New York Times Current History: The European War, Vol 2, No. 2, May, 1915 | Page 4

trenches in its front. The Garhwal
Brigade and the Twenty-fifth Brigade carried the enemy's lines of
intrenchment, where the wire entanglements had been almost entirely
swept away by our shrapnel fire.

The Twenty-third Brigade, however, on the northeast, was held up by
wire entanglements which were not sufficiently cut. At 8:05 o'clock the
artillery was turned on Neuve Chapelle, and at 8:35 o'clock the advance
of the infantry was continued. The Twenty-fifth and the Garhwal
Brigades pushed on eastward and northeastward, respectively, and
succeeded in getting a foothold in the village. The Twenty-third
Brigade was still held up in front of the enemy's wire entanglements,
and could not progress. Heavy losses were suffered, especially in the
Middlesex Regiment and the Scottish Rifles.
The progress, however, of the Twenty-fifth Brigade into Neuve
Chapelle immediately to the south of the Twenty-third Brigade had the
effect of turning the southern flank of the enemy's defenses in front of
the Twenty-third Brigade. This fact, combined with powerful artillery
support, enabled the Twenty-third Brigade to get forward between 10
and 11 A.M., and by 11 o'clock the whole of the village of Neuve
Chapelle and the roads leading northward and southwestward from the
eastern end of that village were in our hands.
During this time our artillery completely cut off the village and
surrounding country from any German reinforcements which could be
thrown into the fight to restore the situation, by means of a curtain of
shrapnel fire. Prisoners subsequently reported that all attempts at
reinforcing the front line were checked. Steps were at once taken to
consolidate the positions won.
Considerable delay occurred after the capture of the Neuve Chapelle
position. The infantry was greatly disorganized by the violent nature of
the attack and by its passage through the enemy's trenches and the
buildings of the village. It was necessary to get the units to some extent
together before pushing on. The telephonic communication being cut
by the enemy's fire rendered communication between the front and the
rear most difficult. The fact of the left of the Twenty-third Brigade
having been held up had kept back the Eighth Division and had
involved a portion of the Twenty-fifth Brigade in fighting to the north,
out of its proper direction of advance. All this required adjustment. An
orchard held by the enemy north of Neuve Chapelle also threatened the
flank of an advance toward the Aubers Bridge.
I am of the opinion that this delay would not have occurred had the
clearly expressed order of the general officer commanding the First

Army been carefully observed.
The difficulties above enumerated might have been overcome earlier in
the day if the general officer commanding the Fourth Corps had been
able to bring his reserve brigades more speedily into action. As it was,
a further advance did not commence before 3:30 o'clock. The
Twenty-first Brigade was able to form up in the open on the left
without a shot being fired at it, thus showing that, at the time, the
enemy's resistance had been paralyzed.
The brigade pushed forward in the direction of Moulin-du-Pietre. At
first it made good progress, but was subsequently held up by machine
gun fire from houses and from a defended work in the line of the
German intrenchments opposite the right of the Twenty-second
Brigade.
Further to the south the Twenty-fourth Brigade, which had been
directed on Pietre, was similarly held up by machine guns in houses
and trenches. At the road junction, 600 yards to the northwest of Pietre,
the Twenty-fifth Brigade, on the right of the Twenty-fourth, was also
held up by machine guns from a bridge held by the Germans over the
River Les Layes, which is situated to the northwest of the Bois du Biez.
While two brigades of the Meerut Division were establishing
themselves on a new line the Dehra Dun Brigade, supported by the
Jullunder Brigade of the Lahore Division, moved to the attack of the
Bois du Biez, but were held up on the line of the River Les Layes by a
German post at the bridge, which enfiladed them and brought them to a
standstill.
The defended bridge over the Les Layes and its neighborhood
immediately assumed considerable importance. While the artillery fire
was brought to bear, as far as circumstances would permit, on this point,
General Sir Douglas Haig directed the First Corps to dispatch one or
more battalions of the First Brigade in support of the troops attacking
the bridge. Three battalions were thus sent to Richebourg St. Vaast.
Darkness coming on and the enemy having brought up reinforcements,
no further progress could be made, and the Indian Corps and the Fourth
Corps proceeded to consolidate the position they had gained.
While the operations, which I have thus briefly reported, were going on,
the First Corps,