Battle of the Menin Road

At dawn (5.25 a.m.) on September 20th the gun-fire all along the front rose to intensity, and the British battalions advanced to the attack. Apparently the enemy had not expected the attack to be prolonged so far southward as the front of the 19th Division, and the German resistance, though stubborn, was not well supported. The attack was completely successful. The German front-line defences were overrun without difficulty; then after a pause, to allow the artillery to lengthen their range, the platoons in rear passed through and pushed down the slope. Some venomous machine-guns in Wood Farm caused many casualties before the ruins of that building were finally stormed, and from the right flank German machine-guns in Hollebeke Chateau swept the slopes. Immediately to the left the 8th Gloucestershire had a stiff fight in Belgian Wood, but by 9 a.m. all resistance was over, and the 10th Worcestershire were busily at work entrenching the captured ground (For their gallant leadership in that attack Captain A. E. Owins and 2/Lieut. J. Clarke were awarded the M.C. and Sergts. E. J. Calder and A. Barber were awarded the D.C.M.). Patrols were pushed forward to Moat Farm, which was occupied and secured.

Away to the left, higher up the valley of the Bassevillebeek, the battle was raging in Shrewsbury Forest and along the Menin Road, with repeated attack and counter-attack; but on the front of the 19th Division the enemy attempted no counter-attack until after dark. Then an attempted German advance from North Farm drew down a storm of fire. Thereafter, except for an angry gun-fire, the night was quiet and the 10th Worcestershire slept on the ground they had won. The losses in the advance down the exposed slope had been about a third of the Battalion's "battle strength"-150 in all, including 7 officers (killed one officer [2/Lt. P. Jones] and 20 other ranks. Wounded 6 officers [2/Lts. H. Thompson, H. M. Hale, J. Froggatt, E. C. Coxwell, F. A. Brett, H. J. Luckman] and 95 other ranks. Missing 28).

All next day the Battalion held its position near Moat Farm, while patrols worked cautiously forward to the line of the stream (casualties 21st September, Killed, 10; Wounded, 1 officer [2/Lt. T. B. Hunt], and 19 other ranks; Missing 5). That evening the 7th East Lancashire of the 56th Brigade took over the line, and the Worcestershire platoons moved back up the slope. After concentrating behind the ridge, the companies marched back across the canal and thence made their way to camp near Vierstraat. There breakfasts had been eaten. Then the Battalion assembled and marched to Locre. About noon (September 22nd) the companies settled down in "Fermoy Camp" for a well-earned rest.

Thus on the right flank of the battle-line the plans of the British Commander-in-Chief had been successfully carried out; but on the left flank the attack had not been so successful. In the heavy mud about Langemarck and in the valley of the Steenbeek the attacking troops had been, able to make but little progress, and fresh Divisions were now brought up in relief. Among those fresh troops was the 29th Division, which relieved the Guards Division after the battle. The Guards Division had not actually taken part in the attack. The left flank of the attack had been the 20th Division immediately to their right.

The 57th Brigade then rested and cleaned up for three days in their camps at Locre; then orders had come for the Brigade to move back into the Salient. On September 26th the 10th Worcestershire had marched forward from Locre to a camp near Vierstraat, and on the following day the companies marched up across the Ypres-Comines Canal and. took over a reserve position around Hill 60. Further forward the other battalions of the 57th Brigade took over the front line, but the 10th Worcestershire remained in that reserve position under intermittent shell-fire (casualties September 27th, 1 killed, 1 wounded. September 28th, 1 killed, 1 wounded) until the evening of October 1st: then the Battalion moved up through the devastated "Shrewsbury Forest" into the forward positions (relieving the 8th Gloucestershire). The line taken over was about a mile to the northward of the ground over which the battle had been fought ten days before, and ran round the front of Bulgar Wood with outposts close to the line of the Bassevillebeek. To the left, the line held by the rest of the Brigade crossed that stream. Still further to the left the 37th Division continued the line up the sharp slopes to Tower Hamlets.

On October 3rd (casualties, October 1st-3rd, 3 wounded) came news that a fresh attack was to be made. The main weight of the new attack was to be put in around Polygon Wood, but the front of attack was to be extended northwards to Poelcappelle and southwards to Tower Hamlets, where the 37th Division was to attack. The line of the 19th Division lay outside the front of attack, but arrangements were made for the 19th Division to co-operate by fire.