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=Ypres battles 1914=

Preliminary attacks
The Germans amassed IV Corps to begin the assault on the town. Yet, despite its numerical superiority over the Allies, the infantry had not sufficiently amended their tactics. They still marched in close order, which would cause unnecessary casualties. Fabeck and Albrecht, GOC Fourth Army, were to continue with the attack regardless of casualties, supported by Group Gerok, an ad hoc battle group (Kampfgruppe), comprising the 3rd Division, 25th Reserve Division, 11th Landwehr Division and the 6th Bavarian Reserve Division. They were to apply pressure to the north of Ypres, on the Comines Canal.

Fighting had been limited during early November. However, the German 3rd and 26th divisions broke through to St Eloi and advanced to Zwarteleen, some 3000 yd east of Ypres, only to be checked by the British 7th Cavalry Brigade. On 9 November the Germans attacked French and Belgian forces between Langemarck and Dixmude, forcing them back to the Yser, though the Belgians blew all the crossings. On 10 November 12½ German divisions from Army Group Fabeck, the German Fourth and Sixth Armies, and XXVII Reserve Corps began their assault. The bombardment was heavy and it kept the Allied infantry pinned down while the Germans advanced. However, the Germans were slow in their advance and return fire was possible. Neither Allenby’s or Conneau’s cavalry were attacked around Messines.

German advance to Ypres
The main German attack came opposite the Gheluvelt, extending from "Shrewsbury Forest" in the south, across the Menin Road, to Nonnebosschen (Nun’s Copse) and the edge of Polygon Wood beyond it. This was held by the exhausted II Corps, covering some 3500 yd of front. The corps had 7,800 men plus 2,000 reserves against 25 German battalions of 17,500 men. The British were forced back on hastily improvised strong points. The German 4th division breached the line and took the forward trenches which the British failed to recover during counter-attacks. However, the strong points prevented any serious breach. Massed small-arms fire repulsed German attacks between Polygon Wood and Veldhoek.

The Germans reached Noonebosschen, and faced 900 men of the 1st and 3rd Foot Guards Regiment. British artillery, having been in reserve owing to ammunition shortages, began offering support. It was their return fire that prevented the Germans from launching a concentrated attack. Nothing lay behind the town, and the artillery lines represented the last line of defence. Monro, GOC II Corps, ordered his reserves, the Irish Guards and the 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire battalions to form up. The 2nd Highland Light Infantry was ordered to reinforce Polygon Wood, which had now, in parts, been occupied by German formations. The 1st Battalion Buckinghamshires' CO Lt-Col Henry Davies was ordered to attack the Wood, some 7 mi away to the east. Davies decided the breach at Noonebosschen was more pressing. Along with the 2nd Oxfordshires and Buckinghamshires and with artillery support from XXXIX Brigade, he attacked and pushed the Germans out of the surrounding forests near Noonebosschen, catching many, including the Prussian Guard Units, by surprise. They reached the forward trenches but were then shelled by the French in error. The town was secured from further attack and the Ypres–Comines canal front was not breached. The cost to the Oxford and Bucks had been five dead and 25 wounded. Other units in the area suffered heavily, as had the attacking Germans. The German 4th division had suffered 2,932 casualties in November, while the Guards division suffered 2,314 casualties from 11–19 November.

By the morning, the Germans had possession of the British front line between the Menin Road and Polygon Wood. I Corps, under Haig and Dubois IX Corps, facing the enemy at Polygon Wood, were concerned that their Corps’ could be cut off should Ypres, or the Ypres-Comines canal, be cut or captured. I Corps was 90% short of its officer allocation, and 83% short of other ranks. Haig was deeply concerned that the front was on the verge of collapse and the BEF was in danger of being destroyed. In the event, though Haig was not to know, was that the battle was already over. On 17 November, after a week of fighting, Albrecht ordered his Army to cease action and dig in where it stood. This order was immediately confirmed by Falkenhayn. III Reserve Corps under Beseler and XIII Corps under Fabeck were ordered to the Eastern Front. The casualties, political and military situation on the Eastern Front was serious, particularly with the Russian concentration around Warsaw. Besides, Falkenhayn had noted that the German Army in the West was exhausted and had decided a victory in a decisive fashion, was no longer attainable.

The end of the battle was not immediately apparent to the Allies. Several German attacks were made from 12–14 November. Stout British defences, heavy snowfall and hard frost ended large-scale fighting. The British 8th Division was deployed to the front on 13 November, providing much needed reinforcement. Field Marshal Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts came over to France to visit on 11 November, caught a chill, leading to congestion of the lungs, and died on 14 November. The next day, a reorganisation now took place. I Corps was relieved by French IX and XVI Corps. On 16 November Foch agreed with French to take over the line from Zonnebeke to the Ypres–Comines canal. The new British line ran 21 from Wytschaete to the La Bassée Canal at Givenchy. The Belgians held 15 mi and the French defended some 430 mi. The German withdrawal was detected on 20 November.

21–24 October
Whereas French resolved to maintain the defensive, in the south the French under the newly promoted "Commander of the North" General Victor d'Urbal, ordered French forces to counter-attack against the German XXIII Corps encroaching on Dixmude, a town east of Nieuport and south of Ostend. To do so, de Mitry's Cavalry Corps and the 42nd French division and the Belgian Army Detachment, renamed the French Eighth Army in November, were to pass through British 1st division lines. The attack failed and the French were driven back through British lines between Langemarck and Steenstraat. The advancing German XXIII Corps came into contact with the unsupported British division, and they shelled Langemarck heavily. The town was destroyed. The 5th Brigade of the 2nd British Division pushed into the gaps created by the retreating French and succeeded, through unsupported rifle fire, in repulsing German infantry attempting to overrun the town. The Germans made a final attempt that night, setting farms alight to help direct their artillery fire. But they did so only 50 yards form British trenches. The German attack, so close to British infantry positions, was a disaster. Early in the morning, counter-attacks by ad hoc British battle groups retook lost ground and releasing prisoners taken during the German assault and capturing 800 Germans. Almost 500 Germans had been killed in exchange for 47 British dead and 187 wounded. To the right of 2nd Division, enemy formations attempted to seize Becelaere (Beselare). RFC aerial reports spotted the approach, and German columns advancing in open formation were shot down in large numbers by 21st Brigade's defences.

The arrival of increased French reinforcements and German losses convinced the German operations staff a breakthrough in the immediate future was unlikely. The arrival of Grossetti's French 42nd division, which joined the Belgian Army at Nieuport, and the 17th and 18th French divisions of the French IX Corps under General Dubois which was arriving west and south of Ypres. To relieve the under-pressure I Corps, d'Urbal and Foch agreed with future Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) Henry Wilson, who was then Deputy Chief of Staff to the BEF and very influential in Anglo-French relations as he spoke French, to launch a general offensive. The Belgians and 42nd division would advance eastward form Nieuport with the support of British naval gunfire. The Dixmunde garrison would take Thourout and Guignabaudet's 17th division, with two of de Mistry's Cavalry divisions towards the rail hub at Roulers to reach the Passchendaele- line. Owing to German offensive operations, the offensive was delayed.