In the meantime, the enemy watched us from his vantage ground, and day and night harassed us with his shelling, his aerial bombing, and his gas.
III
On our side the preparations for a formidable attack continued steadily.
[32]“The various problems inseparable from the mounting of a great offensive, the improvement and construction of roads and railways, the provision of an adequate water supply and of accommodation for troops, the formation of dumps, the digging of dug-outs, subways and trenches, and the assembling and registering of guns, had all to be met and overcome in the new theatre of battle, under conditions of more than ordinary disadvantage.
“On no previous occasion, not excepting the attack on the Messines-Wytschaete Ridge, had the whole of the ground from which we had to attack been so completely exposed to the enemy’s observation. Even after the enemy had been driven from the Messines-Wytschaete Ridge, he still possessed excellent direct observations over the Salient from the east and south-east, as well as from the Pilckem Ridge to the north. Nothing existed at Ypres to correspond with the vast caves and cellars which proved of such value in the days prior to the Arras battle, and the provision of shelter for the troops presented a very serious problem.”
It was a problem which in some sectors proved insoluble, and troops and working parties had to come up night by night into the forward area, going back far behind the lines at dawn.
Like their fellows of every other arm, members of the Tank Corps carried out their battle preparations under conditions of peculiar difficulty.
But the 1st Brigade of Tanks had something more than indiscriminate harassing fire and “area shoots” to trouble them.
The enemy had obtained information of our tankodrome in Oosthoek Wood from a British prisoner, who was either a garrulous fool or a very treacherous knave.
A soldier belonging to a certain infantry regiment, had betrayed every detail of the whereabouts of the Tanks of the 1st Brigade, and of the programme of their movements. A German document was captured setting forth the whole of this creature’s evidence and explaining its value and significance. The official account of this murderous piece of treachery was periodically read out on parade to all Tank units, and formed the text of many discourses on the vital importance of strict secrecy and high moral. The name of this man will for ever have a sinister sound for all who served in the Tank Corps.