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Chapter XVII The German Offensive, 1918.

As sure information of an impending German offensive on a large scale had reached them early in November, the action agreed upon by the Allies, for the first half of the eventful year of 1918, was to stand upon the defensive. The preponderating strength of the German forces on the Western Front, brought about by the collapse of Russia and Roumania, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and the temporary exhaustion of Italy, enabled General Ludendorf to anticipate decisive results from a campaign waged with fresh troops highly trained in the new tactics of the offensive, which he had elaborated during months of training on the quiescent Eastern Front. From November, 1917, to March, 1918, fresh German formations were detraining without intermission behind the lines and gradually increasing the number of his divisions from 146 to 192, until he had at last 23 divisons more than England and France had then on the Western Front. For the Central Powers the time had come for a gambler's throw in which success was essential in order to attack, divide and defeat the Allied Armies peacemeal before the weight of the American troops could turn the scales in our favour. The war must be over before September, for by that time the United States would have 18 fully trained divisions in the field, all having a leaven of troops with war-wise experience gained by liason with French or British formations during their period of probation. Germany had much to fear from our relentless blockade and the people's need of food; much to apprehend from Bolshevik propaganda amongst her troops and proletariat; already there were signs of waning morale in certain elements of the Central Powers, more especially in Austria. Heartily weary of the defensive battles of 1916 and 1917, and not a little encouraged by the success and vigour of their counter attack at Cambrai in November, 1917, where the new offensive tactics were first tried out, the German Armies longed for the initiative, but above all, longed with an impassioned desire for a final issue to the Great War: its hardships, privations, and its butchery.

Knowing all this, the Allied chiefs met in conference at Doullens in December and forthwith entered upon the task of making good their defences. Sir Douglas Haig had 60 divisions of British troops, but his Armies were at a low ebb: he was short of reinforcements to page 383the extent of 117,000 men; the fighting efficiency of his units was lowered through lack of training for defence due to the constant offensive actions of 1917. The strength of British divisions had been reduced to 10 battalions—three to the brigade—which although in conformity with French and German usage, somewhat disorganised British divisons accustomed to working with 13 battalions, chiefly because it limited the duration of rest intervals and by increasing the period of trench tenure, curtailed the scant time left for training. To add to the difficulties of the Commander in Chief he was obliged to take over some 25 miles of French front south of Cambrai where his Fifth Army relieved a French Army before the end of the year. A long line of 125 miles to hold, shortage of men, insufficient time for training, especially in defensive tactics, and lack of opportunity to organise secondary lines of defence in great depth, were the chief disabilities of the British Forces in the oncoming battles. By the end of February, 1918, the place and date of the great German offensive was accurately foretold by our Intelligence department. Ludendorf was to break out in overpowering strength towards Amiens and Abbéville at the junction of the French and British armies; to seize the Vimy-Arras heights; to roll up the British line upon the defences of the channel ports and while containing them, to throw his remaining weight upon the isolated French armies, so clearing the way to Paris and the much-to-be-desired German Peace.

The shadow of these great events to come already lay on the New Zealand Division in rest areas about Cassel and Hazebrouck. It was the second occasion upon which General Russell's headquarters had billetted at the old chateau of Renescure; once before, in 1916, on the way to the Somme battles, now again on the eve of greater battles in the valley of the Anere.

January and February had been spent in dreary weeks of trench fighting in desolate wintry places; our casualties, not heavy, but now more frequently caused by gas, which lodged in dugouts and stole almost undetected upon the drowsy inmates. Another of our medical officers had fallen. Lieut. Haworth, N.Z.M.C., R.M.O. to the 1st Auckland Battalion who had relieved Major Nelson, M.C., wounded at Passchendaele, was killed on the first day of February; a promising young officer not long with the Division. During these two months our total battle casualties numbered 877, of which 25 per cent, wounded by poison gas, but our sick evacuations were nearly double that figure: 1788 in all, of which 730 were suffering from trench fever. Late in February there came a period of rest. Active training for all units was at once put in hand, much usepage 384being made of combined games and recreational training. Fine weather came early in March which, with the relief from front line occupancy and the wholesome exercises in the open air, did much to restore the health, vigour, and spirits of the Division.

Because of the multiplicity of professional duties thrust upon them, the field ambulances, were not able to devote as much time as was desirable to physical training; there was a shortage of medical officers; some attached to corps formations or corps medical units, others attending the Fourth Army School of Instruction for medical officers; others again fully employed at the divisional rest station at Hazebrouck, or at the various collecting stations for sick in the brigade areas. Reinforcements of men and N.C.O.'s of good physique and excellent morale were forthcoming from the 4th Field Ambulance, now called the Reinforcements Field Ambulance, but the officer shortage was seriously felt by the A.D.M.S. There was much medical work to be done, as the sickness wastage was still unenviably high and attracting serious attention from the D.M.S. of the Fourth Army: Surgeon-General O'Keefe. An active campaign against skin parasitism was in progress. Baths, more baths, and more frequent bathing and sterilization of clothing and blankets were the ideals set by the consulting physicians. P.U.O. was now known to be trench fever, in most instances, and myalgia and D.A.H. were both looked upon as evidences of louse infestation and the sequelœ of trench fever.

Propaganda against venereal infection was wide spread, energetic and, it was hoped, successful. Ablution rooms were instituted in France in all our medical stations and the free issue of prophylatic appliances to the N.Z.E.F. in England—authorised by the New Zealand Government—was stated to have reduced the venereal diseases rate from 3 per cent, to 1.54 per cent, in New Zealand troops in the United Kingdom. Already there was a small, determined, and very audible group of civilians banded together for broadcasting a crusade against venereal diseases, whose urge was perceptibly felt by Dominion Military Authorities. Yet with the prospect of desperate fighting ahead, and in spite of the menace of a thunderous German offensive, the tireless efforts of the medical officer were directed solely to the eternal, never ending domestic struggle with disease.

At the time when the Division marched into the rest area the troops had been warned to stand prepared to move into action at short notice. Something was being done in this direction by the A.D.M.S. The field ambulances and their transport were paraded in turn, the men in marching order, the waggons loaded with the page 385authorised, equipment ready to take the field on the moment. It was noticeable in these inspections how fit and cheerful the men seemed, and in what good condition they had maintained their transport and horses; they appeared in every way, to the inspecting officers, to be ready for any emergency.

When, on the 21st March the first onslaughts of Ludendorf's initiative fell upon our Fifth Army front, where it junctioned with the French, that very day orders were issued for the Division to prepare for immediate movement. Questions of detail, considered in advance, had been settled: the Division was to move to another Army area by brigade groups, entraining at Cassel, at Caestre and Hopoutre, the motor transport proceeding by road. The A.D.M.S. recalled his officers from outlying duties, directed the ambulances to evacuate their sick to the nearest C.C.S. and despatched the Dental Hospital by lorry to the New Zealand Stationary Hospital, retaining the usual allotment of mobile dental sections attached to the ambulances. All medical stores and equipment in excess of authorised establishment was to be left behind in charge of small holding parties until such time as more thorough disposal could be made. The entrainment was ordered for the 25th, the destination being St. Pol and Frevant in the Third Army Reserve Area in rear of the Arras salient. With the 1st Brigade group, comprising the 1st Brigade and Divisional Headquarters, a company of A.S.C., two companies of the Machine Gun Battalion, and the New Zealand Signal Company, went the 1st Field Ambulance, entraining at Cassel on the 25th. The 2nd and 3rd Field Ambulances, both under control of the 2nd Brigade group, entrained at Caestre the same day, part of their motor transport proceeding by road to Corbie. While still on the move, the Division had countermanding orders directing that the units should detrain at Amiens to join the VIIth Corps of the Fifth Army.

On the 25th Divisional Headquarters were at Corbie in touch with the VIIth Corps, but fresh orders, now issued by the Higher Command, redirected the Division to Mailly-Maillet, north of Albert, where they were to form part of the IVth Corps of the Third Army. Colonel McGavin was at Ribemont, five miles north of Amiens, the ambulances not as yet detrained. In view of the confusing alterations in our detraining orders the A.D.M.S. issued general instructions to the field ambulance commanders to the intent that they were to act, for the present, under the orders of their respective brigade commanders; that they were to make all arrangements as regards dressing stations and collecting posts in conformity with the movements and directions of the brigadiers and that they had page 386authority to requisition motor transport for wounded from the 3rd M.A.C. stationed at Corbie. These orders held good until the 27th only, when all the New Zealand Ambulances came again under the direct control of the A.D.M.S. Some confusion and delay in the concentration of the Division had resulted from alterations in the orders issued by the Higher Command, but these amended orders were caused by the rapid fluctuations in the disorganised British lines of resistance. At first ordered to the Third Army in the Arras sector, later redirected to the Fifth Army, near the old battlefields of the Somme, ultimately attached to the right wing of the Third Army, about Mailly-Maillet, the divisional movements were dislocated and, owing to a lack of sufficient busses and lorries at the detraining points, considerably retarded. In order that we may understand the reasons for these thrice amended orders, it is necessary to recall in epitome the events of the past three days.

On the 21st of March, after a short but titanic bombardment—the most furious yet experienced in this war—two German armies launched their attack with near a million men on a 55 mile front from the Sensée river north of Cambrai, to the Crozat canal, south of St. Quentin. Our Third Army in the northern sector, and our Fifth Army in the southern area, opposed the avalanche. Favoured by a dense mist, the myriad diminutive fighting units discharged like electrons from the enemy masses permeated rather than penetrated our thinly held outposts, and flowing along lines of least resistance, had filtered through our front positions, during the first day; in some places, over-running the gun positions. The following day, the mist still aiding, our 30 divisions were driven back in a disconnected line by the irresistible numbers most skilfully handled, no where aggregated, but everywhere perceptible in tiny knots of determined men, handling a wealth of light machine guns closely followed by a greatly daring field artillery. Outflanked and out numbered, our troops withdrew from their main defences, and on the 25th the Germans were in Peronne and Bapaume, having driven us back 10 to 15 miles to the old positions held at the end of 1916, prior to the German retirement. On the 24th it was clear that a grave disaster had befallen; the old battlefields of the Somme, whose historic villages had cost us so much bitter fighting and loss of blood, were being reconquered in a flash by the irresistible rush of our opponents. The spear head of the German thrust had found a gap, ever widening, between the Third and Fifth Armies. Part of the Fifth Army was now south of the Somme, but its left wing, the VIIth Corps was about Mametz and the Highwood; the right of the Third Army was at Hébutere 14 miles from Doullens—we page 387were still north of the Somme and in places east of the Ancre covering Albert, but a crisis was fast approaching: if the gap could not be filled, the road to Amiens and Abbéville lay open and Ludendorf's plans would succeed in separating the French and British armies. On the 25th, the most critical day, by agreement between the Allied Commanders at a conference at Doullens, the Fifth British army was transferred to the Third French army under General Fayolles, who became responsible for the defence of Amiens from the westward. Sir Douglas Haig, now freed from this grave responsibility and knowing that French troops were rapidly pushing forward, determined to strengthen his Thrid Army by making the VIIth Corps its right wing, and pouring all his reinforcing divisions into the gap. The danger to the Arras-Vimy positions—which he knew must shortly be attacked—was very pressing, as our continued hold over this bastion was the only guarantee of a successful defence. The 3rd, 4th and 5th Australian Divisions were detraining at Doullens—the New Zealand Division between Amiens and Picquigny—other British divisions were hurrying to the rescue. On the following morning, supreme command of the Allied forces would be assumed by Marshal Foch and that day would prove decisive in the issue of the defence. Meanwhile the German infantry were reported to be at Colincamps, 12 miles from Doullens and our tanks stood guard over the town while the great generals deliberated.

General Russell, on receipt of his orders, proceeded to Hedauville, where in the early hours of the 26th he held a conference of his brigade commanders at which the situation was outlined and action was concerted. The enemy was believed to have crossed the Ancre near Beaucourt, a mile and a half east of Beaumont Hamel; the 62nd Division, now the extreme right of the Third Army, was stated to be retiring from the Ancre north of Miraumont, but would make a stand this day about Puisieux au Mont, 3½ miles north of Beaumont Hamel. The 12th Division, on the left of the VIIth Corps had been ordered to hold the line of the Ancre from Albert to Hamel. The New Zealand Division was to close the gap of about three miles between the right of the 62nd Division and the left of the 12th Division on the line from Hamel, a small hamlet on the Ancre due south of Beaumont Hamel, to Serre north of the latter about 1½ miles. The centre of the New Zealand line would be Beaumont Hamel with Hamel to the south and Serre to the north of our front, which was to face almost due east on high ground overlooking the Ancre Valley. The concentration point ordered for all units was Hédauville, six miles north-west of Albert, on the main page 388road to Doullens and all units were now being hurried to this centre from their detraining points. A composite brigade was pushed on at once; it consisted of three battalions arriving piecemeal by marches from Pont Noyelles, at which point they had left the busses and lorries. The first battalion of the N.Z.R.B. leading on through pleasant cultivated country, first checked the advancing German parties on the road to Hébuterne from Mailly Maillet, and established touch with the 2nd Division of the VIIth Corps. Shortly after other New Zealand battalions of the 2nd Brigade were coming into action from Hamel northwards. About Beaumont Hamel, old British trenches of 1916 were occupied, and as other units arrived the line expanded further north, but not without fighting of a determined nature, so that by evening a continuous front had been formed which partly filled the gap north of our line as far as Hebuterne, where the old 4th Australian Brigade of Anzac days was again fighting shoulder to shoulder with the New Zealanders.

Meanwhile the ambulances were marching up to Hedauville, but it was not until the afternoon that the 1st New Zealand Field Ambulance, under the command of Lt.-Col. Craig, N.Z.M.C., was fully concentrated. They had detrained at Amiens that morning, the personnel proceeding by busses to Pont Noyelles, whence they marched the 10 miles to Hedauville. The horsed transport, which had trekked from the detraining point, arriving about 5 p.m., made the unit complete and immediate steps were taken to establish an A.D.S. at Mailly-Maillet, four miles further north and about 3½ miles in rear of Beaumont-Hamel, the centre of our divisional front. From the A.D.S. at 10 p.m. a party of 50 bearers under Captain E. M. Wyllie, N.Z.M.C. went out to collect the wounded, of whom they cleared 150 without difficulty to the M.D.S. established at Hedauville. The 2nd and 3rd Field Ambulances reported during the night. The movements of the motor transport of the 2nd Field Ambulance had some spice of adventure: on the 25th part of it reached Corbie and received orders to proceed to Ville-sur-Ancre, where they joined their own billetting party under Captain Addison, M.C., N.Z.M.C.; here they parked the cars near the church and turned in for the night. The party, consisting of 2 officers, the interpreter, and 10 O.R., with 3 motor ambulances and 2 motor cycles, were roused at 1 a.m. with orders to evacuate the village immediately as the Germans were advancing. As our party moved out they saw behind them a huge fire at no great distance, which was stated to be the burning of Bray-sur-Somme that our troops destroyed before evacuation. That night the German advanced page 389parties were near Sailly-sur-Sec only four miles from Corbie—little more than 12 miles from Amiens.

On the 27th the divisional front, not yet wholly stabilised, was subjected to several determined attacks. The enemy shelling, increased in volume, fell upon our lines as far back as Mailly-Maillet and Hédauville, but three separate assaults were driven off by our machine gun and rifle fire with substantial losses to the attackers and in the evening local counter attacks by our infantry re-established and advanced certain portions of our line. The divisional transport concentrated about Hédauville was drawing fire from the opposing artillery, so much so that it was now moved out of the vicinity of the village and the 2nd and 3rd Field Ambulances were ordered to Bertrancourt in divisional reserve, and later divisional Headquarters, withdrew and re-established their offices at Bus en Artois.

Our wounded collected from the R.A.P.'s during the night numbered just under 300 while 100 British and some 30 to 40 prisoners of war wounded passed through the A.D.S. at Mailly-Maillet. No. 3 Field Ambulance at Bertrancourt opened a tent subdivision and received 140 British wounded from the division on our right. No difficulties were experienced in these evacuations, all R.A.P.'s were easily cleared to a collecting point practicable for cars near Achonvillers, thence to the A.D.S., and as rapidly as possible to the M.D.S. of the 1st Field Ambulance in buildings at Beaussart. The M.A.C. of the Vth Corps cleared along the road that led from Beaussart to Bertrancourt, thence through Louvaincourt and Marieux, where Corps Headquarters were, to the 3rd Canadian Stationary Hospital in Doullens. Lt.-Col. Murray, D.S.O., stationed at Mailly-Maillet, assisted Lieut.-Col. Craig in establishing his forward evacuating zones and by the following day, as the enemy had ceased to advance, evacuations were proceeding along the usual lines of position warfare. The ambulances were now withdrawn from the command of brigades and No. 3 Field Ambulance was instructed to establish a divisional walking wounded collecting post near the M.D.S. at Beaussart.

By the 28th the worst was over in the Somme area; French troops were now present in strength; there seemed every prospect of the Amiens defences proving stable, solid and impenetrable. But the enemy's plans were culminating in the great blow struck this day at the Arras sector. By this assault the Germans hoped to turn our vital positions at Vimy and to break down the right shoulder of their salient. The powerful attack on a 20 mile front from Puisieux to Oppy penetrated our forward zones, but was brought to page 390a stand in our main lines of defence. Clear weather gave the British artillery and machine guns their full defensive value, the result was a crushing repulse and the complete wreck of Ludendorf's greatest battle. "Like a sturdy oak fast rooted in the great bastion of the Vimy Ridge, the British Army bowed to the hurricane that swept upon it; its branches whirled back westwards, whipping and bending in the gale; but the trunk stood unbreakable, and the grip of its roots could not be loosed."^*

On the front of the New Zealand Division whose brigades had now been reformed, there was no serious assault on the 28th, but the other two divisions of the IVth Corps, the 42nd and the 62nd repelled attacks successfully; the main fighting was further north. Our own artillery was now in position and actively engaging enemy columns moving in the Ancre Valley, over which our positions gave us very good observation. The 3rd Brigade, in front of Colincamps on the road to Serre, carried out a minor operation necessary for the rectification of their line which, after some obstinate fighting, they brought to a partial conclusion towards nightfall, taking six machine guns and some prisoners. Heavy rain fell in the afternoon, the day was cold; the enemy shelling which had increased in strength during the afternoon fell with marked intensity about Colincamps, where Brigadier-General Fulton, C.M.G., D.S.O., commanding the 3rd (N.Z.R.) Brigade had his headquarters. A heavy shell falling upon his billet, penetrated the cellar where he and his Brigade Major, Robert Purdy, M.C., were working. Both were killed, while several others of the brigade staff were killed or wounded. General Fulton had led the 3rd Brigade since its formation, and was conspicuous in his successful handling of the unit which he had helped to form and to train. Major Purdy was the eldest son of our D.M.S., Col. Purdy, N.Z.M.C., and was one of the most popular and efficient young officers in the division.

In anticipation of the attack, the A.D.S. at Mailly-Maillet had been reinforced; extra bearers and runners had been supplied to the R.A.P.'s, of which two were in Colincamps for the left sector, two at Englebelmer for the right sector, while the central R.A.P.'s were in Mailly-Maillet. All had good roads of approach. At each brigade headquarters an N.Z.M.C. runner with a bicycle was attached so as to maintain touch with the A.D.S. In the afternoon the A.D.M.S. visited the D.D.M.S. IVth Corps, Col. Pollock, R.A.M.C., at Marieux; our immediate requirements were extra stretchers, blankets and hot bottles. Owing to the reduction in equipment necessitated by rapid movement the ambulances had been obliged to shed all the wealth of extra equipment which was permissible during the long period of page 391trench fighting and position warfare. Each ambulance had now but 76 stretchers instead of 150 as previously and their stock of blankets was reduced from 400 to the regulation number of 150. But the large reserves held by corps had also been dissipated or handed over during the retirement and, owing to the withdrawal of the C.C.S.'s, supplies, were not immediately available. The retirement had been well carried out, not one C.C.S. was taken by the Germans and in no instance had any wounded been abandoned by them, although medical stores and equipment were lost in quantity. There was another difficulty: the 27th M.A.C. had excessively long journeys to perform as most of the C.C.S.'s had moved from Doullens to St. Pol, the return journey taking 12 hours to the latter point, so reducing the supply of cars available for lightly wounded, who had to be detained at the M.D.S. To obviate this it was suggested to the A.D.M.S. that a light railway running from Albert to Doullens was practicable as far as Acheux, about 3 miles south-west of Bertrancourt on the main road Albert-Doullens.

The situation on our divisional front was very quiet during the day of 29th March, there was little enemy fire of any kind. A few shells fell in the back areas about Bertrancourt; the weather was dull and cold, limiting observation, and transport had been removed from the vicinity of the villages and disposed in small parcels so as to offer fewer targets. At Acheux railway station, Lt.-Col. Hardie Neil, with details from his 3rd Field Ambulance had made satisfactory arrangements for an entraining point for lightly wounded: in the station buildings he had accommodation for a dressing room, a shelter for the wounded, a cookhouse, and a refreshment counter with other necessary provisions. At Beaussart. in the school house, he had established his walking wounded post and for transport he was given all the horsed ambulance waggons of the divison. No. 2 Field Ambulance was stripped of its stretchers to supply the A.D.S. and forward posts and 1000 blankets were obtained from Amiens from the divisional supplies and held in reserve by the A.D.M.S. The total wounded for the day did not exceed 46, but one medical officer, Captain Ardagh, attached to 1st Auckland was amongst the number. The A.D.M.S. who for some time past had been eight officers short in his establishment, and who had not as yet been able to obtain the necessary reinforcements, was obliged to apply for six R.A.M.C officers to replace his casualties. But his reinforcements in N.Z.M.C officers were to join the Division early in April.

On Easter Sunday, a mild day with constant showers, our centre and left brigades provided an assaulting party of four page 392battalions to carry out an important minor enterprise destined to considerably improve our front-line. The La Signy farm position was an eminence which dominated the communications, of our left brigade more especially, and being the highest ground for many miles around, gave a wide field of observation to its occupants. The New Zealand Division determined that they alone should enjoy this tactical advantage. The position resembled somewhat that at Polderhoeek Chateau and the possession of a 1000 yards of trench line in front of a hedge some 300 yards to our side of the farm site,' gave the 20th German Division a dominance over our lines, which it was desirable to subdue. The farm site itself was of no importance as the hedge trench was on the crest of the ridge and this very point had been our principal artillery observation post when the 27th Division attacked Serre early in the Somme Battles of 1916. Under cover of a barrage part of the N.Z.R.B. and part of the 1st Brigade advanced over 500 yards to the attack; the 1st Brigade was at once successful; the 3rd Brigade, meeting with a more obstinate defence, lost considerably, but with steady determination ultimately made good in the early hours of the 31st, so that the whole position fell into our hands. Our total casualties were about 200 killed and wounded, chiefly suffered by the 4th Battalion, N.Z.R.B., but we took 3 officers, 287 O.R. prisoners with over 100 machine guns. The medical arrangements worked without a hitch. Three R.A.P.'s near the fight were in a sugar factory on the Serre road, about a mile and a half in front of Colincamps, and at a road junction to Mailly-Maillet. From 6 p.m. on the 30th to 6 a.m. on the 31st, 131 New Zealand wounded passed through Mailly-Maillet or Colincamps with some 30 to 40 wounded prisoners, and later during the day, over 50 New Zealand wounded were brought in, the total tended by the advanced medical posts being about 180. From the M.D.S. at Beaussart the M.A.C. cars were available for lying cases, the walking wounded collected by the 3rd Field Ambulance were driven in the horsed ambulance waggons to Acheux station where they were fed and cared for by a party of 1 officer, 20 O.R. detached from the 3rd Field Ambulance. The narrow gauge railway, temporarily interrupted by a smash in the line near Louvencourt, caused by shell fire, was repaired and a train left late in the afternoon, carrying some 366 walking wounded, of which 168 were New Zealanders, the remainder from the division on our right. Colonel Hardie Neil by improvised means had adapted one of the small covered trucks to take stretcher cases. After a journey of about 15 miles the incoming train was met at Gezaincourt, close to page 393Doullens, by a small detraining party under an N.C.O. furnished by No. 3 Field Ambulance; the wounded were received by No. 4 C.C.S. now in Doullens.

Our new positions gave a fine view over the Ancre valley to Thiepval, Pozières and the Albert-Bapaume road. Flers lay in that direction only 7½ miles away and to the north-east, Bapaume at about the same distance. The Division was highly elated and congratulatory messages flowed in from many quarters from our old chiefs Birdwood, Plumer, Godley and also General Monash now commanding the 3rd Australian Division and fighting hard south of us, whose old brigade the 4th Australian, comrades of Anzac, were on our left hand at Hébuterne during the crisis.

The opening days of April were quiet enough. There was occasional rain, but the weather had improved and the roads were drying up satisfactorily. A party of N.Z.E. aided by the N.Z.M.C. bearers had much work in hand for the protection of the A.D.S. at Mailly-Maillet which was subject to an increasing amount of enemy shelling. Adjacent to the building was a large brewery with substantial vaulted cellars which they connected with the A.D.S. cellar by breaking through the dividing wall. The vaulted ceiling of the brewery cellars was strutted with heavy pit props and above it was erected the usual "bursting course," consisting of concrete slabs on iron rails supported by sandbagged buttresses. As warnings of the imminent use of gas shells by the Germans were to hand all doors were securely gas proofed. At the M.D.S. at Beaussart, also very exposed to bombardment, similar work was undertaken; we had already suffered casualties amongst the medical personnel, both here and at the A.D.S. The civilian population had abandoned both these villages, now fast caught in the battle zone, but at Bertrancourt some few old people and invalids remained, and as it was very undesirable that they should continue to live in the village they were removed by French motor ambulance cars. In the school and some Nissen huts, close to the prisoners of war divisional cage No. 2 Field Ambulance established a sick collecting post with about 50 patients.

The experience of the last 10 days of March had demonstrated the importance of divisional medical units retaining their mobility. The pushing forward of the C.C.S.'s during the three years of static warfare had to a certain extent limited the usefulness of the main dressing stations. During the rapid withdrawal of our divisions from the Hindenburg line while the M.A.C.'s were fully employed in removing patients, from the C.C.S.'s, the motor ambulance cars of the divisions were used in many instances to page 394carry wounded back to the C.C.S.'s so losing time on account of the great distances to be covered, and entailing the abandonment of lying cases collected by the bearer subdivisions. With these considerations in view the D.G.M.S., Surgeon-General Sir Arthur Sloggatt, on the 2nd April, directed that field ambulances should select alternative positions for their M.D.S.'s in échelon behind the posts held at the moment, so that, in cases of retirement, the rearward posts, manned in time, would be available and to a certain extent prepared; and, further, that on no account were the motor ambulance cars of the divisions to evacuate wounded direct to C.C.S.'s but were to be employed only from the bearer collecting posts to the M.D.S. In compliance with these orders General McGavin, on 3rd April, instructed the O.C. No. 3 Field Ambulance to select an alternative site for the Divisional M.D.S. Louvencourt was ultimately chosen, as being most suitable, and a party from the 3rd Field Ambulance was detailed to take over the schoolhouse and the Mairie at an early date from the 14th Australian Field Ambulance at present stationed there.

The end of the week saw the German assaulting columns making their last general attacks on the Amiens positions. A portion of the advancing masses fell upon the New Zealand Division on the 5th. At 5 a.m. a very heavy bombardment—the heaviest yet experienced by our troops—fell upon our front line and back areas, concentrated with especial intensity about Beaussart, Bertrancourt, and as far back as Bus en Artois. Following this, powerful attacks by storm troops were launched against the left of our line; the outposts at La Signy Farm were driven in but our trench on the crest held firm; all assaults were beaten back with heavy casualties to the attackers. In the afternoon the 2nd Brigade on our right felt the weight of the enemy and dealt with him as the Rifle Brigade had done, adding to their triumph the bringing down of a low flying aeroplane whose pilot and observer they captured. During the bombardment of the front line we lost another medical officer, Lieut. Roy Harris, N.Z.M.C., R.M.O., to 1st Canterbury. His R.A.P. in front of Engelbelmer was in a shell hole close to his battalion headquarters; there was an old trench line just in rear of his improvised aid post upon which the barrage was accurately directed. While moving his medical detachment to a place of greater safety, he was killed. There were no wounded in the post, but be did not leave it until the whole of his party was safely away. He was the second R.M.O. of 1st Canterbury to be killed, as he had relieved Captain Serpell, M.C. in December, 1917. The bombardment was more concentrated about Bertrancourt Village than even at page 395Beaussart: so severe was the shelling that it became necessary to clear the ambulance station, the sick being distributed in the fields. Before 9 a.m. the school yard was half filled with stretchers awaiting evacuation—our own ambulance cars had to be used for the purpose—in the work of evacuation one of the motor ambulance cars, fortunately unloaded, was destroyed by a shell which killed the driver and wounded the orderly, while several Germans and a few of the N.Z.M.C. personnel were killed or wounded near the Nissen huts in the German Prisoners' Compound. The provision made by the A.D.M.S. for a dressing station at Louvencourt was now found most useful, as the sick were transferred there during the afternoon and a small holding party only left in Bertrancourt. The divisional walking wounded collecting post at Beaussart was much damaged by high explosive shells and, as the road was barraged, it became necessary to shelter the lightly wounded in the church. Acheux railway station became untenable so that Lt.-Col. Hardie Neil was obliged to open a new entraining post at Louvencourt, 2½ miles further back by road, and at this point on the light railway, 277 patients were safely entrained in two trains during the day. No. 3 Field Ambulance now took over the sick collecting station—evacuated from Bertrancourt. At Mailly-Maillet heavy shells had fallen in the village but the work of the A.D.S. was not interrupted although Lt.-Col. Craig had a few of his men wounded. The total casualties admitted to the divisional posts numbered close on 350; of these 250 passed through the M.D.S. at Beaussart. Most of the wounds were of a severe nature as they were caused by shell fire and in marked contrast to the lighter type of bullet wound more commonly treated during the previous week. The N.Z.M.C. casualties included 3 killed, 8 wounded.

The 6th was deemed a "quiet day" although the shelling still continued, but in diminished depth. A fresh attack, on our left, had to be beaten off by our artillery fire and the battle still raged to the south of us. Our line, however, was by now well established on a favourable position and behind our front trenches a heavily wired main position had been constructed by the N.Z.E. and the Pioneers. The morale of the Division had never been more exalted and our infantry were well prepared, even eager, to meet any assault the enemy might choose to fling upon them. During these stirring days of semi-open warfare our losses had been heavy and were estimated to be:—550 killed, 1800 wounded and a few missing; but we had more than held our own, we had actually taken something from the Germans in the shape of territory, prisoners and material.

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But the crisis of the Somme battles was passed, the way to Amiens and the Somme estuary was stoutly barred, and the tide of the German eruption was setting towards our northern flank about Estaires and Armentières. Already we were reverting to the old impasse of trench fighting and the routine of position warfare. The principal work of the N.Z.M.C. during the rest of the month was concerned in strengthening the various forward posts and improving the protection of the A.D.S. at Mailly-Maillet. Battle casualties averaged about 40 per diem, and although shell fire was considerable, the evacuation of the wounded presented little difficulty; good roads in most cases permitted the use of wheeled stretchers as far as the R.A.P. and the rolling nature of the country gave such concealment as enabled the motor cars to come well forward unobserved. At Louvencourt No. 3 Field Ambulance was holding 150 sick and continued to despatch the usual daily service of trains to Gezaincourt; the return journey took three hours to complete and with four coaches and four trucks there was ample room for 300 sitting and 56 stretcher cases. A bathing station near the ambulance had been reestablished and the usual fight against parasitism was renewed. But as ever happens to an industrious division, no sooner has it made comfortable local arrangements, than some other unit steps in to reap the advantages. At the end of the month, owing to the necessity for the Division "sidestepping" to the north so as to cover Hébuterne the well protected A.D.S. at Mailly-Maillet, which now had shell proof cellar accommodation for 100 stretcher cases and was well lighted by a derelict acetylene plant discovered by us in the abandoned village, had to be handed over to units of the 12th Division, who relieved our right subsector, and the readjustment necessitated taking over an A.D.S. at Sailly-au-Bois about a mile and a half west of Hebuterne. No. 2 Field Ambulance was instructed to make the necessary arrangements while No. 1 Field Ambulance had orders to erect a M.D.S. in tents at Bus en Artois close to the fringe of the Chateau Woods. Steps were taken to put the Sailly au Bois A.D.S. into a proper condition of defence as it was wholly unprotected and consisted of rooms in a vacated estaminet situated on the main road. On the very afternoon on which we took over, Lt.-Col. Murray had 1000 sand bags filled to block all the windows, the next day beams taken from buildings already wrecked by shell fire were collected and placed over the roof and covered by sand bags filled with broken bricks so as to provide a bursting course. The outside walls were next strengthened by a breast work of sand bags filled with chalk blocks; this gave protection from small shells at least. As there was likelihood of heavy page 397bombardment it seemed advisable to construct "according to the art," a much more secure retreat. With the aid of a squad of infantry, some engineers, and all available bearers, a cutting 47 feet long, 12 feet broad, and 15 feet deep was made at the back of a stable in rear of the estaminet. With the spoil, sand bags were filled to form a breastwork in front of the stable walls, 3 feet thick and a double roof with bursting space of iron rails and sand bags was carried right along through the brick building. Three large curved iron "elephant dugouts," were fitted into the cutting. The roof of the elephant shelters was covered with a thickness of 2 feet 6 inches of earth above which a bursting space of one foot was left, and over this a bursting course—of railway iron—was placed. The next course was one of earth 18 inches deep topped by three layers of sandbags filled with broken bricks and to make all secure a final dressing with 2 feet of broken bricks. This monumental work was now safe against everything except 8 inch or larger shells and took 19 days to complete. Sleeping quarters for personnel were provided by driving a tunnel from the dressing room into the bank and excavating a chamber 24 feet by 6 feet which was heavily timbered and provided with bunks. Above the site of this excavation a bursting course made of heavy beams, iron rails, and chalk blocks was erected on the ground level, which work it was believed would make the sleeping quarters safe, at least, from 6 inch shells. All entrances to the A.D.S. were double gas proofed. It may now be realised how much importance our divisional medical officers attached to the protection of the forward posts and why it was that the elements of field fortification was imparted in the Anzac Medical Officers' Training School in 1916. A well sited and shell proof A.D.S. makes for two important considerations: advanced position and better work. Security for the wounded and their attendants are both essential, if satisfactory first aid is to be administered to the wounded at the earliest stage of their perilous journey of evacuation and a sense of security, however flimsy in its foundation, is of material help to a badly wounded man in removing apprehension of further damage, and as a prophylactic of nervous shock. The improvement of the protective work about R.A.P.'s was another matter at present receiving close attention, more especially the aid posts at the Sugar Factory in front of Colincamps on the Serre road. Enemy shelling was particularly severe both at Colincamps and at the factory corner where a brigade dump, always a centre of busy movement by day, attracted the attention of the German artillery. Arrangements had been completed for the establishment of a new aid post in this area, when on the 8th of May the R.A.P. page 398was wrecked by a direct hit which killed the whole party in the dugout: Captain A. M. Tolhurst, N.Z.M.C., R.M.O. to the 4th Battalion, N.Z.R.B., the chaplain, the Rev. A. Allen, and one N.Z.M.C. orderly, were killed outright, the N.Z.M.C. runner being mortally wounded. A party of ours from the bearer relay post hurried over to the shattered R.A.P. and brought down the dead and the wounded man to the A.D.S. at Mailly-Maillet. Captain Tolhurst had many friends in the division which he had joined from the hospital ship Maheno late in 1917. He had been with his battalion since early in March.

North, in Flanders in the old familiar places about Armentières, Sailly, Ploegsteert, and Baillieul, the second German blow had been struck just as we had straightened our line on the Ancre. On the 9th, Ludendorf's birthday, and anniversary of the taking of Vimy in 1917, under the weight of densely packed German divisions, our defences melted away in front of Estaires. The Lys was crossed at Sailly and Bac St. Maur. Armentières was turned and out troops withdrawn, destroying the bridges as they passed. At Ploegsteert, some of the New Zealand Artillery the 2nd (Army) Brigade, N.Z.F.A. fought their guns in defence of the wood until their last few rounds, which were fired at point blank range into the houses in Ploegsteert village, while the 25th Division, who had fought with us at Messines were forced from hill 63 by the German torrents pouring down their wonted course, the Douve valley. New Zealand reinforcements, cyclists and cavalry gave a willing hand in the defences of Meteren—what time the 1st Australian Division was detraining at Hazebrouck—and later at Kemmel, when Messines had fallen. The story of the 4th Field Ambulance ends in this stormy period. On February the 7th, it ceased to be attached to the New Zealand Division and became the New Zealand Reinforcements Field Ambulance, a temporary unit, but it continued, under the same command, and with the same officers, to carry out its assigned duties at the A.D.S., Ecole de Bienfaisence, at Ypres: later it was relieved and took over the Corps Scabies Hospital at Remy Siding. In March Lt.-Col. McLean, N.Z.M.C. left the unit to command No. 3 N.Z.G.H. at Codford and Captain Venables, M.C., N.Z.M.C., assumed his duties. At the end of March the remainder of the unit was attached to the 2nd Entrenching Battalion, the only portion of the 4th Brigade still left in the Fourth Army Area and in April, the remaining officers and personnel were drafted to the Division as reinforcements. There remained Captain Venables, M.C., now R.M.O. to the 2nd Entrenching Battalion; in this duty he was mortally wounded on the 8th May, and died in the 3rd Australian page 399C.C.S. the following day. For over 19 months he had served with his original battalion, the 2nd Otagos; at the Somme, at Messines, where he won his decoration, and at Passchendaele. There was no more devoted R.M.O. in the New Zealand Division.

The British position on the Ancre had now become so secure and the diversion in the north had so relaxed the efforts of the Germans fronting us, that the whole complex routine of normal trench warfare was reestablished in the New Zealand Divisional Area. On our part: frequent raids and harassing bombardments—in the raids we had rather the better of it, nor were our casualties heavy. On the enemy's part, fierce burst of artillery fire, crashes, shell storms, lasting from two to three minutes in selected areas and an increasing use of shell gas bombardments. Gas drills and gas precautions were practised and strictly enforced; and very necessary they were because of the high concentration of poison vapour occasionally secured in small areas by projector fire in incredible profusion. In a neighbouring division no less than 2000 casualties due to gas poisoning were evacuated following a few hours concentrated gas bombardment; many serious cases and fatalities resulted. As our casualties during May were about 25 per cent, of those we sustained in April, the evacuation of small numbers of wounded daily, presented no problem of any magnitude. The A.D.S. at Sailly-au-Bois now well fortified, gave cover for some 100 stretcher cases; the greatest number of wounded handled in one day was on the 5th, when the New Zealand Division engaged in a minor operation with the 42nd Division north of Hebuterne.

The Third Army—which the New Zealanders found to be no less highly organised in technical administration than our much admired Second Army—early in May reopened its schools of instruction temporarily interrupted by the German invasion. Surgery, especially that of the front line, was a speciality of this Army, whose Consulting Surgeon, Col. H. M. Gray, was noted since 1916 for his work in the treatment of compound gunshot fractures. His memoranda issued by the Third Army in 1917, formed the basis of the front line surgical practice of this and other armies, and his well known book, "The Early Treatment of War Wounds," published at the end of 1918, epitomised the advancing knowledge of that period. His lectures given at Louvencourt were attended by all our medical officers in turn: the problems of shock prevention at the R.A.P. and A.D.S., the best method of splinting fractures and the demonstration of the regulation set of splints, now carried in racks by each motor ambulance, formed the basis of these lectures which were delivered over a sufficient period to enable all our page 400medical officers to attend in turn. This method of instruction seemed preferable to the bimonthly conferences at a C.C.S. held by the Second Army during 1917. The new manual, "Injuries and Diseases of the War," (1918), was by now in the hands of all medical officers, so that all advances in war surgery and medicine were rapidly assimilated by the most forward medical units. At this time a compound serum, antitetanic, and, said to be, prophylactic against gas gangrene, was coming into use in the British armies; experimentally, at first, it was administered—on alternate days,—to the wounded who on the days when the gas serum was not used, received only the usual dosage of A.T.S. The treatment of wounded had now reached a very high ideal of perfection in the British Armies and our A.D.M.S. received during this period a very flattering commendation from the D.M.S. of the Third Army on the condition in which our wounded were reaching the C.C.S.'s. Had the laboratory succeeded in giving us a sure prophylatic against gas gangrene most of the danger from battle wounds would have vanished, but the serum was not to succeed in relieving us of the mutilating operations demanded by the necessity of guarding against gas infection. The organisms were multiple, and the virulence variable. A more encouraging departure in front line work, was the intravenous infusion of preserved blood reported on by Captain Walker of the C.A.M.C., late in June. In one of their raids the 2nd Canadian Division fitted up an advanced resuscitation room within one hour's portage of the front line. Both preserved blood and fresh citrated whole blood infusions were practised with the happiest results. The preserved blood corpuscles freed from serum and suspended in dextrin-saline solution could now be brought, well forward and, as the report says, the soldiers talked with wonder of the cellars where "the dead men were brough to life by having blood pumped into them." Donors of blood, at this time, were granted three weeks leave. There was no dearth of volunteers.

Sanitation revived during the period of quiesence, sanitary sections having no control in forward areas, the preventive service of the Division was maintained by local sanitary officers appointed to areas. A course of instruction in water duties was opened at Louvencourt and at Hesdin the Army School of Cookery, previously in Albert, was visited by officers interested in interior economy, and was attended by cooks selected from the various units. The general health of the Division was very much the same as that of other, units of the Third Army whose rate of wastage was nearly 10 per thousand per week, while the Division hardly exceeded 8 per page 401thousand. But a very appreciable rise in the wastage curve was noticeable throughout the British Armies, the wastage from disease being now nearly double that of 1916, when the New Zealand Division first came to France. Trench fever was in great part responsible for the increase. P.U.O.—a term now meaning almost exclusively trench fever—was very prevalent, therefore the baths and the cleansing stations were much used. German prisoners taken about this time gave evidence by their cleanly appearance that on their side, there was no less devotion to antiparasitic measures, and when questioned, gave our officers to understand that their system of baths and laundries and arrangements for disinfestation were similar to ours. As typhus fever had been brought to the Western Front by German divisions coming from Russia, a very close watch was maintained by us on all prisoners of war as regards infestation. Serious as our sick wastage was at present, it was destined to be markedly aggravated by a pestilence of which the vanguard was at hand, the great influenza epidemic of 1918.

The month of May was one of intense expectancy and anxiety for the British Armies. The battles in Flanders and on the Somme had died down at the end of April. Messines and Baillieul were lost, but Bethune, Hazebrouck, Kemmel and Ypres we still held. Finding the gates ajar in Flanders Sixte Von Arnim had flung his whole weight upon them, so that his line now bulged into a very unhandy salient, south of Kemmel, and was much tormented by the Allied artillery. Both here and in front of Amiens the German reserve divisions had lost heavily, and the British Armies, given a few weeks respite, were already recovering from a condition of exhaustion as great as that of the Regular Army at the end of 1914. Doubt and uncertainty as to the point at which Ludendorf would next strike still tormented the British Higher Command. So far the hymn of hate had been set to marching time against the sole "fiend"—England—and there was every reason to apprehend a further onslaught against our enfeebled armies whose destruction Germany seemed solely to compass. But the gathering storm broke on the Chemin des Dames at the end of May, and if it did not fully expose the intention of our opponents, it seemed to promise at least a prolongation of the breathing time our forces so badly needed.

On 7th of June the New Zealand Division was relieved in front line by the 42nd Division, passed into reserve and for the next three weeks enjoyed a period of rest, but still in somewhat close proximity to the Corps front. The weather was fine and hot; the country about Doullens smiling, wooded and fruitful, and peaceful. Cricket matches, sports meetings, and the Kiwi Troupe of page 402Pierrots entertained the men during the hours of recreation stolen from military training. Distinguished visitors came, the Prime Minister, the Hon. Mr. Massey, and Sir Joseph Ward, Minister of Finance, who visited various N.Z.M.C. units and formations, including the ambulances. Meanwhile the Divisional N.Z.M.C. supervised the corps rest stations at Authie and at Vauchelles where an aggregate of 300 to 400 British and New Zealand soldiers were under treatment.

Towards the end of the month an epidemic of unknown origin was spreading through the divisions of the Third Army and was already causing many casualties in the New Zealand Divisions. During the week ending June 29th, 1373 sick were admitted to the field ambulances, but beyond an increase of the numbers of cases of P.U.O. and influenza, there seemed to be no cause for alarm. The disease although severe for a few days was of short duration most men being able to resume duty in from 7 to 10 days time; many were treated by their own unit and were not even admitted to the field ambulance. The Third Army sick wastage rate was 10 per thousand during the last week in June; one British division in the Army had no less than 500 admissions to C.C.S. during this week; but the New Zealand Division, by establishing an isolation camp, kept its official wastage figures within reasonable bounds. This was the first wave of the great worldwide epidemics of 1918, and 1919, which originating in America in 1917 travelled from west to east, first breaking out in Spain in May, then spreading to all the armies of the B.E.F. in France in May and June. The first wave was not attended with much mortality, nor was it marked by any severity of complications, but by its high infectivity it disabled large numbers simultaneously, if temporarily. The name given to the disease in the western armies during the summer phase was "Three Day Influenza," and it was not treated as a notifiable disease. The maximum number under treatment in our division at the isolation camp at Marieux Wood was 1045 on July 3rd, but the figures dropped rapidly as the month advanced until in the early days of August the disease died out completely.

Thoroughly rested, the division, by the 7th of July, was taking over a new sector in the corps front between Hébuterne and Gommecourt, destined to be the jumping off place for their final victorious battles in the autumn.

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