On 21 March, the Germans launched their Spring Offensive. By the end of the first day, the British had lost nearly 20,000 dead and 35,000 wounded and the Germans had broken through at several points on the front of the British Fifth Army.
At the time the NZ Division was out of the line. After moving rapidly to the front, it was positioned at Hamel by 26 March and from there linked up with the 4th Australian Division.
“By the evening of the first day it was clear that the German attack involved practically the whole of Ludendorff's mass of manoeuvre. It was therefore "at once necessary and possible" to collect reserve Divisions from the rest of the front and hurry them to the Somme. In view of the vital importance of the First Army's position in the centre, its greater proximity to the battlefield and the distinct possibility of its becoming implicated, reinforcements were drawn principally from General Plumer's Second Army further north. Among the troops so called on was the New Zealand Division.”
“On the 22nd [March] the Division was marked for transfer to the Third Army and ordered to commence entrainment on the afternoon of the 24th.”
“The rate of entraining was somewhat retarded owing to the destruction of a railway bridge near St. Pol by hostile action, and consequent disorganisation of the railway system. ”
“At this hour (10 p.m., 25th March) the bulk of the New Zealand troops was still west of Amiens. The tremendous strain on transport had made it impossible to provide an adequate number of lorries.” [Excerpts From: Col. H. Stewart. “The New Zealand Division 1916 - 1919: A Popular History Based on Official Records.”]
Add new comment