21 August 2018 - Greg's War

The Times, 21 August 1918

Meanwhile the British Armies in the north have found themselves the cheerful witnesses of a considerable German withdrawal. The enemy are going back in the region of the River Lys, and it is clear that they are retiring in consequence of British pressure. On Sunday we made a successful attack, quietly defined by Sir Douglas Haig as another “local operation”, on a front of four miles between Vieux Berquin and Bailleul. The average depth of the advance was nearly a mile, and the village of Oultersteene was recaptured, as well as several fortified farms. The enemy vainly counter-attacked during the night.

By Monday it was found that, to the south-west of this action, the German Sixth Army, under General von Quast, was retreating in all the country between Locon and the forest of Nieppe. They have made no progress in this flat and muddy district for a very long time, and the successful assault on Oultersteene seems to have finally convinced them of the necessity of shortening their front.

On Monday our troops entered Merville without opposition, and by the evening they were well beyond the town. They were also able to cross the Lawe Canal farther south. Our Special Correspondent states that by yesterday afternoon we had recovered “something over twenty square miles of territory without resistance and without loss”.

A counter-battery patrol day, but nothing doing. Possibly the enemy were more preoccupied with removing artillery from the advancing British forces than with firing themselves. That would change within a couple of days.

Log Book

Date: 21.8.18 
Time: 12.00 
Rounds Lewis: - 
Rounds Vickers: 300 
Bombs: 4 
Time on RE8s: 134 hrs 55 mins 
RE8: E27 
Observer: Lt Hodgson 
Time:  2 hrs 20 mins 
Height: 5000 
Course/Remarks: C.B.P. Nothing much doing.

Diary

Wednesday Aug 21^st.  CBP 11.30 – 2.15.  Nothing doing.

The Last Diary Entry

This was Greg’s last diary entry. But why? On the About Greg’s War page, I wrote

I’m not sure why he didn’t keep up the diary beyond August 1918. It may have been that life had got more stressful after the start of what we now know as the Allies’ Final Offensive or ‘Hundred Days’ on 8 August. Or it may simply be that what was initially unfamiliar had become routine. Perhaps writing a daily account that was more detailed than what was required for the log book just became too much of a chore.

Having now posted all entries of the diary and all log book entries to date, I’m still not totally sure of the reason. But I think it was more likely to be ennui than being too busy. There didn’t seem to be a noticeable increase in workload with the start of the final offensive. Dud days because of bad weather were fairly common before and after 8 August 1918. And the number of sorties actually flown didn’t seem to change much. As we have seen, though, the diary entries became more and more terse. In the end they more or less reproduced the ‘Course/Remarks’ section of the corresponding log book entry.

What was evidently more laborious than writing either log book or diary entry was putting together the report for the Squadron Record Book, which included careful notes of events, timings and map references for counter-battery patrols and shoots. (Not all of the Squadron Record Book entries are still available: the last to be recorded in this blog was on 4 August 1918, and the next will be on 23 August 1918.) So it is possible that the combined requirements of writing the log book and Squadron Record Book entries squeezed out the diary entries. Perhaps by then they had become one chore too many.

The Western Front Moves East

By the morning of 21 August 1918, the map accompanying General Haig’s despatches of the final British offensive showed the British front line to be just to the east of Merville, but not as far as Neuf Berquin:

Map of the British Front on the morning of 21 August 1918. — The British Front on the morning of 21 August 1918. Adapted from a 1:40,000 scale map dated December 1917 with information from a map accompanying General Haig’s despatches on the final British offensive. Each numbered square is 1,000 yards. Click for larger image. Map credit: IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital.

The German artillery may well have been digging in their new positions to the east of this line, which could explain why Greg saw so little of note in his patrol.

Updates to Earlier Posts

An update to the post for 8 August 1918 records the position of the front that morning:

Thursday 8 August 1918 – Good Shoot with 213 SB; Start of Last ‘100 Days’

And an update to the post for 19 August 1918 notes the liberation of Merville, which took place that day:

Monday 19 August 1918 – No Shoot To Do, Merville Liberated

Day: 21 August 2018

Wednesday 21 August 1918 – The Times Reports on Lys Front