The situation was most critical, as the gap on our right flank still lay open to the enemy who kept pressing up into it and actually got up to the outskirts of Hebuterne in the afternoon. It seemed as though he would succeed in getting round the rear of the division, and many alarmist reports were rife as to the presence of Huns in all sorts of unlikely places behind us. These reports spread back for miles and caused a good deal of commotion in the back area. It was believed that they were propagated by German spies, and it may well have been so. Certainly many suspicious cases were reported of orders having been given to various units to retire at once by red-tabbed officers who could never be identified afterwards as belonging to the staff of any of the divisions engaged. At least one such case occurred in the Divisional Artillery; a Staff Officer hurried up to Major Jephson, and, telling him that the enemy was working round behind his Division, advised him to retire his battery, C/310, before it should be too late. Jephson, of course, declined to adopt the suggestion, and reported the matter by telephone to Headquarters. He was from there told to arrest the Staff Officer, but unfortunately by the time the order got through to him the bird had flown.
That evening as the dusk was falling a group of us were standing at a corner of Foncquevillers watching Hebuterne rather anxiously, when an officer called out that he could see a crowd of Huns on our side of that village. Glasses were levelled on the place, and a very brief inspection served to show that the men were moving into and not out of the village. A moment later, and a sharp-eyed officer declared that he could make out the familiar slouched hats of the Australians. In the gathering darkness it was hard to make certain of this, but the arrival of an Australian Staff Officer a few minutes later dispelled all doubts. The infantry brigade to which he belonged had been rushed up to the critical point, and by 8 p.m. it had occupied Hebuterne and driven back the Hun patrols in front of that village, thereby greatly easing the situation. Later on in the night the New Zealand Division arrived after a wonderful 29 mile march, and filled up the gap still further to our right, from east of Colincamps to Beaumont Hamel.
The Military Cross was won this day by Lieuts. F. Abrahams and A. C. Murray:
"As Battery Signalling Officer, Lieut. Abrahams, regardless of personal safety, superintended the mending of wires under heavy shell fire, encouraging the signallers and men of the battery in their task by his example of energy and devotion to duty."
"When the line between the receiving station and the guns, some 300 yards, was broken, Lieut. Murray volunteered to take the orders from the station up to the guns. He did this again and again under very heavy fire. On a later date he carried out most useful observation from an O.P., in spite of continual shelling."
Bitter fighting went on on the 27th, when we beat off five separate attacks, all made in great strength, and killed large numbers of Huns. The hostile artillery fire was again very intense on Headquarters and the area occupied by the batteries. Lieut. W. P. Holt gained his Military Cross for the following action:
"Finding that he could see little from his O.P., Lieut. Holt worked forward to the infantry, and, returning, sent back messages which obtained artillery support for a counter-attack. He displayed marked courage and enterprise in moving over the open under heavy fire and keeping touch with the fighting infantry. The information he sent back was most valuable."
Next day, the 28th, four attacks were made from the direction of Puisieux. One especially, launched at 10 a.m. against the 5th Duke of Wellington's, was delivered in tremendous strength, but the attacking enemy troops were nearly annihilated, and the battalion not only held its own, but captured some twenty prisoners. The shelling of Foncquevillers had now grown so severe that it became impossible to keep Divisional Headquarters there any longer and still maintain communication with the troops in front and the Corps Headquarters in rear. We consequently moved to Souastre, leaving an advanced signal station in Foncquevillers, at which one officer of my staff always remained, taking it in turns among them to do each a 24-hour spell of duty there.
On this day Lieuts. L. C. Gane, M.C., and C. V. Montgomery were wounded, and Capt. A. Senior was awarded the Military Cross for "conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty"; this decoration was also gained by Capts. H. de B. Archer, Adjutant 310th Brigade, and J. Miles, its Signalling Officer:
"On the 26th, 27th and 28th March, 1918, during operations round Bucquoy, Capt. Archer sat, practically in the open, for 72 hours by the telephone, receiving and sending messages. He was constantly under shell fire, and had to carry the telephone from spot to spot, to be able to carry on. His coolness and thoroughness throughout this period greatly helped and encouraged the batteries. On the 25th and 26th March he also carried out most useful reconnaissances under constant heavy shell fire."