The Battle of the Lys, 1918: South: Objective Hazebrouck
By Chris Baker
()
About this ebook
Chris Baker
Chris Baker is an award-winning advertising and social change strategist turned entrepreneur. He is the Founder & CEO of Serious Tissues, a toilet roll brand that fights climate change and deforestation by planting trees with every sale. Over 1.2m trees have been planted in just three years. He is also the Co-Founder of Change Please, a coffee brand that has helped hundreds of homeless people off the streets by training them as baristas, and is available in 23 countries. Change Please was named the World's Leading Social Enterprise in 2018 and in Marketing Week's 100 Most Disruptive Brands in the World. He has spent 20 years working on the world's biggest brands including Unilever, Pepsico, Boots, Sky and Alpro whilst winning over 100 strategic and creative awards along the way.
Read more from Chris Baker
The Elements of F*cking Style: A Helpful Parody Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5The Battle for Flanders: German Defeat on the Lys 1918 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPhotographing the Deep Sky: Images in Space and Time Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom Ground to Glass: A Professional Insight into Wines and Spirits Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom the Channel to the Ypres Salient: The Belgian Sector 1914 -1918 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKokopu Dreams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Battle of the Lys, 1918: South: Objective Ypres Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShadow Waters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Swimming Sydney: A tale of 52 swims Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEscape from the Village Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Battle of the Lys, 1918
Related ebooks
Walking Verdun: A Guide to the Battlefield Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ypres 1914: Messines Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ypres 1914: The Menin Road Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Canal Line: France and Flanders Campaign 1940 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Germans at Beaumont Hamel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hindenburg Line Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Battle of Neuve Chapelle Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gully Ravine: Gallipoli Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hitler's Atlantic Wall: Pas de Calais Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWalking In the Footsteps of the Fallen: Verdun 1916 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBoulogne: The Guards Brigade Fighting Defence - May 1940 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Flers & Gueudecourt: Somme Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Rhine Crossing: Operations Flashpoint & Varsity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPegasus Bridge & Horsa Bridge Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRedan Ridge: Somme Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Germans at Thiepval Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOperation Varsity: The British & Canadian Airborne Assault Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFlesquieres–Hindenburg Line Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bourlon Wood: Hindenburg Line Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ship-Busters: British Torpedo-Bombers in World War II Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Monty's Highlanders: 51st Highland Division in the Second World War Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Battle for Vimy Ridge, 1917 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Normandy: Hill 112: The Battle of the Odon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Delville Wood: Somme Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hell They Called High Wood: The Somme 1916 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAirfields & Airmen: Somme Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Battle of Britain 1940: The Finest Hour's Human Cost Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFort Eben Emael 1940 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Island: Nijmegen to Arnhem Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChurchill's Desert Rats in North-West Europe: From Normandy To Berlin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Wars & Military For You
The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Resistance: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Happiest Man on Earth: The Beautiful Life of an Auschwitz Survivor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Art of War: The Definitive Interpretation of Sun Tzu's Classic Book of Strategy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War & Other Classics of Eastern Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nuclear War: A Scenario Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The God Delusion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wager Disaster: Mayem, Mutiny and Murder in the South Seas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twilight of the Shadow Government: How Transparency Will Kill the Deep State Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Daily Creativity Journal Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The History of the Peloponnesian War: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shogun: The Life of Tokugawa Ieyasu Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings"The Good War": An Oral History of World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise of the Fourth Reich: The Secret Societies That Threaten to Take Over America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Forgotten Highlander: An Incredible WWII Story of Survival in the Pacific Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Making of the Atomic Bomb Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Battle of the Lys, 1918
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The Battle of the Lys, 1918 - Chris Baker
Battleground Europe
The Battle of the Lys 1918 South
Battleground series:
Stamford Bridge & Hastings by Peter Marren
Wars of the Roses - Wakefield/Towton by Philip A. Haigh
Wars of the Roses - Barnet by David Clark
Wars of the Roses - Tewkesbury by Steven Goodchild
Wars of the Roses - The Battles of St Albans by Peter Burley, Michael Elliott & Harvey Wilson
English Civil War - Naseby by Martin Marix Evans, Peter Burton and Michael Westaway
English Civil War - Marston Moor by David Clark
War of the Spanish Succession - Blenheim 1704 by James Falkner
War of the Spanish Succession - Ramillies 1706 by James Falkner
Napoleonic - Hougoumont by Julian Paget and Derek Saunders
Napoleonic - Waterloo by Andrew Uffindell and Michael Corum
Zulu War - Isandlwana by Ian Knight and Ian Castle
Zulu War - Rorkes Drift by Ian Knight and Ian Castle
Boer War - The Relief of Ladysmith by Lewis Childs
Boer War - The Siege of Ladysmith by Lewis Childs
Boer War - Kimberley by Lewis Childs
Mons by Jack Horsfall and Nigel Cave
Néry by Patrick Tackle
Retreat of I Corps 1914 by Jerry Murland
Aisne 1914 by Jerry Murland
Aisne 1918 by David Blanchard
Le Cateau by Nigel Cave and Jack Shelden
Walking the Salient by Paul Reed
Ypres - 1914 Messines by Nigel Cave and Jack Sheldon
Ypres - 1914 Menin Road by Nigel Cave and Jack Sheldon
Ypres - 1914 Langemarck by Jack Sheldonand Nigel Cave
Ypres - Sanctuary Wood and Hooge by Nigel Cave
Ypres - Hill 60 by Nigel Cave
Ypres - Messines Ridge by Peter Oldham
Ypres - Polygon Wood by Nigel Cave
Ypres - Passchendaele by Nigel Cave
Ypres - Airfields and Airmen by Mike O’Connor
Ypres - St Julien by Graham Keech
Ypres - Boesinghe by Stephen McGreal
Walking the Somme by Paul Reed
Somme - Gommecourt by Nigel Cave
Somme - Serre by Jack Horsfall & Nigel Cave
Somme - Beaumont Hamel by Nigel Cave
Somme - Thiepval by Michael Stedman
Somme - La Boisselle by Michael Stedman
Somme - Fricourt by Michael Stedman
Somme - Carnoy-Montauban by Graham Maddocks
Somme - Pozières by Graham Keech
Somme - Courcelette by Paul Reed
Somme - Boom Ravine by Trevor Pidgeon
Somme - Mametz Wood by Michael Renshaw
Somme - Delville Wood by Nigel Cave
Somme - Advance to Victory (North) 1918 by Michael Stedman
Somme - Flers by Trevor Pidgeon
Somme - Bazentin Ridge by Edward Hancock
Somme - Combles by Paul Reed
Somme - Beaucourt by Michael Renshaw
Somme - Redan Ridge by Michael Renshaw
Somme - Hamel by Peter Pedersen
Somme - Villers-Bretonneux by Peter Pedersen
Somme - Airfields and Airmen by Mike O’Connor
Airfields and Airmen of the Channel Coast by Mike O’Connor
In the Footsteps of the Red Baron by Mike O’Connor
Arras - Airfields and Airmen by Mike O’Connor
Arras - The Battle for Vimy Ridge by Jack Sheldon & Nigel Cave
Arras - Vimy Ridge by Nigel Cave
Arras - Gavrelle by Trevor Tasker and Kyle Tallett
Arras - Oppy Wood by David Bilton
Arras - Bullecourt by Graham Keech
Arras - Monchy le Preux by Colin Fox
Walking Arras by Paul Reed
Hindenburg Line by Peter Oldham
Hindenburg Line - Epehy by Bill Mitchinson
Hindenburg Line - Riqueval by Bill Mitchinson
Hindenburg Line - Villers-Plouich by Bill Mitchinson
Hindenburg Line - Cambrai Right Hook by Jack Horsfall & Nigel Cave
Hindenburg Line - Cambrai Flesquières by Jack Horsfall & Nigel Cave
Hindenburg Line - Saint Quentin by Helen McPhail and Philip Guest
Hindenburg Line - Bourlon Wood by Jack Horsfall & Nigel Cave
Cambrai - Airfields and Airmen by Mike O’Connor
Aubers Ridge by Edward Hancock
La Bassée - Neuve Chapelle by Geoffrey Bridger
Loos - Hohenzollern Redoubt by Andrew Rawson
Loos - Hill 70 by Andrew Rawson
Fromelles by Peter Pedersen
The Battle of the Lys 1918 by Phil Tomaselli
Accrington Pals Trail by William Turner
Poets at War: Wilfred Owen by Helen McPhail and Philip Guest
Poets at War: Edmund Blunden by Helen McPhail and Philip Guest
Poets at War: Graves & Sassoon by Helen McPhail and Philip Guest
Gallipoli by Nigel Steel
Gallipoli - Gully Ravine by Stephen Chambers
Gallipoli - Anzac Landing by Stephen Chambers
Gallipoli - Suvla August Offensive by Stephen Chambers
Gallipoli - Landings at Helles by Huw & Jill Rodge
Walking the Gallipoli by Stephen Chambers
Walking the Italian Front by Francis Mackay
Italy - Asiago by Francis Mackay
Verdun: Fort Douamont by Christina Holstein
Verdun: Fort Vaux by Christina Holstein
Walking Verdun by Christina Holstein
Verdun: The Left Bank by Christina Holstein
Zeebrugge & Ostend Raids 1918 by Stephen McGreal
Germans at Beaumont Hamel by Jack Sheldon
Germans at Thiepval by Jack Sheldon
SECOND WORLD WAR
Dunkirk by Patrick Wilson
Calais by Jon Cooksey
Boulogne by Jon Cooksey
Saint-Nazaire by James Dorrian
Walking D-Day by Paul Reed
Atlantic Wall - Pas de Calais by Paul Williams
Atlantic Wall - Normandy by Paul Williams
Normandy - Pegasus Bridge by Carl Shilleto
Normandy - Merville Battery by Carl Shilleto
Normandy - Utah Beach by Carl Shilleto
Normandy - Omaha Beach by Tim Kilvert-Jones
Normandy - Gold Beach by Christopher Dunphie & Garry Johnson
Normandy - Gold Beach Jig by Tim Saunders
Normandy - Juno Beach by Tim Saunders
Normandy - Sword Beach by Tim Kilvert-Jones
Normandy - Operation Bluecoat by Ian Daglish
Normandy - Operation Goodwood by Ian Daglish
Normandy - Epsom by Tim Saunders
Normandy - Hill 112 by Tim Saunders
Normandy - Mont Pinçon by Eric Hunt
Normandy - Cherbourg by Andrew Rawson
Normandy - Commandos & Rangers on D-Day by Tim Saunders
Das Reich – Drive to Normandy by Philip Vickers
Oradour by Philip Beck
Market Garden - Nijmegen by Tim Saunders
Market Garden - Hell’s Highway by Tim Saunders
Market Garden - Arnhem, Oosterbeek by Frank Steer
Market Garden - Arnhem, The Bridge by Frank Steer
Market Garden - The Island by Tim Saunders
Rhine Crossing – US 9th Army & 17th US Airborne by Andrew Rawson
British Rhine Crossing – Operation Varsity by Tim Saunders
British Rhine Crossing – Operation Plunder by Tim Saunders
Battle of the Bulge – St Vith by Michael Tolhurst
Battle of the Bulge – Bastogne by Michael Tolhurst
Channel Islands by George Forty
Walcheren by Andrew Rawson
Remagen Bridge by Andrew Rawson
Cassino by Ian Blackwell
Anzio by Ian Blackwell
Dieppe by Tim Saunders
Fort Eben Emael by Tim Saunders
Crete – The Airborne Invasion by Tim Saunders
Malta by Paul Williams
Bruneval Raid by Paul Oldfield
Cockleshell Raid by Paul Oldfield
Battleground Europe
The Battle of the Lys 1918 South
Objective Hazebrouck
Chris Baker
Series Editor
Nigel Cave
First published in Great Britain in 2018 by
Pen & Sword Military
an imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street,
Barnsley
South Yorkshire,
S70 2AS
Copyright © Chris Baker, 2018
ISBN 978 152671 696 5
eISBN 978 152671 698 9
Mobi ISBN 978 152671 697 2
The right of Chris Baker to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.
Pen & Sword Books Ltd incorporates the imprints of
Pen & Sword Archaeology, Atlas, Aviation, Battleground, Discovery,
Family History, History, Maritime, Military, Naval, Politics,
Railways, Select, Social History, Transport, True Crime,
Claymore Press, Frontline Books, Leo Cooper, Praetorian Press,
Remember When, Seaforth Publishing and Wharncliffe.
For a complete list of Pen & Sword titles please contact
PEN & SWORD BOOKS LIMITED
47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS, England
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
Contents
Dedication
Introduction
Introduction by the Series Editor
List of Maps
Chapter One The Background to the Battle
Chapter Two The Battles of the Lys
Chapter Three The First Phase: Breakthrough and Bridgehead
Chapter Four The Second Phase: Into the Mixer
Chapter Five The Third Phase: The Hardening Crust
Tours Introduction
Tour A An Introductory Circuit
Tour B In the Footsteps of the 1st Australian and 5th Divisions
Tour C In the Footsteps of the 61st, 4th and 3rd Divisions
Tour D The Left Flank and the River Line. In the Footsteps of the 40th, 34th and 50th Divisions
Tour E La Couronne and 4 (Guards) Brigade
Appendix I Haig’s Special Order of the Day, 12 April 1918
Appendix II Selected Citations
Appendix III The Phases of the Battles of the Lys 1918
Acknowledgements
Selective Bibliography
Dedication
This book is dedicated to the memory of my wife’s grandfather, Acting Sergeant 955/470459 Thomas Park McSloy, 527th (2nd Durham) Field Company, Royal Engineers, 5th Division. He saw action in the Forest of Nieppe during the Battle of the Lys and went on to some quiet fame as one of the ‘Pitmen Painters’.
Introduction
April 1918: a most critical month for the British Armies in France and Flanders, when they fought against the third major German offensive that they had faced within a matter of weeks.
I find it curious that the month appears to attract little public and academic attention, despite the fact that the action took place within a short distance of Ypres and that the British force there was greatly endangered. The fighting was of a very large scale and accounted for British and Commonwealth casualties of around 82,000 dead, wounded and missing (a large proportion of which were men taken prisoner in the rapid German advance). It may be because this period of fighting goes by a variety of names. For the British, the fighting in Flanders was eventually given the official name of the ‘Battles of the Lys’. The title comes from the river which flows through the battlefield, and it is ‘battles’ because the committee that agreed such things defined it as a number of phases. The French call it La Bataille de la Lys; the Portuguese have it as the Batalha de la Lys. The Germans take a wider view. They called their attack Operation ‘Georgette’, but the fighting is often referred to as the Vierte Flandernschlacht (Fourth Battle of Flanders), part of the Grosse Schlacht in Frankreich (Great Battle in France). I have even seen it called the Fourth Battle of Ypres, although I find that misleading. For ease, I call it the Battle of the Lys.
The battlefield stretches from the La Bassée Canal near Givenchylez-la-Bassée, northwards past Armentières, almost to the very gates of Ypres – a front line of some thirty-seven kilometres before the German attack began. It can be considered as two distinct and different geographic regions, in which the topography played an important part in the way that the fighting developed. It is a matter of convenience for the historian that the two regions align with the German command structure.
This volume, Objective Hazebrouck, covers the southern region of the battlefield, which was attacked by the German Sixth Army from 9 April 1918 onwards, with the exception of the area which is already covered by Phil Tomaselli’s excellent book in the Battleground Europe series, The Lys 1918 – Givenchy and the River Lawe. The approximate dividing line between Objective Hazebrouck and the northern volume, Objective Ypres, is the Armentières – Bailleul railway.
Introduction by Series Editor
It is now several years since Phil Tomaselli’s The Battle of the Lys 1918: Givenchy and the River Lawe was published in the Battleground Europe series. As Chris Baker notes, Phil was the only other person he knew who shared his great interest and enthusiasm for this battlefield: in the same year as Phil’s book, Pen & Sword published his own The Battle for Flanders: German Defeat on the Lys 1918. With the publication of this book and its fellow, on the fighting to the north, the Battleground Europe series now completes its coverage of this huge battle fought over the contrasting battlefield of the flat land of Flanders and the dramatically different adjacent area of the Flemish Hills in the centenary year of the offensive.
Both of them rightly express some surprise that this important offensive, lasting some three weeks, the outcome of which could have had an enormous impact on the war, is both so little known and so very little written about, except as part of wider works. It seems to have got lost in the almost ceaseless run of major offensives that occurred on the Western Front from 21 March 1918 until the Armistice that November.
The context of this rush of activity in 1918 needs to be understood. As things stood at the end of 1917, the British offensive (with the significant involvement of the French, often little recognised) around Ypres had come to a not particularly glorious end in the rain and mud of Passchendaele Ridge. The glimmers of hope offered by the opening of the Battle of Cambrai in late November were soon dimmed and then almost extinguished by a German counter offensive, although that, too, did not live up to expectations.
But even though the Third Battle of Ypres, commencing on 31 July 1917 and lasting until the bitter, wet November, proved to be a terribly costly failure, achieving little except to wear down German resources and push the line a few kilometres further from the city, it did have a long term impact. One thing it did achieve, coupled with other factors, such as the US entry into the war in April 1917, was that the Germans realised that a war conducted largely on the basis of strong defence lines (as had largely been the case of the Western Front) was no longer viable – something that was underlined by the initial successes at Cambrai. The huge growth in artillery, amongst other developments, meant that no line, no matter how strong, could withstand a determined offensive. Nowhere is this more clearly shown in practical terms than in the effective abandonment by the Germans of constructing new, robust defence lines at the conclusion of Third Ypres. If a decisive military result was to be obtained before a skilled (as opposed to a large) American army emerged on the scene, probably by mid 1919, decisive action had to be taken as soon as practicable in 1918.
The favourable ending of the war with Russia on the Eastern Front provided the essential resources for such action. It would be a mistake to think that the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, signed on 3 March 1918 (and whose harsh terms on the new Soviet Union should be considered when criticising the Treaty of Versailles) meant that the large numbers of German troop there could be transferred en bloc to the West. The newly acquired territories needed securing and the whole needed safeguarding from the nascent Bolshevik republic. But it did mean that good quality troops could be moved, even if they were substituted to a substantial extent by lower grade manpower: indeed this process began as soon as the new Bolshevik government signed an armistice in November 1917. It also meant a fillip in war materiél of all types.
The stalling of the first Spring German offensive, on the Somme, Operation Michael, which had failed to achieve a decisive, strategic result, despite very considerable gains in ground; and the very limited success achieved further north, against Third Army around Arras, in Operation Mars, were a considerable disappointment. The territory gained was strategically not particularly important, much of which had been devastated in any case in the fighting in 1916 and 1917. Substantial losses in materiél were soon replaced by British industry that was operating at peak levels of production. Replacing manpower for the allies was a bigger problem; but even in this case at least partial solutions were found and there was the welcome prospect of masses of American troops – by June 300,000 of them, admittedly very raw indeed at this stage, were pouring into France every month.
All this should not mean that the German offensives were a matter of battering on firmly locked doors. The Lys offensives had clear strategic objectives (indicated by Chris’s two sub titles, Hazebrouck and Ypres), success in which would have severely impeded the ability of the allies to fight on. If they had not resulted in absolute victory for the Germans, they might well have led to a compromise peace treaty that would have preserved German gains in the east and (for them) a satisfactory resolution on the west. The stakes were very high.
The battles of 1918 are strikingly different from the trench warfare that is so closely associated with the First World War. It marks a return to open warfare, but of a type that was very different from that of the opening stages of the war. Indeed, the fighting of 1918 marked the beginning of the way that major conflicts by industrialised powers have been waged ever since, involving a combination of well-equipped and well-armed infantry, armour, artillery and air support. The transformation in fighting methods, developed over a period of less than four years, is quite striking and almost unknown to the popular mind. Very rapid developments in technology were harnessed, adapted and put into action in a remarkably short space of time – for example, the first cross Channel flight was only made in 1909 and yet by 1918 there were night bombers flying considerable distances.
This trilogy of books, it is hoped, will draw people to Flanders to revisit the scenes of such fierce, often heroic, fighting, which often involved large numbers of very young, 18-year-old conscripts. The casualties suffered were on an almost incomprehensible scale, considerably greater on a daily rate than, for example, Verdun, the Somme and Third Ypres.
With the combination of a detailed narrative and extensive tours, Chris has opened up the fast moving action on the ground to this generation of battlefield tourers. As with all of the books in the series, it is hoped that this one will enhance the understanding and appreciation of the achievements of the men of 1914-1918, in particular those who fought and all too often became casualties during the course of the fighting before Hazebrouck.
Nigel Cave
Ratcliffe College, March 2018.
List of Maps
A contemporary map of the area
The general situation on the Western Front after Operation ‘Michael’
The objectives set for Operation ‘Georgette’
Sketch map of the Lys valley
The railway network around Hazebrouck
The German break-in on 9 April 1918
The German forces deployed on first day
119 Brigade on the first day
The 40th Division front line facing Fromelles
The 18/Welsh and 13/East Surreys’ front line
The 40th Division’s communication trenches
The advance of Infanterie-Regiment 22 of 11th Reserve-Division
Counter attack at Croix du Bac
The 50th (Northumbrian) Division deploys on the north bank of the Lys
The Northumberland Fusiliers’ counter attack at Estaires
The 29th Division’s initial deployment
The 29th Division’s deployed near Doulieu
The 1/Lancashire Fusiliers’ advance to contact
The 29th Division’s withdrawal line
The 31st Division’s counter attack from Rau de Leet
The 31st Division’s withdrawal line
4 (Guards) Brigade’s last stand at La Couronne
Timeline of German progress towards the Merris–Strazeele–Méteren ridge
Timeline of German progress towards the La Bassée Canal
The 61st (2nd South Midland) Division’s initial deployment
The 61st (2nd South Midland) Division’s attempts to assist the defence of Merville
The Bacquerolles Farm area
The German Order of Battle facing the 61st (2nd South Midland) Division
The 3rd Division’s deployment and advance
1/Somerset Light Infantry’s counter attack at Riez du Vinage
The 5th Division’s deployment
The 7th and 8th Battalions AIF deploy at the Forest of Nieppe
The 1st Australian Division’s defensive line
Deployment of the French reserves
The 33rd Division’s deployment
Tour Maps
Tour A (1)
Tour A (2)
Tour A (3)
Tour B
Tour D
Note: There are no accompanying maps for the short tours C and E.
Chapter One
The Background to the Battle
The Great War in French Flanders.
The area in which the Battle of the Lys took place is in the