Lieut. E. W. Davis was wounded on the 9th November.
Lieut.-Colonel R. M. Foot, D.S.O., A.A. and Q.M.G. of the Division, left us about this time on appointment to a corps. He had always been most helpful to the gunners, and we were very sorry to lose him. His place was taken, after an interval of a few weeks, by Lieut.-Colonel Harold Lea, D.S.O., with whom the Divisional Artillery always preserved the same happy relations.
The artillery concentration began on the night of the 12th/13th November, when the 310th and 312th Brigades arrived in the neighbourhood of Beaulencourt; they concentrated next day at Barastre, where their wagon lines were to be during the battle. In this advance to the battle area the most elaborate precautions were taken to keep the enemy's suspicions from being awakened. All troops marched by night, and remained hidden during the day time in the various big woods, which are dotted about in this part of the country. I well remember walking over to the Corps Headquarters at Villers au Flos on the evening of the 14th; it was a pitch dark night, and I found it almost impossible to make my way along the road, which was covered along its whole length by an unbroken column of heavy guns being drawn by caterpillars—the heavy artillery concentrating for the battle. And yet next morning that same road presented its usual empty and tranquil appearance to such hostile planes as might happen to fly overhead.
On the 18th, Divisional headquarters moved to Neuville. The 312th Brigade moved into their gun positions on the night of the 17th/18th, and all the rest of my command on the night of the 18th/19th, i.e. the 310th, 77th, 93rd, and 153rd Brigades.
Lieut.-Colonel Lough, commanding 312th Brigade, left on the 17th, invalided home, and his successor, Lieut.-Col. A. G. Eden, joined us on the 19th.
The night of the 19th was a very anxious one, and will long be remembered by all who took part in the battle. It was impossible to tell whether the enemy had any suspicions of what was in store for him; he might even know all about it, and this was the more possible, as he had made a raid two nights before the battle and had captured one or two of our men. There was a chance that he might have wormed some information out of them, for an uneducated man may often give away valuable information quite innocently, out of pure ignorance or indiscretion. If he did know, the enemy might have wrecked the attack before it began, by bombarding the long line of guns, which had the most definite orders on no account to fire a round till 6.20 a.m. when the attack was to be launched. As it happened, the Boche showed great uneasiness, and fired very heavily during the night, though fortunately not on any vital places. We listened to the firing in great suspense, and watched the flashes of the shell bursting apparently very near our line of guns; but we could get no information, for no telephones were allowed until the moment of attack, lest indiscreet things might be said, and tapped by the enemy's listening apparatus.
At 5.45 a.m. there was a particularly furious burst of firing, which died down at a few minutes past six, and was succeeded by a dead silence, during which one could fancy one heard the anxious beating of fifty thousand hearts. Did the Boche know; had he some infernal surprise for us? We stood in a little group outside the hut which served for our headquarters, and fixed our eyes on the long grey line of wood along the edge of which the guns lay waiting. The moment arrived. A tremendous thunder clap broke the silence; the whole sky grew red, and the air sighed with shell. The battle had begun according to our plans, and success was certain.
Preceded by the tanks, our infantry swept forward in an irresistible wave, and pressing close up behind the barrage, overcame all obstacles, capturing system after system of strongly fortified posts, and following the tanks through a jungle of barbed wire which the Boche might well have believed to be absolutely impenetrable. By about noon they had taken all their objectives. Havrincourt, Graincourt, Anneux, and the Cambrai road, from the factory north-west of Graincourt to the canal, were in our hands, together with several hundreds of prisoners, a 4.2-inch howitzer battery, and many machine guns and mortars. The Division had made the record advance of the war, 7000 yards in one day. The following message was received in the evening:
"Army Commander sends special congratulations to all ranks of the 62nd Division on their very fine achievements to-day."