| Front line— | D Company, under Lieutenant Shippobottom, in CAT POST. |
| C Company, under Lieutenant Lonsdale, in GILLEMONT FARM sector. | |
| Supports | B Company, under Captain Buckmaster, in DUNCAN and DOLEFUL POSTS. |
| Reserve | A Company, under Captain Houghton, in KEN LANE with Battalion Headquarters. |
Major Crump was in command of the Battalion, and attached to A Company was a raiding party of 19 in training for a raid, under Lieutenant Adamson. At 5 30 a.m. the Boche opened a hurricane bombardment on the GILLEMONT FARM sector with trench mortars, including 80 heavy minenwerfer brought up the night before, and reduced the front trench to a shapeless mass of craters: out of 12 posts[I] only Sergeants Hartley and Hogg and half-a-dozen men were left alive; all the rest, with the Officer (Lieutenant Firth) and Sergeant on duty, who were found at the head of the communication trench under two feet of earth, were killed and buried.
About 200 Huns entered our line in three places, equipped with spades and rations, and worked forward bombing, and things looked serious; but Lieutenant Lonsdale, though badly shaken, kept his head, organised his Headquarters details into a firing line who held up the enemy advance, and managed to telephone to Battalion Headquarters, and A Company was ordered to counter-attack.
The barrage which had been put down on KEN LANE was by this time falling off, and, as the men were standing to, Lieutenant Adamson was able to push off at once with his raiders and one Platoon of A, followed by the rest of A under Captain Houghton, with very few casualties. As soon as the enemy saw the first wave come over the hill he began to retreat rapidly, but not before the counter-attackers and the gallant remnant of C had bayonetted a score or so. Some of the Huns had entered D Company’s line and caused a few casualties there, among others Lieutenant Shippobottom, a very promising young Officer, who was caught by a bomb as he came out of Company Headquarters.
This affair was reported in “THE TIMES” as follows:—
9 30 p.m.—At dawn this morning a strong hostile raiding party attacked our trenches in the neighbourhood of GUILLEMONT FARM, south-east of Epehy [north-west of St. Quentin], and effected an entry at certain points. Our troops counter-attacked across the open, and after sharp fighting, in which we captured a few prisoners, ejected the enemy.
Lieutenant Adamson received the M.C. for his excellent leadership—the way he worked round the flanks of the hill was pretty to watch, and Sergeants Hartley and Hogg also received the M.M. for their stout fight with a few men against overwhelming odds.
It fell to A Company to clear up the mess, and they took over the sector that night; the men were dead beat, the front line blown to bits, and lateral communication interrupted to such an extent that four Officers were on duty simultaneously the whole night through.
The following day was spent in making further clearance, and special parties from Battalion Headquarters and Pioneers carried on through the night.
The raiders who went to CAT POST did not enter our trenches, but bombed them from the parapet, doing some damage and causing a few casualties. They then returned to their own lines.