The
Concrete Machine Gun Position at M.30.d.2.3
“It was decided that it was necessary to
again
re-gain control and hold the enemy
strong point North
of the RIVER.”- Maj. WH Collum
MC, Bde Major
11th
Canadian Infantry Brigade
12 June 1917
It wasn’t déjà
vu, Lieutenant CS Griffin, ‘A’ Company, 102nd (North British
Columbians) Battalion had been here before.
“The main objective was the enemy strong point at M.30.d.2.3,
‘TRIANGLE.’”[1] Griffin, and many of the men in the platoon
he was leading into this attack had been by this way only two days ago. Surprise had an elemental role in that
effort, where a prepared and numerous garrison kept the Canadians from gaining
the position. No preliminary bombardment
had been lain on for the sake of surprise and the Germans held this line in
force.
The Triangle was
a jumbled mass of trenches, rifle pits made from shell-holes, well sited
strong-points and a concrete blockhouse fielding two machine guns, the lot of
which was behind a bumper crop of barbed wire.
This patch of land, a mere handful of square yards, had been the focus
of attention for nearly a week of constant attacks and repulses. Besides Lt. Griffin’s go at it day before
last, Lt. Lowrie of ‘B’ Company had led the way in attacks twice here himself,
on the 7th and 8th of June. The task on the 7th was to clear
the wire with ammonal tubes and then “raiding and destroying, if possible,enemy concrete machine gun position at M.30.d.2.3.”[2]
This was
rebuffed even before the tubes were in position to be blown. “The enemy immediately opened with heavy
machine gun fire necessitating the withdrawal of the attacking troops.”[3]Mr. Lowrie was able to accomplish
this without any casualties. The very
next day, Lt. Lowrie and his platoon had gone up in a prepared attack; in
conjunction with a trench-clearing operation put in by the 5th
Battalion, the Royal Leicestershire Regiment.
It was a
splendid assault, the men having trained specifically for this task leading up
to this trench tour. All objectives were
held within forty minutes. “The
operation resulted in the capture of twelve prisoners…thirty enemy dead were
counted in the trenches and dugouts.” Lt. Lowrie didn’t live long enough to see
it accomplished. He had been shot dead
within moments of the attack’s beginning.
All of that had
been after Lt. Dimsdale had two quick attempts at it on the 5th. It was determined that “the enemy was holding
his trenches in force and apparently had no intention of evacuating.”[4]
Dimsdale’s work was that of opportunity.
Upon taking over the trenches during the relief of 4/5 June, Lt.
Dimsdale’s Company Commander, Major Scharschmidt had pushed his outposts
forward to determine the whereabouts of the enemy. Making contact had shaped into a hasty
attack, with ‘D’ Company managing to capture the Electric Generating Station,
and installation south of where the Souchez River passes by the town of Fosse. It was an unexpected success, to say the
least, but it left that mess of nastiness which was the Triangle between the
Station and the Souchez’ southern embankment under German control.
Planning had
looked to capturing the line intact with the combined operations aside the
5/Leicesters on the 8th. Maj.
Scharschmidt’s bold move had created a more urgent case. So long as they held the Electric Generating
Station, the hard point at M.30.d.2.3 had to go. ‘D’ Company’s work on the 5th had
done a lot of good, as it “placed the major portion of CALLOUS and CANCEL
trenches in our hands and there remained only the consolidation of the balance
of these trenches to bring them into our defensive system.” [5]
The organised
attack set for the eighth would work out the kinks. It had to.
Further operations were based upon having that area secure by no later
than the twelfth. With two men killed in
the attempt and five more wounded besides, M.30.d.2.3 had been taken, and was
handed over, as per orders to the 5/Leicesters.
They were unable to hold the position, and once again, the bastard thing
was doing German business under the new/old management.
Accordingly, on
the tenth, Lt. Charles Stuart Griffin, a 26 year old clerk born in Hollister,
California but living in Sidney, British Columbia before the war, and Sgt.
Archibald Law, a Calgarian teamster by way of Glasgow sortied towards the
Triangle in two concurrent raids. This was the affair put on without benefit of
artillery preparation or shielding barrage on account of the idea of keeping
the operation a surprise. Primary
objective (Griffin) was to gain CANADA trench, a line meant to be arcing north
to south from the embankment and representing the eastern edge of the
Triangle. Secondary objective (Law) was
the reducing and capture of the enemy strongpoint.
Both were no
stranger to this sort of enterprise. Lt.
Griffin had seen a fair deal of action serving as an NCO with the 7th
Battalion, being afield with them from August 1915. Twice wounded in 1916, he would become the
second highest ranking effective man in his company, cleaved in half to a
meagre 60 men at Vimy. Under Lt. L.J.
Bertrand, who had been a junior subaltern until the events of the morning
placed him in command, No. 4 Company, 7th (1st British
Columbians) Bn. held their objective despite their heavy losses. Griffin was promoted to Sergeant, awarded the
Military Medal and then given a commission and transferred to the 102nd. Lt. Lancelot Joseph Bertrand, born in
Grenada, British West Indies, making him one of the very few Caribbean Canadian
officers to serve overseas, received the Military Cross. He would be subsequently killed in action at
Hill 70 in August of 1917.
Sgt. Law, his
nearly two years overseas with the 102nd punctuated with an MM at
Vimy, saw his effort come awry with the detonation of a small enemy mine which
either had alerted or had been instigated by a prepared and numerous garrison
who “opened fire with bombs and machine guns….the men could not reach the Hun
with hand grenades, but covered their own retirement by rifle fire and rifle
grenades and our Stokes guns threw 20 rounds into the enemy, causing heavy casualties.[6]
Lt. Griffin had
a similar rebuff. His men had succeeded
in gaining the first line of trenches and putting in place one of the blocks
they had been tasked with, “but then found that CANADA trench south was a
series of shell holes; this exposed area was swept by enemy machine-gun fire
and whizz-bangs; moreover, much of the trench as was left was heavily manned by
the enemy.”[7] Both raids returned to their starting points
having achieved little at the expense of three men killed and eight wounded.
Never mind. Lt. Griffin’s platoon had been selected for
the attack on the twelfth to take the trenches beyond that irksome
concrete box. The platoon would just
have to pick it up on their way, so.
“Preparations,”
the 102nd War Diary closes the entry for 11 June 1917, “were
complete for attack on the following morning.” Lt. Griffin and his men, many of
whom had made the prior attempt, went over at 7 a.m. In the days between attacks, more artillery
had become available. Canadian Corps
Heavy Artillery walloped the area on the 11th with 350 immense
shells. Australian and British field
guns on loan to the Corps provided covering and creeping barrages in direct
support of infantry operations. The
objective was taken in ten minutes with little opposition. Most Germans who could broke for the
rear. Sixteen were taken prisoner, along
with two machine guns. Artillery fire
had killed 14, wounded 10, not including what prisoners stated were the five
killed and ten wounded since midnight who had already been evacuated by German
medical services.
This wasn’t the
end for Lt. Griffin’s platoon. While
they set up blocks and repaired the line, supporting troops hurriedly dug saps
out to link the old line with the new.
Within the first quarter hour of Canadian possession, the first
counterattack was made. “An unorganised
attack was launched by…about 100 men in mass formation…followed by an officer
with a revolver who appeared to be driving them on.”[8] This was utterly shattered by Lewis gun fire
and requested artillery. Germans came on
again, 150 strong at 10 o’clock. A more
organised and disciplined effort, it was likewise put on its heels. Lt. Griffin’s sparse line had been bolstered
by two bombing sections from ‘B’ Company, and work to consolidate the ground
continued.
Another
counterattack was checked at 3.30 “by bombs and rifle grenades which inflicted
heavy casualties on the Hun.” Once again, the Germans tried, at ten that
evening “under a very heavy barrage.”
Arriving in force, this attack “was dispersed by our Lewis gun, rifle
and grenade firing. It was also dealt
with by our artillery barrage.”[9]
Six men were
dead, twenty-eight wounded, including Lt. Griffin. Shrapnel had broken his right arm and
lacerated his left hand. The concrete
machine gun emplacement and the Triangle it guarded lasted out in Canadian
hands, the hard fought men of the 102nd relieved that evening by the
85th Battalion.
“In nine days
the Battalion, or some substantial part of it, had "gone over the
top" six times; in the face of desperate resistance it had eventually
carried out all the tasks assigned to it, and in addition to immeasurably
strengthening the Canadian positions in the area it had inflicted incredible
casualties on the enemy. But our own losses were found to be very heavy.”[10]
Charles Griffin
was awarded the Military Cross for holding throughout the counterattacks on the
twelfth, though his wounds would prevent his return to the front. Sgt. Law was given a bar to his MM. He would die of pneumonia in 1918.
[1] 102nd Battalion War Diary 12 June 1917
[2] Maj. WH Collum MC, “Report on Minor Operations” 11th
Canadian Infantry Brigade War Diary, June 1917
[8] Maj. WH Collum MC, “Report on Minor Operations” 11th
Canadian Infantry Brigade War Diary, June 1917
[9] Quotes From 102nd Battalion War Diary 12
June 1917
[10] Sgt Leonard McLeod Gould “The Story of the 102nd Canadian Infantry Battalion From BC to Baisieux “ Chapter V (102ndbattalioncef.ca)
