57TH(WEST LANCASHIRE) DIVISIONSecond Line
The Division went to France in February, 1917, and was employed in the Bailleul-Armentières-Ypres area during the greater part of 1917, and for the first four months of 1918.
A quotation, in which West Lancashire Territorials are mentioned as taking part in an advance in “The Battles of Ypres, 1917,” on 16th August, 1917, has been given under the 48th Division. The number of the West Lancashire Division is not given in theGazetteor in Messrs. Dent’s edition ofSir Douglas Haig’s Despatches. It seems to be the case that the infantry of the 55th or 57th was not present on that date. The reference may apply to some West Lancashire Artillery.
The 57th did attack as part of the XIV. Corps on 26th October, the “Second Battle of Passchendaele,” see 50th Division. Ground was gained, but the conditions were most difficult and the casualties of the 57th were very heavy.
Early in May 1918 the 57th took over from the 42nd in the Bucquoy area, south of Arras.
In August one brigade of the 57th was, for a time, attached to the 51st Division on the Scarpe and took part in a preliminary attack on the 19th. During that month the XVII. Corps, which embraced the 52nd, 56th, 57th, and later the 63rdDivisions, took over in that area, coming in between the VI. Corps and the Canadians.
The XVII. Corps, as part of the Third Army, attacked on the 25th August (see 52nd and 56th), and the 57th entered the front line on the night of the 27th. It had very severe fighting between 28th August and 2nd September and did well, as appears from the extracts referred to below.
In the telegraphic despatch of 13th September, 1918, as to the work of certain divisions, a quotation from which has already been given under the 56th, the 57th was mentioned for its fine services about Bullecourt and there is also given under the 56th a quotation from the despatch of 21st December, 1918, paragraph 23, which applies to both divisions.
Paragraph 28 of the latter despatch deals with the storming of the Drocourt-Quéant line, 2nd September, 1918. “This gallant feat of arms was carried out by,” among other troops, “the XVII. Corps of the Third Army employing the 52nd, 57th, and 63rd Divisions.” A quotation as to the battle on that date has been given under the 52nd. In the afternoon there was hard fighting but the enemy’s opposition was overcome by nightfall “and the 57th Division, swinging to the right, was threatening the villages of Quéant and Pronville from the north.” During the night and following day the enemy rapidly retreated.
The fighting in the area in which the XVII. Corps was then operating, 26th-30th August, is now the “Battle of the Scarpe, 1918,” and that on 2nd-3rd September, the “Battle of the Drocourt-Quéant Line.”
In the big and fiercely contested battle commencing on 27th September the XVII. Corps had again to make an effort almost, if not quite, as great as that which broke the Quéant line on 2nd September, and nothing could have been finer than the work of the 52nd, 57th, and 63rd Divisions on this second occasion. The position of the enemy was of immense strength and a wide and deep canal was among the obstacles to be overcome in the advance of the Corps. The fighting on the front of the XVII. Corps lasted, almost without intermission, from 27th September to 1st October. This is now designated the “Battle of the Canal du Nord.”
Paragraph 35 of the despatch of 21st December, 1918, dealing with “the Battle of Cambrai and the Hindenburg Line, 27th September-5th October,” states: “In the centre the 52nd Division passing its troops across the canal by bridgeheads previously established by the 57th Division, on the opening of the assault carried the German lines east of the canal,” etc., but in Messrs. Dent’s edition, p. 281, there is the following note: “This is incorrect. There were no bridgeheads at this time and the crossings were forced by the 52nd Division at the opening of their attack.”
The despatch proceeds: “As soon as the line of the canal had been secured our engineer troops commenced the construction of bridges, completing their task with remarkable speed, and working with great gallantry under the fire of the German guns. Greatly assisted by their efforts our advance continued. Obstinate resistance was met with at Graincourt, and it was not until late in the daythat the village was finally surrounded and captured by the 63rd Division. The 57th Division (Major-General R. W. R. Barnes) meanwhile had passed through and carried the line forward east of Anneux to Fontaine-Notre-Dame.”
In paragraph 42, “The Second Battle of Le Cateau, 8th-12th October,” now officially designated the “Battle of Cambrai, 1918,” the despatch shows that on 8th October the Third and Fourth Armies attacked and very heavy fighting ensued. “On the extreme left the 57th Division made progress in the southern outskirts of Cambrai.... During the following night the Canadian Corps captured Ramillies and crossed the Scheldt canal at Pont d’Aire. Canadian patrols entered Cambrai from the north and joined hands with patrols of the 57th Division working through the southern portion of the town.” Next day, “Cambrai was in our hands and our troops were three miles to the east of the town.” Progress continued on the 10th. Shortly after this the 57th was taken out of the XVII. Corps and entered the XI. Corps, Fifth Army.
The operations referred to above turned the defences of Lille from the south, and paragraph 45, dealing with “The Evacuation of Lille,” states that the 57th and 59th Divisions were by the evening of 17th October “on the outskirts of Lille.” These divisions were then in the XI. Corps.
Thereafter the work of the 57th Division was less arduous; the fighting in the area of the Fifth Army was not so severe as it had been on the fronts of the Third and Fourth Armies farther south.