The most worried man in the whole of the 56th Division that morning was 'B' Company's Sergeant-Major Eddie Warren of the Rangers. Knee-deep in icy mud in their jumping-off trench, they were waiting to attack the village of Neuville-Vitasse that lay just over a half a mile ahead. It was not the daylight zero hour of 7.45 am that worried him: the Rangers had gone over in daylight before, at Gommecourt on 1st July 1916. What nagged him was that the barbed wire in front of Pine Lane, a strongly-held German trench, had not been cut. During the night, while the Rangers assembled for the attack, he had met his old pal Charlie Clark, the Sergeant-Major of 'A' Company in the trench to their right; it was Charlie who had told him that the wire was completely uncut. (Extract from: Cheerful Sacrifice, The Battle of Arras 1917 by Jonathan Nicholls.)
At 5.30 am on 9th April 1917, the Battle of Arras commenced with the hugely successful attack of the Canadians on Vimy Ridge to the north. The assault rolled on down the line from north-west to south-east as each jumping-off time was reached.
7.45 am and the Rangers rose from their assault trenches and advanced behind their covering artillery barrage creeping across the ground ahead of them. Enemy counter-assault shells landed in the now empty trenches just vacated by the Rangers.
'A' Company reached the wire in front of Pine Lane and found it impassable. It was here that most of their casualties occurred, all four company officers were wounded.
Sergeant-Major Eddie Warren: "At 7.45 am we went over and executed our attack in perfect order - like a drill in Hyde Park. Our lads were mostly from Paddington and Kilburn and they were smoking and chattering away to each other in great spirits. I expect they thought it was the beginning of the end. Well we got right up to the wire and everyone went quiet.
The machine guns opened up from point-blank range and a dozen or so went down in the first burst. We all got down and a few of the boys ran along the wire looking for the gap but they were shot down. 'A' Company on the right copped it the worst. Some of the boys threw themselves flat into the wire to act as a human bridge but they were shot to bits - it was heartbreaking.
I'd like to know why that attack was not cancelled when the General knew the wire was uncut".
After garrisoning the strong-point known as Flank North Post, 'B' Company pushed on to Pine Lane Trench but as in 'A' Company's case, they found few gaps in the wire and casualties were mounting.
2nd Lieutenant Cunningham of 'B' Company led his platoon through a small gap in the wire that he had found. Fighting through the Pine Lane Trench, they managed to kill the machine gun team that had inflicted heavy casualties on the Rangers.
Now the earlier meeting with the tank officers paid off, for the nearest tank spotting the problems, diverted and drove along the wire trampling it down so that the Rangers could pass over, taking Pine Lane and thirty prisoners.
(Above: Pine Lane Trench today).
'A' Company Commander, Captain Barrett was the only officer left on his feet and although severely wounded in the head, he gathered fifty men on the enemy side of Pine Lane. It was then found that all sergeants and corporals were down.
Captain Barrett and his composite fifty survivors then pushed on to the second objective, Fork Road Point to Tramway. This objective achieved, Barrett was forced to return to the Regimental Aid Post, leaving Fork Road Point under the command of Lance-Corporal Drew who effectively became the Company Commander!
(Above: 'Fork Road' post today).
'B' Company meanwhile began the construction of Flank Central Post by those detailed for this work while the remainder pushed on to their second objective, Sunken Road from Fork Road Post.
'C' Company following in support of 'A' Company passed through the gaps in Pine Lane Trench wire and captured some prisoners who had been missed by 'A' Company before pressing on to the third objective, Road Left of Moss Central Point, where they began to dig in.
'D' Company meanwhile had been held up when the 43rd Brigade was in turn held up by the wire in front of them. 'D' Company therefore established a defensive line on the flank until the 43rd was able to press on.
By 9.30 am all the Rangers objectives were taken and Neuville-Vitasse was held by the Kensingtons.
Sergeant-Major Eddie Warren of 'B' Company came through that day without injury. Not so his friend, C.S.M. Charlie Clark of 'A' Company who was found lying dead among the bodies of his men in the tangle of the Pine Lane wire.
(Above: CSM Charlie Clark's grave).
One officer and fifty-seven other ranks of the Rangers died that day. The dead were collected and buried after a short service conducted by the Regimental Chaplain in an old trench beside the Beaurains to Neuville-Vitasse Road, near their jumping-off positions. C.S.M. Clark is buried at the head of his men, nine graves from that of C.S.M. Charlie Clark is 472916 Rifleman Percy R. Prince, my paternal great-uncle. The place is known as London Cemetery and the original simple wooden crosses have since been replaced with headstones.
(Rifleman P R Prince, in the uniform of the 9th Middlesex when he first enlisted).
(Percy's grave today).
Of the wounded I can find no quoted figures. One Company had no officers and no N.C.O.'s above the rank of Lance-Corporal left alive or un-wounded by 9.30 am. Taking the average of three to one wounded to killed, this puts the casualties at around the 240 mark, something near a 50% casualty figure. Some of the lightly wounded were patched up in the Regimental Aid Post and returned to the front-line, others required hospitalisation in the rear, some succumbed to their wounds and were buried in other cemeteries away from the immediate area. The 'lucky' ones received 'Blighty Ones', a wound requiring re-patriation and a ticket home, hopefully to make a full recovery.
One of the apparently 'lucky' Rangers was 473513 Rifleman Fred Horner, my maternal great-uncle. Unfortunately uncle Fred's luck ran out on 17th April 1917, just eight days after the battle, when the hospital ship, H.M.T.s Donegal, was torpedoed and sunk by a U-boat between Le Havre and Southampton.
(Rifleman Fred Horner).
(Fred is commemorated with the others who died aboard HMTs Donegal at Hollybrook Memorial, Southampton).
********************
All along the Arras front, success followed success. It was tactically one of the most successful days for the British Army since Agust 1914. It showed that 'Kitcheners Army' had truely come of age after the slaughter of the Somme, their professionalism was unquestionable but it had a high price.
The battle itself continued until 4th May 1917, with ever diminishing results and growing casualties but the Rangers took no further part in it. The Battalion had suffered enormous casualties and was withdrawn to rest and draw replacements.
Arras 1917, was a tactical success. The objectives were carried although no successes on the scale of the first day would be repeated. Strategically it was a failure. No major break-out was achieved, the cavalry Brigades waiting to exploit the infantry punching a hole in the enemy lines were either committed piecemeal and despite acts of conspicuous courage, they were either slaughtered by 20th century weapons or never moved out of their assembly positions.
There are several reasons why the Battle of Arras 1917 ultimately failed: The French Army to the south were unable to co-ordinate their attack with the British so that the Germans were able to concentrate their reserves to slow and finally stop the British assault. (In fact the French delayed and re-delayed their own offensive and amid government turmoil, replacement of Nivelle by Petain and a mutiny in the French Army, they never did). The Germans, when they withdrew to the new Hindenburg Line, instituted a new 'elastic' form of defence where the front-line was thinly manned but strong reinforcements stood ready to be thrown forward where needed. Time and time again on the Arras front, the British made relatively easy gains only to be thrown back or stopped by this new defensive tactic.
The Battle of Arras 1917 is almost forgotten in the minds of most. It is overshadowed by evocative names such as the Battle of the Somme (July to November 1916), Ypres or Paschendale, even by Arras 1940, where another generation of British soldiers fought annother generation of Germans in a holding action that allowed time for the retreat to Dunkirk. Arras 1917 has a macabre statistic that alone should make it notable; statistically the daily casualty rate exceeded any other British and Commonwealth action of the Great War.
Somme: 2.943 casualties per day.
Arras: 4,076 casualties per day.
3rd Ypres: 2,323 casualties per day.
At 5.30 am on 9th April 1917, the Battle of Arras commenced with the hugely successful attack of the Canadians on Vimy Ridge to the north. The assault rolled on down the line from north-west to south-east as each jumping-off time was reached.
7.45 am and the Rangers rose from their assault trenches and advanced behind their covering artillery barrage creeping across the ground ahead of them. Enemy counter-assault shells landed in the now empty trenches just vacated by the Rangers.
'A' Company reached the wire in front of Pine Lane and found it impassable. It was here that most of their casualties occurred, all four company officers were wounded.
Sergeant-Major Eddie Warren: "At 7.45 am we went over and executed our attack in perfect order - like a drill in Hyde Park. Our lads were mostly from Paddington and Kilburn and they were smoking and chattering away to each other in great spirits. I expect they thought it was the beginning of the end. Well we got right up to the wire and everyone went quiet.
The machine guns opened up from point-blank range and a dozen or so went down in the first burst. We all got down and a few of the boys ran along the wire looking for the gap but they were shot down. 'A' Company on the right copped it the worst. Some of the boys threw themselves flat into the wire to act as a human bridge but they were shot to bits - it was heartbreaking.
I'd like to know why that attack was not cancelled when the General knew the wire was uncut".
After garrisoning the strong-point known as Flank North Post, 'B' Company pushed on to Pine Lane Trench but as in 'A' Company's case, they found few gaps in the wire and casualties were mounting.
2nd Lieutenant Cunningham of 'B' Company led his platoon through a small gap in the wire that he had found. Fighting through the Pine Lane Trench, they managed to kill the machine gun team that had inflicted heavy casualties on the Rangers.
Now the earlier meeting with the tank officers paid off, for the nearest tank spotting the problems, diverted and drove along the wire trampling it down so that the Rangers could pass over, taking Pine Lane and thirty prisoners.
(Above: Pine Lane Trench today).
'A' Company Commander, Captain Barrett was the only officer left on his feet and although severely wounded in the head, he gathered fifty men on the enemy side of Pine Lane. It was then found that all sergeants and corporals were down.
Captain Barrett and his composite fifty survivors then pushed on to the second objective, Fork Road Point to Tramway. This objective achieved, Barrett was forced to return to the Regimental Aid Post, leaving Fork Road Point under the command of Lance-Corporal Drew who effectively became the Company Commander!
(Above: 'Fork Road' post today).
'B' Company meanwhile began the construction of Flank Central Post by those detailed for this work while the remainder pushed on to their second objective, Sunken Road from Fork Road Post.
'C' Company following in support of 'A' Company passed through the gaps in Pine Lane Trench wire and captured some prisoners who had been missed by 'A' Company before pressing on to the third objective, Road Left of Moss Central Point, where they began to dig in.
'D' Company meanwhile had been held up when the 43rd Brigade was in turn held up by the wire in front of them. 'D' Company therefore established a defensive line on the flank until the 43rd was able to press on.
By 9.30 am all the Rangers objectives were taken and Neuville-Vitasse was held by the Kensingtons.
Sergeant-Major Eddie Warren of 'B' Company came through that day without injury. Not so his friend, C.S.M. Charlie Clark of 'A' Company who was found lying dead among the bodies of his men in the tangle of the Pine Lane wire.
(Above: CSM Charlie Clark's grave).
One officer and fifty-seven other ranks of the Rangers died that day. The dead were collected and buried after a short service conducted by the Regimental Chaplain in an old trench beside the Beaurains to Neuville-Vitasse Road, near their jumping-off positions. C.S.M. Clark is buried at the head of his men, nine graves from that of C.S.M. Charlie Clark is 472916 Rifleman Percy R. Prince, my paternal great-uncle. The place is known as London Cemetery and the original simple wooden crosses have since been replaced with headstones.
(Rifleman P R Prince, in the uniform of the 9th Middlesex when he first enlisted).
(Percy's grave today).
Of the wounded I can find no quoted figures. One Company had no officers and no N.C.O.'s above the rank of Lance-Corporal left alive or un-wounded by 9.30 am. Taking the average of three to one wounded to killed, this puts the casualties at around the 240 mark, something near a 50% casualty figure. Some of the lightly wounded were patched up in the Regimental Aid Post and returned to the front-line, others required hospitalisation in the rear, some succumbed to their wounds and were buried in other cemeteries away from the immediate area. The 'lucky' ones received 'Blighty Ones', a wound requiring re-patriation and a ticket home, hopefully to make a full recovery.
One of the apparently 'lucky' Rangers was 473513 Rifleman Fred Horner, my maternal great-uncle. Unfortunately uncle Fred's luck ran out on 17th April 1917, just eight days after the battle, when the hospital ship, H.M.T.s Donegal, was torpedoed and sunk by a U-boat between Le Havre and Southampton.
(Rifleman Fred Horner).
(Fred is commemorated with the others who died aboard HMTs Donegal at Hollybrook Memorial, Southampton).
********************
All along the Arras front, success followed success. It was tactically one of the most successful days for the British Army since Agust 1914. It showed that 'Kitcheners Army' had truely come of age after the slaughter of the Somme, their professionalism was unquestionable but it had a high price.
The battle itself continued until 4th May 1917, with ever diminishing results and growing casualties but the Rangers took no further part in it. The Battalion had suffered enormous casualties and was withdrawn to rest and draw replacements.
Arras 1917, was a tactical success. The objectives were carried although no successes on the scale of the first day would be repeated. Strategically it was a failure. No major break-out was achieved, the cavalry Brigades waiting to exploit the infantry punching a hole in the enemy lines were either committed piecemeal and despite acts of conspicuous courage, they were either slaughtered by 20th century weapons or never moved out of their assembly positions.
There are several reasons why the Battle of Arras 1917 ultimately failed: The French Army to the south were unable to co-ordinate their attack with the British so that the Germans were able to concentrate their reserves to slow and finally stop the British assault. (In fact the French delayed and re-delayed their own offensive and amid government turmoil, replacement of Nivelle by Petain and a mutiny in the French Army, they never did). The Germans, when they withdrew to the new Hindenburg Line, instituted a new 'elastic' form of defence where the front-line was thinly manned but strong reinforcements stood ready to be thrown forward where needed. Time and time again on the Arras front, the British made relatively easy gains only to be thrown back or stopped by this new defensive tactic.
The Battle of Arras 1917 is almost forgotten in the minds of most. It is overshadowed by evocative names such as the Battle of the Somme (July to November 1916), Ypres or Paschendale, even by Arras 1940, where another generation of British soldiers fought annother generation of Germans in a holding action that allowed time for the retreat to Dunkirk. Arras 1917 has a macabre statistic that alone should make it notable; statistically the daily casualty rate exceeded any other British and Commonwealth action of the Great War.
Somme: 2.943 casualties per day.
Arras: 4,076 casualties per day.
3rd Ypres: 2,323 casualties per day.
