The slaughter of the enemy in the tangled valleys was considerable, for our Infantry are always vigorous bayonet fighters. They received much assistance from the tanks in disposing of the numerous machine gun detachments which held their ground to the last. — Monash
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| The Amiens Gun Captured During the Battle |
Chuignes is the name of a rural village (population 152) and commune in the Somme department of the Hauts-de-France region in northern France about 20 miles east of Amiens. Despite its size, today Chuignes has its own tiny WWI museum because on 23 August 1918, the Australian Corps of the British Army won a strategic victory there that unhinged the primary German defensive line forward of the Somme River, forcing a broad German retreat and permanently safeguarding the critical logistics hub of Amiens. The next stops for the Allied forces were the Somme battlefield and the Hindenburg Line.
Lieutenant-General Sir John Monash, Commander of the Australian Corps at the battle at Chuignes later wrote about the successes of that day:
On 23 August, the Australian Corps—now composed of the five Australian divisions plus the 32nd British Division—stood ten miles from the “line of the Somme,” marked by the great bend of the river to the south at Péronne. However, in between there was but one place in the river valley where German forces could concentrate and shelter sufficient artillery to make a stand against the advancing British Fourth Army.
The great attack by the First Division supported by the 32nd Division, which has come to be known as the Battle of Chuignes, was launched at dawn on August 23rd and was an unqualified success.
The main valley of the Somme in this region is flanked by a number of tributary valleys, which run generally in a north and south direction, extending back from the river four or five miles. They are broad, with heavily wooded sides, and harbour a number of villages, such as Proyart, Chuignolles, Herleville, and Chuignes, which cluster on their slopes.
One such valley, larger and longer than any of those which, in our previous advances, we had yet crossed, lay before our front line of that morning, and square across our path. It ran from Herleville, northwards, past Chuignes, to join the Somme in the Bray bend. It was the most easterly of all the tributary valleys to which I have referred, and it was also the last piece of habitable country before the devastated area of 1916 was reached, just a mile to the east of it.
The valley afforded excellent cover for the enemy's guns, and the expectation was that some of them would be overrun by our attack. It was also ideal country for machine-gun defense, for the numerous woods, hedges, and copses afforded excellent cover, and had in all probability been amply fortified with barbed wire. It was a formidable proposition to attack such a position on such a frontage with only two Brigades.
The 2nd Brigade (Heane) attacked on the right, the 1st Brigade (Mackay) on the left, and the first phase was completed to time-table, with the green objective line, located on the east side of the long valley, in our possession. The only temporary hitch in the advance along the whole front was at Robert Wood, where the enemy held out and had to be completely enveloped from both flanks before surrendering.
Then came the second phase, and no difficulty was experienced in advancing our line 1,000 yards east of the green line, nor in establishing there a firm line of outposts for the night.
The third phase presented a great deal more difficulty than I had anticipated. It was to have been undertaken by the 3rd Brigade (Bennett) pushing without delay through the 1st Brigade, and advancing in open warfare formation north-easterly towards Cappy, for the seizure of Hill 90, overlooking that village and on the south-west of it, and terminating at its northern extremity in the high bluff of Froissy Beacon.
There was, however, some unexplained delay in the initiation of this advance, and it was not until about 2 o'clock that the 3rd Brigade moved forward to the assault of the long slope of the Chuignes Valley, which still lay before them in this part of the field. The enemy, under the impression that our attack had spent itself, had occupied the plateau in great strength, and at first little progress could be made.
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| Disabled Mark V During the Fighting |
Mobile artillery was, however, promptly pushed up, and this proved of great assistance to the infantry. Garenne Wood, on the top of the plateau, into which large numbers of the enemy had withdrawn, proved a difficult obstacle, and incapable of capture by frontal attack. It, too, was conquered by enveloping tactics, and with its fall the resistance of the enemy rapidly subsided, and the 3rd Brigade had the satisfaction of hunting the fugitives clean off the plateau into the Cappy Valley.
The whole of this phase of the battle was an especially fine piece of work on the part of the Regimental Officers. It was open warfare of the most complete character, and the victory was won by excellent battle control on the part of the Battalion Commanders, by splendid co-operation between the four Battalions of the Brigade, and by intelligent and gallant leadership on the part of the Company and Platoon Commanders.
Beset as I had been by many anxieties during the early afternoon as to how the Third Brigade would fare in the difficult task which had been given it, rendered more difficult by the delay of which I have spoken, I had the satisfaction that night of contemplating a victory far greater than I had calculated upon.
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| A Junction of the River Somme (L) and the Somme Canal (R) Captured During the Fighting |
For the 32nd Division had successfully captured Herleville, and the First Division had seized the whole country for a depth of 1½ miles up to a line extending from Herleville to the western edge of Cappy. The whole Chuignes Valley was ours. By its capture, the enemy had been despoiled of all habitable areas and had been relegated to a waste of broken and ruined country between us and the line of the Somme.
One notable tactical achievement of the fighting was the capture of the famous "Amiens gun." Troops from the Australian 3rd Battalion secured a massive, 500-plus ton German 15-inch naval/railway gun hidden in Arcy Wood. Known affectionately as the "Amiens Gun" (or Chuignes Big Bertha), this weapon had been terrorizing the vital Allied logistics hub of Amiens from nearly 30 kilometers away.
We took that day 21 guns and over 3,100 prisoners from ten different regiments. It was a smashing blow and far exceeded in its results any previous record in my experience, having regard to the number of troops engaged. Its immediate result, the same night, was the capture of Bray by the Third Division, north of the river, thus completing the work of that Division which the failure of the 47th Division on their left the day before had compelled them to leave unfinished. The 40th Battalion took 200 prisoners, with trifling loss to themselves.
A more remote result, which made itself apparent in the next few days, was that it compelled the enemy to abandon all hope of retaining a hold of any country west of the line of the Somme; it impelled him at last to an evacuation of the great bend of the river, a process which he began in a very few days.
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| German Prisoners from the Battle Being Marched to the Rear |
ANZAC Portal, a site maintained by the Australian Government and the Monash Centre at Fouilly on the Somme battlefield, point out some additional important points about the battle:
Australians at the Battle of Chuignes in the final Hundred Days used a more sophisticated creeping barrage. Artillery delivered a mix of high explosive, shrapnel and smoke shells to maximise protection for the infantry. The Allies' barrage included up to 10% smoke shells to screen their advancing troops from the enemy.
The seasoned diggers of the 1st Division and the newer Mark V tanks each with its own infantry scout were protected by this barrage. Carrier tanks were also employed to ensure timely supply of the advancing troops. Tanks had been much improved since their failure at Bullecourt where they had lost the confidence of the infantry.
Outstanding acts of bravery were undertaken during the course of the battle by the Australian and British troops, with two Australians being awarded the Victoria Cross. Lieutenant Lawrence McCarthy an orphan from Perth, Western Australia displayed outstanding leadership and personal bravery which resulted in the killing of 20 German soldiers, the capture of over 40 prisoners and the seizure of 500 yards of German frontline. Charles Bean, the official Australian war correspondent believed McCarthy’s actions in winning his Victoria Cross to be one of the most outstanding feats of individual fighting in the history of the A.I.F.. Bean also believed McCarthy’s effort to be equal to that of Gallipoli V.C. winner Lieutenant Jacka who went on to win Military Cross at Pozières. Lieutenant William Joynt also won a Victoria Cross for his outstanding bravery during the battle for Chuignes.
Source: The Australian Victories in France in 1918; Over the Top, August 2018; ANZAC Portal; The Sir John Monash Centre
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