“S.O.S. signals were sent up from the GREEN LINE, but they all failed to burst.”
No. 11, under Lieutenant Lonsdale, got held up by the belt of wire running down the left of Hill 35. This wire had hardly been touched, but they cut a way through after some time and managed to catch up the barrage.
“From SOMME FARM came a lot of machine gun fire, so we hung back a bit and waited for our left flank to come up; we trained our Lewis gun on to the farm to assist the people on our left. When they approached fairly close about a dozen of the enemy attempted to make off, but were either caught by our fire or gave themselves up. From the trenches running through D 13 central, the enemy began to retire. We opened fire on them and caused some casualties; some got away and seemed to have left their equipment and rifles. GALLIPOLI held out for some time, but we engaged it with the Lewis gun while the remainder worked round it. The garrison surrendered—about 25 in number. Men went in the rear side and reported strong machine gun emplacements. From KEIR FARM I saw about six men run without tunics, but a lot held out until we got round them; about 20 men gave themselves up from here. The point D 14 c 1 2 was searched and found to be a battery position—as far as I could make out, three guns. A Corporal and two men were told off to search for papers, documents, etc. I pressed on with the Platoon, and at a line in front and to the left of MARTHA HOUSE we came under point-blank artillery fire from near KANSAS CROSS, but did not stop our advance; it only seemed to be from one or two guns. At D 14 c 38 we found a battery position, two guns untouched but several damaged, and an Officer gave himself up with several men. We then pushed on to the GREEN LINE and got in touch with the people on our right and sent out patrols to the left, but could not get in touch. Some of the King’s Own then came up and were sent on to the left. Having pushed Lewis guns forward with patrols, we commenced to consolidate, and put in a good two and a half hours. At 2 30 p.m. the patrols reported a counter-attack on the right and left. We stood to and opened a heavy rifle and Lewis gun fire on them, sending up two S.O.S.’s, but neither of them worked.
“In the meantime three enemy aeroplanes flew over our lines, dropping flares and opening machine gun fire on us. The machine gun fire from the left began to account for a lot of our men. The enemy appeared in strength, being in open order. I counted six lines, and yet there were more following. The sections on our right began to retire across our rear, and the enemy was beginning to get well behind us. The left were also pressing, so we decided to retire from the left, covering the retirement with rifle and Lewis gun fire. We then took up a line running from Approx. D 20 a 89 to D 14 c 72 in shell holes. We formed a defensive flank of three Lewis guns along a small ridge to our right. The enemy pressed on, although we were accounting for a large number with our rifle fire and the enfilade Lewis gun fire on the right. The Lewis guns ran short of S.A.A. After we had made a stand for about an hour, the S.A.A. for the rifles ran short; we collected as much as we could from the dead and wounded, but it was only about ten rounds per man. The enemy again succeeded in working round our right, so we had to retire, fighting a rearguard action on to the old FREZENBERG LINE.”
No. 12 ran into two strong points, and in each case the garrison gave themselves up. Fifty prisoners came out of one. Both consisted of concrete dugouts, with trenches in front, and behind one of them there was a concrete gun emplacement. Sergeant Whiteside, the Platoon Commander, was wounded. “When the enemy counter-attacked on our right the Scots retired, and Lieutenant Hore sent some of our party to form a defensive line on the right flank. We held on for about three-quarters of an hour, and then we withdrew, dropping in shell holes and firing as we went back. They fired machine guns on us as we withdrew. A good number of our wounded were captured, but no unwounded prisoners, as far as I know.”
No. 13 got to the GREEN LINE and consolidated this, but got mixed up with other Platoons. “None of us know what happened to Sergeant Yates. We saw him just before the withdrawal, and he was then unwounded. Nobody saw him again.”
Second Lieutenant Easterby, Commanding No. 14, was wounded twice, the second time being just beyond the BLACK LINE. “Two snipers who caused trouble near GALLIPOLI were captured. The Platoon consolidated the GREEN LINE until 2 30 p.m., when the enemy counter-attacked on the right. The Scots on the right were seen to withdraw, and Second Lieutenant Fullerton, who had taken over command of the whole line, shouted to us to hang on. He himself established a defensive flank on our right, but was shortly afterwards killed.”
No. 15, after going 500 or 600 yards, ran into a strong point. “The barrage had knocked out a machine gun which had been playing on us, but rifle fire continued to come from this place. We went straight on, and when we neared the place they gave themselves up. There were about three dugouts—connected—and about 20 prisoners were taken.”
“On reaching our objective we dug in under machine gun fire from our left. About 1 15 p.m. we saw the smoke of an engine on the other side of the ridge. About half an hour after this the enemy appeared over the ridge, and advanced towards us. We opened on him with Lewis guns. He was covering his advance with machine guns on the left. The 6th CAMERONS were seen retiring, and took up a position in a strong point about 150 yards behind our trench. We hung on to our trench for 20 minutes or half an hour. Second Lieutenant Fullerton acted with great gallantry during this trying period. He persuaded the whole of our line to hang on—he was the only Officer left in the GREEN LINE—and it was a great loss when he was killed, just before we withdrew.”
Only seven of this Platoon survived.