The 41st Division was in the centre of the XV Corps line of attack, aiming itself at the village of Flers.

Map of the area of 41 Division D17 goes up Flers High Street

41 Division was to attack with two brigades, the 122nd and 124th, with the 123rd in reserve, 10 tanks were allocated to the division and these would be split into four groups, one of which had only one tank.  The tanks were to start on the west side of Delville Wood, go through and round Flers and then head towards Gueudecourt in 14th Division area. Although they only moved a little over a mile on the night of the 14th from their assembly area to the start point, it took nearly 9 hours. Painfully slow going.

The solitary tank (D6) out of the ten was commanded by 2/Lt Legge, he was to be the lead tank from the Start Point as they moved out along the Flers Road to the Green Line.  He would then turn east a short way, pick up Gate Lane and head for its intersection with the Ginchy Road. It must have been a scary situation for Legge, he was leading the assault on Flers at this point.  He reached the junction with the Ginchy road and then turned west, heading up the east side of Flers at around 9.30am and here he was able to assist the advancing infantry by attacking the German machine guns in the area.  From this position on the east side of the village he headed for the Blue Line on the Bulls Road which had a number of German guns along its length.  By now Legge was on his own, in front of the infantry and with a number of German batteries in the area, some of which he is believed to have engaged. He continued north until his tank was hit a little way north of Pilgrims Way (north of the map shown below).  The tank was hit, set on fire and Legge was killed.

All the tanks moved further north than the northern edge of this map.  The blue lines indicate the lines of advance of the tanks.

As with tanks in the other divisional areas, the number allocated was not the same as the number that started. Of the ten tanks allocated to 41 Division three did not start and two others were very early casualties, leaving only five of the ten to go forward. Because of the attrition rate so early in the attack the orders to the remaining tanks were altered.  Legge, as mentioned above, was now to be moving on his own up the east side of the village, Lt. Hastie would go through the centre of Flers in D17 while Lts Bagshaw, Arnold and Bond would go up the west side of the village. Bagshaw’s tank was knocked out before crossing the Green Line leaving Arnold and Bond in D16 & D18 to go forward. They reached the Green Line at around 7am. The ten tanks were now down to four.

Lt. Hastie was following Legge up the Flers road but when Legge turned east on Switch Trench, Hastie had to go forward to Flers alone instead of with two other tanks who had not made it. At around 8.20 the tanks of Arnold and Bond on the west of the village and Hastie on the Flers road, were performing exactly the job they were designed for; breaking down and trampling the German wire that was holding up the infantry, while they were mown down by machine-guns. With the wire now broken the infantry were able to follow the tanks through the gaps in the wire and into the village.

Hastie in D17 (named Dinnaken) then proceeded up the high street of Flers, firing at targets of opportunity and watched by an aircraft of the RFC overhead. The message taken down by the observer and dropped over the British lines was later reported in the newspapers as; “A tank is walking up the High Street of Flers with the British Army cheering behind.”  As mentioned in the War Diary of the Hampshires “It was during this period that one of the Armoured Cars did most useful work smashing in the enemy’s strong points and without doubt demoralizing them. It also gave the men great confidence.” At around 10.10 Hastie is believed to have reached the square at the north end of the village, where he then turned round and went back.  Although the infantry were in the village he could not see them.  By now he was having problems with the engine of the tank which eventually gave out on him a little south of Tea Support trench.  Hastie was awarded the Military Cross for his action in Flers.

On the west side of Flers the tanks of Arnold and Bond had continued their move forward and were on the north-west edge of the village at about 9.15am.  Although under observation from a couple of German balloons there was enough of a lull for Arnold’s crew to brew up, have breakfast and refuel their tank.  As the day wore on Arnold and Bond returned to their lines, getting there late afternoon. In the village itself there was some confusion, those troops who had made it that far had lost most of their officers and the village was coming under heavy German bombardment.  Some troops made it a little north of the Blue Line on the north side of the village but others had pulled back to the Flers Trench on the south of the village as they expected the Germans to counter-attack.

Flers showed up the lack of co-ordination and communication between infantry and tanks advancing together as well as the mechanical unreliability of the new weapon.  Also communication between Divisional, Brigade and Battalion headquarters was not good.  Brigade commanders were a long way back and had to be told to go forward by the Divisional commander.  Those troops that made the northern edge of the village were not being reinforced, some had fallen back and others tried to go on to the fourth objective. Although Flers had been taken the casualties, especially among the officers, were dreadful, it was taken and held at great cost.