8 replies to this topic

[JesseM88]

I'm just wondering if anyone has any detailed info or pictures of what the German positions at the 'Blue Line' would have been like during the 1917 campaign?

My Great-Grandfather was mortally wounded in the fighting around the rail-cutting, either just before or just after his Battalion (8th Black Watch) took their objectives on the Blue Line. Details are hard to find, I have Battalion and Brigade diaries that are painfully vague, like for example (not exact words) "Report to the effect Black Watch encountered MINENWERFER, report later found to be incorrect"  kind of left me thinking, 'what?' Books I've read also don't mention a whole lot, but I'm assuming the nature of the defences just past a rail-cutting would have been very good for the defenders.

Specifically I'm looking at the battlefront of the 26th Brigade, 9th Division. Thank you for any help.

[Tom A McCluskey]

Jesse,

Instead of attacking key terrain or vital ground, objectives were generally linear and represented by drawn lines on a map. These were marked with different coloured pencils, hence the ‘blue line’, ‘black line’, ‘brown line’, etc. Each stage of an attack, leading to a final objective, would be marked on the map and referred to as such.

Please find attached a map of the Blue Line with the railway cutting just to the left of it.

The village on the right of the map is Athies - east of Arras.

I hope this is of use.

Aye,

Tom McC

[The attached picture is subject to Crown Copyright]

Attached Images

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[JesseM88]

Thanks for the map, Tom. Unfortunately it is already something in my possession.

I will admit I did a bad job posing my query in this thread I started. I guess a better thread title or question would have been asking for info or pictures regarding German positions along the Arras-Lens railway cutting which composed the Blue Line. There are some pictures I've seen, and battle accounts give some idea of what it was like, but I suppose my endless desire for more knowledge caused me to ask the forum about it.

I know the exact path of the 8th BW, as well as the exact area they were in when my GGF got wounded. Based on all the evidence I have, I've determined it was most likely in the very early stages of their consolidation of the lines after they defeated the Germans who gave them a stiff fight in taking the rail line/Blue Line. I just wanted to get a better sense of what the positions were like in 1917.

[J Banning]

Have you seen the account in the IWM Dept of Docs by Major JV Bates MC? Major Johnathan Bates was the Medical Officer to the 8th Black Watch and is letters to his fiancée are very good plus he also wrote a 4 page description of the initial stages of the Battle of Arras.
All best,
Jeremy

[JesseM88]

J Banning, no I have not, but it sounds extremely interesting.

How might I be able to view those documents?

[J Banning]

Send me a PM with your email address.

[JesseM88]

Does anyone have any experience with this book:

http://www.amazon.co...ermans at arras

And would it be of any use to me? Seems like it could offer some insight but I'm very undecided on purchasing it at the moment.

[Jim Smithson]

Some good photos but it will not give you much on the topic you raise here.  It is much cheaper in the UK at the moment through http://www.naval-military-press.com/ but the postage to you might be prohibitive.

Jim

[JesseM88]

Thanks Jim, I will hold off at the moment. But I did just purchase a copy of Kitchener's Army by Peter Simkins. My GGF was promoted to Sergeant while the New Armies were being formed and trained in 1915 so I figured it could help shed some light on that aspect of his career for me.