Note 116 — Chapter XIII · THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE IN FLANDERS April 1918
Reading edition
“Farther north a heavy attack launched by the enemy this morning against our lines in the neighbourhood of Wytschaete and Hollebeke (the Messines Ridge) was completely repulsed by the Ninth Division with great loss to the enemy.”
(Extract from the official Communiqué of the 11th April.)
Before this appeared the Corps Commander informed the G.O.C. that Sir Douglas Haig and Marshal Foch fully appreciated the valuable work performed by the Division. This was communicated to units in the following message:—
“The Corps Commander wishes it to be known that the Commander-in-Chief, in course of conversation with him, said that it was mainly due to the stubborn resistance of the Ninth Division that the Army was now in a position to hold on to the present line. If the Ninth Division had not held on there would have been no alternative but to retire a long way back. He also stated that General Foch fully appreciated what had been done by the Ninth Division.”—No. A. 9837/12, 17/4/18.