IR 169: Blog 16, 9 April 2020: The May 1918 Aisne Offensive; A Bloody Conclusion in the Naverre Woods (Part V).
Blog 16 Introduction: Greetings forum members. This blog marks the fifth and final article in this series on Infantry Regiment 169’s journey in the German’s late May 1918 Operation Bluecher Offensive. As last left in Blog 15, Leutnant Otto Lais, the executive officer of IR 169’s 2nd Machine Gun Company (2 MGC), was given the hopeless tasking of finding the missing German division that should have been on Corps von Schmettow. The only troops he encountered were French machine gunners. While IR 169 had finally reached the Marne River, the odds were stacked against its very survival.
The Naverre Woods
IR 169’s journey in the Blucher-Yorekoffensive came to climatic, crashing conclusion in the Battle of the Naverre Woods, a forest between the villages of Verneuil and Vandiers, barely one mile north of the Marne River.
The Germans had only the vaguest understanding of French formations on the north bank of the Marne. What was certain was gap that existed on the left flank, left vacant by the long overdue forces that were to link up with the 52nd Division. To force this connection, IR 169 was ordered to attack to the east in the direction of Vandiers. The regiment’s immediate task was to clear the Naverre Woods, a densely wooded forest about a mile in circumference. Speed was essential, leaving no time for reconnaissance. Artillery ammunition stocks were so low that no shells could be wasted on unobserved targets. There were no opportunities to employ storm troop and Feurwaltz tactics. This attack would be made blind and with no artillery support.
The odds facing the attack was much worse than the German commanders could have understood. Well-camouflaged enemy machine gun nests already filled the woods. French trucks unloaded fresh infantry battalions near the Trotte woods, only another mile northeast of the Naverre Woods. These forces were poised to make a powerful counterattack at any moment.
IR 169, led by 2nd Battalion, made a straight on attack in two columns, one coming from the south after being repulsed from the now destroyed Marne bridge at Verneuil, and the other from the north through Pareuil. To give perspective to the German losses, the average strength of IR 169’s 12 line companies at the start of the 27 May offensives are estimated at approximately 150 men. These baseline numbers should be considered as Lais’ detailed the severe casualties of this June 1 attack:
‘With terrible losses, the 169th Regiment threw the French back to the eastern edge of the woods. Tree by tree, hedge by hedge, each had to be conquered. A few hours later the 2nd Battalion’s 5th Company, complete with officers and almost to the last man, was wiped out. The battalion’s other companies counted losses of 20 to 25 dead, leaving only 8, 12, and 15 men unwounded.
Wounded soldiers came out of the woods in rows. Many had been hit by machine gun fire, often two or three times. Lieutenant d.R. Leibold, a veteran machine gunner, emerged from the woods wounded. A company horse was quickly brought up and he was taken to the rear. Lieutenant d.R. Schulze, another experienced warrior, died with a shot to the head, along with his two messengers.
Other companies swarmed in. The French snipers were shot down from the beech trees. Close-in fighting raged in the bushes, and the newly arrived companies, with superhuman effort, threw the opponents back through the whole woods onto the eastern edge, and onto the vineyard slope of Vandieres. The French, with many times superior numbers, made four separate counterattacks. A mighty wrestling match started up.
Wherever you looked, the horizon was filled with French sky-blue uniforms. They sprang up from the vineyards. No lines, no waves. There were masses of them, thick, wide rows! The reaper of death raged among them. Our exhausted companies were even more decimated and had to give up a part of the territory of the conquered woods. They dug in in the middle of the woods in a forest glade and there they waited for the enemy. The enemy, in the meantime had suffered such losses that their spirit for attacking was gone.
The woods of Navarre and Pareuil became a large graveyard for the 169th regiment.’
French artillery and air supremacy made the situation hopeless. Artillery barrages badly damaged the regiment’s baggage trains in Villers-Agron. The firing forced other German wagons and artillery reserves further to the rear, reducing their capabilities to support the infantry when they were needed most. Reconnaissance capabilities were crippled when French aircraft shot down an observation balloon.
The German machine guns and anti-aircraft weapons took measures to repel both the enemy air and ground assaults. In the midst of this madness, Lais told of his experience on his brief detached service with an AA battery.
‘I was again deployed with an antiaircraft battery near Varneuil, to fight against low flying planes that were attacking our infantry there. We traveled at a gallop over the badly shot up streets, in the direction of Verneuil, and stopped on the northern edge of the town. We brought down two planes in the first minutes with our antiaircraft guns. The first one crashed, burning, into the Marne, and the second hit the roofs of Verneuil. A third pane was forced to make an emergency landing on the other side of the Marne, close to the river bank. The rest departed hastily.
The MG section and the AA battery proceeded to Bunot Ferme and from there shot across river, with a distance of 1500 to 1800 meters into the thick rows of French infantry who were climbing down from Tryhohe and Boucquignyberg. It swarmed with troops over there. The direct fire of the two AA guns, and the two machine guns with telescopic sites hit with destructive effect. Then we went back at a gallop pace on the defile between Passy and Pareuil.’
The regiment held its tenuous grip in Naverre Woods throughout June 2, fending off seemingly endless counterattacks. The dead fell so thickly that they were stacked and used as ramparts. While the Germans were able keep their ground, it was clear the offensive was over.
End of the Offensive
In the night of 2 to 3 June IR 169 was relieved by IR 54 of the 50th Infantry Division. The regiment returned back towards the Aisne with a collection of prisoners. Lais recalled it being an evil night. Night-configured aircraft attacked the streets as shells from heavy artillery bombardments howled by.
Lais had a close call that night during a roadside break north of Villers-Argon. He was standing with a tight cluster of seven soldiers when a nearby shell exploded. After picking himself up, Lais realized he was the only one in the group uninjured. Later in night, the 2nd MG Company, with Lt Fahr commanding, assembled together. Lightly wounded men were placed on the MG wagons and those more seriously wounded were placed into passing motor-ambulances. The convoy was frequently bombed by aircraft as it continued north. The 50 mile march eventually took the battalion over the Chemin des Demes near the Hurtebise battlefield, through Laon and finally to Voyenne.
The regiment’s casualties were among the most severe it experienced in the war, with 38 officers (14 killed) and 952 men lost in seven days of fighting. Total French losses for the campaign were 98,000 casualties with the British losing 29,000. Estimated German losses were 130,000.
The regiment was allotted only two weeks to recover, rebuild and train in Voyenne. In mid-June, the 52nd Division was ordered north to return to Flanders. The division would be part of the general reserve in support the third major portion of the 1918 Spring Campaign, the Georgette Offensive, also referred to as the Fourth Battle of Ypres.
Map: This google map is taken from the map page of the www.ironregiment169.com website. The online version details prominent locations of IR 169’s entire wartime journey. The blue arrows depict IR 169’s 2nd Battalion’s ill-fated attack against superior French forces in the Naverre Woods on 1-2 June 1918. One of 2nd Battalion’s columns attacked from the east, after pulling back from the banks of the Marne. The other column struck directly south, from Pareuil. The red line marks the initial French defensive positions. In 1918, the woods were much more expansive than today, with modern vineyards now taking up much of the original wood line.
Upcoming Post: Next Thursday I will present a bio sketch of Otto Lais.
