Attack Begins Monday, April 9th, 2018
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At 4.30am on the 9th of April 1918, two hours before dawn on a cold foggy morning, the German artillery began a fierce bombardment of the Allied Lines along the sectors bounded by the River Lys.
The Plugstreet area was held by 25th Division with 19th Division on their left in front of Messines and 34th Division to the right with 40th Division beyond, and then the 2nd Portuguese Division with 55th Division to their right near Givenchy.
The area held by the Portuguese was the main focus of the attack and around 7am the infantry attack began through the shattered defences, forcing the relatively inexperienced Portuguese, many of whom were wounded, to fall back.
The reserve troops were quickly ordered to stem the attack, including the 12th Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment the Teesside Pioneers, whose training base at Marton Hall the team have been investigating.
At 11am The Battalion was send forward from their billets by the River Lys at Bac St Mur and Sailly-sur-la-Lys to Fleurbaix. Enroute the encountered the enemy and fought a rear guard action back to the River Banks where the enemy advance was checked and held until 6pm when the reserve Brigade of 25th Division, arrived from Le Bizet. A counter attack was organised with the Teesside Pioneers taking part on the right flank, but they were unable to push the enemy back.
In the Plugstreet area the trenches were shelled but no attack developed.
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Filed under: Great War History by
PlugStreetTeam
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