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1 - Military situation early August 1918 

 

On March 3, 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed between the Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bolshevik Russia. This Treaty, which put an end to the fighting on the Eastern front, allowed the Germans to transfer hundreds of thousands of soldiers and weaponry to the Western front. General Ludendorff - Deputy Chief of staff of the German Army in campaign - identified their objective as being the weakest Allied force, namely the British 5th Army.

- We must beat the English. We must attack before the Americans arrive in numbers in France. (Conference in Mons, on November 11, 1917.) 

The British held the part of the front between Ypres and the Oise. The 5th Army was stationed in the Aisne.  Making the most of their numeric advantage, the Germans launched Operation Michael on 21 March 1918 in order to drive the Allied defences in the direction of the Somme. The German offensive would be finally stopped on 4 April 1918 at Villers-Bretonneux by Australian troops backed up by all available fighting units.

This allowed the allies to keep Amiens which was a vital rail junction at the time. The Germans then launched several operations to try to break the allied defences, unsuccessfully.

By mid-July, German troops were exhausted and their advantage gained from the closure of the Eastern front was depleted. It was at this point that General Foch decided to launch a massive counter-attack to completely clear the railway tracks around Amiens and resolve "the Amiens Salient".

The operation was scheduled for August 8 and would be known later as the 'Battle of Amiens' or 'Third Battle of Picardy”. The attack was to be conducted jointly by the British forces, including Australian and Canadian troops, and the French forces. The area of attack would extend between Albert and Montdidier -  3rd British corps, between Morlancourt and Sailly-Laurette.- Australian Corps, between Sailly-Laurette and Villers-Bretonneux - Canadian Corps, between Villers-Bretonneux and Domart on the Luce - 1st French Army and between Domart on the Luce and Hargicourt.

The entire operation was based on the element of surprise. There would therefore be no preliminary bombardment prior to the attack or reconnaissance shots. Furthermore, the Allies would have to transfer the Canadian Corps stationed further north in the sector of Lens-Vimy, roughly 100,000 men with their equipment, in total secrecy.

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2 –Battle preparation

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 In early August, 1918, the Canadian Corps, placed  under the command of Sir Arthur Currie, consisted of four divisions. The front intended for the Canadians in the attack of August 8, was divided as follows: 2nd Canadian Division - between the south of Villers-Bretonneux (Amiens-Tergnier railway) and the south of Marcelcave (Morgemont Wood),  1st Canadian Division - to the north of Hangard,  3rd Canadian Division-  up to  Domart sur la the Luce (the southern boundary is roughly the existing road D934 connecting Amiens to Roye).

 The 4th Canadian division was held in reserve. Each division was composed of three infantry brigades, each with four  infantry battalions and a battery of trench mortars,  divisional troops, cavalry, divisional artillery, engineering troops, sanitary troops  (including 3 field ambulance units). The 2nd Canadian division was to attack Marcelcave with it’s 4th infantry brigade made up of n°18 (Western Ontario Regiment) , n° 19, and 20 (Central Ontario Regiments) and n° 21 (Eastern Ontario Regiment) Battalions. The battalions were recruited in specific areas of  Canada, in this instance, the four battalions of the 4th infantry brigade were from the province of Ontario. At the beginning of August, these units were stationed south-west of Amiens at Pissy (18th Battalion), Briquemesnil (19th Battalion), Bougainville (20th Battalion) and Seux / Fluy (21st Battalion). During the day of August 1st, they walked  to a field South of Picquigny to attend training  together with British armoured units (Tank Corps) to prepare for future operations.

 The demonstrations focused mainly on the means of communication between the infantry and tank crews, identification of targets using grenade smoke and flag signalling (white and green flag to signal that the objectif had been reached and that the advance could resume, yellow and red flag to signal that the tank was out of action, a tricolor flag to indicate that the tank was retiring after the end of operations). In the  absence of preliminary  bombardment, the presence of tanks to back up the infantry units gave increased firepower against enemy machine gun posts and allowed  the creation of a passage for the infantry through the  fields of barbed wire. The British Army was equipped with Mark V tanks that could be driven by one man. Heavier than it’s predecessor, this tank was nevertheless affected by a breakdown of the inner compartment which was  even worse than the Mark IV tank.  The 4th Canadian Infantry Brigade would be supported by the 14th Tank Battalion  during the fighting on August 8.

On 3 August, the battalions moved towards  the south-east suburbs of Amiens (St. Acheul, Boutillerie, Cagny).

The next day, they reached the front area to the west of Villers-Bretonneux. In order o keep the element of surprise, all  travel was at night in black-out conditions;  it was forbidden to smoke. When the day came, all movement was prohibited and men remained under cover in order not to arouse the suspicions of the German Air Force flying over the area. Captain R.J. Renison, the 21st Battalion chaplain describes these moments:

  - The roads were crowded with transport and greetings passed between units fromVancouver, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, Montreal and Halifax. In the early hours of the morning, we passed through the suburbs of a deserted city whose venerable cathedral pile looked down like the sentinel spirit of France – battered, but unbowed.  At daybreak, the brigade entered a wood [ Abbot Wood and the wood at Aquesne, to the west of Villers-Bretonneux] and slept through the day.  (Extract from the war diary of the 21st Canadian Battalion, August 1918 - Library archives Canada.)

 The German artillery made regular bombings of the area . The 21st Battalion suffered losses in the night of the 5-6 August when a shell hit a small munitions depot killing twenty or so of it’s soldiers. Most of them were buried at the British military cemetery at Longueau. The morning of Tuesday, August 7 was fine and clear, allowing allied aircraft to be more active than usual. Reconnoitering parties from Scout section and companies were sent to the front to acquire as much information on the area to be attacked.  In the reserve trenches behind the front line, the men waited.  Captain Renison recalled: 

  - A tour of the trenches gave one an opportunity to estimate the spirit of the men. They were all radiant and confident; it was evident that as  the evening drew near, almost all were thinking of home. In every dugout, men were writing letters, and for many of them it was the last message. I heard an old Sergeant  say:

‘Boys, I would give a  good deal to be able to read the Toronto papers next Saturday. I don't know what this show will be called, but I'm sure it will be a great day in Canadian history.’

 At night fall, under a clear sky, the battalions made their way to join their gathering places before the attack, scheduled for 4:20 the next morning.

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3 – The battle plan

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 3.1 – The artillary

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At  zero hours of the onset of the attack, the Allied artillery would open fire creating  a creeping barrage. This technique consisted of  bombarding  a fixed line just infront of the assault troops in order to silence the enemy defense. After a pre-determined period (a few minutes), the curtain of shelling and dust would lift to allow the troops to advance by leaps and bounds. D.228 order , Cf. War diary of the 18th Canadian Battalion, August 1918 (Library archives Canada) describes the barrage on August 8 for the Marcelcave attack in detail:  - The chronology of the barrage is as  follows: zero line is located 200 yards [183 m) ] before the first line trenches. The first two bombing jump offs  will be at zero hours 3  minutes then at zero hours 5 minutes. The following eight jump offs will be at intervals of 300 yards (274 m). From the eleventh jump off to the objective, the bombing breaks will be at 4 minute intervals and at distances of 100 yards (91 m).’  The map on the following page  extracted from the War Diary of the 4th Canadian Infantry Brigade, August 1918 (Library archives Canada) gives the chronology of the bombing schedule which would  finally be used. It is clear from the map that the shelling stopped at the entrance of Marcelcave. The objective of the first wave of assault ("the green line") was located to the east of the village.

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3.2 - The infantry

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 Under the relative shelter of the artillery, and with the tanks supporting, the infantry was to move forward to capture Marcelcave. The 4th Canadian Brigade adopted a plan of attack using three battalions to the assault (n°s 18, 19 and 21) and one battalion in reserve (n°20)  which would follow closely behind to address any possible difficulties. Each battalion  was to consist of four companies and a headquarter. As with the brigade, three companies made up of 120 to 160 men would attack, the fourth would remain in reserve. The headquarters would move in the hours following the advance of the battalion. The front line to be attributed to the 4th Canadian brigade was cut into two roughly-equal parts. The front in the north-east was to be held by the 19th Battalion, the south by the 18th Battalion. Further back would be the 21 t Battalion and the 20th Battalion and the units of the second wave of attack consisting of the 5th Canadian Infantry Brigade. The latter, composed of battalions  22, 24, 25 and 26, whose objective were Wiencourt  l’Equipée and Guillaucourt, were to take over from the 4th Brigade after achieving their goal ("the green line"). The principal of 'leap-frogging'  would be used so as not to exhaust the troops by leaving the same units on the line of attack throughout the military operation. The 19th Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel L.H Millen, was to capture the northern part of Marcelcave while the southern part of the village would be entrusted to the 21st Battalion commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel E.W Jones. The area which each of the two battalion was responsible for, was roughly marked by a horizontal line passing through the current crossroads between Saint-Marcel and Jean Lheureux. The objective of the18th Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel L.E Jones, was an area directly south of the village where German artillery was positioned. The 20th Battalion, in reserve, was under the command of Lieutenant Colonel B. O. Hooper. The infantry of the 4th Brigade would be supported, among others, by the 4th Canadian Trench Mortar Battery, two companies of the 14th Tank Battalion and two units of the 2nd Battalion Canadian Machine Gun Company.

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