25 September 1915
[Saturday]
From the
Regimental History of IR16
On 21 September the enemy started firing his
artillery. The trenches, that is the approach-trenches and the land behind
those up to Douvrin, were under heavy fire. With interest the reserve bataillon
III/16, which was at the time involved in peaceful exercises on the other side
of Douvrin, watched the proceedings along the whole front upto Arras.
The structure of the trenches stood the test
spendidly. Where the enemy managed to cause considerable damage, especially in
the 2nd and 3rd line, this could usually be repaired
under the cover of darkness. Thus large parts of the trenches were still
usuable.
Deserters and prisoners had predicted a large enemy
attack for 25th September. The enemy had considerably damaged the
barbed wire defence and the front of our trenches with their trenchmortars, and
in places completely eradicated it. Thus it could not be denied anymore that
the enemy was planning an attack any time soon. II and I batallion were in the frontline
trenches, III batallion was scheduled to relieve I batallion in the morning.
25th September started remarkably
quiet. III batallion had already marched out for the relief. Then suddenly, at
06.45 in the morning, thick, yellow gasclouds rolled towards our positions and
shrouded everything in an impenetrable haze. Gas-alarm! Everyone scrambles for the
gasmasks, and sets fire to the trenchdefences. In no-time the trenchdefences
along the whole line were on fire. An imposing sight! Suddenly the enemy
artillery fire switched to the land behind the trenches, giving the brave
defenders time to regroup, under the protection of the wall of fire, and wait
for what was coming.
Several people suffered greatly from the gas,
and here and there the commanders had to step in to bring the partly heavily
shaken men back to their senses.
After about 45 minutes, with the cloud slowly
disappearing, the English get out of their trenches and are subjected to
devastating machinegun- and rifle-fire. They don’t get far, and, after suffering
heavy casualties, hastily retreat to their trenches. At the Prellbock it comes
to fierce handgrenade-fights, which all end in victory for us. No Englishman
reached our positions.
A company-commander writes about his
impressions as follows: [From a position between the Canal and Hohenzollern Redoubt]
“As per schedule III/16 marched out of Douvrin at
5 o’clock in the morning of 25 september 1915, to relieve I/16. When the
batallion was partly in the front-line trenches, and partly still in the approach-trenches,
there was heavy artillery fire all of a sudden. We initially thought that the
enemy had noticed the relief, when an unknown smell perplexed us. After the
initial surprise it was clear: Gas-attack. As we were well prepared, with a sufficient
supply of gasmasks, and trained through instructions and drills, everyone
quickly recovered from that first fright and reached for their gasmask.But
where were the trenchdefences? They were mostly destroyed by artilleryfire. Here
and there though there were parts still intact, and they were quickly set
alight.
We knew that from behind the gasclouds the
enemy would come. Then, through the haze, one suddenly sees the evil enemy
approaching, calmly as if they were going for a morningwalk. But he had not
reckoned with the Hacketäuern. Frantic rapid fire erupted along the entire
front, and the enemy rapidly retreated to his own trenches. One spirited
commander had, ahead of his troops, reached the “Monocle” [a mine-crater called “Monocle”-Eyeglass], with exemplary bravery. He paid for this
bravery with his life.
We had won! An uplifting moment. The brave
Hacketäuer yelled “Hurra”, and even the gas casualties joined in. There were cheers
and joy, the enemy had been properly paid back.
Our first worry was now to re-organise our left
wing. There there were two batallions in a place which would normally hold one
batallion. We then prepared to repel a possible further attack. The trench defences
were repaired, wood was prepared and many a fine dug-out door,and many a
fieldbed was offered to the axe. But there was a bigger worry for the
commanders. The gas had affected the rifles in such a way that the locks would
not function anymore. Copious grease, sourced from the batallion, remedied this
shortcoming. We were ready for everything now, but the enemy remained very
quiet. They had had enough and realised it was best not to tangle with us.
On the left though they had had greater
success. It worried us a great deal, especially at night when we could see their
flares almost behind us. The following days the battle raged on day and night,
and it was reassuring for us to see the enemy bit by bit being pushed back to
their old positions.“
“Casualties for the period of 1 september to 31
october 1915:
Dead: 4 officers (including 2 doctors), 189 NCO’s
and men
Wounded: 4 officers, 505 NCO’s and men
Missing: 14 NCO’s and men
Furthermore 84 incapacitated by gas”.
