Battle of La Bassée (1914)
The First Battle of La Bassée was part of the fighting on the Western Front of the First World War . In the course of the race to the sea between October 10 and the beginning of November 1914 there was heavy fighting between the British II and the German VII Army Corps on both sides of the La Bassée Canal . In the final phase of the struggle for possession of Neuve-Chapelle , the Indian Corps , which had just arrived on the Western Front, was also used.
In parallel, the Battle of Armentières was further north by the English III. Corps with the German XIII. Army Corps . The results of both battles were sobering on the British side, for they had not succeeded in occupying the heights of Aubers , which would have provided an important base on the newly formed front. The Battle of La Bassée and Armentières was overshadowed by the even more violent battles that took place further north near Ypres in the First Battle of Flanders .
prehistory
In the course of the race to the sea, General Maudhuy , the commander of the French 10th Army of the weak garrison of Lille under Colonel Felix Pardieu, had promised an early relief. At the beginning of October, the French XXI. Corps (General Maistre ) extended its left flank (13th Division) to Vermelles south of the La Bassée Canal. To the west of it, the French 1st and 2nd Cavalry Corps Conneau and de Mitry and some chasseurs advanced on the new front line via Béthune to Estaires and Merville to the La Lys Canal. The French 6th Cavalry Division reached the line Fôret de Clairmarais to St. Omer , where it was connected to the 87th Territorial Division, which had a vague connection to the port of Dunkirk . Cassel and Lille were still occupied by French troops.
The British Expeditionary Force under Field Marshal John French had been regrouped to Flanders after the battle of the Aisne had subsided: on October 8th and 9th the bulk of the troops arrived in Abbeville by train and received instructions to advance separately: the II Corps under Smith Dorrien was over Béthune as vanguard to La Bassée , the III. Corps under Pulteney via Estaires to Armentières and the I. Corps under General Haig via Hazebrouck to Ypres . The British Cavalry Corps under General Allenby (1st and 2nd Cavalry Divisions under Lisle and Gough ) covered the arrival of the infantry and advanced about 35 km north by October 10th. The II Corps tried to drive the German forces (29th Division), which had not yet been assembled in significant strength, back to Lille at La Bassée. The 3rd Division (General Hamilton) was positioned along the Aire Canal, directly at the crossings, and was in contact there with the 5th Division (General Fergusson ). To his left was General Louis Conneau's French 1st Cavalry Corps , which had advanced his divisions to La Couture - Richebourg and St. Vaast . The English 3rd Division advanced on October 8th at 2:30 p.m. with the 8th Brigade in the direction of Herlies to the heights of Aubers, the 7th Brigade released the French at La Couture. With the 7th Brigade the 2nd Royal Irish Rifleman had entered the fighting. The 8th Brigade was stopped and stopped with crowd in Vieille-Chapelle .
On October 9th, the German XIV. Army Corps (28th and 29th Divisions ) under General von Watter arrived opposite the French troops and cleared the 1st and 2nd Cavalry Corps, which then carried out a flanking march over Armentières. The German 4th Cavalry Corps (3rd and 6th Cavalry Divisions) under General von Hollen , which operated even further north, appeared in Ypres on October 7 , before being pushed back east by French territorial troops off Bailleul . South of the La Bassée Canal around Lens and Béthune was a coal mining area full of cinder blocks, piles of pits (Fosses) and miners' houses (Corons), which gave the French good defenses. North of the canal, the cities of Lille , Tourcoing and Roubaix formed an industrial complex with remote locations in Armentières, Comines , Halluin and Menin .
course
On the evening of October 9, the English II Corps established itself on the front line between Hinges and Chocques , with units flanking on the right about 5.6 km south and 7.2 km west of the city of Béthune with the left wing. The German I. and II. Cavalry Corps under General von der Marwitz tried to stop the British advance. Sections of the German XIV Army Corps reinforced the cavalry and marched the next day to Hinges and the following day to La Couture, where they fought with French cavalry. The English II Corps advanced until it encountered German troops along the Estaires - Richebourg - Festubert - Givenchy line . The battle of La Bassée developed from this on October 10th. On that day, the British II Corps (General Horace Smith-Dorrien ) was ordered to advance east on a line that led from Givenchy to the north. The German XIII. Army Corps was unloaded in the Valenciennes area and was operational on October 12 with the 25th Reserve Division and the following day with the 26th Division. Parts of the German XIX. Army corps had occupied Lille and had already replaced the cavalry divisions in the area west of the city.
British attacks from October 12th
The actual battle of La Bassée did not begin until October 12th. The British 3rd and 5th Divisions attacked to reach a line from Givenchy to Pont du Hem, 6 miles north of the La Bassée Canal and the heights of Aubers. On October 13, the attack by the English 3rd Division and the French 7th Cavalry Division gained little ground. At dawn on October 13th, the relegated riders of the German cavalry divisions and the affiliated hunter battalions fought for every meter of terrain at La Bassée. At 12.30 noon the 3rd Worcestershire Regiment had reached Richebourg and St. Vaast, where the French outposts had withdrawn from the Germans. On the left the 2nd South Lancashire Regiment and the 2nd Royal Irish Riflemen reached the Croix Barbée section and were then stopped by German machine gun fire. Givenchy was lost in the section of the 5th Division when counterattacks by the German 28th Division began.
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The German VII Army Corps ( General of the Infantry Eberhard von Claer ) took over the positions at La Bassée on October 14, the XIII. The following day, Army Corps moved into the lines at Ennetières with the 26th Division . On October 14th, the II. Corps attacked on both sides of the La Bassée Canal at Givenchy and Cuinchy , with the help of the French cavalry break-ins followed on the opposing flanks, which could be eliminated by German counterattacks during the night. While the German 13th Division was still tied at Souchez and the Lorettohöhe, the 14th Division was already being transferred to Neuve-Chapelle. The 25th Brigade (Major General von Unruh ) of the 13th Division followed to La Bassee and fought for Givenchy after releasing the 28th Division . The English 3rd Division , deployed on the left of the II Corps, suffered a heavy loss that day due to the death of its commander, Major General Hubert Hamilton , the former military secretary of Lord Kitchener in South Africa and India. Hamilton was fatally wounded by shrapnel near Bout Deville (south of Estaires) at 10 a.m., after which Major General Colin J. Mackenzie was in command of the division until he was wounded on October 29th. Then the 3rd Division artillery commander, Major General FDV Wing, took over until November 22, the day General James Aylmer L. Haldane arrived as the new commander of the 3rd Division.
It was not until October 15 that the British realized that the German cavalry corps had been replaced by line troops. The VII Army Corps (14th Division and 25th Infantry Brigade) immediately began counterattacks on the entire front of the English II Corps. La Bassée was taken by the 28th Division , the 14th Division (Lieutenant General Fleck ) advanced on Neuve-Chapelle. At 2 p.m. after the bombardment lasted all morning, the fighting continued. General Smith-Dorrien ordered a new offensive to the southeast: the aim was to outflank the German troops that had attacked the French lines to the south. The 2nd Royal Irish Riflemen, who were on the left flank of the 8th Brigade, stormed through Croix Barbée and reached the main road to Estaires .
October 16 brought thick fog, which considerably impeded the English attack. After feeling that the columns were slowly moving forward, they stopped at 11.30 on the Neuve-Chapelle-Fauquissart road. Givenchy was recaptured by the British on October 16, Violaines was also stormed and on October 17 they were able to gain a foothold on the heights of Aubers. The attacks of the 8th Brigade (Brigadier General Beauchamp JC Doran ) reached Aubers by October 18 , fighting for every trench and bridge against the German resistance, with losses of almost 1,000 men.
October 17th was the most successful day of the battle for the Allies , their troops were able to advance about ten kilometers eastwards to the ridge of Aubers. The 9th Brigade (Brigadier General Frederick Charles Shaw ), which had replaced the 8th, drove the Germans out of Aubers, while French cavalry managed to penetrate Fromelles. The Royal Irish Riflemen captured the village of Pommereau on the slopes of the Aubers Ridge, the German resistance seemed to be flagging. The British 9th Brigade pressed forward irresistibly and took the town of Herlies behind the ridge. Even before this was taken, German reinforcements were recognized who were advancing from Fournes to La Bassée.
On October 18, the German resistance increased again, which gradually brought the English II Corps to a standstill. In the early morning the front battalion of the 2nd South Lancashire Regiment was relieved and moved to Pont Logy, where it had a few hours of rest until it was deployed again in the evening east of the Bois du Biez. The day saw a successful attack by the 2nd South Lancashire on the village of Illies. On October 19, the 7th Brigade (Brigadier General Frederick McCracken ) and French cavalry captured Le Pilly (Herlies) and then had to retreat from German artillery fire. In the afternoon the 7th Brigade was engaged in defensive combat with all battalions, but held their positions. Although Le Pilly was held, all further efforts to enforce the breakthrough were unsuccessful.
German counterattacks from October 20th
The German counter-offensive, which took place on October 20, primarily against the French XXI. Corps (13th and 43rd Divisions) deployed and expanded to the north on October 21st to prevent further successes of the British 3rd Division. The German XIII. Army corps was called in, Fromelles formed the border with the 14th Division of the VII Army Corps. The 26th Division (Lieutenant General von Urach ) covered the northern flank as far as Halluin and attacked the Ennetieres - Le Maisnil line . Covered by a smoke screen, the Germans penetrated the front of 2nd South Lancashire, a position restored by a counterattack by 3rd Worcestershire and the Royal West Kent Battalion. The section of the 7th and 9th Brigade across from Le Transloy - Illies to Herlies in particular had to withstand severe pressure. The Germans were able to penetrate Le Pilly, the 7th Brigade was forced to withdraw further. On the evening of October 20th, the English 5th Division was instructed to go on the defensive from the Canal at Givenchy via Violaines to Riez , while the opposing offensive was to be countered in the north. On the left flank of the 3rd Division at the former seam to the withdrawn French 1st Cavalry Corps, the previously independent English 19th Brigade (Brig. Gen. Frederick Gordon) was pushed in, which filled the gap to the 6th Division of the English III. Corps could close.
A counterattack by the 3rd Division started at 11:00 on October 21, which recaptured some previously lost trenches. At 6:30 p.m., however, the news of the retreat of the English 19th Brigade arrived at Le Maisnil , the 3rd Division was then pushed back by Herlies and Riez about 1.6 km to the line from Lorgies via Ligny and south of Fromelles. During the last fighting, General Smith-Dorrien had ordered a new reserve line to be built, located in the rear of the north flank, where the threat of encirclement was greatest. The new line ran east of Givenchy, east of Neuve-Chapelle to Fauquissart , but it still had little barbed wire and the ground was too swampy to allow deeper shelters to be excavated.
In the early morning of October 22nd, the British were roused by gunfire, and German counterattacks began, which also covered the entire line of the 5th Division. The German 26th and 14th divisions succeeded in pushing the English 3rd division back onto the line Fromelles, Aubers, Illies, Lorgies and Violaines . The battalions of the 2nd Royal Irish had instructions to hold Neuve-Chapelle, to the left of which the line of the 8th Brigade was pushed back. On the night of October 22nd to 23rd, the II Corps withdrew its left (northern) flank on a line from the La Bassée Canal east of Givenchy to the road to La Quinque, east of Neuve-Chapelle and further according to Fauquissart. The lack of engineers, tools and barbed wire meant that the English troops could hardly find any fortifications and immediately had to start digging. The next day, the French troops were driven out of Fromelles. The French asked the British to bring parts of the newly arrived Indian Lahore Division to Estaires behind the left (north) wing of the II Corps to support the beleaguered 1st Cavalry Corps Conneau.
The Germans spent the following day bombing the British positions and advancing against the Indian Lahore Division (Lieutenant General HBB Watkis ). They reached Estaires , which had been designated as the rallying point for the Indian corps, for the II. Or III. Corps to be able to support as needed. The Indian Jullundur Brigade (Brig. Gen. EP Strickland ) released the French 1st Cavalry Corps on 23/24. October on the left flank of the II. Corps at Fauquissart and the 19th Brigade at the village of Rouge Bance, creating a closed infantry line from Givenchy to Ypres.
On October 24th, at 2 a.m., the German artillery began to bomb again. New German attacks followed in the afternoon, but their formations were visible to the enemy and were successfully repulsed before they reached the British line. The situation was undecided for an hour until the attack was repulsed at 6 p.m. The attacks were suspended until dark when a new German attack started south of Neuve-Chapelle on the right flank of the 3rd Division, which could only be repulsed after midnight with high losses. On the left flank of the 3rd Division, the 8th Brigade and the Jullundur Brigade were attacked from 9:00 p.m. on October 24, and a battalion on the left flank of the 8th Brigade was pushed back.
First battle for Neuve-Chapelle
In the early morning hours of October 25, the German infantry were able to take some British trenches, but were driven out of them again. These trenches were stormed again until reinforcements from the 9th Brigade finally forced the Germans to retreat. In the morning the first units of the II Corps were replaced by units of the Indian Corps. The sector of II Corps was being reinforced by parts of the Indian Lahore division when a determined German attack stormed Neuve-Chapelle. General Smith-Dorrien immediately requested reinforcements from the French, who agreed, since a defeat at La Bassée would also have affected the general offensive in Flanders. General Maud'huy sent two battalions of the French XXI. Corps to reinforce after Givenchy and Conneau led his cavalry corps behind the flank of the 3rd Division.
On October 26, at sunrise, the Germans attacked north of Givenchy, they had appeared in the dark, but were recognized by the sounds of small arms fired and repulsed. French reinforcements arrived later to allow the British battalions to retreat to Richebourg and St. Vaast under cover. At about 6:30 p.m. an English counterattack retook half of the village of Givenchy, and the rest of the battalion, hastily recalled from Richebourg, took their old place in the front line. South-east of the village, meanwhile, the Wiltshire infantry had clung to their trenches even as the enemy threatened their backs. Another attack took place after artillery bombardment at Neuve-Chapelle against the extreme left of the 5th Division and the right flank of the 3rd Division. The British infantry suffered heavy losses and some units withdrew from their trenches to avoid the German artillery fire. A new line was raised east of the village and connected to the defenses north and south of Neuve-Chapelle.
At dawn on October 27, the British situation was worse than expected. The German positions in the conquered British trenches at Neuve-Chapelle had consolidated. An English battalion tried to recapture the lost trenches at 7:30 a.m., but the Germans attacked it in the flank and surrounded it. About 2000 replacement men had arrived at the 3rd Division, which meant that the infantry battalions could be increased to 700 men each. Several 4.7-inch cannon batteries and an armored train from the Royal Navy had arrived, and the rations of field cannons had doubled to 60 shells per cannon per day. On the northern flank of Neuve-Chapelle, the British counterattack, which had started at 1.30 p.m., reached the western edge of the town after an hour, but then got stuck in front of German machine gun and sniper fire. The German activities towards the rest of the 3rd Division remained low, the Jullundur Brigade was attacked several times after the 27th and 79th Brigades had assembled in the Bois du Biez to attack. The Germans shifted the main focus of their attack to the south and went around the left flank of the neighboring battalion, which then withdrew its threatened flank at a right angle. The remnants of the English garrison held out until the 9th Battalion of the Bhopal Infantry arrived, bypassed the German flank and took back the village.
Brigadier General FS Maude in the south, released a reserve battalion that arrived at the 9th Bhopal Regiment to flank Neuve-Chapelle, but night fell before the troops could line up. Major General TLN Morland , the new commander of the 5th Division , ordered Maude Neuve-Chapelle to withdraw. Maude canceled the attack when he found that the British line had been restored and the place could now be attacked from the northwest. The English counterattack was canceled and after dark the troops dug into the western end of the village. Late that night, the new commander of the 3rd Division, Major General Colin J. Mackenzie, approved the decision to withdraw, and the survivors of the three British battalions, less than 600 men, were withdrawn at Richebourg on St. Vaast, where the 2nd Cavalry Brigade had arrived as reinforcements.
Intervention of the Indian Corps
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Generals Smith-Dorrien and James Willcocks arrived on October 28th to organize the replacement of II Corps by the Indian Corps. Heavy fog in the morning meant that the attack had to be postponed to 11:00 a.m. on October 28. After a brief bombardment by 13 batteries and after the fire had advanced 460 meters, the English infantry were ready to attack. The 3rd Division was instructed by Smith-Dorrien to retake Neuve-Chapelle, as the German positions there threatened the inner flanks of the 3rd and 5th Divisions. Every second available man was made available to the chief engineer of the Corps to dig a second line, Smith-Dorrien organized the preparations for the counterattack at the headquarters of the 3rd Division. The 7th Brigade was to carry out the attack with the support of the troops of the Indian Corps. In the north on the left flank, a battalion from the English 6th Division, French hunters and cyclists from the 2nd Cavalry Corps and a battalion from the 9th Brigade were to support the attack. Disorder, language difficulties and exhaustion meant that only about four battalions advanced, although the staff officers of the 3rd Division acted as liaison officers. The flank support was inadequate because German barrages began. The attackers advanced by fire and movement on 640 meters of level ground, drove the Germans from the village and reached the eastern and northern edges. Two companies of the 47th Sikhs and the 20th and 21st sappers and miners attacked as the 9th Bhopal Infantry was pushed under cover on the right. The 9th Bhopal Infantry withdrew from a captured trench, which resulted in two flanking companies being overrun. During the attack, the 2nd Cavalry Brigade occupied the lost Indian trenches and gave cover fire. The last cavalry reserve was moved forward to stop the German infantry at Neuve-Chapelle. To the north of the village, the 9th Brigade was bombed and shot at all day, but held its positions. Around 1 p.m. south of the village, after five hours of bombardment, the Germans attacked the two northernmost battalions of the 13th Brigade (Brig. Gen. William Hickie ), while other troops continued the attack on the 2nd Cavalry Brigade and the attacked infantry. At 5:00 p.m. the Germans made advances along the entire front and in places advanced to the British positions. The German attacks decreased again from 9 p.m. when a final attack was carried out in the south. On October 29th the 3rd Division was withdrawn to La Couture, the 7th Brigade was finally replaced by the Lahore Division. During the night of October 29th, the cavalry was relieved, and the area opposite the Bois du Biez that had been held until then was given up in order to straighten the line. The seam between the 13th and 14th Brigades at La Quinque Rue and Festubert was attacked by the Germans around 4 a.m.
On October 30th the 3rd Division withdrew to Doulieu and on the last day of the month the entire 7th Brigade marched off to Merris. The newly arrived Indian 7th (Meerut) Division (Lieutenant General Charles A. Anderson ) was provided as support. General Smith-Dorrien had ten exhausted battalions and most of the corps artillery relieved at Fauquissart. The relocation of two Indian battalions took about 2½ hours, a German attack could push back a Gurkha battalion and exposed the flank of the neighboring battalion until a counterattack began to regain the lost trenches. Most of the Indian troops did not advance during the day, so they moved into the trenches in the dark and carried out the detachment of the front troops over two nights. Successive attacks by the short-term German 48th Reserve Division (Lieutenant General von Hahn) on the troops of the Indian corps were largely held down by artillery fire and repulsed three times.
On the morning of October 31st, General Willcocks took command of the Indian Corps, commanding the fighting. That morning the usual fighting of the previous days had not occurred. The greatest German advantage consisted of heavy artillery and good trench equipment, which did not exist in the Allied armies. The troops of the II Corps were promised ten days of rest, but the relocation of troops towards Wytschaete began immediately, partly on foot and partly by truck. On November 1, the last seven battalions were relieved and behind the III. Corps gathered in the Bailleul area . The 5th Division artillery was sent north to the Cavalry Corps on November 2, and the remaining II Corps engineers built additional field fortifications.
The battle subsided
The landscape around La Bassee was flat, swampy and criss-crossed by many streams, which made it impossible to create positions in many places. It was not until the end of October that the British were given sufficient supplies of sandbags and barbed wire to build up elevated positions. The British field artillery was reinforced with 60 pound howitzers to protect the infantry brigades. At the same time as Sir Douglas Haig before Ypres, General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien had taken the offensive and then made a desperate effort to stop the German forces seeking a breakthrough.
The German 6th Army had also been reinforced and was due to attack again from Arras to La Bassée and Armentières by October 29, but on that day all available heavy artillery for the battle of Gheluvelt was transported north. For on October 27th, Falkenhayn had ordered the 6th Army to hand over the heavy artillery to the north in order to try every effort at Gheluvelt to prevent the attacks on the southern flank against the II. And III. Corps to reduce and at the same time to strengthen the offensive of the 4th Army at Ypres. The army group Fabeck was from XIII. Corps and two other corps formed, which exhausted the reserves of the 6th Army and completely contained the offensive plans for La Bassée northwards to the Lys.
The battalions of the Indian Corps came under constant fire in early November. They temporarily remained in the front trenches instead of retreating, a practice that had been adopted by the experienced units. On November 2nd, a new German attack northwest of Neuve-Chapelle drove back a Gurkha battalion until local counterattacks recaptured the lost terrain by November 5th.
Losses and consequences
The total losses of the BEF amounted to about 30,000 men in October, the II Corps alone lost 14,500 soldiers dead and wounded between October 12 and 31. The 3rd Division had 5830 men in casualties, with the 8th and 9th Brigade each losing about 50 percent. The victims of the 5th Division were also heavy and the Indian Corps had also lost 1,560 men by October 31, and 1989 by November 2. On October 31, the 2nd Corps had only about 14,000 men, of which about 1,400 were inexperienced recruits. The Germans recorded about 6,000 men in losses during the fighting with the II Corps.
Despite the heavy losses, Marshal French could not afford to give the II Corps a long break. After it was pulled from the front, the troops of the II Corps were moved to Ypres. In the following battles from November 1914 to February 1915, the corps was used in the defense of Festubert (November 23–24) and Givenchy (December 18–21) and on January 25 in the Battle of Givenchy.
literature
- JE Edmonds: Military Operations France and Belgium. 1914: Antwerp, La Bassée, Armentières, Messines and Ypres October – November 1914. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defense. 1st ed. Macmillan London 1925, pp. 68-92
- John French: Complete Despatches 1914-1916. Originally Published 1917, Reprint by Naval & Military Press London 2001, pp. 91-127
- Reichsarchiv: The World War 1914 to 1918: Military Operations on Land. Volume V: The autumn campaign of 1914: in the west up to trench warfare, in the east up to retreat. Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1925, pp. 220 f., 260 f.
- CR Simpson: The History of the Lincolnshire Regiment 1914-1918. The Medici Society London 1931, pp. 53-66.
- JWB Merewether: The Indian Corps in France. EP Dutton and Company, New York 1918.
- David Ascoli: The Mons Star – The British Expeditionary Force. August 5 to November 22, 1914, Larousse Harrap Publishers, London 1981.