Schwaben Redoubt - Capture

Capture

Between 28 September and 6 October 1916, during the Battle of Thiepval Ridge, the redoubt was attacked repeatedly by British units of 18th (Eastern) Division, securing a permanent lodgment in the Schwaben Redoubt (Feste Schwaben). This success came courtesy, in large measure, of the 18th Division's 54th Brigade. By the evening of September 28, most of the redoubt was in British hands. The Germans held on to the north face until 14 October 1916, when it was captured by the 39th Division's 117th Brigade. By all accounts, the fighting here was absolutely horrific.

On 14 October 1916, the Territorial ‘Fen Tigers’ (1st Battalion Cambridgeshire Regiment) under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Riddell advanced under a creeping barrage and were in and amongst the defenders without loss of life. The fierce fight that followed devolved into a hotly contested struggle, commanded by corporals and junior commanders with bayonet and grenade. The bewildered German occupants were routed and Riddell’s Cambridgeshire’s went on to successfully defend the Redoubt for a further 24 hours before being relieved, having beaten back several determined counter-attacks. British loss of life was relatively light, with 32 men killed and 186 wounded. General Haig, commander of the British Expeditionary Force, described the attack as “one of the finest feats of arms in the history of the British Army”. Forty-two awards for gallantry were bestowed on the Regiment.

Read more about this topic:  Schwaben Redoubt

Famous quotes containing the word capture:

    No place is so strongly fortified that money could not capture it.
    Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)

    Not even the visionary or mystical experience ever lasts very long. It is for art to capture that experience, to offer it to, in the case of literature, its readers; to be, for a secular, materialist culture, some sort of replacement for what the love of god offers in the world of faith.
    Salman Rushdie (b. 1947)

    This is the hope of many adolescent girls—to capture a parent’s heart with love for them as they are, as people. They reject the notion of being loved just because they are the child of the parent. They want the parent to fall in love with them all over again, because being new, they deserve a new love.
    Terri Apter (20th century)