Author: 22ndaif

While returning to pick up wounded at the port of Le Havre, France, HMHS Salta struck a mine at 11:43, one mile (1.6 km) north of the entrance to the dam. A huge explosion smashed the hull near the stern in the engine room and hold number three. Water rushed into the disabled ship which listed to starboard and sank in less than 10 minutes. Of the 205 passengers and crew members, nine nurses, 42 member of the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) and 79 crew drowned. The British patrol boat HMS P-26 attempted to come alongside to assist, but also struck a mine and sank.

British Royal Engineers fire gas cylinders over Bullecourt in preparation for the attack. By 4.15am the attacking battalions of the 12^th and 4^th Brigades were in position to their tapes and assembly positions, but there was no sign of the tanks. Lying out in the snow, the two Brigades would be easily seen between Bullecourt and Queant once dawn arrived. At 5am the message arrived that the ‘stunt is off’, those lying on the tapes simply rose and walked back without formation like a crowd from a football match. But communication between the AIF 4^th Division and the British 62^nd Division was lacking, and the British pushed on with their attack but without support were forced to retire suffering some 162 casualties.

Later that day Field Marshall Haig’s Chief of Staff calls General Gough informing that the Third Army was going to resume the attack in the morning to the north and to press home their gains, and that the Fifth Army must support the effort, against Birdwood and White’s serious concerns, not least a heavy reliance upon the tanks and the tiredness of the troops.

At dawn the British First and Third Armies launched their great offensive at Vimy and Arras respectively. It had been prepared by a massive artillery bombardment greater than that at the Somme, and the infantry advanced more effectively under a creeping barrage. The attack succeeded in most of the areas and at Arras success was almost complete, taking the first two defensive systems. For the Canadians at Vimy Ridge this was the first time their four divisions fought together as a unified force and despite heavy losses this victorious day would be seen as key in their evolution from dominion to an independent nation.

The main attack on the village of Boursies began at 4.45am and took place on the same day as the start of the Arras offensive, this action acting as a minor feint to the main battle taking place further north. The 10^th and the 12^th Battalions took the village at a cost of 341 casualties. The attack by the AIF 1^st Division also included a successful attack on the village of Hermies by the 1^st Brigade. Except for a few of the garrison, practically all of the Germans were either killed or taken prisoner, but at a loss of 253 officers and men for the 2^nd and 3^rd Battalions, of which a high proportion of 1 in 3 were killed. The 1^st Battalion moved on Demicourt and occupied the village, sustaining 55 casualties.

By successive local advances made at night without serious opposition, the I Anzac line was over the next few nights pushed forward to within less than a mile of the Hindenburg defences. General Gough telegraphed his congratulations to the AIF 1^st Division adding ‘Throughout the advance since the end of February the enterprise, tactical skill, and gallantry of the whole Anzac Corps has been remarkable and is deserving of the highest commendation.’

On 2nd April 1917, President Woodrow Wilson went before a joint session of Congress to request a declaration of war against Germany. Wilson cited Germany’s violation of its pledge to suspend unrestricted submarine warfare in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean, as well as its attempts to entice Mexico into an alliance against the United States, as his reasons for declaring war. On April 4, 1917, the U.S. Senate voted in support of the measure to declare war on Germany. The House concurred two days later.

Although 14,000 US infantry landed in France on 26^th June 1917 to begin training, it would take at least 12 months before US troops were present on the Western Front in enough numbers to have any effect on the outcome of the war.

To the west of Bullecourt the 49^th Battalion reached the railway embankment that ran parallel to the Hindenburg Line about half a mile away.

A limited number of batteries began their bombardment of the Hindenburg Line, their reduced number caused by delays in being able to bring the artillery forward and the limited obscured places available for them in this sector on account of the geography of the valleys running perpendicular to the front line. Furthermore, the supply of ammunition for the artillery was also limited by the difficulty of transporting it forward, though the Germans were surprised how much the British were able to bring in to their forward position given the destruction they had caused to the infrastructure during their withdrawal.

At 5.15am the supporting barrage started to fall on the enemy positions and the two battalions of the 13th Brigade advanced together. The 51^st Battalion met with machine-gun fire from the left, right and the sunken Noreuil-Longatte road ahead, causing eighty men to fall, before the position was taken and prisoners captured. The 50^th Battalion were having difficulties as the suppressing barrage was too thin to be effective, and suffering enfilade fire from pockets of Germans behind the steep bank in the sunken lanes. During the fighting Pte Jensen (photograph right) rushed a position and bluffed more than forty Germans to surrender, and was awarded the Victoria Cross. With the Lewis gunners firing from the hip, the battalion advanced. However by 8.45 the position was becoming precarious. The Germans were holding the gullies in strength and the Australian casualties were mounting as the Germans started to attack with bombing parties. Fighting continued all day, but by dawn when the 51^st were preparing to rush the German positions, they had found that they had retired during the night.

Thus on the left half of the Fifth Army’s front the last obstacle to Gough’s projected diversion against the Hindenburg Line had been removed, and all divisions began pushing their posts closer to the main defences which scarred the open country a mile or so ahead of them.