The Second Battle of Bapaume was a battle of the First World War that took place at Bapaume in France, from 21 August 1918 to 3 September 1918. It was a continuation of the Battle of Albert and is also referred to as the second phase of that battle. The British and Dominion attack was part of what was later known as the Allies' Hundred Days Offensive.
The Second Battle of Bapaume was carried out over a period of two weeks and involved the divisions of IV Corps; the British 5th, 37th, 42nd, and the 63rd Divisions along with the New Zealand Division. On 29 August, elements of the New Zealand Division, after heavy fighting in the days prior, occupied Bapaume as the defending Germans withdrew. It then pushed onto the Bancourt Ridge, to the east of Bapaume.
Background
On 8 August 1918, the Hundred Days' Offensive commenced on the Western Front and it would prove to be the last major campaign of the First World War. It began with the Battle of Amiens, an attack by the Canadian and Australian Corps at Amiens, which rolled the German lines back 8 km (5.0 mi). The advance petered out after four days after the Germans began to regroup and shore up their defences. The commander of the British Expeditionary Force, Field Marshal Douglas Haig, recognised that it was time to put pressure elsewhere on the German front and for this, decided to use General Julian Byng's Third Army. Haig decided that the Bapaume sector, with the town of Bapaume at its centre, was to be the new focus of operations.
Bapaume
Bapaume itself was a small town linked by rail to Albert and Arras. There were also four major roads running through the town; running to Albert in the south-west, to Peronne in the south-east; to Cambrai in the east and to the north lay Arras. Captured by the forces of Imperial Germany in the early stages of the war, it had been the focus of the British forces on the opening day of the Battle of Somme in 1916. Still in German hands, it had been largely destroyed in early 1917 following their withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line. Extensive booby traps had also been left and these troubled the Australians that moved into the town afterwards. It was subsequently recaptured by the Germans during the Spring Offensive. The land surrounding Bapaume was relatively flat and thus was conducive to the use of tanks.
Plan of attack
Byng allocated the Third Army's IV Corps to the forthcoming operation, which was to become known as the Second Battle of Bapaume. IV Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General George Harper comprised five divisions, all of which would be employed during the battle. The first three to be involved were the New Zealand Division along with the 37th and 42nd Divisions. The other two divisions, the 5th and the 63rd Divisions, were held in reserve before being deployed later in the battle. Of all these divisions, only the New Zealand Division was at full strength. Facing the Third Army was the German 17th Army, commanded by General der Infanterie (General of the Infantry) Otto von Below, made up of eight divisions which, apart from the 4th Bavarian Infantry Division, were all second class formations. A further two divisions were in reserve.
The battle was planned to have two phases. The first, what is now known as the Battle of Albert, was to be an attack across a 15 km (9.3 mi) front from the village of Puiseux towards the Albert–Arras railway. The New Zealand Division, commanded by Major General Andrew Russell, played a limited role in this action, being limited to the New Zealand Rifle Brigade supporting the main attack which was to be carried out by the 37th Division on 21 August. The New Zealanders, along with the 42nd Division, on its right, were expected to bring the right flank in line with the left. Then the 5th and 63rd were to pass through the lines of the 37th Division and move onto and beyond the Albert-Arras railway. The New Zealand Division and 42nd were to move forward and maintain the front line, which gradually narrowed, placing the New Zealanders in a valley with the high ground on either side occupied by its flanking British divisions.
The second phase, scheduled to begin on 23 August, was to capture Bapaume and then advance further east to Reincourt-les-Bapaume and Bancourt-Fremicourt and the high ground beyond. The New Zealanders were to play a key role; the 1st and 2nd Infantry Brigades of the New Zealand Division, kept in reserve, were to be ready to exploit any breakthrough on the front. To distract the Germans from the main attack being carried out by the Third Army, the French Tenth Army conducted diversionary attacks to the south.
Battle
Albert–Arras railway
The opening phase of the battle began on 21 August, when two battalions of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, covered by artillery and fog which reduced visibility to less than 100 m (110 yd), moved forward and seized Puiseux, capturing over 100 prisoners. It established a new line 1,000 m (1,100 yd) beyond the village and secured the flanks of the neighbouring divisions making their own move forwards. The British 5th Division then passed through the brigade's positions to take over the advance. It struggled to take its objective of Achiet-le-Petit and a feature known as the Dovecot and assistance, in the form of patrols mounted by the Rifle Brigade battalions, was provided. Nonetheless, the 5th Division had advanced 3.2 km (2.0 mi) and took over 500 prisoners of war for relatively few casualties.
Little progress was made the next day as Byng directed that the focus for the day was to simply consolidate the gains made and prepare for a further movement forward on 23 August. The relative inactivity of 22 August encouraged von Below in a belief that the attacks of the previous day were a failure. Seeking to take advantage, he arranged for counterattacks to be mounted by the 17th Army, and these resulted in the loss of Dovecot, which overlooked the New Zealand positions. The machine gun battalion of 42nd Division provided key support in driving off the counterattacks which, according to prisoners of war captured during the action, was launched by 52nd Infantry Division, largely made up of men from the Grand Duchy of Baden, which had newly arrived in the sector from Flanders.
The following day, 23 August, the 42nd Division attacked Dovecot; a battalion of Lancashire Fusiliers and the 10th Manchester Battalion, assisted by a battalion from the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, took the position after beginning their advance at 2:30 am. The New Zealanders also secured the flank of the 5th Division which attacked towards the village of Irles and then onto Loupart Wood and Grévillers. In the meantime, the 37th Division attacked and captured Bihucourt.
As a result of the operations of 21–23 August, the frontline had been established to the east of the Albert-Arras railway line with all but one of the ridges to the south and west of Bapaume held by IV Corps. However, the 5th Division had been unsuccessful in its attacks which left the ridge running from Loupart Wood to Grévillers and then onto Biefvillers still in the hands of the Germans. Although over 2,000 prisoners of war had been taken during this period along with 25 field guns, the 5th Division had suffered 1,600 casualties by this stage of the battle.
Advance onto Bapaume
The New Zealand Division was tasked to capture Grévillers, held by two battalions of the Royal Bavarian 14th Infantry Regiment (Kgl. Bayerisches 14. Infanterie-Regiment), and then push into, and beyond, Bapaume, while the 37th Division, on the left of the New Zealanders, was to capture Biefvillers. The attack had two phases; the 1st Infantry Brigade was to capture Loupart Wood and Grévillers and establish a line about 450 m (490 yd) beyond. This would leave Bapaume and the high ground beyond to be captured in the second phase by the 2nd Infantry Brigade. Intelligence indicated that Bapaume was lightly held and the advance was to be supported by two brigades of artillery as well as thirteen Mark IV tanks and a company of Whippets. Most of the armoured support was intended to cover the 2nd Infantry Brigade in its advance, as the artillery support was primarily for the 1st Infantry Brigade.
The New Zealanders' attack began with a night-time advance on 24 August by the 1st Infantry Brigade to clear the approaches to Bapaume, including Loupart Wood and Grévillers. Brigadier General Charles Melvill, commanding the brigade, was directed to move onto Bapaume if it were able to do so quickly. However, progress was delayed by heavy machine gun fire and artillery took its toll on the supporting tanks allocated to the brigade. Furthermore, in contrast to the previous three days, the weather was poor. Despite this, Grévillers fell to the brigade along with 380 prisoners and several field guns. There were over 100 casualties among the attacking New Zealanders, including the commander of 2nd Auckland Battalion.
It was planned that the 2nd Infantry Brigade would move past 1st Infantry Brigade once Grévillers was captured but it was forced into action early, when its commander, Brigadier General Robert Young, seeing that the 37th Division was struggling to take its objective of Biefvillers, decided to use his brigade to assist. Accordingly, two battalions cleared the village by 10:00 am although casualties were incurred when they were fired upon by some Whippet tanks. The commander of one of the attacking battalions, along with its padre, intervened and directed the tanks onto Biefvillers. With the village captured, this secured the flank of 1st Infantry Brigade.
However, 2nd Infantry Brigade, now the leading formation in the IV Corps sector due to the slow advance of the neighbouring divisions, was exposed to German gunfire on three sides. German reinforcements were now arriving in the sector; the New Zealanders had captured several personnel from the 44th Reserve Division and a further eight divisions had also arrived. An counterattack by the Germans pushed the leading battalions back from Avesnes-lès-Bapaume, a hamlet to the northwest of Bapaume. Nonetheless, the New Zealand Division was well positioned to take Bapaume. The front line was now a line running east of Grévillers and Biefvillers, and was less than 1 km (0.62 mi) from the outskirts of Bapaume.
Capture of Bapaume
First attempt
The plan to take Bapaume involved the 1st Infantry Brigade, positioned at Grévillers, moving to the south of Bapaume with the 63rd Division moving forward to protect the right flank of the New Zealanders. Meanwhile, the 2nd Infantry Brigade would move to the north of the town. Its left flank would be protected by the 37th Division. Their aim was to envelop Bapaume and force the Germans to abandon the town and thus avoid costly street to street fighting.
The advance began at 5:00 am on 25 August under the cover of fog. Despite German artillery fire on the front lines, this caused relatively few casualties amongst the New Zealanders. In the south, the 1st Infantry Brigade's 1st Auckland and 2nd Wellington Battalions skirted the southern side of Bapaume, taking fire from machine-gun posts on the outskirts of the town. They got as far as the Albert Road but the 63rd Division's advance was slowed by strong defence at the village of Thilloy, to the southeast of Bapaume. By the end of the day, this left the two New Zealand battalions exposed on both flanks. The New Zealanders dug in and conducted fighting patrols for the rest of the day. From several German prisoners it was determined that the 220th Prussian and 7th Bavarian Divisions were defending Bapaume.