Second Lieutenant W. Young and three Other Ranks to Field Ambulance sick.
29th July. X day in connection with forthcoming operations. Preparations made for moving into concentration area. At 9 p.m. the Battalion (less party of 100 Other Ranks and seven Officers who were being left out of the attack) marched off from camp by Platoons at 300 yards’ distance. There was comparatively little shelling, and the concentration area was reached (H 10 c) without casualties. It consisted of camouflaged trenches and bivouac sheets erected under hedges. Battalion Headquarters was established in a ruined farm with a siege battery of R.G.A. at 2 30 a.m. The Battalion was fitted out with rations for Y, Z, and Z plus 1 days, bombs, wirecutters, aeroplane flares, S.O.S. signals, sandbags, etc.
VLAMERTINGHE.
30th July. Y day. Strict orders had been issued with regard to restricting movement, so as to preclude the possibility of the concentration being made known to the enemy. As a matter of fact, it was a very dull day, and visibility was never even fair. During the late afternoon, the Brigadier and Divisional Commander visited the Battalion and wished us good luck. At 9 25 p.m., in drizzling rain, the first Platoon moved off towards the trenches, followed by the remaining Platoons at intervals of 200 yards. The mopping-up parties (three in number) provided for our Battalion by 1/4th Royal Lancaster Regiment moved with us into such positions as to arrive in their correct position of assembly.
30th July. The route taken was the main VLAMERTINGHE—YPRES road to the WATER TOWER I 7 c 85 95, thence by tramline to where it joined No. 5 track, running parallel and in between the YPRES—POTIJZE road and YPRES—ST. JEAN road, joining CONGREVE WALK, our assembly trench, at about I 4 a 45 90. On arrival here, Battalion Headquarters was established in the mined dugout at the VINERY I 4 a 65 80. CONGREVE WALK was reached without a casualty, not a shell being fired during the whole time the Battalion was on the roads and tracks. Our artillery was very active, raining gas shells on the enemy continuously for four hours from about 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. At one time—about 11 30 p.m.—the enemy sent a few mustard-gas shells, in the vicinity of CONGREVE WALK, causing momentary sneezing and a temporary cessation of the work of drawing tools. After tools had been drawn there was nothing further to do except have hot tea—two cookers being concealed near ST. JEAN with this end in view.
Two Other Ranks wounded.
31st July. Z day. At ZERO hour (3 50 a.m.) the 55th Division assaulted, taking part in a general attack of the 5th Army, part of the 2nd Army, and the 1st French Army.
At ZERO the 165th and 166th Infantry Brigades attacked and captured the Blue Line. The artillery barrage commenced at ZERO. It did not provoke any reply in the neighbourhood of CONGREVE WALK until about 4 15 a.m., when a few 4.2’s and 5.9’s fell in the trench and caused a few casualties. From 4 30 a.m. onwards, German prisoners came past in continuous streams, in many cases being utilised to carry down our wounded. From the Blue Line the 165th and 166th Brigades moved on to the Black Line; the artillery provided a protective barrage to cover consolidation. At ZERO plus 4 hours 40 minutes, the 164th Infantry Brigade moved off in artillery formation from CONGREVE WALK, 1/4th Loyal North Lancashires on the right, with 1/4th Royal Lancaster Regiment in support and 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers on the left with 1/8th (Irish) Liverpools in support.
Second Lieutenant Ashcroft (Signalling Officer) was killed by a nosecap as we started off, otherwise everything went off satisfactorily. The enemy were dropping shells, both high-explosive and shrapnel, promiscuously between CONGREVE WALK and our original front line, but there was no difficulty in eluding the areas to which attention was being paid. It was a dull misty morning, and so there were neither aeroplanes nor balloons in the air to detect the advancing troops. As we passed over NO MAN’S LAND, Companies were well shaken out into their various squares and the direction was being well kept. The enemy wire in front of his first line system was practically non-existent and provided no obstacle. The trenches appeared very badly smashed in and in places obliterated, though here and there appeared small concrete dugouts apparently still intact.
The advance continued to go well, and the Platoon Commanders with the help of their compasses maintained their direction. The enemy were apparently pre-occupied finding out exactly where their own infantry were and also in moving back some of their guns. Consequently, we were very little troubled by shells, but machine gun fire caused us considerable annoyance. It was mostly coming apparently from our right flank, perhaps from some strong point which had not been sufficiently mopped-up. However, although bullets were flying everywhere, the range had not been correctly estimated, and so we suffered very few casualties in this way before reaching the Black Line.