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RSS FeedsGueudecourt Newfoundland Memorial
Just north east of Gueudecourt is the Gueudecourt (Newfoundland) Memorial. The bronze caribou stag erected by the Newfoundland Government is clearly visible from the Albert-Bapaume-Cambrai road and stands in a small battlefield park on a low rise. It marks the spot where, in October 1916, the Newfoundlanders played a decisive role in the capture of a German strong-point named Rainbow Trench, thus wiping out the sting of Beaumont-Hamel.
The Battle of Le Transloy, 1916
The village of Gueudecourt lies five kilometres directly south of Bapaume. Here, on October 12, 1916, the Newfoundland Regiment made its heroic assault during the Battle of Le Transloy, one of the major battles of the Somme. Arriving from the north where it had spent 10 weeks in the Ypres Salient, the 88th Brigade, in which the Newfoundland Regiment was serving, was temporarily attached to the British 12th Division, which was holding Gueudecourt. By nightfall on October 10, the Newfoundlanders were manning a 450-metre section of the firing line on the northern outskirts of the village. The attack went in at 2:05 in the afternoon of the 12th, all four Newfoundland companies advancing in line with the 1st Essex Battalion on their left. So closely did the men keep up to the curtain of their artillery barrage that several became casualties from the shrapnel of their own supporting guns. In the front German trenches the defenders, compelled by the shelling to remain under cover, were quickly engaged in hand-to-hand fighting. By 2:30 p.m. both assaulting battalions of the 88th Brigade had secured their initial objective—Hilt Trench in the German front line.
As the Newfoundlanders advanced to their final objective, some 750 metres from their starting line, heavy machine-gun fire coming from the front and the right flank forced them back to Hilt Trench. On their left, a sharp German counter-attack drove the Essex Battalion back to the outskirts of Gueudecourt, leaving the Newfoundlanders with an open flank. Newfoundland bombing parties cleared and secured the vacated portion of Hilt Trench and with the Battalion's line suddenly doubled in length, all ranks began digging in the hard chalk to construct a new firing step and parapet and generally reverse the former German position.
In the late afternoon the expected counter-attack developed, but determined fire from the Newfoundlanders' rifles and Lewis guns drove off the enemy with costly losses. The position was held against further assaults and during the night, the arrival of a relieving battalion of the 8th Brigade enabled the weary defenders to hand over their responsibilities and go into reserve.
During the 55 hours that had elapsed since they had entered the trenches on October 10, the Newfoundland Regiment had suffered 239 casualties—of whom 120 had been killed or would die of wounds. But the Regiment had been one of the few units on the whole of the Fourth Army's front to capture and retain an objective. "The success," wrote the Brigade Commander later, "was all the more gratifying as it was the only real success recorded on that day."
