CHAPTER XX
THE FALL OF THE VON DER GOLZ REDOUBT
ON clearing the other end of the captured village of Néancourt Ralphwas able to form a fairly comprehensive idea of the present state ofoperations.
The Von der Golz Redoubt, one of the strongest positions in theboasted Wotan Line, was still held by the Huns. The British guns werethundering furiously against it. The marvel was that the men couldstand such a gruelling, but the Huns did, keeping to the shelter oftheir deep dug-outs and manning the defences the moment the guns"lifted." Hundreds of Prussians must at that moment be entombed inthose dug-outs, of which the entrances had caved in under theterrific power of the H.E. shells, yet hundreds more were availableto hold the redoubt "at all costs."
During the lull between the cessation of the bombardment and thenumerous but hitherto fruitless infantry assaults British airmen hadflown over the redoubt, bombing the defences and even employingmachine-gun fire against the tenacious grey-coats. The airmen were inturn attacked by Hun machines, and during the progress of thefighting on land combats in the "vasty air" were taking placeunheeded by the grimly contesting troops in and around the Von derGolz Redoubt.
Deftly picking her way betwixt the scores--nay, hundreds--of bodiesof dead and wounded that littered the ground, Setley's Tankapproached the closely grouped Tommies who, hugging the earth toavoid the ubiquitous machine-guns, were awaiting the order toadvance.
Of the other Tanks the tops of three could be discerned showing abovea rise in the terrain. Two more had just advanced against theformidable defences, and both had failed gloriously.
"The guns are lifting, sir," reported Sergeant Alderhame.
"Good business!" muttered Ralph. "I'm fed up with this inaction.Another ten minutes will decide whether we are booked or not."
Crunching her way over the shallow trenches held by the Britishstormers, the Tank floundered through the vast shell-craters that upto a few minutes before had been torn up by the British guns. Quiterecently there had been a system of trenches there--those deep,concrete-reinforced, scientifically constructed ones that had takenthe Huns months to perfect. Every trace of their earthworks had beenobliterated.
Beyond lay a triple line of barbed wire. By one of those freakishcircumstances the entanglements had escaped the devastating hail ofshells. A few posts had been shattered, some strands of wire cutthrough, but, generally, this defence work was as efficacious asever, as the crowd of bodies in khaki and field-grey that were "hungup" on the tenacious barbs testified.
A bomb dropped from a hostile machine fell within ten yards of theTank. In spite of her bulk and weight, the huge fabric trembled underthe concussion.
"Beastly mean trick!" thought Ralph. "That Hun airman knows that wecannot see him, and that we don't carry antis. Wonder what our fliersare doing to let him amuse himself in this manner?"
With a sickening crash a biplane came to earth, right in the path ofthe moving Tank. A glance at the twisted wreckage showed that theinfamous Black Cross was painted on the planes. Ralph had a smartanswer to his question. Our airmen had been busy up aloft.
Setley did not trouble to turn aside his command. Right over thedebris of the German biplane she waddled, crushing metal and woodinto an unrecognizable pulp, and then thrust her blunt nose into theouter line of barbed wire.
Like a rhinoceros tearing up jungle grass with its formidable hornsthe Tank set about to destroy the entanglements. Posts snapped offlike carrots, coils of wire suddenly released from tension quiveredin the air until borne down and buried deep in the earth by the broadtraction bands of the landship. The while machine-gun bullets rattledharmlessly against her armoured hide, bombs exploded on, against, andunderneath the terrible war-machine. The car of Juggernaut would cuta very poor show compared with this motor-propelled fortress.
Other Tanks were engaged in similar operations, keeping parallel tothe line of direction of the hostile trenches and methodicallyuprooting the entanglements in as many minutes as it had taken theGermans days to set up in position. Having completed this part of theprogramme the Tanks made for the sand-bagged parapet at the raisedend of the glacis, while simultaneously with this movement thewhistles went, and the British infantry rushed forward with anirresistible _élan_.
Their attention divided between the terrifying landships, that werecrunching over emplacements and trenches, and the glittering array ofbayonets, the German machine-gunners, unfortunately for them, did nottake into account a couple of British biplanes, Cleaving through thedense eddying clouds of smoke and recklessly disregarding thebursting shells the intrepid airmen descended to within a hundredfeet of the Von der Golz Redoubt and the adjacent trenches. A hail ofbullets from the airmen's Lewis guns--death-dealing hornets--caughtthe Huns unawares, creating havoc in the dense masses of grey-coatedinfantry.
Poison gas shells added to the horror of the desperate struggle.Aerial torpedoes, missiles from trench mortars, and the deadly shellsfrom the Stokes' guns, rained upon the enemy position. It was awonder that the Huns stood it as they did; yet, with their back tothe wall and unable to retreat or even to take shelter in their deepdug-outs, they fought with a courage that could only be described asfanatical.
Ploughing her way through the mazes of barbed wire Setley's Tank cameastride a deep trench that flanked one side of the redoubt to wherethe glacis terminated in what was a few hours before an elaboratelyconstructed covered way bristling with loopholes, each one of whichshowed the muzzle of a machine-gun. Now there was little left but acrumbling mound of earth and disrupted sand-bags, in whichhalf-buried Germans still maintained a furious but erraticrifle-fire.
Almost before he was aware of it Ralph found himself within the onceconsidered impregnable redoubt. There was practically nothing to markits position. It was only when he found himself confronted by alandship strongly resembling his own that he realized that he hadgained his objective, for the oncoming Tank was not, as he at firstimagined, one of German workmanship, but a British machine that hadentered the redoubt on the opposite side.
Narrower and narrower grew the encircling ring of khaki. With bomband bayonet the British infantry swept the flattened earthwork, untilthe surviving Huns, finding further resistance useless, threw downtheir arms and raised shouts of "Kamerad." Greatly to their surprisethey found that, contrary to the statements of their officers, theBritish Tommy is a generous victor. As if by magic the heat of combatgave place to a light-hearted, almost considerate, treatment of theremnant of the garrison of the redoubt, and it was by no means anuncommon sight to see a British soldier bind up the wounds he hadinflicted on a German only a few minutes previously.
The paucity of prisoners testified to the stubbornness of the enemyresistance. Quickly the captives were formed up and marched to theadvance cages--a task not without great peril, since the Germangunners, according to their customary indifference to their ill-fatedcomrades, were putting up a barrage behind the captured position.
With the clearing of the remnants of the garrison the victoriousTommies began to put the shell-tortured ground into a state ofdefence. They were now well astride the vaunted Hindenburg Line, andit was pretty certain that the Huns would make a strong anddetermined counter-attack in order to attempt to wrest the positionfrom the victors. The attack would be soon--before the British heavyguns could be moved forward, and already the railway corps wereplacing sections of rails in position to enable the twelve- andfourteen-inch monsters to be sent forward. Once they were in positionthe Von der Golz was lost for good and all to the Huns, and they knewit.
There was no rest for the Tanks that had escaped being placed _horsde combat_. Orders were given for the landships to push ahead andhold the counter-attacking force in check.
"Independent action, you know," remarked the commanding officer ofthe Landship Section. "So out you go, and the very best of luck."
Ralph knew what that meant. It was one of the most hazardousenterprises that a Tank could be called upon to perform. With aquickening of his pulses he g
ave the word for the motors to bestarted once more and steered his armoured mobile fortress in thedirection of the unknown territory that for the last two years ormore had been firmly held by the Huns.
"By Jove! Alderhame," he exclaimed, "we're on a big thing this time.Wouldn't miss it for worlds."
"Let's hope we won't," added Sergeant Alderhame grimly. "The presentworld is quite good enough for me for a long time to come, Bochesnotwithstanding."