conductor of an Orchestra going from larghetto to allegretto to presto, so the guns went from 2 rounds per hour to 4 rounds per minute to 15 rounds per minute for the last five minutes.

As dawn broke on Leuze-en-Hainaut it was shattered, there was not a house left standing, the church was in ruins, the school and town hall both demolished and the ruins on fire. The French soldiers whose training before the war had emphasised the offense were still learning the value of the shovel. Recently published Staff notes and training had emphasised the value of hasty entrenchments but the regulars of the Moroccan division had not learnt all there was to know. Despite the weight of fire, the majority of men emerged, many lightly wounded, others nursing more grievous hurts but recognising the need to stand up and fight. Fight they would as the German infantry formed up for the first assault, von Armin had learnt much from his battle with the 6th army. His men did not form up in neatly dressed lines for the assault, the formation his men adopted was looser than that used recently. The reduced density reduced the impact of the 75’s and the machine guns but would also lessen the shock value of the charge. The French guns fired as his men emerged from the front line positions, the machine guns chattered and men fell. Von Armin had moved up to the front line, he needed to see the battle to control the battle and he could not rely on runners, messengers and the field telegraph it, instead it would be as in days of old by the sound of his voice.

His view from the start line was rewarded with horror, a section of infantry was moving forward under the hoarsely shouted commands of a feldwebel. When a 75mm high explosive shell bounced once and exploded, the section slightly bunched by fear and a desire to be close to their trusted leader was blown into bloody gobbets of flesh, nothing left of one man but a single boot and lower leg which incongruously remained upright stuck in a patch of mud. Despite the murderous fire of the French Artillery, clearly unsuppressed by his own gun’s efforts, the infantry moved forward, hunched slightly as though walking into rain. As well as the blast of high explosive and the sibilant hiss of shrapnel, to the cacophony of battle was soon added the stutter of machine guns and then the steady crack of rifle fire. His brigades were being slaughtered, but there was no option but to continue, he commanded the second brigade out of the line and into the attack, it to evaporated like a drop of water on a frying pan, but by now the first line was almost at the wire. The hung up on the wire, young men braying as they died, but their deaths allowed the second line to push forward, great rents blasted by the 65mm mountain guns that had now joined the battle. The French infrantry were out of their trenches now, maddened by their own fear and the cult of the bayonet they plunged forward into a melee, neither side giving or receiving quarter. Both sides had taken heavy casualties, artillery falling in the town trying to silence the French guns and prevent reinforcements from moving forward French 75’s firing as fast as they could cutting down the flower of German youth. General von Armin longed to fling himself into the fray, two of his three brigades had already been gutted and still the line held, he ordered the ersatz brigade into the attack next. This unit would have to soak up fire to enable the final infantry brigade to capture the town, it was a wasteful order, many of the men condemned by it were trained specialists from the Corps support echelon but they were German soldiers and they were just as proud and disciplined as their infantry comrades. The advance of the ersatz brigade seemed to tip the battle, French infantry seemed to flow out of their own defensive lines back into the town, they were not routed, they kept their arms but they no longer seemed will to stand in the maelstrom. With a great roar the remnants of the first two attacking waves and the triumphant third advanced. They had secured the trench before Leuze-en-Hainaut, the town beckoned. It was at this point that General Humbert played his last card.

He had kept one regiment of his division out of Leuze-en-Hainaut, they had been dug in to the south of the town in a wood, they had waited out the artillery fire and remained silent during the attack on the town but now with the division pushed back into the town three red flares blossomed overhead. The brigade surged forward, the men of the 2nd Mixed Colonial Regiment were from French North Africa caught the surging German troops off guard, their wholly unexpected attack into the flank turned triumph into terror. The adhoc artillery battery they had gained with the capture of the German 7.7cm guns merely added to the chaos, their shells fired perpendicular to the German attack proved highly effective.

General von Armin recognised the battle was at a critical point, he threw the last of his reserves into the fight for Leuze-en-Hainaut, the last infantry brigade was ordered forward, he and his staff joined it, perhaps it was not the place for a 63year old man but surrounded by his troops von Armin could do no less.

They slogged forward, taking fire from both the remaining defenders in the town and the force on the southern flank but compelled forward by discipline and pride. Their officers had let the men know of the likely outcome if Germany was defeated, Russian forces already occupying parts of East Prussia would seize even more driving their people from their ancestral lands whilst France and Belgium would grab all of Germany up to the Rhine in revenge for what had passed. The British, those schemers would carve up the empire overseas and soon Germany would be nothing but a series of petty states struggling to survive in a Europe dominated by France and Russia.

But fine words and courage are nothing compared to an 8mm bullet from a Lebel rifle, nor a bayonet in the guts, when the fine sentiments of the officers met the brutal reality of the Moroccan Division reality was the winner. The fighting raged back and forward but slowly the Moroccans fighting from the rubble that was all that remained of Leuze-en-Hainaut gained an edge, the colonial regiment whose lines had never been shelled provided a secure base of fire with which to lash the invader. As the remainder of the IV corps recoiled from Leuze-en-Hainaut, the broken body of their General was pressed into the mud by the boots of fearful men, the body would be discovered 50 years later by a Belgian farmer, another unknown soldier in a field where he harvested a few every year.

 

[diesal]

20th September1914, Ath

General von Lochow commander of III Corps had taken operational control of the remnant of VII Corps, 14th Infantry Division had spent the past two days retreating from the Ath Leuze-en-Hainaut salient, reconstituting and absorbing the survivors of 13th Infantry Division, the 14th was to be slotted into the command structure of III Corps and would be the reserve for the upcoming attack.

The newly expanded III Corps would consist of three divisions 5th and 6th Infantry Divisions and the aforementioned 14th, was therefore overstrength, it had taken some losses in the advance across Belgium and in the fighting for Lille but it was at 75% strength in Infantry and battle hardened. Its greatest weakness was artillery, the majority of its 7.7cm guns and 10.5cm howitzers had been transported back across Belgium, but for the heavy guns the same was not true, only one battery of 15cm guns had made forward to take part in the attack on Ath. Ammunition shortages were part of the reason for this, the siege of Lille had cost much of the ready stocks of ammunition and with only limited supplies available the heavy guns would only take up space on the crowded roads. The other challenge facing the army was fodder, little was available, the Belgian countryside was in a state of incipient revolt and rick burning was becoming common. Without fodder the horses could not work and the already sclerotic supply chain would freeze up completely.

Byng’s VI Corps, consisting of the 1st London Division and the East Lancashire Division was strongly entrenched in Ath itself using the canal as the anchor for their lines, they had managed to gather sufficient barbed wire to create a proper entanglement. The outer picket line was much more weakly held, with individual platoon strong points usually centred on a well-built farmhouse or similar structure. These platoons were not intended to stop the anticipated attack but merely to break it up and channel it. Casualties in these forward outposts would be high, but the flat ground around Ath necessitated a forward defence.

General von Lochow, had learnt from the fighting around Lille, he had sent his men against the French guns in heavy attacks and lost heavily, like von Armin he had combed his rear area’s for men, he had not tried to create ersatz battalions with them instead they had been added to existing units and individual reinforcements. He would not do the same here, nor would he engage in a prolonged artillery barrage to try and blast his way through the British lines, he lacked the guns and supplies for that. Instead he would order a single heavy barrage at the maximum rate his guns could sustain for 10 minutes, 15 rounds a minute for two minutes, 10 rounds a minute for six minutes, then 15 rounds a minute for two minutes. The 7.7cm guns fired a mixture of shrapnel and high explosive rounds, every location which had been identified as a potential strong point was plastered with high explosives. The 10.5cm howitzers were set to work over the town itself, the 15cm guns would target the British Artillery positions, once again the British had failed to ensure that their artillery was properly concealed, it was more widely dispersed than at Sottegem which would make the job of the 15cm guns harder.

The artillery broke on Ath in a storm, General von Lochow had elected to wait until 30 minutes after dawn before the artillery barrage commenced. Dawn was at 7:27 that morning, the British who had stood to in anticipation of attack had just begun to relax slightly as the sun rose over the Belgian countryside, when the rushing roar of artillery shattered the peace of the morning. The effect of the artillery was devastating, hundreds of shells were falling on the British positions, von Lochow waited another 30 minutes, the impact would have been even greater with working parties dispersed to bring up food, supplies and ammunition.
As it was the shells did not catch many soldiers out in the open, the shrapnel was therefore mostly but not entirely wasted. The high explosive rounds on the other hand did prove to be highly effective, the strongpoints on the north-western side of Ath were well targeted, the majority were hit with resulting destruction. The 1st (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), provided the men for the strong points, the rest of its parent brigade was dug in before the bridges over the canal.

The strength of two attacking divisons being focused on the shattered remnant of a single battalion proving to much for many of the territorials, some men fled back towards the main British line, others cowered in the bottom of the trench’s, others cursed and sobbed, driven mad by the thunderous brutality of the king of battle. Most men endured the lashing of fire, standing to and waiting for enemy, their subalterns; lawyers, accountants and managers by day and soldiers on the weekend gave the order to fix bayonets. Two poor unfortunates were arrested as they fled from the battle, discarded rifles and packs seen as evidence of cowardly intent.
The attacking infantry units emerged cautiously from the start line, they lavished the strong points with machine gun and rifle fire doing all that they could to suppress the survivors, this solution was effective in many places, with such a preponderance of fire. Men fell back into the trenches to lie still in death or in other cases to twitch and quiver as life left them.
The traffic was not one way, whilst the defending battalion only had two machine guns they had been thoughtfully positioned and they began to play on the advancing grey clad horde. But musketry was the crowning glory of the British infantryman and these men were fusiliers long known for their skills, they carried the Magazine Lee Enfield like most Territorials, obsolescent it might have been it was still highly effective and these men had all passed the mad minute in training and shot many more since war had been declared. The steady crackle of rifle fire spread along the front, the tat-tat-tat of machine guns, the blast of more high explosive shells as the german gunners fired over open sights.
The advancing infantry pushed forward, the strongpoint line held, wavered, buckled, and then fractured. Some strong points holding out in a sea of German infantry, others fell quickly to German bayonets and rifles or in one case hand grenades, in other locations an officer or NCO or even in one case private would gather up the survivors and retire back to the main line of resistance.
The distance from the strong point line to the main line of resistance was 300 yards, a soldier carrying rifle ammunition water and food should be able to cover the distance in no more than 2 minutes. For many of the German soldiers attacking Ath this was an insurmountable gap, they had fought past the strong point line taking casualties as they did so but now they were faced by 300yards of open ground, criss-crossed by ditches and wet with autumn rain. Whistles blew and trumpets sounded as orders to press on flowed down corps to division to brigade to regiment to battalion to company and finally down to the platoons. The maschinengewehr 08 of the machine gun companies now had to be laboriously dragged forward to support the attack.
This pause in the attack gave the British in Ath a chance to recover, stunned by the artillery and then surprised by the swift collapse of the strongpoint line they had not had a chance to think. Fortunately enough officers and men had seen action in the past that they knew what to do. One old major who had last seen action at Omdurman seemed to have flashed back there, his order was “D Company firing by platoons volley fire”, the company sergeant major who had been with him on that day 20 years earlier began giving the firing commands, each platoon firing in its turn. The major returned from whence he had been and gave a more modern order “D Company individual firing 10 rounds rapid” with that the musketry resumed a pace better suited to modern war. The Germans faced the exact same problem that the Mahdi’s men had in 1895, they could not advance into ground dominated by rifles and machine guns.
Both sides tusseled back and forth, the artillery firing whenever it was clear, shrapnel howling overhead to smash through concentrations of men. High explosive shells fired to try and wipe out the other sides guns, dead men, wounded horses, burning buildings.It ended with exhaustion, the tide of German dead had lapped up to Ath, but living did not over run it, instead they settled in place, III Corps unable to push the British back but still strong enough to stop them advancing on to Sottegem.

 

[diesal]

20th September 1914 Mons.

General Smith-Dorrien was reviewing the reports he had received from General Byng and General Sir Ian Hamilton, regarding the battles that had been fought at Ath and Sottegem, he had also received a report from General Foch on the success of General Humbert at Leuze-en-Hainaut. Sir Ian Hamilton had accepted command of VI Corps, despite it requiring him to serve under General Plumer to whom he was nominally senior. Hamilton with his experience of the Russo-Japanese war was aware of the defensive powers of modern weapons and had used them and his men deftly.

All in all, Smith-Dorrien was pleased, the German First army was substantially weaker after the bloody repulse of all three attacks. The BEF had been preparing for the next phase of the battle for the gap over the last several days, the plans had been predicated on two possibilities. The First Army would run for the gap and the devil take the hindmost or as had occurred the Germans would conduct deliberate attacks against the jaws of the trap to defeat the BEF before conducting further operations. With the failure of the second option the BEF’s preferred plan was going to go into action.

When planning for the upcoming actions Smith-Dorrien was trying to control three risks, firstly his own men facing heavy casualties, if they attempted to counter-attack into the teeth of the German troops, who had hit them this morning. Secondly the Germans still had a lot of men bottled up in the Salient and they were capable, if suitably bloody-minded orders were issued of attacking again and again. The third risk was that given the heavy casualties already experienced von Kluck simply ordered his men to retire out of the Salient and regroup, they would lose men and equipment doing this but the defeat whilst stinging would still leave most of First Army un-captured and given time they could be reorganised and re-equipped.

Smith-Dorrien needed another solution, one that was more cunning than merely standing his troops up and having them slog forward into the machine guns.

The fighting around Namur was proving to be part of the solution, the French were tying down most of the strength of the German 2nd Army before Namur. The German X Corps which had partially reoriented to face the British I and II corps was now stretched very thin. It had been hit hard in the initial attacks on Jurbise and had pivoted northwest to try and maintain its flank, it was unable to maintain anything like a continuous line at this stage and instead was tied to a series of platoon and company positions, mostly within supporting range of each other.

The Antwerp Garrison was still demonstrating before Brussels, thereby tying up IXr Corps, they could not release any forces to move west from Brussels to hold open the gap or block his manoeuvres. The German army was in a bind and Smith Dorien was doing everything he could to make it worse.

He called for his military secretary and his chief of staff, pre-planned orders would need to be issued quickly, with the opportunity before him, his men would have to move fast to clap a stopper in the bottle and trap von Kluck and his force. The Cavalry would be the cork, and his regular infantry corps the strong arm to thrust it home.

IV Corps would be ordered to commence shelling the German X Corps positions at 2pm as if readying for an attack, they had recently been resupplied and were well provisioned for shells. II Corps would commence an attack an hour before dusk from Soignies towards Braine-le-Comte. Once that attack was underway the Cavalry Corps with 4 newly arrived armoured cars would advance towards Enghien and securing that with one division would continue towards Grammont capturing it and severing the last railway link available to von Klucks First Army. Once the Cavalry were holding Gramont they would keep one division there as a garrison whilst the third division moved west into the gap between Lessines and Brakel, the broken ground there would prove well suited to the mounted infantry tactics in which British cavalry specialised. The role of this division would be to prevent any formed units from escaping from the trap.

Whilst the cavalry closed the trap, they would need reinforcement, this would be provided by I Corps, it would march north adding its weight to the Cavalry and ensuring that there was no escape for the German First Army.

The forces holding Ath and Sottiegem were ordered to conduct artillery barrages timed to coincide with IV Corps, with aggressive patrols to be conducted by all British forces. 6th Divison was also ordered to conduct deep patrols to establish the locations of any German forces, if the Germans had started to withdraw towards Brussels they were to maintain contact with them.

 

[diesal]

21st September 1914, Istanbul.

Otto Liman von Sanders was surprised by how well his last meeting with Enver Pasha had gone, he had been expected to be hauled over the coals by the Ottoman official. The alliance so recently and secretly signed between the Ottomans and the Germans was still holding, despite the resounding lack of good news from any of the fighting fronts. Enver Pasha had been disappointed by the problems besetting both the German and Austrian Empires but to his mind the threat posed by a rapidly growing Russia and the resurgent powers of the Balkans required the alliance.

Enver Pasha had informed von Sanders of the attempts by the British to propagandise their successes, Vice Admiral Arthur Limpus had been expected to leave Istanbul with the apparent failure of the Naval Mission, precipitated firstly by the decision to seize the two Ottoman dreadnaughts under construction in Britain for the Royal Navy and secondarily by the arrival of SMS Breslau and SMS Goeben, which had successfully evaded the Royal Navy in the eastern Mediterranean. The Germans had promptly handed both ships over to the Ottoman Navy, where they were renamed but retained their German crews. With the arrival of the German ships he had taken immediate leave from his role as commander of the Ottoman Navy.

The victory of the Royal Navy in the battle of Thornton Bank had caused Admiral Limpus to reconsider the decision to leave Istanbul, he had already ceased his role as commander of the Ottoman Navy but he had remained in Instanbul, initially completely ignored by the Ottomans. He had attempted to make contact with the Navy Minister but had been repeatedly rebuffed, this had changed as the siege of Liege had captivated the Ottomans, with the bloody defence of the town being likened to the defence of Acre by Sidney Smith during the Napleonic wars.

He had been invited along with the British Ambassador to the Sublime Porte to discussions with the Ottoman Prime Minister, the Ambassador and Limpus had both conveyed assurances that the seized dreadnaughts would be returned or replaced at the end of the war, along with a substantial payment for wear and tear on the vessels. They had also discussed the progress of the war itself, with the Prime Minister expressing his hopes for remaining neutral.

As the fighting wore on and the Entente seemed to be holding the back the Germans in the West whilst the Russians continued to advance in the East there were two increasingly divergent opinions one held by Pasha and his clique that if Russia defeated Austria they would strike for control of the Dardenelles next. The other was that if they remained Neutral British desire to hem in the great powers of Europe would guarantee their independence.

The problems for Enver Pasha and von Sanders were simply that the British and their allies were pushing hard to retain Ottoman neutrality and as the German and Austrian position worsened it became increasingly attractive.

 

[diesal]

21st September 1914, Brakel.

The advance on Brakel had been slightly delayed several times, small units of German troops had repeatedly tried to hold up the attack by the 3rd brigade, 2nd Cavalry Division. The cavalry had pushed forward fast, riding hard through the night. It was only 5 miles from Gramont to Brakel and the Brigade consisting the 4th (Queen’s Own) Hussars, the 5th (Royal Irish) Lancers and the 16th (The Queen’s) Lancers along with one battery from the Royal Horse Artillery were under orders to be in position to capture the village before dawn.

One of the armoured cars which had joined the advance by the Cavalry Corps was leading the advance, four armoured cars had led the initial advance by the Cavalry, and three were still serviceable, one had broken down outside of Gramont when the motor overheated and seized but the others had proven to be invaluable. Their armour shrugging of rifle and machine gun fire and their own maxim guns proving highly effective in support.

The road between Gramont and Brakel was no major highway it climbed up and down a series of small hills, open farmland on either side with small villages and woods to complicate the advance. The combination of professional cavalry who had trained as mounted infantry for years coupled with the fighting they had seen along the line from Condee towards Saint Amand les Eaux before the great counterattack gave the British troops a significant advantage over the scattered and unsupported German defenders.

The Cavalry used their superior mobility to outflank any defensive positions and with greater number overwhelm the small outposts, when a position was very strongly held the armoured car or a half battery of 13 pounders proved very effective at dislodging the defence.

The Germans had not managed to establish anything like a continuous line to hold back the Entente advance, most of First Army was still attempting to get out of the salient. The requirement for a strong rear-guard and the losses from the heavy fighting seen the day before, had resulted in very few infantry units being available to defend what was the narrowing neck of the salient. Apart from the scattered infantry no German supporting arms had been encountered, the First Amies artillery was still before Ath and Sottegem The Second Army was likewise stretched both by the fighting around Namur and the Belgian breakout from Antwerp which was continuing to advance, threatening even more German units with envelopment.

The capture of Gramont had been uneventful, the Landwehr their morale battered by recent events put up a desultory resistance. With Gramont in British hands no more supplies would make it through to the First Army. Whilst the British did not have anything like a continuous line between Ath and Sottegem they held a line from Ath to Brakel, whilst the gap between Brakel and Sottegem was a mere 5 miles wide.

It was through this narrow remaining path that the remnant of First Army would have to pass to escape the trap. And whilst the Cavalry Corps dug in along its new front line, I Corps was marching north to renew the attack. Their attack would be oriented the line from Gramont towards Brakel capturing the low ground before hinging at Lierde and pushing north up the ridge to close up on Sottegem completing the envelopment of the German First Army.

 

[diesal]

21st September 1914, Near Ghoy.

C Squadron the 12th (Royal) Lancers had just secured the village of Ghoy, without a shot being fired, it was just before dawn the sky slowly brightening but with pockets of mist and fog making visibility difficult and deadening sound.

One young trooper thought he heard a horse whinny, not very far in the distance, he gave word back to his corporal of what he had heard, soon the Squadron Commander was by his side and he gave a nervous but clear explanation. They waited side by side the trooper and the Major, the sun rose a little higher and the wind picked up, not more than 400 yards away was a squadron of German Cavalry, dismounted their horses unsaddled and the men gathering by the cook fires for their breakfast completely unaware of their hazzard.

The major goggled, this was an opportunity to write himself into the history of the regiment, one he had served for 20 years like his father and grandfather before him, back in fact to a young cornet who had served alongside Arthur Wellesley.

He gave his orders rapidly, the squadron was as well drilled with the SMLE as with the Lance but they were cavalry not grubbing infantry and a charge against an unsuspecting and dismounted foe was the perfect thing for a Lancer.

The squadron assembled, the bugler sounded the form line and the lancers shook out into a line three horses deep then came the field call advance trot. At the sound of the first bugle call the German cavalry appeared to panic, some men freezing in place others running for their horses, officers shouted orders.

Once the distance had narrowed to a few hundred yards the Squadron Commander gave the order and the Bugler sounded the charge. Lances were couched and the cavalry lunged forward at a gallop, the German Cavalry receiving the charge were completely disordered, unprepared to receive a charge some were attempting mount their horses, others had drawn their carbines and were shooting back, a few men had drawn swords and were about to do something that they knew would not work, hold of a man equipped with a 9 ft long lance with a 3 ft long sword, none however ran.

The collision when it came was brutal, the lance was a difficult weapon, it had never been in widespread service in the British Army but the men of the 12th were experts. Nine feet of steel shod ash driven by the 1200 pounds of horse and rider at thirty miles an hour is unstoppable, many men were simply spitted, lances torn from the riders hand by the shock of the collision. The German unit shattered, what little cohesion it had before the charge disintegrated under the impact. The Lancers rode through the Germans, the orders continuing to flow from the bugle, they wheeled around and charge back through the German position. Many of the dismounted men had begun to flee, this simply made them an irresistible target as the lancers almost competed to see who could skewer the most men.

The tide of death radiated outwards from the bivouac, a knot of men remained in the centre, they were the few who had not panicked when the British cavalry over ran them, they fought now most equipped with carbines a few officers with pistols, but they were sadly outnumbered and the British cavalry disdained a second charge against their numbers, instead they withdrew to cover and shot them down with the superior SMLE.

No prisoners were taken, that being contrary to the nature of a cavalry charge and the squadron reformed, to continue their advance.

 

[diesal]

21 September 1914, Tournai.

General von Kluck was in the depths of despair, he had just received word that his son Egon had been killed in action against the French the day before. His army was surrounded and their attempts to break out the day before had resulted in the futile deaths of thousands, including he thought bleakly his son.

The reports he had received indicated that the British had closed the gap between Ath and Sottegem, their regulars both cavalry and infantry forcing the ring closed. The damned British armoured cars were also causing chaos, virtually unstoppable without artillery, they had caused havoc amongst the supply columns.

His options had narrowed to one unpalatable reality, but another could take that ignominy on his head. He bent over his desk writing his final orders, when he was finished, he stood up and walked over to small room he used to sleep in.

As his aide went over to the desk to look at the orders, a single gunshot cracked out.

 

[diesal]

22nd September 1914, Dublin.

Samuel Heron had never visited Dublin before, he had hated the steam packet journey across the Irish Sea, he had been sick the whole way across. His hotel was cramped with the toilets and bath at the end of a long draughty corridor, its only redeeming feature the excellent breakfast complete with potato farls, a thing unheard of in England but which had set him up splendidly for the day.

That said he was looking forward to spending some time with Percy Ludgate, a veritable genius, he had never heard of him until he had been introduced a week prior by the man from the ministry. They had spent several fruitful hours discussing the way the Analytical Machine worked and how it could be used. Heron was already interested in how it could be used to model thermal transfer in aero engines, solving the overheating issue would enable the development of lighter and more powerful air-cooled engines, thereby improving the range and bombload of the RFC and RNAS aircraft.

Today was a general meet and greet day for the 19 men and one woman who had been selected to use the first generation of the Ludgate machines. They chatted amiably, their intended applications ranged from ballistics, to materials analysis, to thermal modelling, additionally there was a second set of students who Heron had encountered briefly, they consisted of a disparate group escorted by a number of naval officers but they were cloistered away from the rest. Heron did not speculate of what their application was but merely that it was even more secretive than his own.

 

[diesal]

22nd September 1914, Ocean Island.

The South Seas Squadron had finished coaling at the Pacific Phosphate facility on Ocean Island part of the Gilbert Islands. Vice Admiral Yamaya Tanin had been issued orders to pursue the German East Asia Squadron, Tanin had left Yokohama a week prior with 3 armoured cruisers, pushing his ships at their full cruising speed he had made the 2800 nautical mile journey in slightly over 8 days, but at the cost of more than half his range. Coaling had been completed quickly, his men and the various labourers working quickly to refill the emptied bunkers.

Tanin had arrived at this desolate spot because he thought the Germans would try to return home, lingering in the Pacific could only result in their eventual detection and capture. A return to Germany via the Indian ocean was impossible the Royal Navy with its bases in Singapore and Australia blocked that route. That left only the Pacific, the Panama Canal was not an option the Bahamas squadron would be on top of the Germans as soon as they entered the Caribbean. The only way was south via the Horn, the added bonus was that that route would put them in amongst the ships carrying beef to Britain from Argentina and Uruguay. Tanin shuddered when he thought of a tin of Fray Bentos corned beef, that he had been convinced to eat whilst in Britain on a ship visit, the horror of that gelatinous mass of gristle and fat was ever present, perhaps allowing the Germans to sink the transports was a species of mercy.

Tanin was interrupted in his increasingly ridiculous thoughts by his communications officer, the young man had served with distinction in the Russo Japanese war, but he was unusual, Tanin always thought of the British term Boffin when he thought of the man. Atypically for a Japanese officer he delighted in the technical work of his role, unafraid to get his hands dirty, he had joined a number of his men in working his way down the mast of the Kurama checking the grounding of the main antenna.

The lieutenant commander was holding a message strip, bowing to his admiral he said, “Sir, we have just received word from Papeete that the Germans are attacking the facilities there. The French have only a single gun boat in the harbour but she is going into the attack”

Tanin responded swiftly his decision to head south east vindicated, he called for his officers and squadrons captains, the chase was on in earnest now.

 

[diesal]

22nd September 1914, Tournai.

Major General Hermann von Kuhl had taken temporary command of the First Army with the suicide of Colonel General von Kluck, his first action had been to tear up the order written by von Kluck whilst cursing the man for his failure of nerve.

His next action was to order every unit to abandon any vehicles or guns that could not move and deploy a Verlorene Haufen as rearguard, these units were to hold to that last man.

The remainder of the Army was to undertake a forced march towards Flobecq, reports had indicated that British Cavalry were defending Brakel to Lessines and this was likely to be the most weakly held area for an attack.

He sought contact with the surviving corps commanders to determine who should take command of the remainder of First Army, General von Linsingen was the senior corps commander surviving, his own corps had fought at Sottegem where one division had been virtually destroyed. The remainder of the corps was skirmishing with the Highlanders holding Sottegem, they had been reinforced by additional british units who had pushed south towards Brakel.

General von Linsingen when he was contacted, confirmed the orders issued by von Kuhl and ordered him to move the army headquarters to Flobecq as well. The next step was to issue orders to consolidate the Corps and Division accounting for casualties. The Army had been reduced to approximately 60% effectiveness by the recent fighting and with no resupply and the ongoing attacks by Entente forces it was definitely a wasting asset.

The only option was to resume the attack as quickly as possible, the casualties would be heavy but it was fight or surrender and whilst von Kluck may have wanted surrender his death had robbed his orders of any validity.

General von Linsingen could give his men no respite, every day he delayed the attack was another day that the possibility of escape slipped closer zero.

 

[diesal]

22nd September 1914, London.

Lloyd George was feeling sanguine, the recent reverses suffered by German arms had acted to calm the markets. He recalled a meeting he had had with an economist from the Bank of England, he had taken those attending through a history of the methods used to finance the Napoleonic Wars. One of the key factors was that market confidence correlated very closely to perceptions of British and allied success or reverses on the field of battle. The apparent envelopement of an entire German Army would doubtless help with that, along with other setbacks recently suffered.
Walter Cunliffe, the Governor of the Bank of England was keen to return to the gold standard as swiftly as possible, this would only be possible if there was view that the Bank and the Treasury could keep a tight hold on the economy. The battlefield picture would be key to this. The advantage of a return to redemptions for gold were considerable, the increase in market confidence would enable lower costs for government debt whilst also facilitating the continuation of the financial markets in Britain. Lloyd George was keen to do all that he could to minimise the tax burden imposed by the war, whilst using Britains manufacturing strength to assist its allies. If British gold could buy victory with Russian and French blood so much the better, Lloyd George would do all he could to grow the army slowly but equip it lavishly so that it could use technology like the new rifles to minimise the numbers needed. Better to have those men in a factory, rather than in the field.

 

[diesal]

22nd September 1914, Ghislenhein.

General Smith Dorrien had moved his forward headquarters to Ghislengein a few miles out of Ath, this was to enable him to maintain effective communications within the BEF. The forces holding the bag closed on the German First Army were stretched tight. The fighting on the previous 2 days had resulted in heavy German losses and then had been followed up with the advance by the Cavalry in to the Lessines to Brakel gap pinching closed the salient and surrounding much of the German First Army.

There was no evidence that the German Army Command intended to surrender, they were still resisting the advance of the French 6th army, which had finally managed to get across the River Scheldt, they were advancing slowly but pushing back the German rear guard, the French were making good use of their 75mm guns. Any position which was stubbornly held was subjected to heavy shelling before the infantry put in an attack. General Manoury was keeping the pressure on the enemy but he was also clearly willing to use steel rather than flesh to convince the remnant of First Army that surrender was in its interests.

Likewise the British forces on the Northern flank of the German First Army were continuing to harry it. The Royal Marines were advancing from Nieuwpoort, their advance was slowed not by the Germans but by the severely limited support structure attached to the Royal Marine Brigade. Lacking anything like the Army Service Corps they were making do with extemporised support and it was limiting their mobility.

The Yeomanry Divisions who had been holding the shoulder of the German penetration towards Nieuwpoort were better supported logistically and they were using their mobility to maintain heavy pressure on the German flank. Both the Yeomanry and the Royal Marines were making maximum use of the RNAS armoured cars, these vehicles conducted a number of bold sallies cutting through or bypassing the German rear guards to strike at the support units straggling wearily back towards Flobecq.

Both the French and the British forces reported that stragglers and deserters were becoming more common, one French unit had accepted the surrender of an entire platoon of Landwehr after a pair of 75mm guns had been wheeled into position, to shell the butter factory they were holding. The older men had simply hung a white sheet out from an upper window and started throwing their rifles out as well. The French soldiers men of a territorial unit of similar vintage had gladly accepted their surrender being just as keen to avoid dying for the Glory of France as the Germans were for the Kaiser.

Smith Dorrien was concerned that the Germans would mass sufficient men and guns to push through his forces and escape the trap. Aerial reconnaissance was indicating that the Germans were moving their forces towards the town of Flobecq, clearly intending to conduct an attack on the Cavalry holding the line there.

Smith Dorrien was continuing to move his divisions and corps around; 2nd Cavalry Division would remain in place whilst other British units worked to build defensive positions. Smith Dorrien was adamant that strong defensive entrenchments be established to face the anticipated German attack.

The line from Sottiegem to Ath was approximately 20 miles long, it was being held by a total of 4 British Corps. V Corps under General Sir Iain Hamilton held the line from the III Corps Boundary near Audenarde to Sottegem. The Cavalry Corps, was defending a line from Brakel to the west of Lessines, 2nd Cavalry Division had been joined by 3rd Mounted Division in holding the line. 1st Cavalry Division was screening against an unlikely counterattack by the German forces in Brussels.

I Corps had advanced into the gap between Gramont and Sottegem opened by the Cavalry and was rapidly strengthening its position. II Corps was likewise covering line between Lessines and Gramont. IV Corps was anchored on Ath in the south and had pivoted to hold the line from Ath to Lessines. It was a strongly held line and with continuous pressure being applied on the German rear it should prove difficult to breach.

The eastern side of the line was much more open with limited British forces, 1st Cavalry Division and IV corps were holding off the German X Corps and Brussels Garrison. Whilst the 6th division of V Corps reinforced with a British mounted infantry brigade and a recently formed Belgian cyclist brigade was doing the same with the German IIIr Corps.

The Brussels garrison drawn from IXr corps was threatened by the breakout of the Antwerp Garrison which was continuing to demonstrate to the north and east of Brussels. It had sent a column of cavalry to destroy the railway line connecting Leuven with Brussels. Having taken a hint from the success of the British, the cavalry brigade commander had several improvise armoured cars with the column, they had helped hold of the Leuven Garrison whilst some sappers destroyed bridge carrying the railway line over the Leuven Mechelen Canal.

This attack would greatly impede the resupply of the three German Corps being supplied via this railway line, namely the Brussels Garrison IXr, IIIr now menaced by the BEF and the Belgians between Dendermonde and Aalst and the remnant of IVr corps which was screening Brussels from the Antwerp Garrison.

Smith Dorrien was happy with the position of his Army and he was due to meet with the French High command and his Belgian Liaison officers to begin planning for the next operation to push the Germans out of central Belgium and recapture Brussels. That attack would need to take place quickly before the Germans could move additional forces into place. But he needed the German First Army to lie down in order to continue his offensive, they didn’t seem that keen too yet.

 

[diesal]

23rd September 1914, Ogy.



The piquet was formed by C Squadron of the 12th (Royal) Lancers, their action at Ghoy was already being celebrated and the Regimental commander had commended them for their steadiness in the charge. He took the view that they would be well suited to operating forward of the cavalry screen. With the Squadron was a Lieutenant of the Royal Garrison artillery acting as a forward observer, he had arrived in a Motor Car with a truck following carrying his signals team, they had set up an observation post in the spire of the Saint Martins Church, this impressive structure, built in the 1750’s was constructed of red brick and topped with a tower that gave a clear field of view of the local area. The officer and one of the junior NCO’s attached to the artillery party climbed to the top of the spire the additional 45’ of elevation gave them a view almost to Flobecq.

The sun was just starting to rise when the observers in the tower saw the first flashes of artillery from the German lines. C Squadron had been clashing all night with German infiltrators who had clearly pinpointed the squadrons position in and around Ogy, but it was hoped that they and the other forward squadrons had kept them from identifying the main screening position. It was highly unlikely that the Germans had managed to get observers as far forward as the main infantry positions. The infantry were patrolling forward of their own lines as an additional security measure.

Every 4th man in the squadron was told off as a horse holder and they were positioned several hundred yards back from the village in a large farmyard, they were vulnerable to artillery but the stout brickwork would shelter the horses and men from any nearby observers. The squadron commanders plan was to hold the village for as long as was practicable, he had put his men to work loop holing the local buildings and getting the men to dig entrenchments, more than one man remarking “if I had wanted to dig bleeding holes in the ground I would have joined the bleeding wooden tops”. The Squadron Sergeant Major overheard the remark the saying “you will be glad for that hole when the Hun start shoot at you, that will stop your damn fool mouth and if that doesn’t, I will see you up on defaulters parade”

With that the Sergeant Major continued his rounds of the Squadrons positions, satisfied he was able to report to the Squadron Commander that the men were well positioned and ready to both fight and when the recall was issued, move back to the rally point to retire.

 

[diesal]

23rd September 1914, Lessines.

The 3rd Brigade Royal Garrison Artillery consisted of the two batteries of 60 pounders previously attached to 3rd and 5thDivisions, they had been put under Corps command by the order of the GOC 2nd Army, Sir Bruce Meade Hamilton. General Grierson had been visiting the front over the last several days at the behest of Winston Churchill and he had suggested it to General Smith Dorrien who concurred. This order was to be implemented throughout the BEF, with Divisions both regular and territorial to lose their 60 pounder and 4.7 guns to Corps command, the goal being to give the Corps Commander a heavier punch he could allocate as needed across the whole sector. The divisional commanders had railed against the order but had been mollified by the promise of a share of any German guns captured particularly the German howitzers.

The guns had been positioned 2000 yards behind the line held by II Corps, the front-line positions had been connected via field telegraph to the two battery firing points. Additional telegraph lines went forward to the positions held by the cavalry, a single squadron from the Lancers occupied the village of Ogy this was almost 2 miles forward of the main British positions. A warning order was received, infantry in the open followed by the firing co-ordinates, there had been no time to register the fire so the first ranging shots were fired by the first gun of each battery with a suitable time to allow of the observation of the fall of shot.

The German infantry wavered then continued to advance when the first shots were fired, the observer high in the church steeple was impressed by their bravery and or discipline. He had expected to be under fire himself, but thus far the German guns where silent, he supposed that they may be short on ammunition and preserving it for more heavily defended positions. The two batteries were registered now, the firing became steady, the guns were putting 2-3 rounds per minute onto the target, a mixture of high explosive and shrapnel shells. The effect of the eight medium guns firing was devastating, the shrapnel shells detonated above and in front of the infantry most of whom had no cover and who were scythed by hundreds of steel balls travelling at a significant fraction of the speed of sound.
The gunnery observer issued the cease fire order after 2 minutes of firing, he was conscious of the number of rounds available to the guns and the brigade commander had ordered every gunnery observer to husband the fire. Astonishingly when the fire ceased, the writhing mass of downed infantry gradually began to draw itself back into formation, many men lay dead or badly wounded on the ground and great shell holes had been blasted into the road and the farmland nearby. But after a few minutes’ military order had been restored and the advance by the infantry column resumed. In the distance a second larger formation was advancing.

The observer looked at the advancing German Regiment, it had changed from column of march to advancing in line abreast, the line was much to closely spaced for this age of magazine fed rifles, but it was more open than the marching order. Even though the closer regiment was a threat to his own skin he had his orders and relayed a new set of firing co-ordinates back to regiment. Once again, the ranging round were fired and the steady crump of shrapnel shells bursting over this second larger formation began. Soon the crump was mixed with the whine of shrapnel balls, the screams of wounded men and the shrieks of maimed horses.

Back at the regiment the Lt Colonel commanding was pleased with his command, he had previously been the deputy to the Commander Royal Artillery for his divison and now he was in command of a regiment of 60 pounders. The men had pulled together well, the royal garrison artillery were the technical specialists even amongst the gunners, half their challenge was getting the guns into the fight. This time they had been able to position the guns in time to do some valuable work and the field telephone was relaying the observers’ orders. There was a steady flow of shells forward to the guns, the ammunition column bringing shells and charges forward without disruption, the regiment was doing good work this day.

 

[diesal]

23rd September 1914, London.

General Grierson was back in London and he was a changed man, many of those who had known him for years commented on his significant weight loss and were amazed at the way that he had barely picked at the meals being served at various messes. He had reiterated his comments about being under doctors’ orders, King George had also taken a keen interest, ordering Grierson to lose at least 5 stone instructing his own physician to weigh him once a week and report the results. The General seemed surprisingly content with the Kings intervention, the King having extended a standing order to him to join him riding which resulted in him spending several hours a week riding one of the Kings heavy hunters around the Royal Parks. They discussed the progress of the war on these occasions and soon an invitation to ride out with them was a signal honour.
Admiral Scott had joined them on more than one occasion, even bringing Percy Ludgate once, the man had been almost totally mute in the presence of the King Emperor but had answered the penetrating questions asked by General Grierson once he had got over his nerves. The King had a great interest in Ludgate’s invention and recognised the importance of the device. The King also spoke of his sons’ roles in the war on the rides, he had served in the Royal Navy commanding a protected cruiser and did not want them to be protected against the risks he was asking of his subjects. The Prince of Wales was already deployed with the 2nd Battalion the Grenadier Guards, his brother Prince Albert was serving in the Royal Navy, but he had just requested a transfer to the Royal Naval Air Service which the King was inclined to grant. The King was of the view that aviation would only grow in importance as the future advanced and the Royal Naval Air Service had already provided valuable service in scouting and reconnaissance. Prince Albert suffered dreadfully with sea sickness and service aboard anything smaller than a dreadnaught would prove an ordeal, whereas a dashing knight of the sky was just the thing to burnish the young man’s image.

 

[diesal]

23rd September 1914, Ogy.

The Squadron Commander was aggressive to a fault, Lieutenant-Colonel Frank Wormald the regimental commander had, whilst open to grave personal charges of hypocrisy, to order him to not hazard his command excessively, the main role of the squadron outpost was to delay the German attack from Flobecq. His single squadron could not hope to hold even a fraction of the survivors of the first brigade that were now advancing to within very long rifle range of the village. He lacked any machine guns, the machine gun section remaining with the remaining squadrons of the regiment.

A pair of 13 pounders of J Battery, Royal Horse Artillery had just arrived at Ogy, they had been ordered forward by the Brigadier General Chetwode the Brigade Commander. They swiftly unlimbered and the men pushed the two guns into position. The 2nd Lieutenant RHA commanding the half battery began to issue swift orders, directing his men to open fire on the advancing Germans, they did so, however whilst the 60 pounders guns had been devastating the shellfire from the 13 pounder was significantly less potent. Each shell delivering 234 balls on bursting, the gunners who by now had been in action for several weeks, had learnt the techniques to deliver rapid effective support to the cavalry regiments. The fighting in and amongst the Forrest of the Scarpe had toughened the men and honed their skills and now they had an opportunity to put them to good use.

The gunners were firing rapidly 8 rounds per minute with metronomic smoothness, the recipients were not so co-ordinated in their response. Their own guns were conspicuous in their absence, the lack of ammunition compelling their silence at this point in what was merely a skirmish. The general commanding this assault had men who he could use to brush aside this position, but he needed his guns for the main line of resistance.

As the Germans advanced to within 1320 yards the squadron commander ordered the cavalry to open fire. The British troops were all experienced professionals equipped with the same rifle as their infantry brethren, the infantry may have disdained the musketry of the “donkey wallopers” but they could shoot well. At this range though their fire was much less effective than the two field guns, a mark VII .303 round was still more than capable of killing a man at three quarters of a mile but he made a very small target, most rounds missed but with 100 trained soldiers firing a steady 10 rounds of aimed fire per minute casualties began to mount up.

Some of the German troops went to ground firing back, whilst others manuevered to try and find a flank to turn. To make matters worse a pair of maxim guns were wheeled into position, and they were soon firing effectively on both the cavalry and threatening the guns. The RHA unit was duelling with the machine guns, but the rapid and accurate fire of the Maxim gun soon compelled the RHA to withdraw. The squadron maintained its own fire until the Germans had advanced within 800 yards, the ratio of casualties was lopsided in the extreme with only 4 British soldiers dead and 3 severely wounded. The wounded were placed into the back of the RGA truck and with it now over crowded it lead the withdrawl of C Squadron back to the cavalry main line. The troopers doubling back to the location of their horses to mount up and trot out.

The German infantry rushed forward to capture the town, but the RGA observer had issued his final orders with care. As the first German units were moving in to recapture Ogy and take the retreating cavalry under fire, a salvo of shell landed on the village, destroying the church and blocking the road with rubble and shell holes.

 

[diesal]

23rd September 1914, Flobecq

It started in an aid post, an Unteroffizier came in leading another NCO who had been hit in the face, the wound was bleeding profusely. A shrapnel ball having struck the man on the cheek, shattering the zygomatic bone, it had then transferred some kinetic energy to his left eye which ruptured, as the ball then passed laterally through his skull, severing his tongue and then pulverising the jaw. Despite this permanently disfiguring injury the man was otherwise unharmed, the Unteroffizier and he, had been friends for years and the sight of his comrade so gruesomely injured had caused him to disobey the order that the wounded were to be left were they feel for the ambulance service to recover. Instead, this NCO had led his blinded and bleeding comrade back towards the town and the aid post.

None of the men who were marching towards the guns tried to stop him, or any of the other walking wounded or their “helpers” who were heading in the opposite direction.

All the men were hungry, they had been on short rations for a few days now, never plentiful with the damage to the Belgian railways the food situation had worsened dramatically. There was some meat, wounded and exhausted horses, any livestock not already gleaned by the advancing army all of them were butchered for stew by the commissary units. But it was not enough so the men tightened their belts and marched on. Even the savaging they had taken attacking at Ath, Sottegem and Leuze-en-Hainaut had only dented their morale, they retained their pride as German soldiers and had faith in their leadership.

The advance to contact was going badly, with no artillery support available. Few of the heavy guns had managed the retreat, with the tractors running out of fuel and the horses exhausted by the labour of hauling their burdens on little or no feed. Many guns had simply been abandoned often after desultory attempts to disable them. The gunners who had lost their guns or drivers whose wagons were empty were now being gathered by the officers into ersatz battalions, they would join the attack on the British line. Their only hope of staying out of a prison camp was to brave the British guns and their deadly riflemen.

Whilst the infantry were still operating under orders without demur, the specialists often older men with more training and in their minds more value were less biddable at this point. These men were still gathering at Flobecq, the First Army command was also keen to preserve their skills for future employment when the encirclement was broken and First Army could be withdrawn through the gap.

As the unteroffizier lead his sobbing, retching comrade towards the aid post at Flobecq he noticed that the scene was changing, the Feldgendamarie were present in greater numbers. He had never been a fan of the “chained dogs” with their medieval gorgets indicating their role as the armies police, he had had run ins with them in the past and he was keen to avoid contact now. Especially as he was aware that technically he was now a deserter, the penalty for which was savage.

He finally made it into the aid post, his comrade now more than anything, a burden, the man having collapsed from the pain and blood loss and the unteroffizier carrying him on his own back for the last few hundred metres. He was filthy, covered in blood and who knew what other horrors had coated him as the British shells had turned so many men into bloody gruel.

It was at the entrance to the aid post, where the first shocking indignity occurred, the surgeon performing triage on seeing the head wound, snapped don’t bother bringing him in here, he is dead man already, the unteroffizier tried to argue protesting “he is my friend”. The doctor exhausted by his own endless labour over the harvest of men maimed and mutilated by shot, shell, bayonet and even for some poor souls who had been routed by a troop of hussars, swords, was unsympathetic “they are all someone’s friend, somebody’s son”. Then he noticed the unteroffizier was from an infantry unit, “what are you doing here, you should be at the front”. Raising his voice, he shouted “coward, you have used this man as an excuse to flee your duty” turning to the military policeman nearby he said “arrest this man”. This accusation of cowardice was the final straw, the unteroffizier had marched and fought across Belgium, he didn’t need some doctor sitting safe in a cellar thousands of metres back from the front line to call him a coward. It was clear that he was not alone, some of the wounded men shouted at the doctor that no man who faced the British rifles and lived should be called a coward.

It was at this moment that the military policeman blundered, he drew his pistol and told the unteroffizier he was under arrest for desertion and cowardice. The wounded men shouted at the chain dog, “leave him be” “he is one of us” there were many men crammed into that cellar, most were badly wounded but enough were able to shout, the situation was getting out of hand, the military policeman was already nervous. He looked at the soldier, he looked at the wounded men, he had his orders “you come with me, I don’t care what these bastards call me, you are a deserter and you will drop that man now and come to the guardhouse, the Oberst will deal with you pig”, one of the more lightly wounded men, an older NCO a Feldwebel by his rank badges, stood up he spoke “you chain dog, put that pistol down before I feed it to you”, then speaking to the unteroffizier he said “your mate is dead or will die, the surgeons are swamped they can do nothing, put him over there and go back to the front boy”. The policeman was a stubborn man, a reservist from Prussia he was not going to let anyone speak to him like that, they would respect his authority, he turned on the Feldwebel, “you can join the unteroffizier, you are under arrest” it was at this point that things went badly wrong.

Another soldier, half maddened with the pain of his own wound, a missing foot that would doom him to a life of poverty, struck the policeman with the butt of a rifle he had been using as crutch, the policeman convulsively pulled the trigger. A bullet stuck the feldwebel in the head, the enraged soldier with the rifle then shot the chain dog.

Pandemonium ensued, men shouting and shooting in the dark, the walking wounded immediately began streaming out of the cellar, shouting they are shooting the wounded they shouted. One soldier nearby, a socialist agitator who was unhappily attached to an ersatz battalion, shouted “down with the war, let us not die under British guns”, he was shot down by an officer trying to nip the incipient anarchy in the bud, the officer was in turn was shot by another man. The chaos spread rapidly, many men taking the opportunity to slip away from Flobecq to surrender, but gradually military discipline and habits of obedience restored order. The First Army was shaken and much of it was unwilling, but it was not yet ready to yield.