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The Battles of The Aisne and Lys

( in 1918 with the 50th Division )

 

Captain Albert Edward Odell, MC and Bar.   1886-1979.

 

Lieut. A.E. Odell awarded Bar to MC in New Years Honours List

“He established and maintained lines 3000 yards in length over the open, close to the Front Line. He remained on duty, 48 hours without rest, in the most exposed place and under most trying weather conditions".                                                                                                                 (London Gazette)

21^st to 23^rd March 1918…Battle of St Quentin. (Fifth Army Reserve on 21/3; then XIX.Corps, Fifth Army)

    The 50th Division was one of only four Divisions (the others were the 19th, 21st and 25th) which took part in all three phases of the German offensive in 1918, the Battles of the Somme, the Lys and the Aisne. 

  St Quentin--- The Division was in Army reserve but was put at 3 hours notice. It then moved and occupied the line with three brigades up at 8.a.m. on 22nd March. Thick mist helped the enemy and during the afternoon of the 24th the 66th Division retired through the 50th Division. During the night the Division also retired a short distance to a line about five miles East of the Somme, South of Peronne, "to conform with withdrawal on the right flank".

    Further withdrawals took place next day to the Somme canal line. All was in good order with no panic as the Division was not hard pressed at this stage the order to retire was not understood and it was received with ill grace. There were numerous rearguard actions but no really heavy fighting. Major General Jackson was by now in command.

23^rd March 1918… Actions at the Somme Crossings. (XIX. Corps)

    The Division was relieved by the 8th Division and had a quiet day on the 24th, comparitively speaking, as most units were under command or were at the disposal of other Divisions.

    The following day saw the Division in very heavy fighting and 150 Brigade was reduced to a composite battalion, only 550 strong under command  24 Brigade. The 151 Brigade battalions were also under command 24 Brigade in a counter attack role, but this was cancelled and eventually all withdrew across the river.

26^th and 27^th March 1918… Battle of Rosiers. (XIX. Corps, Fifth Army)

    The troops were exhausted with continuous fighting and withdrawing, and with numerous counter attacks.  On the 26th flanks pulled back exposing 149 Brigade and the Division again withdrew, with its units considerably mixed up.

    The following day the Rosiers position was heavily attacked.   During the next withdrawal gallant counter attacks were made on Vauvillers by 5 DLI and on Meharicourt by 8 DLI, but in neither case could they hold on to their gains. It was suggested that many of the withdrawals in this period were not due to enemy action but to "conform" because flanks were exposed, and that "conformation" was often catching!

GOTO Personl account of the Battle of Rosierès by Captain Henry Armstrong of the 1/6th N.F.

Final Attacks----28th march to 1st April.

151 Brigade were also formed into a composite battalion and they and the 150 Composite Brigade/Battalion remained with 24 Brigade. Attacks, counter attacks, withdrawals, heavy fighting and heavy casualties were still the order of the day. One counter attack on the 30th March was organised and led by a Captain of 1/4th E Yorks who was temporarily in command of 150 Brigade/Battalion. Back again they went, to the River Luce on 31st march, and on 1st April the Division was relieved by the 14th Division, although parts, including the artillery, were left until 8th April. Then a very weary and sleepless division marched North to the next battle.

Northumberland Fusiliers from the trenches with German Trophies.

9^th to 11^th April 1918…Battle of Estairs.  (XV. Corps; First Army)

    The Division was due to relieve the  Portuguese, but the latter broke  and the Division was immediately engaged from its reserve positions. 151 Brigade, in frontof Estaires and reponsible for the Lys crossings, was heavily engaged and 6 and 8 DLI almost annihilated. They withdrew behind the river. Next day all brigades were engaged. The enemy crossed the river, numerous gallant counter attacks were mounted, one in particuler by 6 NF, and further withdrawals to North and West of the town were made. Particularly heavy casualties were suffered by 5 DLI and 4 E Yorks. There was more heavy fighting and further withdrawal on the 11th.                                                                 

12^th April 1918… Battle of Hazebrouck.  (XV Corps; First Army)

   The Division was engaged as on the previous three days until relieved by the 5th Division. After their relief they were congratulated by Army and Corps commanders on a "magnificent rearguard action". They moved down South to area of Reims at the end of April, There the Division took over the line from the french 51st Division in early May on the Chemin-des-dames about 3 mile North of the River Aisne, with three brigades up.                                                                                                     

     This was the last fight of the original 50th Division after just over three years of battle. the German offensive started with the most violent bombardment the Division had ever seen. In the course of the first day the Division was over run and virtually destroyed. 4 and 6 NF practically ceased to exist, and the 149 Brigade was reduced to a composite battalion. 5 DLI were virtually annihilated, and soon 149 and 151 Brigades amalgamated as one brigade of not much more than  battalion strength. 150 Brigade were also overwhelmed and 4 and 5 green Howards, each lost over 650 men, and 5 DLI nearly 700. Divisional casualties on 27th May were 227 Officers and 4,879 Other Ranks.

      On 2nd June  the remnants withdrew to the Marne ----three battalions, one from each brigade a total of about 700 fit men, under command of the 19th Division, and later called "50 Composite Brigade". Out of the line at last, they went back to rest and were reduced to a cadre on the 1st July.                                                                                                                          

50th Divisional Signallers. Written in pencil on the back of this photograph:

Chemin De Dames ( France) Front  beginning of May 1918 - 149th Northumbrian Infantry Signal Section. Taking over from the French. A French soldier (left front) three of our lads with French helmets on. 2nd on left Peter Crawley ( used to box at St James' Hall.) This photo taken prior to Jerry's Last Offensive 27th May 1918, when he got to within 15 miles of Paris. On this part of the front three divisions (21st 24th and 50th) were in a quiet sector, after being "smashed up" and replaced later by three ( July 1918) BATTALIONS ( 1st Leinsters, 1sr R Dublin Fus and 1st N.F.)

......Thanks to Helen Charlsworth (Grandaughter of Bob Edwards)

Attack by the Enemy on Chemin des Dames, heaviest bombardment on record, Gas and HE. Within the hour, touch was lost with HQ and the front line trenches had been flattened.

150^th and 151^st Infantry Brigades heavily involved in the:

Battle of the Aisne.

(149^th Infantry Brigade held in reserve)

At 3.30am an attack by the enemy led by tanks was made against the Divisional front. This was pierced on the right, and the entire line taken in the rear by 4.45am. Some units simply ceased to exist. By 9.00am the Germans were across the unblown bridges at Pontavert and the right flank of the Division was forced to retreat across the Aisne. Three different attempts were made to stem the German advance… one party of stragglers held out until mid morning, helped by men from the 25th Division, but had to retire at 2pm and again at 6pm. The remnants of the two brigades had been formed into one. The 150th Brigade fared worse because of the breakthrough on the right, and the French defences on the left being pierced. Troops remaining on California Plateau were caught in a pincer movement and more or less wiped out.

Beaurieux

27^th May 1918

At Beaurieux the Divisional Staff had a narrow escape from being captured en bloc. About 9.30 a.m. an officer, who had been sent out towards Craonnelle, returned with the information that the Germans were rapidly aproaching Beaurieux. Divisional Headquarters moved at once, but even so the D.A.Q.M.G. (Major W. McCracken), A.D.M.S. (Col A. Milne - Thompson), and D.A.D.M.S. (Major R. M. Handfield - Jones) and certain clerks and draughtsmen were captured in the village.

GOTO: Letter written by Bert Odell to his Brother George about this incident

There were many stories of miraculous escapes, of which the following is a curious instance. The last officer to leave the 149th Brigade Headquarters (which with other brigade headquarters had been evacuated by 7.30 a.m.) was the Brigade Major, and as he walked out of the dug-out the enemy was actually establishing a machine-gun on the roof.       ( Page 347 History of the 50th Div)

The 149th Brigade records do not state that the Brigadier (Brigadier General Riddell) was seriously wounded during the 27th. At 7 a.m. he was at 151st Brigade Headquarters with Brig-General Martin, of the latter Brigade, when the enemy was reported close at hand. As the two brigadiers hurredly left the dug-out they found themselves almost surrounded. As they began to fight their way through, the Germans were scattered by a salvo of their own shells, but one, however, unfortunately burst just overhead, and General Martin was instantly killed and Brigadier Gereral Riddell wounded.    ( Page 341 History of the 50th Div)

 

Brigadier General Riddell wrote his own account of the 27th May events:

 'My Brigade headquarters were at Centre D'Evreux about 300 yards N.E. of the 151st Brigade headquarters. I decided to leave my own headquarters and join General Martin with a view to holding the trenches about our own headquarters as a last ditch. --- "It was all hands to the pumps." Martin and I with Leathart of the gunners ran towards the 5th Northumberland Fusiliers. We had only gone a few yards when a shell burst on our left. 1 felt a terrific blow in my face and saw Martin roll over. I went to him. He was quite dead. I walked on half dazed, with a great hole in my face into which I could put my hand, but I did not feel much pain. 1 could not have my wound bound up as the bandage would have prevented me from giving orders.'

 

Brig.-General H.C. Rees.

Brig.-General H.C. Rees, who was captured in the retreat while relocating Brigade Headquarters toward the rear at P.C. Terrasse, from La Butte. On arrival at P.C. Terrace it was discovered that the enemy was fast approaching from the west. An attempt to organise a defence at this point had to be abandoned. As a result of heavy hostile shelling Brigade Headquarters had now become dispersed: "the Staff Captain and Intelligence Officer had been wounded earlier in the morning and the Brigade Major was wounded whilst withdrawing towards the Aisne. Brig.-General H. C. Rees, it is believed, became too exhausted to continue and was captured.

 

 

The IWM book of 1918, Year of Victory, by Malcolm Brown gives the following account of the days events:

Major-General Henry Jackson, GOC of the 50th Division, found the Chemin des Dames attack a shattering experience. Admitting the shock but trying to make the best of things, he wrote to his mother on the 30th May: "Just a line to say that I am alive and well. We have had a rather strenuous time - the Boche attack breaking in full force upon us. I have lost all my three brigades, and we are a poor affair at present, but given some men and a little time, we will be alright".

It also states:

Corporal Arthur Speight, 7th Durham Light Infantry, a soldier whose career stretched back to the second Battle of Ypres in 1915, was at General Jackson's Divisional Headquarters when the attack began. The Division had taken over a most pleasant chateau, with garden attached, at a village called Beaurieux situated a mile or so north of the Aisne. Artillery Headquarters was installed in another large house, the garden of which adjoined that of the chateau. Speight was one of three Divisional draughtsmen, his other colleague being a Corporal Tony Schaeffer of the 5th Northumberland Fusiliers and a young conscript named Garton. They had set up their drawing office in an elegant octagon - shaped summerhouse in the chateau's garden, in good shape apart from a hole in the roof from a stray enemy shell; reassuringly, it had an under-section beneath a concrete floor which they could use for sleeping. 'In front we had a small verandah with a rail on which we could use to sit at night and listen to the nightingales.

Suddenly on that fateful Sunday, came the rumours of the expected attack. An early sign of its imminence was the oddly incongruous beat of military music on the still evening air. The night of the 26th saw all the battalions who were not actually in the line moving up to battle positions with their bands playing them so far on up the road'. At this point hteir bands sent their instruments back and carried on as stretcher bearers.

At 1.00 a.m. the bombardment began. 'Fritz put down a barrage like nothing I'd heard before.All artillery positions were subjected to knock - out blows from concentrated fire and within half an hour hardly a gun in the Divisional area was left intact'.

On hearing of the forthcoming attack, Divisional Headquarters had promptly vacated its chateau and established itself in a suite of dugouts nearby. Speight and his two colleagues elected to stay in their summerhouse, 'not out of brovado, but because a shell doesn't usually hit the same spot twice'; in any case they had their concrete floor for protection if they needed to snatch some sleep. When dawn began, Barton went out in search of breakfast. He returned shortly after with the news that no rations had come up the night before. 'At about half past seven we had a visit from the Intelligence officer, a Captain Milne from some Scottish regiment; on being asked how things were doing he answered: "Bad enough! We've lost the Plateau so you'll know that something's on". I said "Yes Sir, when do we move out?" The IO said, "Oh! I'll send  someone down to tell you when to clear out". 

Meanwhile, somewhat disturbingly, they could see a number of khaki figures making their way down the road in the direction of the neighbouring village of Maizy, where there was a stalwart iron bridge across the Aisne. Shells of a small type kept dropping amongst them. I had not seen shells quite so small as this and was rather curious but not altogether happy about them'. It was clearly time for them to be on their way.

When all was ready I took two despatch cases of papers and maps up to the headquarters dugout and shouted down to the inhabitants, if any. There was no answer so I went below and found the place deserted. On all the wood work, tables etc, there were candles burning, evidently to burn the place out. I left my boxes of maps in the hope that Fritz would not get them. I returned again to the fresh air and hearing the clatter of horses' hooves turned and saw one of the French gendarmes who were attached to the Division coming along at full gallop with sword drawn and a grim look on his face. I howled out: 'Hola, Jaques! comment ca va?' He waved his sword, pointed up the road and shouted: 'Allez! Les Boches!' I 'allez-ed' and made my way down the  street in the direction of the HQ chateau. I became aware of  sudden buzzing noises, accompanied by sharp cracks - rifle fire. This was rather too much for my shaky nerves so made for the chateau without more ado.

As I entered the door a bullet hit the door post with a resounding crack so I did a quick side step to the right and behind the wall. The rooms lately occupied by the clerks and other people were empty, the room occupied by the general and the staff officers was in turmoil, the furniture etc, being all piled up in the centre of the room and crowned with an overturned and flaming oil lamp. Not caring to endanger my valuable carcase any more I left via the French windows and wandered down the garden to the summerhouse. Here I spread the joyful news that we had been left stranded and we got our kit together, loaded our rifles and sallied forth.

Crossing the garden they were suddenly attacked by a low-flying German aeroplane; Speight noted its red body and dazzle -painted wings: 'We disappeared into the bushes until he cleared off, then got going once more.' He set course for a nearby farm, from which he knew there was a drainage ditch running down towards Maizy. To reach the farm they had to cross the road: 'When I reached the road I was astounded, on looking along towards the village, to see dozens of Germans standing at the cross roads. Luckily they all seemed to be gazing in the opposite direction, so I hopped quickly over the road behind the farm. I signalled to tony to hurry, and he and Garton joined me . Those beastly little shells began to drop a short distance from us so we got into the afore-mentioned trench and made our way along it at a good pace.' The trench led to a point where there was a cutting some four feet deep alongside:

I peeped into the cutting and then beat a rapid retreat up the trench again. There were only about sixty Germans in the cutting! Tony always had a fairly good vocabulary and he certainly said some strange things. We held a short council of war and decided that we couldn't put up any show against sixty and thought that we would do well to clear off further upthe trench to seek another way out. However fritz stopped all arguement by coming in on top of us with pointed rifles and waving bombs and with shouts of 'Hande auf! Englander'. [Hands up, Englishmen.] I had often thought that in a case like this I should be scared to death, but strange to say, fear didn't seem to come into the picture at all. Dissapointment seemed to be the great thing. Here we were - captured without a chance of hitting back.

We had the satisfaction of knowing that our hands dod NOT go up! They went into our trouser pockets instead. We were kicked, thumped, jabbed in the ribs with rifle butts and generally made to feel that we were, to say the least of it, superflouus!

As a footnote to Speight's story, it should be recorded that the 50th Division's 'scorched earth' policy in respect of the beaurieux chateau worked only too well; it was, it appears, totally destroyed by the fire started by the British. Now a new, incongruously modern building stands in its stead. A new summerhouse that Speight would not have recognized graces the adjacent garden.

 

 

Captain Odell wrote to his brother George:

On Monday last having sent out two men on a line at 2.00 a.m. & heard nothing more of them, I went out myself at 4.30 & worked till 9 trying to mend breaks as fast as the Boche made them. One thing fell two yards off, but only the fuse went off, which was as well. Returning at 9, I found some lorries just finishing packing in the village, & at the Chateau the last of the Signal office staff about to decamp abandoning the xxxxxx. The two men ran in to say they had been driven off the lorry by the Boche, when shots we could hear. So with the Boche having 200 yds start we did a cross-country run to the nearest bridge. He shot too high with his M.G’s so we got clear, & have done a little signalling since. Now we’re out awaiting events, as neither lorry got away, we were completely destitute of kit.

Captain Odell, in 50 Div. was lucky to escape: The casualties of the signal units, already decimated by previous fighting, were once more very high. The following table which gives the establishment of the units and the percentage of casualties suffered by each in these few days of fighting will give some idea of the wastage which the Signal Service as a whole had suffered during each of the three retreats.

            Percentage Casualties of Signal Units of the 9th Corps. During the Aisne Retreat.

50th Div. Sig. Co

On 28^th May the remnants of the Division totalled no more than 680. On 29^th May the stragglers were gathered to form a composite Battalion and were moved up on the 30^th to join the 74^th Brigade. Casualties were now so great that the Division had to be pulled out.

1^st June 1918 to 8^th June 1918

17^th June 1918

On 17^th June 1918 Lt Odell became part of a composite brigade made up of elements of  the 150^th and 151^st Infantry Brigades. Odell was in charge of a cable detachment, under the orders of 19 Division near Bligny.

Lt Odell was sent with two cable detachments to Igny Le Jard, with a view to taking over from the 8^th (French) Division, on the 26^th inst. (Probably a Telephone Exchange), but orders for takeover were cancelled and Lt Odell ordered to return.

  Back to Houthulst Forest        On to 15th Scottish Div

  Click here for  7th NFshort history of the Regiment,  see personalities and links to detailed acounts of important actions.

Guy Smith     e mail:    guy@trenchmap.com

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