‘BETRAYAL’ BY THE POWS

THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE WAS NEARLY LOST WHEN BRITISH PLANS WERE REVEALED TO THE ENEMY

Despite the secrecy of the British preparations, the Germans did receive one vital warning of the impending attack, and evidence suggests their response to that alert may have significantly affected the outcome of the battle.

On 18 November a trench raid led by Leutnant Bernhard Hegermann captured six men from First Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers. Under interrogation, they revealed that an attack was planned early on the 20 November and described what they had seen of the preparations – including artillery reinforcements, the presence of tanks and the arrival of the crack 51st (Highland) Division.

Believing it would be no more than a limited operation against the Flesquières Ridge, the Germans rushed reinforcements into the area just before the attack, including three battalions of troops who had been in reserve and field-gun batteries that were returning from the Eastern Front.

This amounted to an effective doubling of the manpower available there, and German sources indicate that the reinforcements played a decisive role in delaying the Highlanders’ advance across the ridge. The hold-up at Flesquières was regarded as a key factor in the failure to take Bourlon on the first day, with fatal consequences for the entire operation.

The discovery of the original interrogation report in German archives – as described in Deborah and the War of the Tanks (Pen & Sword, 2016) – has revealed one reason why the prisoners gave away so much information. Two of them were Irish Catholics disillusioned by the political situation in the wake of the Easter Rising, who told the Germans that, “a great animosity prevails towards England, with no interest whatsoever in her war aims.”

The German report added, “The Irishmen among the prisoners are thoroughly war-weary and speak badly of the English. They say if an uprising takes place in Ireland, they would take up arms against England without more ado.”

All the prisoners survived the war. There is no evidence of official action being taken against any of them on their return home.