August 15, 19 1 8 
Land & Water 
^3 
other villages they came upon the enemy in billets unaware 
as yet that the breach in his forward lines had occurred. 
Parties of the enemy's men working to reap the harvest in 
the fields were taken ; the whole staff of one division was 
captured ; batteries were passed abandoned where they stood, 
save their teams, while in other cases the horses were shot 
down as they attempted to limber up. The whole thing was 
a complete breakdown of the enemy through surprise so far 
as the district between the Somme and the wood north of 
Morenil was concerned ; and the rate of advance was limited 
by little more than the pace at which the tanks could both 
move and fight. 
So much for the centre, which by evening had covered 
nearly 13,000 yards. 
THE GERMAN RESISTANCE 
But what happened upon the two wings was different 
The German 27th Division in the triangle of high land 
between the Ancre and the Somme counter-attacked very 
strongly after the first surprise of the morning ; they kept 
the British line nearly stationary west of Morlancourt and, 
what was more important, they recaptured before nightfall 
the village of Chipilly and the woods and heights above it. 
A detailed sketch of this region will show the gravity of this 
local enemy success. 
Luckily, though there was grave difficulty also at the 
further end of the line by Moreuil, it was not so prolonged, 
and therefore, the salient which would have been dangerously 
advanced and narrow towards Framerville after the German 
recapture of Chipilly, was reasonably enlarged to the south 
before evening fell, and still further enlarged, as we shall 
see, the next day. 
The resistance in the region of Moreuil began with the^fierce 
defence of Morisel just over the river. There were three 
hours of hard fighting before the French managed to master 
the garrison of these ruins and thereby to reach and prepare 
crossings over the Avre. The task was not accomplished 
until 8 o'clock in the morning, and when it was successfjil 
400 unwounded prisoners remained in the hands of our Allies. 
The operations conducted at this critical point by General 
Brissaud-Besmailet, at the head of a force principally com- 
posed of Chasseurs, proceeded to encircle Moreuil, the defended 
ruined walls of which could not be taken by direct assault 
across the river. First the wood on the top of the slope to 
the north was seized (the tanks crossing the Avre by the 
' new bridges a little after eight o'clock : then the long, thin 
belt of wood to the south, and some time before noon the 
French troops were everywhere upon the high plateau to 
the east and Moreuil was occupied. Following upon this 
success there seems to have been a sort of breakdown of the 
Germans in this region in spite of the very fine defence they 
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Chipilly stands upon a peninsula of high ground thrust 
out from one of the narrow and profoimd loops of the Somme. 
In the neck of the peninsula, or rather on the point where 
the necks climbs up on to the plateau behind, is the wood 
called Gressaire. In- the first thrust during the morning the 
British troops, though held in front of Morlancourt, carried 
the wood of Gressaire, all the high ground of the peninsula, 
and perhaps, to the south of the river, the- village of Meri- 
court. At that moment there was no positiori from which 
enemy fiald artillery, let alone machine guns or rifles, could 
fire upon British positions south of the Somme. But when 
the enemy bv his counter-attack retook the wood and the 
ruins of Chipilly, he stood upon high ground which directly 
looked down and enfiladed a shallow valley running south- 
ward from the Somme across the great high road, which was 
the axis of the Allied advance. From this high ground to 
the road is a range of only 4,000 yards. The enemy in 
Chipilly, therefore, and on the hill above it, was in a position 
very gravely to delay or embarrass the forward movement 
along the main road and the supply erf those who had already 
reached Framerville. 
We shall do well in the whole story of the battle to bear 
continually in mind the considerable effect of this enemy 
success, partial and local as it was, on the evening of the first 
day. 
put up during the early morning hours. The l~rench rapidly 
extended their advance above the open fields to the east 
and also pushed their front Southwards. By evening they 
had passed Plessier ; they were apparently in the ruins of 
Fresnoy and up to the Roman road in the neighbourhood 
of Beaucourt. Meanwhile, the British right had gone fof^ 
ward with great rapidity, after a similar difficulty with 
easily defensible ground between the Roman road and the 
Luce. Here just south of Demuin two woods upon the high 
ground had to be turned in tortuous fashion, and were not 
taken until somewhat later in the morning. But once this 
was done there was a very rapid advance north of the Roman 
road corresponding to the French advance south of it, and 
before night the British had apparently passed Beaucourt ; 
were certainly standing just east of Caix, and thence held the 
line past Herbonnieres to Framerville. 
The trace of the front, therefore, at nightfall of this first 
day, Thursday, August 8th, was that indicated by the 
second line upon Map i. The reader will notice its eastern 
extension just south of the Somme along the main road ; 
the difficult point in the neighbourhood of Chipilly and the 
fortunate enlargement in the salient to the south or right of 
the Allied line. Had the hold-up in front of Moreuil and in 
front of the woods south of Hangard continued throughout 
the day, the salient up to Framerville could never have been 
