The Battle of Bellicourt Tunnel: Tommies, Diggers and Doughboys on the Hindenburg Line, 1918

[Crunchy]

Dale Blair.  The Battle of Bellicourt Tunnel: Tommies, Diggers and Doughboys on the Hindenburg Line, 1918. Frontline Books, Barnsley, 2011. 184pp.

 

 

The attack against the Hindenburg Line over the tunnel through which the St Quentin canal passes beneath Bellicourt by the American II Corps and the Australian Corps is not well known: although the stunning success of the 46th (North Midland) Division across the canal immediately to the south is.  In The Battle of Bellicourt Tunnel: Tommies, Diggers and Doughboys on the Hindenburg Line, 1918 Dale Blair provides a workmanlike account of this controversial attack in the space of 143 pages of text. It was controversial, at least in Australian military history, because of the American performance, and the damning, ungenerous and unfair criticism of them by the Australian Corps commander, Sir John Monash, at the time, and in his not entirely accurate post-war publication The Australian Victories in France in 1918.  The principal charge against the doughboys, and the commonly held view, is they rushed forward impetuously and, despite it being impressed upon them, failed to mop up, thus throwing Monash's plan into disarray and causing chaos in the first phase of the attack. Siding with Charles Bean, the Australian official historian, Blair refutes Monash's criticism as the reasons for the American failure.

 

After an Introduction that sets the strategic scene, Blair addresses the plan for breaching the Hindenburg Line, then recounts the disastrous failure on 27 September of the United States 106th Infantry Regiment to take the Hindenburg Outpost Line opposite the tunnel, and secure the start line for the US 27th Division's attack on the main defences.  In addressing the Anglo-American-Australian assault on the morning of 29 September, Blair sensibly discusses it in five seperate chapters covering the actions of each of the divisions that participated, commencing with the outstanding success of the 46th (North Midland) Division. The narrative then travels north, covering first the American 30th Division at Bellicourt, then their colleagues of the 27th Division at Bony. As chaos and the lack of an accurate battle picture descended over the battlefield, the 3rd Australian Division's attempt to restore order in the 27th Division's area is next addressed, followed by the 5th Australian Division's reinforcement of the scattered survivors of the 30th Division. The next three chapters round out the story: the Australian-American attacks during the afternoon of the 29th; those of the Australians on the 30th; and the Anglo-Australian push to the Beaurevoir Line on 1 October; ending with a short conclusion addressing the key issues.

 

While little of detail has been written on this desperately fought battle since the publication of the Australian official history and the corresponding American volume, The Battle for Bellicourt Tunnel presents a straightforward, fair and balanced account, that while generally following Bean's views, provides added emphasis to the part played by the American II Corps and the German defenders. While the 46th (North Midland) Division's unexpected but impressive success over such a formidable obstacle is well covered, the focus of the book is on the chaotic and hard fought battle across the ground above the tunnel by the Americans, Australians and Germans. In recounting it Blair seeks to understand what actually contributed to the American's difficulties, and he presents a convincing case of the reasons for them, amplifying the points made in the Australian official history. In doing so, he also highlights the decisions made by various British and American higher commanders, and by Monash himself, as contributing factors.  Blair's criticism of Monash is not as strong as that of his acclaimed military biographer, Dr Peter Pedersen (Monash as Military Commander) who surmised that his performance 'was his poorest as corps commander, and rivalled that of 8 August 1915 [on Gallipoli] as his worst of the war.' Overall, this is a story of inexperienced doughboys given a difficult task, in poor visibility, without adequate support and suffering heavy casualties, and of battle experienced but sadly depleted and exhausted Australian battalions stabilising the situation followed by stubborn fighting against an equally depleted but determined enemy.

 

This is an easily read story and the narrative moves along at a good pace, although Blair's style lacks the finesse of a more polished writer. Too often he repeats the full title of the same unit in a paragraph, including in successive sentences, and often he uses short sentences to include information that could be easily woven into the previous one. There are sufficient maps, but regrettably they are enlarged reproductions of the thumbnail ones from the Australian official history. Although adequate, they lack many of the locations mentioned in the narrative and thus do not support it well, thereby making it difficult for a reader not familiar with the battle to follow the action 'on the ground'. Fortunately, this reviewer has studied the battle and walked the ground, but even I was forced at times to refer to other maps to confirm exactly where a particular activity was occurring.

 

The Battle of Bellicourt Tunnel: Tommies, Diggers and Doughboys on the Hindenburg Line, 1918 fills a void in the historiography of the Great War in providing a succinct, one volume account of a little known and severe action that rehabilitates the efforts of the doughboys of the American II Corps, highlights the extent of the German defence, and shows the fractures appearing in the battle experienced but depleted and exhausted Australian Corps. It is a story worth reading.

[josquin]

As always,your review is  sophisticated, balanced and highly informative.  Its greatest strength is the extent 

to which you create a compelling interest in learning more about the subject as well as acquainting us

with the limitations of the earlier accounts. The operations against the Hindenburg Line are a fascinating

subject in their own right, and new analyses and assessments are welcome given its importance as

Germany's last line of defence on the Western Front

Best regards,

Josquin