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Second Battle of Dernancourt
The Second Battle of Dernancourt, known to the Germans as Unternehmen Sonnenschein (Operation Sunshine), was fought on 5 April 1918 near Dernancourt in northern France during World War I. It involved a German Army force attacking an Australian defending force, and resulted in the German capture of much of the forward sector of the Australian front line which ran along a railway line between Albert and Dernancourt. The Australian 4th Division had been sent south to help stem the tide of the German spring offensive towards Amiens, and held a line west and north of the Ancre river. The main German assault force was the XXIII Reserve Corps, which concentrated its assault on the line between Albert and Dernancourt. Their attack at the boundary between the Australian 12th and 13th Brigades overwhelmed the Australian front line troops near Dernancourt and captured some support trenches. An Australian counter-attack in the afternoon wrested the initiative from the Germans and their attack petered out, leaving the Australians still in possession of most of the high ground northwest of Dernancourt, barring the way to Amiens.
After the Third Battle of Ypres petered out in late 1917, the Western Front fell into its usual lull over the winter months. In early 1918, it became apparent to the Allies that a large German offensive was pending on the Western Front. This German spring offensive commenced on 21 March 1918, with over one million men in three German armies striking hard near the junction between the French and British armies. The main effort of this offensive hit the British Fifth Army, which formed the right flank of the British front line. Struck a staggering blow, it began a rapid and at times panicked withdrawal. The key railway junction at Amiens was soon threatened.
Shortly after the Spring Offensive began, the Australian 3rd and 4th Divisions were deployed south in stages from rest areas in the Flanders region of Belgium to the Somme river valley in France to help stem the initial German success in the Fifth Army's sector. On their way south, the 4th Brigade was detached from the 4th Division to help halt the Germans near Hébuterne in the Third Army sector. Travelling by train, bus and marching on foot, the remaining two brigades of the 4th Division, the 12th and 13th Brigades, concentrated in the area west of Dernancourt, under the command of the VII Corps led by Lieutenant General Walter Congreve. The commander of the 4th Division, Major General Ewen Sinclair-Maclagan was ordered to support and then relieve remnants of the 9th (Scottish) Division which was holding the front line along a railway between Albert and Dernancourt, west of the Ancre river. This task was given to the 12th Brigade, under the command of Brigadier General John Gellibrand. The 13th Brigade, commanded by Brigadier General William Glasgow, was held in support positions between Bresle and Ribemont-sur-Ancre. To the right of the 12th Brigade was the British 35th Division between Dernancourt and Buire-sur-l'Ancre, and commanded by Brigadier General Arthur Marindin. The 3rd Division, commanded by Major General John Monash, was deployed further to the south, between the Ancre and the Somme around Morlancourt, where it fought a brief action on 28–30 March, with its 10th Brigade to the right of the 35th Division.
The First Battle of Dernancourt was fought on 28 March 1918 and resulted in a complete defeat of the German assault. The main German attacking force was the 50th Reserve Division of the XXIII Reserve Corps, which concentrated its assault on the line between Albert and Dernancourt, attacking off the line of march with weak artillery preparation. Other than one small penetration by a German company in the early morning which was quickly repelled, nowhere were the Germans able to break through the VII Corps defences. In the following week, the village of Dernancourt was heavily shelled in an attempt to reduce the protection it provided to the Germans, and they made two more unsuccessful attempts to advance in the sector. After First Dernancourt, the 13th Brigade relieved the 35th Division between Dernancourt and Buire-sur-l'Ancre, and the 4th Division became responsible for the whole of the front line between Albert and Buire-sur-l'Ancre.
The front line of the 4th Division was held by the 12th Brigade on the left, between Albert and Dernancourt, and the 13th Brigade on the right, between Dernancourt and Buire-sur-l'Ancre. The forward positions of the salient held by the 4th Division were along the railway line, which ran along a series of embankments and cuttings, including a railway bridge immediately northwest of Dernancourt where the Dernancourt–Laviéville road passed under the railway. A mushroom-shaped feature known as the Laviéville Heights overlooked the railway line, which curved around its foot. The foot of feature consisted of a number of gentle spurs and re-entrants, which hindered observation along the front line in both directions. This was difficult ground to defend, particularly where the railway line curved and skirted the northwestern corner of Dernancourt, as if the line there was overrun, the enemy would be able to fire into the rear of the troops lined out along the railway in both directions. Despite this, the Australian commanders considered it important to hold the railway line since, if it was not garrisoned, the enemy could assemble in the dead ground behind the embankment. A further difficulty arose from the fact that if an attack occurred during daylight, it would be almost impossible to move troops down the exposed slopes to reinforce the railway line without crippling losses, and troops withdrawing from the railway line would be similarly exposed. To afford them some protection along the railway line, the forward posts dug one-man niches in the near side of the embankment, but the only way for them to fire was to climb up and lie on top of the embankment, thus exposing themselves to enemy fire. To mitigate this problem, parties of the 4th Pioneer Battalion had been tasked to tunnel through the embankment, then dig out small T-shaped trenches on the far side. This work was still ongoing on the night of 4/5 April.
After a rotation conducted on the night of 3/4 April, the 12th Brigade front line consisted of widely spaced platoon posts, garrisoned by the 48th Battalion on the left and the 47th Battalion on the right, largely as they had been for the First Battle of Dernancourt. In the 13th Brigade area, the 52nd Battalion held the front line. On the left flank of the 4th Division were British troops of the 7th (Service) Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment, which was part of the 35th Brigade, 12th (Eastern) Division, V Corps. On the 4th Division's right flank, in the village of Buire-sur-l'Ancre itself, was a company of the 3rd Pioneer Battalion, belonging to the 3rd Division, which was holding the front line west of Buire-sur-l'Ancre. On 4 April, as a result of consolidation of the forward positions of the division, MacLagan ordered that the main line of resistance was to be the railway line rather than the positions half-way up the hill. In doing so, MacLagan was concerned that the 12th (Eastern) Division on his left might be driven in, and specified that if this occurred, his forward commanders could withdraw to the former main line up the hill to the rear. This order had a significant impact on the coming battle, as it is doubtful that this order was received by the 52nd Battalion. Throughout that day, the troops of the 4th Division could hear the artillery fire associated with the renewal of the German offensive further south. Late that afternoon, a prisoner-of-war captured by the 3rd Division stated that an attack was pending north of the Somme, and the troops that would be mounting it were already assembled. In the Official History, Charles Bean noted that the Australian troops were in "bouncing spirits", despite the rain of the previous few days.
The left flank of the 48th Battalion had been extended about 500 yards (460 m) further north than the sector it had held during First Dernancourt, taking up ground previously held by the 12th (Eastern) Division, including responsibility for the Albert–Amiens road. The battalion frontage now measured 2,200 yards (2,000 m). The commanding officer of the 48th Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Raymond Leane, usually highly reticent to crowd forward areas with troops, requested and was granted authority from Gellibrand to hold his front line with three companies. This reflected the reduced manpower available to him after the casualties incurred during First Dernancourt. As the railway line near Albert was not in friendly hands, one company of the 48th Battalion was deployed in posts on either side of a grassy ravine alongside the Albert–Amiens road, and two held the railway line running south towards Dernancourt. Leane's fourth company was kept in support positions in an entrenchment known as Pioneer Trench, which had been dug by the 4th Pioneer Battalion on the Laviéville Heights some 2,100–2,400 yards (1,900–2,200 m) to the rear of the front line on the railway. This company occupied a section of Pioneer Trench that stretched north of the Albert–Amiens road. Leane had been allocated a company of the 46th Battalion, which he held in reserve in trenches near his headquarters on the high ground alongside the Albert–Amiens road.
The 47th Battalion held the railway line from the bend to just short of the railway bridge with two companies. The left forward company (B Company) was positioned behind the embankment, and the right forward company (A Company) held a cutting where the railway line turned southwest, as well as the steep railway embankment near the bridge. The two platoons on the left of A Company were positioned forward of the cutting, with the two platoons on the right deployed behind the embankment. Behind and slightly up the slope from the boundary between the two forward companies was an old prisoner-of-war (POW) cage. The commanding officer of the 47th Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Imlay, held his two remaining companies in support, garrisoning an old and overgrown French "practice trench" located 1,100–1,400 yards (1,000–1,300 m) uphill from the railway line along the edge of a sunken road that circled the hillside, sometimes coinciding with the road itself. This was a poor entrenchment, being far too wide and lacking traverses. On the right of this trench, where the Dernancourt–Laviéville road ran through it, a knuckle of the slope blocked its field of view towards the railway line. About 300 yards (270 m) forward of the right support company (C Company) and 800 yards (730 m) back from the railway embankment was a quarry alongside the Dernancourt–Laviéville road. D Company was the left support company. Imlay had been allocated a company of the 45th Battalion, which was held in reserve in that section of Pioneer Trench that stretched south of the Albert–Amiens road. His headquarters was co-located with Leane's.
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Second Battle of Dernancourt
The Second Battle of Dernancourt, known to the Germans as Unternehmen Sonnenschein (Operation Sunshine), was fought on 5 April 1918 near Dernancourt in northern France during World War I. It involved a German Army force attacking an Australian defending force, and resulted in the German capture of much of the forward sector of the Australian front line which ran along a railway line between Albert and Dernancourt. The Australian 4th Division had been sent south to help stem the tide of the German spring offensive towards Amiens, and held a line west and north of the Ancre river. The main German assault force was the XXIII Reserve Corps, which concentrated its assault on the line between Albert and Dernancourt. Their attack at the boundary between the Australian 12th and 13th Brigades overwhelmed the Australian front line troops near Dernancourt and captured some support trenches. An Australian counter-attack in the afternoon wrested the initiative from the Germans and their attack petered out, leaving the Australians still in possession of most of the high ground northwest of Dernancourt, barring the way to Amiens.
After the Third Battle of Ypres petered out in late 1917, the Western Front fell into its usual lull over the winter months. In early 1918, it became apparent to the Allies that a large German offensive was pending on the Western Front. This German spring offensive commenced on 21 March 1918, with over one million men in three German armies striking hard near the junction between the French and British armies. The main effort of this offensive hit the British Fifth Army, which formed the right flank of the British front line. Struck a staggering blow, it began a rapid and at times panicked withdrawal. The key railway junction at Amiens was soon threatened.
Shortly after the Spring Offensive began, the Australian 3rd and 4th Divisions were deployed south in stages from rest areas in the Flanders region of Belgium to the Somme river valley in France to help stem the initial German success in the Fifth Army's sector. On their way south, the 4th Brigade was detached from the 4th Division to help halt the Germans near Hébuterne in the Third Army sector. Travelling by train, bus and marching on foot, the remaining two brigades of the 4th Division, the 12th and 13th Brigades, concentrated in the area west of Dernancourt, under the command of the VII Corps led by Lieutenant General Walter Congreve. The commander of the 4th Division, Major General Ewen Sinclair-Maclagan was ordered to support and then relieve remnants of the 9th (Scottish) Division which was holding the front line along a railway between Albert and Dernancourt, west of the Ancre river. This task was given to the 12th Brigade, under the command of Brigadier General John Gellibrand. The 13th Brigade, commanded by Brigadier General William Glasgow, was held in support positions between Bresle and Ribemont-sur-Ancre. To the right of the 12th Brigade was the British 35th Division between Dernancourt and Buire-sur-l'Ancre, and commanded by Brigadier General Arthur Marindin. The 3rd Division, commanded by Major General John Monash, was deployed further to the south, between the Ancre and the Somme around Morlancourt, where it fought a brief action on 28–30 March, with its 10th Brigade to the right of the 35th Division.
The First Battle of Dernancourt was fought on 28 March 1918 and resulted in a complete defeat of the German assault. The main German attacking force was the 50th Reserve Division of the XXIII Reserve Corps, which concentrated its assault on the line between Albert and Dernancourt, attacking off the line of march with weak artillery preparation. Other than one small penetration by a German company in the early morning which was quickly repelled, nowhere were the Germans able to break through the VII Corps defences. In the following week, the village of Dernancourt was heavily shelled in an attempt to reduce the protection it provided to the Germans, and they made two more unsuccessful attempts to advance in the sector. After First Dernancourt, the 13th Brigade relieved the 35th Division between Dernancourt and Buire-sur-l'Ancre, and the 4th Division became responsible for the whole of the front line between Albert and Buire-sur-l'Ancre.
The front line of the 4th Division was held by the 12th Brigade on the left, between Albert and Dernancourt, and the 13th Brigade on the right, between Dernancourt and Buire-sur-l'Ancre. The forward positions of the salient held by the 4th Division were along the railway line, which ran along a series of embankments and cuttings, including a railway bridge immediately northwest of Dernancourt where the Dernancourt–Laviéville road passed under the railway. A mushroom-shaped feature known as the Laviéville Heights overlooked the railway line, which curved around its foot. The foot of feature consisted of a number of gentle spurs and re-entrants, which hindered observation along the front line in both directions. This was difficult ground to defend, particularly where the railway line curved and skirted the northwestern corner of Dernancourt, as if the line there was overrun, the enemy would be able to fire into the rear of the troops lined out along the railway in both directions. Despite this, the Australian commanders considered it important to hold the railway line since, if it was not garrisoned, the enemy could assemble in the dead ground behind the embankment. A further difficulty arose from the fact that if an attack occurred during daylight, it would be almost impossible to move troops down the exposed slopes to reinforce the railway line without crippling losses, and troops withdrawing from the railway line would be similarly exposed. To afford them some protection along the railway line, the forward posts dug one-man niches in the near side of the embankment, but the only way for them to fire was to climb up and lie on top of the embankment, thus exposing themselves to enemy fire. To mitigate this problem, parties of the 4th Pioneer Battalion had been tasked to tunnel through the embankment, then dig out small T-shaped trenches on the far side. This work was still ongoing on the night of 4/5 April.
After a rotation conducted on the night of 3/4 April, the 12th Brigade front line consisted of widely spaced platoon posts, garrisoned by the 48th Battalion on the left and the 47th Battalion on the right, largely as they had been for the First Battle of Dernancourt. In the 13th Brigade area, the 52nd Battalion held the front line. On the left flank of the 4th Division were British troops of the 7th (Service) Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment, which was part of the 35th Brigade, 12th (Eastern) Division, V Corps. On the 4th Division's right flank, in the village of Buire-sur-l'Ancre itself, was a company of the 3rd Pioneer Battalion, belonging to the 3rd Division, which was holding the front line west of Buire-sur-l'Ancre. On 4 April, as a result of consolidation of the forward positions of the division, MacLagan ordered that the main line of resistance was to be the railway line rather than the positions half-way up the hill. In doing so, MacLagan was concerned that the 12th (Eastern) Division on his left might be driven in, and specified that if this occurred, his forward commanders could withdraw to the former main line up the hill to the rear. This order had a significant impact on the coming battle, as it is doubtful that this order was received by the 52nd Battalion. Throughout that day, the troops of the 4th Division could hear the artillery fire associated with the renewal of the German offensive further south. Late that afternoon, a prisoner-of-war captured by the 3rd Division stated that an attack was pending north of the Somme, and the troops that would be mounting it were already assembled. In the Official History, Charles Bean noted that the Australian troops were in "bouncing spirits", despite the rain of the previous few days.
The left flank of the 48th Battalion had been extended about 500 yards (460 m) further north than the sector it had held during First Dernancourt, taking up ground previously held by the 12th (Eastern) Division, including responsibility for the Albert–Amiens road. The battalion frontage now measured 2,200 yards (2,000 m). The commanding officer of the 48th Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Raymond Leane, usually highly reticent to crowd forward areas with troops, requested and was granted authority from Gellibrand to hold his front line with three companies. This reflected the reduced manpower available to him after the casualties incurred during First Dernancourt. As the railway line near Albert was not in friendly hands, one company of the 48th Battalion was deployed in posts on either side of a grassy ravine alongside the Albert–Amiens road, and two held the railway line running south towards Dernancourt. Leane's fourth company was kept in support positions in an entrenchment known as Pioneer Trench, which had been dug by the 4th Pioneer Battalion on the Laviéville Heights some 2,100–2,400 yards (1,900–2,200 m) to the rear of the front line on the railway. This company occupied a section of Pioneer Trench that stretched north of the Albert–Amiens road. Leane had been allocated a company of the 46th Battalion, which he held in reserve in trenches near his headquarters on the high ground alongside the Albert–Amiens road.
The 47th Battalion held the railway line from the bend to just short of the railway bridge with two companies. The left forward company (B Company) was positioned behind the embankment, and the right forward company (A Company) held a cutting where the railway line turned southwest, as well as the steep railway embankment near the bridge. The two platoons on the left of A Company were positioned forward of the cutting, with the two platoons on the right deployed behind the embankment. Behind and slightly up the slope from the boundary between the two forward companies was an old prisoner-of-war (POW) cage. The commanding officer of the 47th Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Imlay, held his two remaining companies in support, garrisoning an old and overgrown French "practice trench" located 1,100–1,400 yards (1,000–1,300 m) uphill from the railway line along the edge of a sunken road that circled the hillside, sometimes coinciding with the road itself. This was a poor entrenchment, being far too wide and lacking traverses. On the right of this trench, where the Dernancourt–Laviéville road ran through it, a knuckle of the slope blocked its field of view towards the railway line. About 300 yards (270 m) forward of the right support company (C Company) and 800 yards (730 m) back from the railway embankment was a quarry alongside the Dernancourt–Laviéville road. D Company was the left support company. Imlay had been allocated a company of the 45th Battalion, which was held in reserve in that section of Pioneer Trench that stretched south of the Albert–Amiens road. His headquarters was co-located with Leane's.