Jump to content
Free downloads from TNA ×
The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Zonnebeke map interpretation


WilliamRev

Recommended Posts

Below is a portion of the map that my grandad, Captain Stuart Revels (1st Royal Scots Fusiliers) used on 26th-27th Sept 1917 in the 8th Brigade, 3rd Division's assault to take the village of Zonnebeke. This usually gets included as part of the Battle of Polygon Wood (but really was a seperate action to take Zonnebeke and the German front line to the north which crossed Hill 40).

The map has been carefully marked-up to show the positions of the 8th East Yorks, 7th Royal Shropshire Light Infanrty, 2nd Royal Scots and 1st Royal Scots Fusiliers should be at 41 mins (green line), 100 mins (red line) and purple line (2 hours 20 mins) - and my grandad's rough pencil-mark north-west of the railway station and Hill 40 shows how far they got before they dug in and resisted vastly superior German forces for 24 hours.

But my question is: what are the four hand-written purple-shaded patches, marked "S P" - perhaps the answer is obvious and starring me in the face, but I really can't work out what they are. Can anyone put me out of my misery please?

Cheers,

William

post-49411-1265408300.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From their disposition they appear to be the location of Strong Points. In late September/October 1917, Strong Posts were constructed in depth during the consolidation phase. Their construction was tasked to engineer field companies and were designed to hold about a platoon.

Typically, one or two per battalion frontage.

Chris Henschke

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmm i agree Strong points , Another South Aussie heaps of us especially on this thread .. now .to William how much more of the map have you got i have a chap who got an MC there same dates ..i think just off the map you have posted .I believe a bit to the north.

Thanks MC

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Strong points they are.

There are only four and all marked within the advance boundaries of the Brigade. It looks as though the Battalions were using the leap frog advance. the 2nd Battalion needed to cross the green line at H Hour + 41 minutes, where they would be required to clear two of the strong points as well as the rest of their sector.

Once they had reached the red line the 1st Battalion would advance through, maintaining the momentum, clearing another two strong points, as well as other defensive positions. They would arrive at the purple line at H Hour + 140 minutes.

By the looks of it the 1st Battalion would then consolidate and dig in on the purple line, while the 2nd Battalion was doing the same back at the red line.

I would say this is what the King's Shropshire Light Infantry and the East Yorks were doing in the Brigade AO to their north.

Obviously the map is larger than shown in the picture above. I would be interested to see further back, to the left, to see if there is another Battalion shown in each of the Brigades, If not then they only used two Battalions per Brigade (half size) for this advance.

Now, weather this actually worked, I have no idea. Let me go for a read.

Cheers Andy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

'There are only four and all marked within the advance boundaries of the Brigade. It looks as though the Battalions were using the leap frog advance. the 2nd Battalion needed to cross the green line at H Hour + 41 minutes, where they would be required to clear two of the strong points as well as the rest of their sector.'

Post No. 5

No, not Strong Points to be cleared. Strong Points to be established by own troops.

Here is an example of four Strong Points that were constructed by 2 Field Company 4 Oct 17 after the capture of Broodseinde Ridge.

post-671-1265446274.jpg

post-671-1265446300.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks to everyone who replied to my enquiry. Below is a larger view of part of the map.

Helpfully, the 1st Royal Scots Fusiliers War Diary includes the Operations Orders and it seems exactly as Andy has described with the battalions leap-frogging. On the right of the 8th Brigade is the 76th Brigade, and in particular the 1st Gordon Highlanders being leaf-frogged by the 10th Royal Welsh Fusiliers. (There is no mention of the left wing, but that was not the concern of the 1st RSF, but of the 8th East Yorks, and 7th KSLI).

As far as I know this map was carried into action by my grandad who was commanding one of the companies of the 1st RSF, and with the danger that the map would fall into enemy hands if he was killed/captured, it makes sense that it only contained added information that was strictly neccesary, so there is no reference on the map to the brigades on the left and right of the 8th.

William

post-49411-1265475016.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...