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 Gurkhas At The Chapelle

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Title
 Gurkhas At The Chapelle
Description
As the battlefield around the village is flat country and the ground is cut by many small drainage ditches, the Germans were not able to dig trenches in this area, but constructed instead above ground breastworks. This defense was easily …
Publisher
Date
1915-03-10
Scenario#
21
Scenario Description
As the battlefield around the village is flat country and the ground is cut by many small drainage ditches, the Germans were not able to dig trenches in this area, but constructed instead above ground breastworks. This defense was easily weakened by the British preparatory artillery bombardment. At 8:05 am sharp the Garhwalis began their advance, the artillery lengthening their range so as to open up space for the men to move toward the German line. This combined with the concealment provided by the ditches next to their take off point, allowed the German line, according to the Garhwalis' CO to be “nearly reached before the enemy was fully aware of the fact and could open as hot a fire as he might have done”. The unit”s war diary entry then recounts that "bombing and bayonet parties worked down the main [German] fire trench' as well as communication trenehes, reporting that “several casualties occurred here” but that the “line pressed on and reached their objective”.
Location
Neuve-Chapelle, France
Battle Narrative
The Battle of Neuve Chapelle (10–13 March 1915) took place in the First World War in the Artois region of France. The attack was intended to cause a rupture in the German lines, which would then be exploited with a rush to the Aubers Ridge and possibly Lille. A French assault at Vimy Ridge on the Artois plateau was also planned to threaten the road, rail and canal junctions at La Bassée from the south as the British attacked from the north. The British attackers broke through German defences in a salient at the village of Neuve-Chapelle but the success could not be exploited. If the French Tenth Army captured Vimy Ridge and the north end of the Artois plateau, from Lens to La Bassée, as the First Army took Aubers Ridge from La Bassée to Lille, a further advance of 10–15 mi (16–24 km) would cut the roads and railways used by the Germans, to supply the troops in the Noyon Salient from Arras south to Rheims. The French part of the offensive was cancelled when the British were unable to relieve the French IX Corps north of Ypres, which had been intended to move south for the attack and the Tenth Army contribution was reduced to support from its heavy artillery.
Narrative Source
Combatants
German
British

Geolocation