BLUEJACKETS WON BEAUCOURT VILLAGE
British Naval Troops Surrounded Redoubt and Ordered Germans Up “on Deck.”
STORMED RUINS AT NIGHT
Units Keep Watches by Bells in the Towers Where They Take Their Rest.
WITH THE BRITISH ARMIES IN FRANCE, Nov. 21, (via London, Nov. 22.)—British naval troops are fighting for the first time on the western front. A naval division took part in the breaching of the original German main line north of the Ancre Nov. 13 and the capturing of Beaucourt the following morning after twenty-four hours of continuous fighting.
“The advance of a portion of the naval troops was temporarily held up by a strong German redoubt joining the first and second rows of trenches and containing many concreted machine guns, the fire from which prevented the battalions on the left immediately south of the quarries of Beaumont-Hamel from securing the entire entry position.
But the bluejackets nearer the bank of the Ancre pushed through to the outskirts of Beaucourt within an hour, where they remained all day under a heavy machine gun and snipers' fire. At nightfall the position of the division was somewhat confused, but a battalion officer with a contingent, although wounded fourteen hours before, determined to storm the village at dawn with what composite naval troops could be assembled in the darkness and among the craters and temporary shelters of the ground newly won.
This officer has had an adventurous career, being a successful gun runner in Mexico and having also fought on Gallipoli with great distinction, gaining the Distinguished Service Order. He managed to concentrate a striking force during the night with which he dashed into Beaucourt at dawn, bombing and bayonetting the Germans. For ten minutes the Germans fought and then surrendered en masse to the officer, who had received three additional wounds during the capture of the village.
The redoubt which held up the left of the naval troops resisted throughout the day of the 13th, and until dawn of the 14th, although it was unable to drive back the bluejackets holding the line around it. Then many of the men advancing in No Man's Land at dawn halted 200 yards distant.
The machine gunners in the redoubt saw some of a tank's crew emerging through the hatchways with a gun, which they were mounting in a crater beside the tank. The Germans hoisted a dirty handkerchief on a long pole as a signal of surrender.
The naval troops surrounded the redoubt and ordered the occupants of the dugouts to “come on deck and step lively.” Over 400 men came tumbling up the ladder stairways from a network of underground positions. The bluejackets took a total of nearly 2,000 prisoners in two days fighting north of the Ancre.
The Germans were the first to utilize naval troops on the western front, putting a division south of the Ancre in a vain endeavor to retake the Schwaben redoubt in October.
The British naval units bear the names of famous sailors and wear khaki with naval caps and badges. They have Quartermasters instead of Sergeants, and otherwise follow naval routine, keeping watches by bells in villages where they are billetted and referring to technical operations in the field in the language of the sea.
Copyright, 1916, by The Associated Press.
Szechenyi Succeeds von Tarnow.
AMSTERDAM, Nov. 21, (via London.)—Advices received here today from Vienna say that Count Ludwig Szechenyi, who before the war was Austro-Hungarian Diplomatic Agent and Consul General at Cairo, Egypt, has been appointed Minister of the Dual Monarchy at Sofia, Bulgaria. Count Szechenyi succeeds Count Tarnowski von Tarnow, who has been appointed Austro-Hungarian Ambassador to the United States.
BRITISH SECURING GRIP ON GRANDCOURT
Bombers Cling to Outlying Ruins of the Ancre Village—Line Being Strengthened.
TROOPS PASS A QUIET DAY
Artillerymen of Both Sides Are Busy, but Infantry Are Inactive.
By PERCEVAL GIBBON.
Special Cable to The New York Times.WITH THE BRITISH ARMY ON THE SOMME, Monday, Nov. 20, (dispatch to The London Daily Chronicle.)—Slowly, by little adjustments and the enterprise of patrols, our new line to the north and south of the Ancre becomes definite.
The bombers who held the outlying ruins of Grandcourt, lying out there among the brick heaps waiting for counterattacks to come rolling down on them, are now the foremost point of the troops who yesterday and last night made good their footing upon the ground which extends up and into the village.
The men in the south end of Puisieux trench upon the ridge of that name that runs down to the channel of the Ancre are now linked with the forces beyond the Bois d'Hollande. At a score of points lonely little groups of British soldiers, hanging to strings of shell-holes out in the open, have seen the line crawl up toward them and make them one with itself again.
It is not a battle, it is not even fighting on the scale of attention in the official communiqué. It is rather a process of isolated obscure heroisms working like strenuous yeast in the mud and fire. Out of it grows to sight a new firm front, a springboard for fresh victories.
There are reported to be no great dugouts in Grandcourt. The German engineers found the ground there too wet for subterranean barracks, but as many as 900 men have been billeted in the village. Miraumont, further back and bigger, held 2,700.
Prisoners in ones—very wet and humble and stiff about the arms through the exercise of holding them up while walking—and twos still come trickling in from their hiding places among the reeds of the river side. Those from the neighborhood of Grandcourt are nearly all Hessians, fine physical types enough when they have been cleaned and fed and have lost the droop of their fear and weariness.
The average age of the prisoners whom I have seen is about 26. The poorest physically and in point of general quality are the Saxons. As regards their youth and strength they say that being in the line insures them at least good food and plenty of it so long as the British shellfire allows them to bring it up.
If evidence is needed to prove the fierceness of the fighting upon the Ancre it is furnished by the ground toward Beaucourt, where every step was forced by the bayonet. Here are yet the bodies of many who fell in that superb advance, Germans as well as British, waiting till the overworked burial parties can put them out of sight.
There had been an alarm of gas, for most of the men have gas helmets out, either in their hands or on their heads, and where hand to hand struggles took place many of them are still lying as they died, the Germans as they were when a shell or bullet killed them.
The weather continues to improve. Today broke sunny and clear, and the newly drenched ground is drying. All along the line spades are at work and trenches are sinking to their level. Opposite the German in his prepared positions is shoveling back to its place what the British shells overthrow. The better he works the better for the British, for they will be needing those trenches of his before long.
FIGHTING ON SOMME LIMITED TO BIG GUNS
Both Allied Capitals and Berlin Report Heavy Shelling—Activity by Aircraft.
LONDON, Nov. 21—Today was another quiet day on the Somme front, with only slight artillery activity and patrol work to relieve the monotony.
The air squadrons of both sides have been busy along the entitre front.
The London War Office issued the following statement this afternoon:
During the night our line was heavily shelled southwest of Grandcourt. To the right of our new front a hostile patrol fell into our hands.
Enemy trenches were successfully raided at Gommecourt and in the neighborhood of Roclincourt and Ypres.
The British night report says:
During the day there was considerable hostile shelling against our front on both sides of the Ancre. Elsewhere there is nothing to report.
Yesterday our airplanes co-operated successfully with our artillery. Two of our machines are missing.
The official communication given out by the War Office this afternoon follows:
Artillery activity was maintained last night to a notable degree in the region of Saillisel and Douaumont. The night passed in relative calm everywhere else on the front.
The French night communication adds:
The day was calm on the whole front. The usual cannonade occurred, but no infantry action.
Aviation—In the night of Nov. 20–21 our bombing aeroplanes dropped about 100 shells on the enemy bivouacs in the rear of the Somme front.
The Belgian communication says:
In the course of the past week our air squadrons were very active. The aviation field at Ghistelles and enemy cantonments were efficaciously bombarded at night. Our pursuit aeroplanes fought twenty-five engagements, in the course of which several enemy machines were seen to fall vertically. One of our pilots, attacked by four Fokkers, took to flight, and, though his machine was seriously damaged, succeeded in returning safely to our lines.
Berlin Reports Little Activity
BERLIN, Nov. 21, (by Wireless to Sayville.).—The German positions on both sides of the Ancre and in the St. Pierre Vaast Wood were shelled heavily by the Allies yesterday, the War Office announces. There was a revival of artillery activity in the Champagne. The text of the statement follows:
Army group of Crown Prince Ruprecht: Our artillery was in action against hostile batteries and points of support. The effects of the bombardment were visible.
A lively hostile fire was directed against our positions on both sides of the Ancre and on St. Pierre Vaast Wood. There were no infantry engagements.
Army group of the German Crown Prince: In the Champagne and in the Meuse sector (Verdun) artillery activity was revived for a few hours yesterday.
A statement issued this evening reported a thick fog in the Somme district, with a lessening of activities along this front.
