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Updated: May 24, 2025
"The battalion next attacked along the Bapaume-Cambrai road" to give it a name it does not own; and readers will picture the troops in khaki dodging along a hedge, beneath green, leafy elm trees.... Something moved. Yes, as I live, something is moving up that old purple-grey scar across the hill-side. Two figures in pink, untanned leather waistcoats are strolling up the old road, side by side.
On the 27th a general attack was made on the Canal du Nord and continuing to the right of Bourlon Wood. In this attack our Brigade had to clear up the Hindenburg front line between Moeuvres and the Bapaume-Cambrai road.
Until the end of June our lot was cast in this neighbourhood with normal periods of trench duty and relief. The line held by the Brigade stretched south from the great Bapaume-Cambrai road. It was from these trenches that the northern part of the surprise attack against Cambrai was launched on 20th November.
Progress was also made in the Havrincourt Wood south of the Bapaume-Cambrai railway. To the south, in the neighborhood of St. Quentin, General Haig's troops captured three villages, bringing forward their lines to within two miles of the St. Quentin Canal.
Then the Germans in a determined attack surprised the British in their turn, and forced them, back from their new positions for a distance of about two miles, nearly to the Bapaume-Cambrai road. Next day, by fierce fighting, the British recaptured Gouzeau-court.
East of the Canal du Nord, the villages of Graincourt and Anneux were now in possession of General Byng's men; while west of the canal the whole line north to the Bapaume-Cambrai road was stormed. Bonaires hamlet and Lateau Wood had been captured after stiff fighting.
The French artillery and machine guns delivered such a withering fire against the attackers that they were thrown back in disorder with appalling losses. In Champagne the French continued to make progress, capturing important points in Moronvilliers Wood. British troops south of the Bapaume-Cambrai road slowly advanced on Marcoing, a place of considerable importance and an outpost to Cambrai.
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