Harper's Duds WW1 (id:#65191)

(Cambrai 2: Black Friday : Fontaine ID: #5)   [next]   [previous]

Fontaine, France 1917-11-23 (6 others)

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Overview:

Mid-November found the Fifty-first Highland Division in the Cambrai sector, and hotly engaged to the south-west of Cambrai itself. They had been, in the bantering fashion of the army, known as "Harper's Duds" months after they had gone to France--- a nickname inspired by the distinguishing mark "HD" on all the Division's vehicles. In the first phase of the battle of the 20th November the Division had severe losses in its assault upon the strongly organized village of Flesquières, the approach to which was a long slope swept by machine-gun fire, which rendered the cooperation of the tanks unsatisfactory. By evening, however, the Highlanders had worked round Flesquières, and on the following day it fell. They carried on for nearly three miles farther, taking Cantaing with 500 prisoners, and finally storming Fontaine-Notre-Dame with the aid of tanks and some squadrons of the 1st Cavalry Division. They were pushed out of Fontaine on the following afternoon, and suffered grievously in an attempt at its recapture on the 23rd.

Defender: German (46th Reserve Infantry Regiment, 119th Division)  

Errata (source)