3rd and 14th Division attack on The Harp

[J Banning]

I have a question regarding the timing for the attack on The Harp by the 3rd and 14th Division on 9 April 1917 (Battle of Arras).

To précis, 3rd Division, attacking the northern two thirds of the Harp, were part of VI Corps whereas 14th Division, with the southern third of the Harp to capture, were part of VII Corps. The Official History says that the 3rd Division attacked at 5.30am – this is in line with the other divisions in the VI Corps. However, the 14th Division (which had the remaining third to deal with) attacked at 7.30am. I cannot see why there would be a two hour time discrepancy in attacking different parts of such a formidable defensive redoubt. Surely the German troops in the area not attacked firstly (14th Div area) would have been able to pour enfilade fire into the 3rd Div troops? To have a 2 hour gap whilst attacking the same area seems most strange. From all I have read it seems that the Harp didn’t cause much problem to the attacking troops so it seems that this scheme worked.

However, militarily, I can’t see the point in this timing. Any ideas or thoughts?

[stiletto_33853]

Jeremy,

This is a strange one given that the 42nd Infantry Brigade Order number 98 of 7th April 1917, section 7 states that the 42nd Infantry Brigade (left) will be responsible for maintaining touch with the 3rd Division during the advance from the Blue to Brown Line.

Will go through the rest of the Divisions orders for you and e-mail you the pertinent bits and pieces.

Andy

[stiletto_33853]

Diary of attack from the report of operations for the 42nd Infantry Brigade

[stiletto_33853]

2

[Ali Hollington]

A rusty memory makes me say that the attacks lead from right to left, ie earliest on the right, latest on the left on that day. I'd have to check my notes [not possible for a few days] but I think each attack was dependant on the success of it's [earlier] neighbour- at least according to the official history.

As to the military sense of it, I couldn't comment.

[stiletto_33853]

Jeremy,

Little snippet from the Corps Instuctions re the left hand corps having to take the black line before the attack.

[stiletto_33853]

Jeremy,

It would be interesting if we had a VI Corps map, maybe this map of VII Corps approximate front line, given the snippet in the previous post, will give us a clue as the VII Corps intentions were to take the line from the Harp to Neuville Vitasse, i.e. the Blue Line.

Andy

[JimSmithson]

Hi

You need to look at the objective lines for the first day to understand the different times.

The first objective line - Black - was for 14th Division not an objective at all, their first being the Blue Line. 3rd Division actually attacked at 5.30 with only 1 brigade up; the task being to take Devils Wood and the old 4th line trench of the German lines pre withdrawal. Once this was completed, 9th Brigade passed through, at 7.30, to attack the northern part of the Harp. Note that this synchronised very well with the launch of 14th Division's attack on the left.

The direction of the whole attack, compared to the shape of the front, led to the early attacks being on the left, becoming later and later with, on the far right, 21st Division only actually attacking the German lines at 4.15 in the afternoon. (sorry Ali, wrong way round). High levels of success on the left, or northern parts of the assault compared to relatively poor results on the right could lead one to ask the question as to the quality of the decision on timings. On the other hand, if all divisions had attacked at 5.30 there would have been difficult changes of direction and unit control at the junctions of 14th and 3rd divisions and at that between 56th and 30th. Other factors I am looking into for the difference are the quality of the defences in front of attacking British and Canadians (German accounts make interesting reading here) and the strength of the artillery commitment to different attacks (Major-Gen Campbell was less than complementary about the artillery support on 21st Division's front).

Jim

[J Banning]

Jim,

Thanks so much for your help on this. Having read your post a few times I then referred back to the OH and it jumped out at me - funny how that happens eh?! I couldn’t see how it made military sense to stagger the attack on such a strong position as The Harp. Now I know that this didn’t happen and that the 3rd and 14th Divs went in together at 7.30am, it all makes sense.

Thanks again for this

[JimSmithson]

You are welcome Jeremy. I take it that you and Peter are working on your Arras book. If I can help in any other way let me know. I am trying to work on something but the daytime job rules so I will be lucky if I can make the 100th anniversary! In the meantime always willing to share findings etc.

Jim

[J Banning]

Many thanks for the offer of help Jim. You are quite right - the book deadline is the end of June for publication early in 2010 so it's plenty of late nights at the moment trying to get it all done!

I'll be in touch if we have any other items that I think you can help with.

Best wishes,

Jeremy