Original photo-etched contour map illustrating the movements and objectives of the Fourth Army; and in particular the IX and XIII Corps; at the Battle of the Selle between 23rd and 24th October 1918, taken from The Story of the Fourth Army Battles of the Hundred Days written by Major General Sir Archibald Montgomery, an Officer of the final campaign to end WWI.
The Map shows the Infantry start line; the Corps Boundaries; and the First, Second, Third, Fourth & Fifth Objectives for the days of the 24th and 25th October.
The Battle of the Selle commenced on October 17th 1918 and was a major Allied assault during the Hundred Days Offensive
The earlier Advance to Le Cateau saw British and American forces breach the Hindenburg Line and cross the Selle River, forcing German defenders to retreat. Taking place from 5 -11 October 1918 it is often termed as the Second Battle of Le Cateau. The victory secured the crucial railway hub at Le Cateau and made critical ground. It marked a decisive and successful push to break German resistance culminating in The Battle of the Selle which began on October 17.
After the Second Battle of Le Cateau the retreating Germans took up a new position, immediately to the east of the Selle River. General Henry Rawlinson of the Fourth Army was faced with three problems: crossing the river, the railway embankment on the far side and the ridge above the embankment. A decision was made to commence the assault at night, and as the river was not very wide at this point, planks would be used for the soldiers to cross in single file. Later, pontoons would be required for the artillery to cross the river. Field Marshal Douglas Haig, aware that the Germans were near exhaustion, initiated a series of operations designed to get British troops in strength across the river and clear a way for a move against the Sambre-Oise Canal, a further 5 miles (8.0 km) to the east.
After a six-day halt for preparations and artillery bombardments, the Fourth Army troops attacked at 5.20 a.m. on Thursday 17 October. On the 16 October the US 30th Infantry Division had moved up into position between the US 27th Infantry Division and the British IX Corps. Infantry and tanks, preceded by a creeping barrage, the American forces waded across the Selle, moving forward on a 10 miles (16 km) front south of Le Cateau (site of the famous 1914 rearguard) with the 27th Division to the north, and the 30th to the south. The Germans had dug in along lines indicated on their maps as Stellung I and II. This combined British Fourth Army forced crossings of the river, despite unexpectedly strong German resistance and much uncut barbed wire. Fighting was particularly fierce along the line of the Le Cateau– Wassigny railway. The Americans attacked from the centre, with the 50th British Division to their north, the British 6th Division to the south, made most progress and by nightfall the German defences had been broken and Le Cateau captured. Fighting continued from 18–19 October, by which time Fourth Army, much assisted by the French First Army on its right, advanced over 5 miles (8.0 km), harrying the Germans back towards the Sambre–Oise Canal. On the left, The French First Army advanced forward in the area of the Selle’s confluence with the Escaut/Scheldt. Here, at the northern edge of the attack front, the Canadian Corps pushed across the Canal de la Sensee on the 18th and captured Denain on the 19th, securing the flank for the push across the Selle.
The British Third and First Armies, north of the Fourth Army, maintained the offensive pressure the following day. In a surprise joint night attack in the early morning of 20 October, Third Army formations secured the high ground east of the Selle and, further securing the left flank, the Canadians swept around the city of Valenciennes in the north. Following a two-day pause, to bring up heavy artillery, the attack was renewed on 23 October with a major combined assault by Fourth, Third and First Armies; the fighting, which continued into the next day, resulted in further advances. At this stage, the German Army was retreating at a forced but controlled pace. On 24 October, the German Army counterattacked at the Canal de la Derivation but were repulsed and pushed back by the Belgian Army.
Lt. Frederick William Hedges was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions during the battle.
Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig sent the Commander of the II American Corps a congratulatory message on 20 October acknowledging the AEF contributions to the battle. “all ranks of the 27th and the 30th American Divisions under your command displayed an energy, courage, and determination in attack that proved irresistible… You have earned the lasting esteem and admiration of your British comrades in arms, whose success you have so nobly shared.”
On 26 October 1918, Erich Ludendorff, First Quartermaster General of the German army, resigned under pressure from Kaiser Wilhelm II
Britain’s Fourth Army under Gen. Sir Henry Rawlinson, was the force that bore much of the brunt of the campaign called the Hundred Days – the great counter attack beginning on August 8th 1918 which finally forced the German command to sue for the Armistice that came into effect on November 11th, ending the Great War in the West. Germany’s commander Gen. Paul von Hindenburg called August 8th the black day of the German army in this war and it was indeed the beginning of the end. The high tide of Ludendorff’s Spring Offensives had been halted just before the vital Cathedral city and road and rail junction of Amiens, and on August 8th, spearheaded by Australian troops and a strong force of tanks, the Allies hit back. New tactics had at last been learned after the futile offensives of 1915, 1916, and 1917, and the Allied troops moved forward under the cover of creeping barrages in small, fast-moving groups tasked to achievable bite and hold operations. When resistance stiffened the attack would be broken off and renewed on another part of the line. By such means the seemingly impregnable Hindenburg Line – which made use of canals and tunnels to form a mighty defence barrier – was rapidly broken and the offensive passed into the open country to the East. The final battles fought by the Fourth Army early in November were near Le Cateau, ironically the site of the battle in 1914 that had begun the war.
Britain’s Fourth Army under Gen. Sir Henry Rawlinson, was the force that bore much of the brunt of the campaign called the Hundred Days – the great counter attack beginning on August 8th 1918 which finally forced the German command to sue for the Armistice that came into effect on November 11th, ending the Great War in the West. Germany’s commander Gen. Paul von Hindenburg called August 8th the black day of the German army in this war and it was indeed the beginning of the end. The high tide of Ludendorff’s Spring Offensives had been halted just before the vital Cathedral city and road and rail junction of Amiens, and on August 8th, spearheaded by Australian troops and a strong force of tanks, the Allies hit back. New tactics had at last been learned after the futile offensives of 1915, 1916, and 1917, and the Allied troops moved forward under the cover of creeping barrages in small, fast-moving groups tasked to achievable bite and hold operations. When resistance stiffened the attack would be broken off and renewed on another part of the line. By such means the seemingly impregnable Hindenburg Line – which made use of canals and tunnels to form a mighty defence barrier – was rapidly broken and the offensive passed into the open country to the East. The final battles fought by the Fourth Army early in November were near Le Cateau, ironically the site of the battle in 1914 that had begun the war.
In WWI the Western Front was the main theatre of combat, a 700-kilometre line of trenches and fortifications stretching from the Swiss border to the North Sea. Much of the front-line encompassed France and Belgium’s vital industrial regions and, at times parts of Southern Germany. Between 1914 and 1918 this area was the war’s most critical area of fighting defined by the horrors of trench warfare with immense casualty rates, and for most of the war, a ‘brutal stalemate’ between the Allies and Germany.
The Front was characterised by five things:
Trench warfare – where both sides ‘dug in’ creating a vast network of trenches allowing both sides to hold ground leading to a war of attrition
Industrialised warfare – which included tanks, aircraft, advanced artillery and the extensive use of machine guns
Chemical warfare – tear gas, chlorine and mustard gas was used by both sides. The use of these was prohibited in the Geneva Convention in 1925
Disease – with the unsanitary conditions in the trench’s disease carried by rodents and water were rife, contributing to many unnecessary deaths
No Man’s Land – the devastated and dangerous space between the opposing forces, the name of which is indelibly linked with the futility of this War.
Major battles included the Battle of the Marne in 1914 which halted the German’s Schlieffen Plan preventing the early fall of Paris. The Battle of the Verdun in 1916, a ten-month battle designed to bleed France white resulting in over 700,000 casualties. The Battle of the Somme in 1916 which was an Allied offensive known for having 1 million casualties including over 57,000 British casualties on the first day alone. The Third Battle of Ypres and Passchendaele in 1917 famous for horrific mud and heavy losses with limited gains. The German Spring Offensive in 1918 which was Germany’s final attempt at victory before the arrival of American troops which nearly broke Allied lines, and the Hundred Days Offensive in 1918 which was the Allies final offensive that broke German lines and forced the November 11th Armistice.
