page_title: First Battle of Dernancourt
section_title: Battle
hierarchical_section_title: First Battle of Dernancourt / Battle
caption_attribution_description: English: The sunken road beyond Marrett Wood in which on 28 March 1918 the 37th Battalion found the post of the Lancashire Fusiliers.
context_page_description: The First Battle of Dernancourt was fought on 28 March 1918 near Dernancourt in northern France during World War I. It involved a force of the German 2nd Army attacking elements of the VII Corps, which included British and Australian troops, and resulted in a complete defeat of the German assault.
  The Australian 3rd and 4th Divisions had been sent south from Belgium to help stem the tide of the German Spring Offensive towards Amiens and, with the British 35th Division, they held a line west and north of the Ancre river and the area between the Ancre and Somme, forming the southern flank of the Third Army. Much of the VII Corps front line consisted of a series of posts strung out along a railway embankment between Albert and Buire-sur-l'Ancre. The main German assault force was the 50th Reserve Division of the XXIII Reserve Corps, which concentrated its assault on the line between Albert and Dernancourt, attacking off the line of march after a short artillery preparation. Supporting attacks were to be launched by the 13th Division further west.
context_section_description: During the night of 27/28 March, patrols of the 47th Battalion had observed German troops on the Albert–Dernancourt road, on the open flats just 250–300 yd (230–270 m) across the railway line, but the night passed without obvious signs of attack. Early in the morning, the German artillery fell heavily on the support lines and rear area, but initially was very light along the railway line. In the thick mist of early dawn, the commander of a small post of the 47th Battalion, stationed behind the embankment immediately north of the level crossing, heard the sound of bayonet scabbards flapping on the thighs of marching troops. Sergeant Stanley McDougall woke his comrades and they ran to alert nearby elements of the battalion. McDougall, running along the top of the embankment, saw German troops of II Battalion, 229 RIR (II/229 RIR) advancing along the whole front through the mist. Returning with a handful of men, he planned to deploy them behind the unmanned bank to the south. By this time, Germans were throwing hand grenades over the embankment, and one exploded near a Lewis machine gun team in front of McDougall, badly wounding the two-man crew. McDougall, who had previously been a Lewis gunner, grabbed the gun and began to fire it from the hip as he went. First, he shot down two German light machine gun teams as they tried to cross the rails, then, running along the enemy edge of the embankment, saw about 20 Germans waiting for the signal to assault. He turned the gun on them, and as they ran, followed them with its fire. By this time, several of his comrades had been killed or wounded.
  Other members of the 47th Battalion had garrisoned the northern end of the previously unoccupied bank, but the southern half remained open. A group of about 50 Germans of the 6th Company of II/229 RIR, advancing earlier than planned, had overrun the Lewis gun team covering the level crossing, and began advancing southwards behind the embankment to the rear of the right forward company of the battalion. Seeing their movement, McDougall and others opened fire on them. The barrel casing of McDougall's Lewis gun had grown so hot that his left hand became blistered, but he continued to fire it with the help of another sergeant. Of the party of Germans who had penetrated about 150 yd (140 m) beyond the railway line, two officers and 20 men had already been killed. Australian troops converged on the remaining Germans, and they quickly surrendered. A total of one officer and 29 men were captured. For his actions that morning, McDougall was later awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award that could be received by an Australian soldier for gallantry in the face of the enemy.
  By this time, the rest of the front line between Albert to beyond Dernancourt was also being heavily attacked. In the north, forward troops of the 48th Battalion were firing almost continuously from the railway line. Attacked by elements of III Battalion, 229 RIR (III/229 RIR) supported by minenwerfers firing from a copse south of Albert, the 48th Battalion easily beat off every German assault. This was despite being caught in enfilade by a machine gun sited on the bridge where the Albert–Amiens road crossed the railway line. Leane directed artillery onto the wood south of Albert from which the minenwerfers were firing. This was the same wood upon which the S.O.S. line of the 10th AFA Brigade had been laid. Just as the Germans were assembling for a renewed assault, a stray British shell exploded a munitions dump, scattering panicked troops of II/229 RIR, many of whom were then shot down by the Australians. The 48th lost only three officers and 59 men during the day's fighting. Wary of sending reinforcements from his support line down the exposed slope to the railway line, Leane sent only four men with two Lewis guns forward during the daylight hours. During the day, the right of the 48th was steadily extended to allow the 47th Battalion to move right in turn.
  The 47th Battalion's sector was also being heavily attacked by II/229 RIR, and apart from the initial penetration by 
caption: The sunken road beyond Marrett Wood in which the 37th Battalion found the post of the Lancashire Fusiliers
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