14 Battalion, 1 Composite Company, 27 August 1918

Battle of the Scarpe. 27^th August 1918

14^th Battalion, 1 Composite Company with 9^th Brigade, 3^rd Division, Canadian Corp, 3^rd Army

Composite Company 1 – OIC Captain Pemberton

1 section – captain Roberts

9194, “Nemises”, Lt Chattery

9424, Lt Thwaites HV

sgt Yaffe B

Second section – Lt Lomas

9113, “Nettoyeur”, Sgt Barron AF

9309, 2Lt MacKintosh FJ

Lt Williamson L

Sgt Roberts EJ

Notes

Tank names form August 8^th Battlegraph

9113, 9309 and Sgt Barons’ tanks all had narrow tracks.

9424 identification at Lt Thwaits tank is very speculative and based on a photograph of the apparently knocked out 9424: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7700258@N05/8465952237/in/set-72157601074581465/

Orders

9^th CIF brigade to attack line form Y27c.8.8. to O7d.2.0.

Brigade attacking on a two battalion front, one tank section per battalion; 2 section with the 52^nd Canadians (number unclear) on the right, 2 section with the 58^th Canadians (number unclear) on the left. First phase objectives were the bois de hart and bois vet, the tanks following the infantry and dealing with anything holding them up. The second phase objectives were the village of Boiry Notre Dame and Srtllery Wood.

1 section to lie up at N6c.5.0

2 section to lie up at O2a.9.8 North on Mochy.

Deployment point (start point ?) was N11b.9.8

Zero was 8am.

Account of Operations

The OIC was wrongly told that Zero had been delayed until 10am, the mistake was realised but the tanks started form the deployment point late at 5.20am.

1 section advanced, under heavy shell fire, for 1500 yds straight down the Arras Cambrai Road then deployed to the left towards the Bois de Vert. 9424 mopped up some enemy MGs then was hit at O9b.2.7. Tank 9194 lost direction and turned towards the section's boundary line; sunken road / infantry lane, this tank was hit and knocked out at O2d.0.0, one Other rank killed and the OIC was wounded. Sgt Yaffe’s tank reached O9d.2.4 and engaged the enemy with 6pdr and MGs. The tank then developed mechanical trouble and rallied.

2 section attacked to 5.25am from N6a.6.7 (unclear). The tanks came under heavy artillery fire. Sgt Robes Tank [?] broke down with Auto vac trouble at O1b.9.9 [unclear] it was hand fed back to the rally point. The other three tanks proceeded to the Bois de Sert [unclear] where they engaged the enemy. Lt Williamson's went north of the Wood and successfully stopped an enemy counter attack, 100 of whom surrendered to the infantry. 9309 and 9113 dealt with enemy MGs, snipers and at least one German with an AT rifle. 9309 ditched at O4a.2.7, (or O4.a.0.7) whilst manoeuvring to free Lt Williamson. 9113 also ditched at A3b.2.3 at the North of the Wood.

No tanks were available to support the second phase of the attack.

Summary

Total Tanks: 7

Failed to Start:

Engaged enemy:

Ditched / Broke Down: 5

Hit and Knocked out: 2

Rallied: 0

Notes

2 of broken down tanks rallied.

Aftermath

One of the knocked out tanks was possibly 9424 which had been with the battalion on 8^th and 9^th August: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7700258@N05/8465952237/in/set-72157601074581465/

Sources

Relevant Battlegraph in PRO WO 95-103

Report on operations on August 27th in PRO WO 95-103

The Scarpe (1918) - 22 to 30 August