Poem ~ Battle for Ypres - Saturday, 14 November 1914

A warning of attack on 29 October,

Is gained by intelligence interception,

From enemy radio on 28 October.

British reconnaissance also views

Enemy columns moving to front,

With their units prepared for artillery.

The French have intentions to attack

With their 2nd division on 30 October;

French corps prove their success,

To regain Korrekeer and Zonnebeke.

The expectations of German assaults,

To advance from Kruiseecke

Came instead via Gheluvett cross roads,

Falling on the Menin Road between

Divisions, flanked by Guards Division.

South of the Crossroad then held by

1st Grenadier Guards of 20th Brigade,

To the right stood Coldstream Guards.

The Black Watch and the Gloucesters

Moving to their positions  - the trenches

Found were of support type - their depth

And narrowness made for problematic

Enemy observations – there was no time

To create a second line - they lacked

Defensive wire - no initial warning system,

Of pebbles set to rattle in tin cans.

German Artillery started 29 October -

5.30 a.m. – the drift of a foggy morning

Only helped the opening German attack.

The Black Watch and Coldstreams,

Stopped the Bavarian regiment - 

Yet British Machine gunners

Found their guns were jamming -

The Cartridges supplied being too large.

By 6.30 a.m. the Germans gained

Ground, to capture Black Watch

And the Coldstreams forces.

British fire began to falter -

As communications started

To fail - the artillery instead

Of aiming on enemy infantry,

Turned to fire on their guns.

Bravely reserves held the line.

The Grenadiers being sent to rear,

As their officers believed a strike

Would not happen - then

Out of the fog, German

Formations re-attacked,

At 7.30 a.m. the fog dispersed,

Still the Germans came through,

To fight hand to hand.

The Grenadiers sped forth

To lose 470 men -

200 and 5 officers were left  -

More reserves were called to plug

Attack, now south of the Menin road.

The Germans widened their front

Not realising they had made gains.

Although having no military target,

Ypres shuddered under bombardment,

By artillery and aircraft.

Before more reserves reached them,

The Coldstream and Black Watch

Force was virtually wiped out -

At 11.30 a.m.

Bavarian regiments advanced about

Poezelhoek  - so Haig pushed in

Brigade reserves,

To halt further advances -

With success

Came a gap of 500 yards -

Now they pulled half a mile from road,

To entrench and re-establish mixed

Units - to hold back the Germans.

To dig in and strengthen the line

Became problematic -

As they lacked equipment -

So if any more breakthroughs came

About Gheluvelt, divisions would

Then attack the enemy flank,

At Polygon wood.

German gain of Gheluvelt crossroads,

Found advantage from convex ground,

Where infantry might hide –

While their higher ground,

Gave good views

For their artillery observers -

Concealed by fortunate lines

Of hedges and ditches,

Hid the weakened British line.

In their orders to gain Poelcapelle,

The British were unable to support

French needs to advance east.

On 30 October,

Heavy German guns moved

Forward, ready to break through

At Gheluvelt -

Fabeck felt this was the offensive,

That would end the war,

To strike final blow on the British.

German 4th and 6th armies

Prepared to make a diversion,

To occupy allied reserves

By moving on Zonnebeke.

Morning mists saw artillery

Begin the fight at 6 a.m.

The German infantry moved

30 minutes later  -

But wire fencing stopped them.

With mists clearing

German infantry was exposed;

To suffer heavy losses.

6.45 a.m. German artillery

Now destroyed forward

Allied trenches - badly placed

In their exposure to enemy

Observations -

10.00 a.m. Zandvoorde

Was in German hands.

With loss of cable wagons,

British communications

Became problematic -

The loss of their high ground,

Left isolated pockets

Of resistance - as enemy artillery

Focused on Brigade headquarters.

Royal Welch Fusiliers and brigades

Became overrun - 86 escaped,

54 captured and 276 killed.

With heavy losses

Counter attacks failed -

West of Ypres, a new line formed.

Orders pulled in gap pluggers

Yet in places the line stayed thin.

Ordered to dig in, forced the French

To see how serious the enemy's

Intentions now were,

To push through Ypres. Then -

Suddenly cautious, the Germans

Believed the allied reinforcements

Continually reinforced their front -

Attacks of rapid rifle fire prompted

A German commander's requests

For a halt - but the idea was rejected.

In the south British Cavalry divisions,

Were not troubled by Bavarian corps.

But problems were raised when

Artillery began to shell Hollebeke -

Spread across 4 miles, Gough

Had only 10 guns and 1,500 men -

By midday the cavalry Brigade

Were forced from their positions.

The forward German Units,

Were now within three miles

Of Ypres - yet by end of day,

Made no attempt to push further.

At Messines

Further southern German attacks

Were halted by cavalry division.

French Battalions and divisions

Moved to help British at St Eloi -

On that evening of 30 October,

Germans forces moved forward

In preparations of more attacks.

4.30 a.m. on 31 October,

A German division

Renewed their fight -

After five solid hours,

Breaking into Messines.

Facing the force of 6000 Germans

Were 900 British cavalry men -

In their retreat from Messines

The British had to carry out,

House to house fighting.

Noon, November 1:

A British Brigade advanced

On Messines road,

To halt a Bavarian Division -

Intent on supporting

Their forces at Messines -

In the fight,

Both sides suffered badly.

North of that town,

The sixth Cavalry Division

Found itself under attack,

By 16,000 German Infantry -

Bavarian's and reserves.

Rushing to support,

Came one and half

Indian battalions,

And six French Artillery.

Gough's anger was fuelled,

By lack of French Cuirassiers

And Brigade's help in the battle.

6 a.m. shelling begun by Germans -

14.45 p.m. Infantry assaults began.

In words of C in C French,

Such a defence of Messines

Was then crucial for the B.E.F.

Yet the Battle at Gheluvelt Plateau,

Proved more vital.

Having lost Becelaere,

And Zandvoorde,

Gheluvelt, a ridge remained vital 

In British observation east of Ypres.

6 a.m. German observer balloons

Directed the fire onto the British.

Within two hours the Gheluvelt

Emplacements of the 2nd Welch

Regiment were destroyed -

With a gap created

And Welch battalion separated,

The Germans blasted in,

Depleting the force.

The Gloucester’s moved in

To plug the gap -

Facing heavy fire to the front,

80 men became 13 -

As the enemy increased

Their numbers north and south

Of the Menin road, by 10 a.m.

Still more German men

Were committed -

Their fire now lifted its aim,

From the British trenches,

To meet allied reinforcements.

Until the increased velocity

Of British rifle fire,

Made the enemy believe,

They faced a hidden line;

Forming machine gunnery.

As artillery came forth,

Other units were pushed back

The Queens still held on -

With others taken prisoner,

Or killed by the enemy.

12 men 2 officers were left

Merging with the Welch,

Into the 3rd Brigade.

11.30 a.m. now a retreat

Left behind a shambolic Gheluvelt,

To form a new line at Veldhoek.

Borders and Scots guards fought on,

To prevent any German attempts

In gaining Gheluvelt Chateau.

The enemy backed down,

Away into the grounds.

Close engagements

Took place about chateau’s

Steps, firing from the entrance.

Making a hurried conference

At Hooge Chateau,

By the Menin road,

It was agreed that if further

German breakthroughs came,

Reserves from Polygon wood

Would take on

The German right flank. 

Then shells fell outside

Hooge Chateau -

Lomax was mortally wounded.

Hurried given orders,

Sent movements of troops

To provide support

For the broken troops -

But then counter orders

Stopped them,

On the Menin Road.

13.30 p.m.

2000 yards east of Ypres

Was desperately held

To stop north flank

Of Ypres’ collapse.

14.30 p.m.

With the dire situation

At Gheluvelt, came news -

Against all the odds.

The Worcestershire’s retook the town;

As they looted –

The Bavarians were taken off guard.

With shaken forces they left the town,

Abandoning any advantages,

They had gained.

31 October and Haig decided

To pull from Gheluvelt -

Securing hard pressed formations,

600 yards west,

Between the town and the

Comines canal -

A critical point, where

Collected brigades and battalions,

Held the line,

Against concentrations of Germans.

8 a.m. Enemy shelling started. 

By 12.45 p.m. infantry advanced -

The division under pressure,

Received a rallying call.

At Zillebeke the 7th division

Was giving way -

Capper moved a retreat

To Frenzenberg Zillebeke line -

The German movement slowed,

As their officers

Succumbed to British rifles.

15:00 p.m.

An adhoc battle group is formed,

With title of ‘Bulfin Group’ -

By a Brigader of that name,

Their purpose,

To make a counter attack

For all their lost ground.

Training was to be put into practice

Of the ‘Mad minute’ -

One minute rapid fire,

Then advance with speed

And bayonet.

With need 200 men, Bulfin got 80.

A sudden assistance of Dragoon

Made for luck, with hope

For the woods to conceal

Their low numbers -

At a cost -

The attack gained half a mile.

Brigade numbers were reduced

And 4 of 12 CO’s were dead –

Pre battle forces stood weakened.

Gheluvelt, 7 miles southwest,

Allied Forces were sent to break

Wytschaete – Messines deadlock,

To make the break at southern part

Of bulge about Ypres -

Any enemy success might trap

The British in that Salient,

Or force them East.

The ridge held by 600 Germans 

Wytschaete held by 415 British.

Household Cavalry -

With odd mounted to 12 to one.

2.45 p.m. Wytschaete finally fell –

By 4 p.m. The regiments fell back.

Then 6 p.m. came on mass German

Attacks, in a struggle to keep ridge.

Their success came at 7.35 p.m. –

British forces resurged again  -

Failing to take the ridge,

Losing 30 per cent of their men.

The 12th Lancers somehow,

Took some hold of the town.

With Cavalry falling back

From Messines

The hope to regain Menin,

Faded fast  - now too far

Into depth of German hands -

With Messines value lost as a post,

The town came under British shells.

A battering of shells

To protect their retreat  -

Above, aircraft hounded

Advancing enemy columns,

And German ground forces.

Opposing German success

Were enemy failures elsewhere.

Still an enemy breakthrough

Could be stopped in the South;

With Wytschaete to the north,

And Warneton to the south -

Both remaining in British control.

Once again trying to retake

Messines, the French 39th

Advanced but failed -

A Bavarian division drove

The remainder of British,

Out from Wytschaete -

Against the French casualties

Of the German proved high -

While some prophetic

German figures survived.

From within the chaotic fighting,

Two enemy men

Gaining the Iron Cross, 2nd Class.

One rescuer by the name Gefeiter

The other soldier, Adolf Hitler.

In the daylight of 1 November;

Both town and lines

Were secured by the Germans.

Yet the ridges west of

Of Wytschaete – Messines line

Stayed in French hands.

The British now stood,

Exhausted, with reduced divisions -

Equally, German troops had needs

For their own reinforcements.

The opposing sides fell quiet,

For some following days -

Now making intermittent raids -

As the German Artillery,

Raised their sights, to fire

Onto the un-strategic town of Ypres.

By 10 November,

German forces had gathered.

So by the dawn,

Of 11 November,

Began an assault on Ypres,

With the Germans outnumbering

The allied side -

With no attempt to modernise

Their tactics - German infantry,

Still marched in close formation.

Such moves for easy casualties.

A Bavarian then Division turned,

To push forces north of Ypres,

Along the Comines Canal.

Enemy bombardment kept

The allied heads down -

As over 12 German divisions

Advanced.

But the enemy's slow speed

Allowed for easy return fire.

The German trudge centered

Ahead of Gheluvelt,

Across the Menin Road,

To Nun’s Copse

And Polygon Wood,

Now held by exhausted corps.

Less than 10,000 British,

Faced 17,500 Enemy uniforms,

Pushing allies back from their points

Taking the forward allied trench line.

The enemy reached Nonnebosschen

But were still held back,

By foot guards and reserve artillery -

Now forming the last line of defence -

As nothing lay beyond Ypres.

Polygon Wood,

Was taken in parts, by Germans -

Yet Highland reinforcements

Came to face them,

About Nonnebosschen.

Oxford and Bucks drove out

Germans from the woods -

Taking surprised Prussians

At the forward trenches,

Yet can under erroneous

French fire -

At the cost of British casualties -

Ypres remained secured.

12 November;

Haig's fears felt the British line

On verging of collapse  -

And the BEF about to shatter -

As Germans held the British front,

From the Menin Road

To Polygon Wood –

The battle was now all but over.

A week of fighting came to end

On 17 November -

The German tactic now changed

To cease-fire and dig in.

The Germans were remassing 

Elsewhere to the eastern front -

Their force in the west,

Exhausted - 

Believing their final victory,

Was not yet possible.

To the allies battle's conclusion,

Was not quite obvious

Only as slow attacks faded away.

By the 14 November, severe frost

And snowfall,

Worked to downsize the fighting.

The cold November air

Gave another British blow -

A visit of Field Marshall Roberts,

Ended with his death,

Gained from a simple chill.

With opening of 15 November

Came settled reorganisation:

Belgians now held 15 miles -

As the French took the line

From Zonnebeke

To Ypres - Comines Canal  -

The British held line from Wytschaete

To La Bassee Canal at Givenchy.

Finally on 20 November,

The German withdrawal became clear,

Ending the first battle for Ypres.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Ypres

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 14 November 2014). 

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

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