ordered to advance to the orchard directly to the east and to occupy another part of the original German trenches.
By the time General Haig’s orders were issued and made their way to the front line, the time for the attack was upon the troops, and the delay in relaying Haig’s orders caused the preliminary bombardment to be an hour late starting. The advance by the Royal Montrealers across open fields was halted by heavy German machine gun fire, forcing the troops to detour to the south of their objective. The Canadian Scottish was able to push ahead and occupy a communication trench that ran along the Quinque Rue. But the Germans opened up on the trench, inflicting heavy casualties.
The Germans had been busy. They realized that the British were focusing their efforts on a narrower objective, and could push through if not halted. All available German reserves were ordered to bolster the lines, which they had begun doing the night of the 16th.
Some important "firsts"
The Battle of Festubert marked a couple of important "firsts" for British and Canadian troops. What were these?
After the initial push to La Quinque Rue, British troops had been reorganized into a temporary and very short-lived Corps under British General Edwin Alderson. The Corps was made up of British (51st Highland), 1st Canadian Division and Indian Corps troops.
On May 20th, Alderson’s troops were ordered forward following an artillery bombardment. Their two main objectives were 600 and 1000 yards ahead, and 3000 yards apart and included part of the original German front line. The 16th Bn reached what was called Canadian Orchard, and dug in. A nearby house which was also an objective was heavily defended, and attempts to take it were halted. On their right, the 15th Bn was coming under heavy fire as they attempted to reach their objective, and they had to halt their advance 100 yards beyond the North Breastwork that had formed part of the original German trenches.
The Canadian 2nd Brigade fielded two companies from the 10th Bn, who would go on to distinguish themselves at Hill 70 later in the war. This part of the attack was over before it even got underway, with incorrect trench maps, inadequate artillery support and assembly and communications trenches that had been hit by shells and offered little to no cover for the men. As the troops began their advance, they were cut down by German machine guns, and the attack was finally halted.
Site of the attack by the Canadian 16th Battalion on the Canadian Orchard
The attack was resumed by the same companies from the 10th Bn and a grenade company on the evening of the 21st, and was preceded by over three hours of artillery fire by smaller field guns that were firing mostly shrapnel due to ongoing shell shortages. A pincer attack by the Canadians proved deadly once again, as the left arm of the formation was cut down by German guns that had been unharmed by the shrapnel barrage. The right arm of the formation had better luck at first, and even occupied a portion of German trench at one point. But at daybreak, German heavy guns opened up on the trenches, collapsing them and killing all of the men inside. By the morning of May 22nd, the 10th Bn had lost 18 officers and 250 men.
One final push was made on the night of May 23rd and into the 24th by the Canadian Division and the British 47th Division, followed by a daytime attack on the 25th carried out by the British 142nd Brigade bolstered by men from the Canadian Lord Strathcona’s Horse. The men of the Horse Brigade were bombers who were carrying 200 gas bombs, which represented the first official use of gas by the British or Canadians. Once again, this last attempt to achieve targets was thwarted by heavy German machine gun fire and unreliable maps. Added to this was the fact that new trenches had been dug all over the area, making it almost impossible to discern when the target trenches had been reached or not.
Finally, on May 25th, Sir John French called off the Battle of Festubert. The superior fire power and preparedness of the Germans simply could not be over