The village of Bony, which had just been entered by the Armoured Cars on the 29th, still held out stubbornly.
On October 1, Tanks of the 9th Battalion were engaged with the 32nd Division in an attack on a part of the line near Joncourt. In this action the Tanks made very successful use of smoke screens.
On the 2nd no Tanks fought, but on October 3 about forty machines went into action.
As on the previous days, we met with stubborn resistance, and as on the previous days, foot by foot, inch by inch, we pushed our line forward, always patiently enlarging the width of the holes we had pierced.
A new attack on a large scale was now contemplated, and for this assault the Tank Corps had to furnish between eighty and ninety machines, some on the 3rd, some on the 4th Army front. Preparations were immediately begun, and no Tanks fought on the 4th.
Our line, however, had just reached the outskirts of two large villages, Montbrehain and Beaurevoir, and we were anxious not to begin the day of our new attack with street fighting—of all forms of warfare the most incalculable.
Therefore, the Australians and the 16th Tank Battalion attacked Montbrehain, and after fighting a strenuous but brilliant little action, captured it.
The last phase of the Cambrai-St. Quentin battle was at hand; nay more, the last phase of the warfare we had known for nearly four years.
The next day we were to match our strength against that torn and breached, but still formidable ruin, that had once been the Hindenburg Line.