There was also a Trench Mortar detachment with two guns of the old “Archibald” type, under the command of Lieutenant Smith.
A working party of two platoons from the 1/4th Royal Lancaster Regiment was detailed to accompany one Section of the 2/2nd Highland Field Company R.E.
The attack by the Brigade was towards the houses on the road behind the German salient. At these houses a junction would be effected, if the attack was successful, with the 7th Division. The two attacks converged on this point. We were to obtain flanking fire from the rifles and machine guns of the 152nd Brigade in the trenches to our left. They in turn were to advance on the flank when we had consolidated our position.
The whole attack was timed for 6 p.m. on the 15th June, and was to be preceded by a 48 hours’ bombardment.
These, in brief, were the operation orders. We had been warned to show no signs of activity during this preliminary bombardment, which began about dawn, and was devoted chiefly to cutting the enemy’s barbed wire. Field guns bombarded this, whilst the heavier guns played on the enemy’s trenches, and the heaviest on the houses behind. The bombardment was not confined to our front, but extended all along the ridge to the south towards VIOLAINES. This village lay over the ridge, and only the church spire could be seen.
From the support trench, the view was of the usual kind, a flat Flanders plain, with ditches bordered by rows of pollard willows, and wrecked farmhouses with a few scattered trees. The plain very gradually rose to a sky-line, the Aubers ridge being especially marked on the right. The British bombardment was persistent and, from what we could see, effective, whereas the Germans only replied sporadically with some sharp bursts of shrapnel and some high explosive shell on the communication trenches, from which B and C Companies lost a few men. The bombardment continued all along the front, on both sides of us, all night with only two slight stoppages.
In reply to an enquiry from the artillery as to the amount of damage done to the wire by the artillery fire in our line of advance, Major Nickson replied that most of the wire had been destroyed. This was at 11 a.m. on the 15th June, 1915, and shrapnel was still bursting over it. Captain Norman reported to the same effect, and said that all stakes were gone, and such strips of wire as remained did not appear to be an obstacle to an advance. He added that the wire opposite the enemy’s main trench could not be observed clearly from our fire trench.
TUESDAY, 15th June, 1915.
The British bombardment continued as on the previous day, with the Germans still only occasionally replying. Very heavy artillery (9.2) was brought to bear upon the houses on the road to our immediate left front, some being set on fire. It was particularly interesting to watch this shelling, and to note the regularity and precision with which it was shifted from house to house. The wire and the German sap and the fire trenches were also kept under continual fire. An advanced mountain battery played on the enemy’s parapets.
B Company was withdrawn to the support trench to the right of D Company, whilst C Company moved to the right of the fire trench, making room for the charging company of the 1/6th Cameronians on their left. A Company was still in reserve.