Despite being pre-empted by the German attack at Ypres on 22nd April 1915, the Allied commanders were determined to press ahead with plans for a joint offensive between Arras and Armentieres in early May. It was envisaged that the French on the right would punch a hole in the German defences and the British would continue the rupture northwards. The British offensive was launched from two separate areas along a six-mile front extending from Chocolat Menier Corner in the south to La Cordonnerie Farm in the north. In the southern sector I Corps (right) and the Indian Corps (left) attacked south of Neuve Chapelle while in the northern sector IV Corps attacked at Rouges Bancs. The intention was for the two thrusts to link up at La Cliqueterie Farm a mile south of Aubers. 

At 5 am on 9th May, 600 guns commenced the heaviest British bombardment to date. Half an hour later the artillery increased its fire and the guns assigned to wire cutting lifted onto the enemy front line. At the same time the assault troops left their trenches, negotiated gaps cut in their own wire the previous night and crossed pre-laid bridges over the many drainage ditches. Ten minutes later the guns lifted back a further 600 yards and the assault began.

In the Indian Corps area, the Germans had survived the bombardment almost unscathed and even manned machine-gun posts forward of their own wire. Despite suffering heavy casualties, the infantry rushed forward as one when the artillery lifted. However, 30 minutes of shrapnel fire had been insufficient to cut lanes in the wire and the troops were forced to take cover about half way across no man's land. The Dehra Dun Brigade, leading the Meerut Division, suffered nearly 900 casualties. A repetition of the morning's attack was ordered for 2.40 pm, following a 40 minute long bombardment, but was delayed until 4 pm to allow time for the Bareilly Brigade to take over the lead. Many casualties were suffered as the relief was completed in broad daylight.

On the right of the Bareilly Brigade, 2nd Black Watch took over from 2nd Gurkhas having moved forward through a nightmare of blocked trenches and under constant artillery fire. The relief was completed just before zero hour. Despite protests that the Germans had been unaffected by the bombardment, the Corps Commander ordered the attack to go ahead at all costs. Accordingly at 3.20 pm, the British bombardment began and five minutes before zero, Nos 2 and 4 Companies of 2nd Black Watch left their trenches and lay down in No Man's Land.

Lance Corporal Finlay led a party of 12 bombers in this attack. He intended to get as close as possible to the enemy trenches before the bombardment lifted. There was a 12 feet wide ditch about 20 yards forward of the front line and then 300 yards of open ground to cover to the enemy front line. As they crossed a bridge over the ditch, the Germans opened fire killing two men. The remainder made it over but eight were killed on the far side. Finlay and the two others rushed on and had covered 80 yards before a shell exploded close to them. Finlay was not injured but was knocked unconscious for 10 minutes. On coming to, he saw one of his comrades lying wounded close by. Having ordered the other survivor to make his own way back, Finlay crawled to the injured man, dressed his wounds and, in full view of the enemy and under very heavy fire, carried and dragged his comrade over 100 yards to safety.

Most of the attackers did not even reach the ditch and the CO ordered the reserve companies to remain in the trenches. That night, the battalion was relieved by 1/3rd London and moved back into the reserve trenches.

The attack in the I Corps area was made by 1st Division, with 2nd and 3rd Brigades leading on the right and left respectively. The previous night, the assault troops moved into specially constructed breastworks behind the front line. As they left their trenches during the final bombardment, they were met with heavy enemy fire but in spite of losses, a rough assault line was formed in No Man's Land to await the artillery lift at 5.40 am. The attack was met with devastating fire from the enemy trenches and from emplacements in front of the almost intact wire. Few reached the enemy parapet and those that did were soon destroyed there. The survivors were pinned down in No Man's Land. An ineffectual bombardment from 6.15 to 7 am was followed by a second assault, which was also a complete failure. Another bombardment from 7.45 to 8.45 am merely attracted a heavy German retaliatory barrage.

After the failure of the morning attack, 1st Black Watch moved forward from Chocolat Menier Corner to occupy the front line at Rue du Bois in case of an enemy counter-attack. Its left rested on the cinder track and its right on Albert Road. By 8.50 am, A, B and D Companies were in the front line with C Company and two companies of 1st Coldstream Guards in the support line. 

Another attack was ordered for 2.40 pm but was delayed until 4 pm to conform with the Indian Corps. 2nd Brigade had to be relieved after suffering heavy casualties during the morning and the attack was mounted by two battalions each from 1st (Guards) and 3rd Brigades (right and left respectively), supported by the remainder of 1st (Guards) Brigade. If a breakthrough was achieved 2nd Brigade was to advance once again from the reserve line.

1st Black Watch (right) and 1st Cameron Highlanders (left) were chosen to lead the 1st (Guards) Brigade attack. 1st Black Watch was to occupy the front line breastworks from R.2 to R.6 inclusive with the final objective being the trench R.3 to R.7. A Company on the right and D Company on the left made the attack supported by B and C Companies respectively. If successful 1st Coldstream Guards, 1st Scots Guards and 14th London were to be ready to follow through. 

The Camerons were delayed moving into their assault positions but the Black Watch was ordered to go ahead with the attack despite having no support on its left. This time the bombardment was more effective and some gaps were cut in the wire. At 3.57 pm, A and D Companies of the Black Watch, supported by two platoons each from B and C Companies, surged over the parapet and with pipes playing rushed over the 300 yards of no man's land. A Company and 2 platoons of the Camerons managed to start on time and reached the enemy parapet just as the barrage lifted. Although the German fire was heavy it was insufficient to halt the attack. The front line fell in many places and on the right about 50 men managed to reach the second line.

Corporal Ripley, in Lieutenant Lyles's platoon on the right of A Company, led the right hand section on the extreme right of the attack. He managed to get through the wire and was the first man to reach the parapet where he remained fully exposed until he had directed those following him through the gap. When he had assembled his men he led them through a gap in the parapet to the second trench. Despite his initial success, Ripley could not hope to sustain his position with only eight men. However, he set his party to work blocking the trenches on the flanks but the Germans were not slow to recover. Ripley's party was soon surrounded and support from the front line was cut off by enemy machine-gun fire. Every man was hit in the ensuing action, including Ripley who received a serious head wound, before the party was overrun.

The Camerons and 3rd Brigade failed completely. Both brigade commanders realised that nothing could be gained and the attack was halted. The troops in No Man's Land were withdrawn under cover of a fresh bombardment in the late afternoon. 1st Black Watch was relieved during the evening having suffered 475 casualties.

IV Corps' attack took place on a frontage of 1,500 yards astride the Sailly-Fromelles road at Rouges Bancs, three miles north-east of the Indian Corps. The initial breach was to be made by 8th Division employing 24th Brigade on the right and 25th Brigade on the left with 23rd Brigade in reserve. Then, while 8th Division protected the left flank, 7th Division was to swing right to link up with the Indian Corps at la Cliqueterie Farm. As in the other area, the assault troops took up positions in No Man's Land during the final bombardment. The 25th Brigade attack was led by 2nd Rifle Brigade on the right and 1st Royal Irish Rifles on the left. In support were 2nd Royal Berkshires (left) and 2nd Lincolnshire (right). Four hundred yards away on the extreme left 1/13th London rushed two mine craters when they were fired at 5.40 am.

On the left of 25th Brigade, the wire had been well cut and No Man's Land was crossed quickly despite heavy losses from small arms and artillery fire. The German breastworks were captured and the assault troops pressed on to the bend in the Fromelles road 200 yards further on. The support battalions suffered badly as they struggled forward through intense fire. 2nd Lincolnshire, led by A and B Companies with C and D immediately behind, left its assembly trenches near Rue Petillon to follow 1st Royal Irish Rifles. They reached the first line of German trenches/breastworks but could get no further, due to the heavy small arms fire from both flanks and enemy artillery fire. C and D Companies were halted in the British front line to avoid further unnecessary casualties. These companies were ordered to push down a sap on the left to the mine craters and then to fight their way westwards to link up with the left of 2nd Rifle Brigade. 

A bombing and blocking party under 2nd Lieutenant Eric O Black (killed later in the day and commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial), was sent ahead by Captain Thruston, commanding C Company. This party reached the enemy trench and bombed its way for 300 yards westwards along the front line before running out of bombs. It was then forced back under intense fire from right and left. Meanwhile the 2nd Scottish Rifles (23rd Brigade) bombers had cleared the trench to the east of the craters. From 9 am onwards, men were sent forward to occupy the captured trenches but few got through, despite Thruston organising five machine-guns to silence the enemy machine-guns beyond the craters. By 10.30 am, although well established in the trench to the west of the craters, Thruston's party was cut off by fire sweeping across no man's land behind them. Under pressure from three sides, at 8 pm, he was forced to abandon the small gains and under cover of darkness brought his men back. 

It is not entirely clear in which part of the action Corporal Sharpe won his VC. However, the evidence points to him commanding a blocking party in the advance towards the craters. He was sent forward to take and hold a portion of trench and was the first to reach the enemy position. Although the rest of his party was hit, he immediately set off to bomb along a 50 yard stretch of trench. Having been joined by four other men (three of whom received the DCM), he continued the attack and cleared another 250 yards of trench with great determination. Despite considerable enemy pressure, they held the trench all day.

Elsewhere in the 25th Brigade area, there was utter chaos. Shortly after the initial assault, the troops poured back over no man's land due to an unauthorized order to retire. Later German prisoners running towards the British lines were mistaken for a counter-attack. It took Brigadier-General Arthur W G Lowry Cole's personal intervention to restore order (he was mortally wounded shortly afterwards and is buried in Le Trou Aid Post Cemetery at Fleurbaix). By the time the mess had been sorted out the German fire had increased in intensity and heroic efforts to renew the offensive and reinforce the lodgements in the German lines came to nothing. During the night, all the gains had to be given up and 25th Brigade was relieved by 23rd Brigade. 2nd Lincolnshire was relieved at 11 pm having suffered 277 casualties.

24th Brigade's attack on the right was made against a wide salient in the enemy line, each side of which was attacked by one battalion; 2nd Northamptonshire on the right and 2nd East Lancashire on the left. They were supported by B and D Companies of 1st Sherwood Foresters respectively. The night before the attack two field guns were brought into the front line. The one on the right appeared to be successful in cutting several lanes in the enemy wire. However, the emplacement for the gun on the left collapsed making accurate fire impossible.

When the attack commenced at 5.40 am, the East Lancashires were halted about 20 yards into no man's land by machine-gun fire and only a few of the Northamptonshires breached the enemy breastworks. D Company of the Sherwood Foresters set off at 6.10 am and immediately came under fire from five machine-guns. The advance veered to the right towards Point 373 but the enemy were just as strong there and no entry was made into their lines. B Company got to within 40 yards of the wire where it was stopped with heavy casualties. Survivors commented that there was a single gap in the wire, about four yards wide. The other gaps were incomplete because they were in dead ground where the wire could not be seen by the artillery observers.

Another attack was launched at 7.35 am. The East Lancashires were supported this time by A and C Companies of the Sherwood Foresters. However, the impetus was lost almost immediately in the face of intensive fire and the survivors sought what little cover was available. At 1.15 pm, German shelling forced the Sherwood Foresters to withdraw into the breastworks. 

When the attack broke down, Corporal Upton took shelter in a shallow trench 30 yards in front of the British front line. The wounded were lying all around and their cries of anguish and pain stirred him into action. Crawling out of the trench and making his way towards the enemy lines, he came upon a sergeant from 1st Worcestershire with a broken thigh. Having bandaged the wound and fitted a splint to the leg, he carried the man back to the trench and left him in the care of a comrade. Despite the enemy fire, he then discarded his equipment and went out again. He found a very large man with a serious stomach wound who was too heavy to carry. He therefore manhandled him onto a waterproof sheet and dragged him back on it. The third man rescued had both legs shattered. When only 10 yards from the trench, a shell exploded a few yards away killing the injured man outright. Upton was not seriously harmed but he had to rest for a while to recover from the shock. He eventually rescued another 10 men under heavy small arms and artillery fire. That night the battalion was relieved by 1st Worcestershire and marched back to bivouacs at Rouge de Bout, having suffered 359 casualties.

Next morning, Haig closed down the offensive. The results were extremely disappointing considering the French had met with considerable success. There were many reasons why the attack failed but chief among them was the weakness of the British artillery and the shortage of high explosive shells. Over 11,500 men were lost for no gain whatsoever. 

WRITTEN NOVEMBER 2002

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