RJP:62Div:Bullecourt Latest edit 6 Feb 2007

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5. The Battle of Bullecourt (See Map 1)

On 9.3.17 the BEF began its Arras offensive in support of the French ‘Nivelle’ offensive. The main British attack, involving the 1^st and 3^rd Armies, extended from Vimy Ridge to Croisilles, while 5^th Army was to make a subsidiary attack on the Hindenburg Line at Bullecourt. 62 Div took over the sector of the line between Bullecourt and the River Sensée at Croisilles on 5.4.17. An attack at Bullecourt by 62 Div and 4 Australian Div on their right was ordered for 9.4.17 but then postponed to 10^th and again to 11^th. On that day the Australians attacked and reached Riencourt and Hendecourt, but a counter attack forced them back to their start line. 62 Div were intended to occupy Bullecourt and attack the Hindenburg line but through communications failures took no significant part in this phase of the battle. After several more postponements a further attack was made on 3.5.17. This time 62 Div had 2 Australian Div on its right. 62 Div entered part of Bullecourt at a high cost in casualties and elements of the division remained in action until the capture of the village was completed by 58 Div on 17.5.17. They finally left the sector on 29.5.17, after handing over to 58 Div, and retired to the Gomiécourt - Achiet-le-Petit - Sapignies area for a period of rest. On 31.5.17 V Corps (including 62 Div) were transferred to 3^rd Army.

The Hindenburg Line at the western end of Bullecourt.

Illustration courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

An aerial photograph taken at about 9 a.m. in the Summer of 1920, of the part of the Hindenburg Line which faced the right centre of 62nd Division’s front at Bullecourt in May 1917. The camera is above no man’s land, looking east of northwards, on a bearing of about 35°, in front of the battalion boundary between 2/5 Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, to the NW and the 2/5 West Yorkshire Regiment. The road at bottom left is that from Bullecourt to Fontaine-lès-Croisilles. The road running from front to back of the picture is that from Ecoust-Saint-Mein, behind the British line, to Hendecourt, behind the German line. It touched the western extremity of the village of Bullecourt as did the small salient of the front line of the Hindenburg Line, which closely enclosed the southern half of the village.

In the photograph, the Hindenburg support line trench extends across the background, to the north of the village and has a dense strip of wire in front of its trench. The general line of the front line trench passes across the centre of the picture, from left background to right foreground. In the village, by the end of the war it had been destroyed but is shown in Wyrall’s plan of the sector as it was in May 1917.

The centre of the picture confirms that the salient line of 1917 passed forward along the line of the road. By the end of the war, it had been abandoned and re-made slightly further from the road. Wyrall’s plan shows that the road, as it passed through the Hindenburg Line, was partially sunken, having a bank on its eastern side. This shows clearly in the photo on the road line which had been abandoned by the time the photo was taken and replaced on a parallel line.

The line was occupied on the German side by 2oth Infantry Regiment, of the 27^th Division. To 62 Division’s left was a battalion of British 7^th Division facing elements of the German 49^th Reserve Division. To 62 Div’s right was the Anzac Corps (2 Australian Div) facing 123^rd Grenadier Regiment.

Reference: Wyrall. Plan title: Battle of Bullecourt, May 1917). See also an Australian view of the Second Battle of Bullecourt