With an almost uncanny exactness our artillery barrage opened at 4.55 a.m., and being closely followed by our front waves, the whole battalion was soon in the thick of the Bosch artillery and machine gun barrage.
After moving forward about a hundred yards our objectives were soon seen. The two woods situated on rising ground stood out in bold relief with the village of Boiry perched on the top of another and higher hill about 800 yards beyond the woods.
It was soon realized that the Bosch had a lot of kick left in him yet, “A” Company being forced to swing to the right of the Bois du Vert to clean up some machine gun nests which were inflicting heavy casualties on our forward platoons by enfilade fire. The enemy was in great strength here and it was not long before we were engaged in hand-to-hand fighting. During the day this line of trenches was captured, lost and recaptured by counter-attacks no less than three times.
During one of these attacks Sergt. McMillan of “A” Company was captured and forced by the Bosch to carry back wounded, but on his second trip he was recaptured in a counter-attack led by Capt. Preston.
In the meantime the 58th and 52nd Battalions, after hard fighting, had captured their objectives and “D” and “C” Companies of our own Battalion had cleaned up the ground between the woods, but on emerging to the open ground in advance of these they were literally mown down by intense machine gun fire from Artillery Hill and Boiry Village. It was here, whilst gallantly trying to lead forward the advance, that Major J. Sutherland, acting in command of the battalion, was killed, the command then falling on Major Pratt, next senior officer.
Owing to the intense machine gun fire it was found impossible to make any great advance without further support, but during the day individual and small parties made further gains and a line was finally established well in advance of the woods, communication being established with the 58th and 52nd Battalions on our left and right.
On night falling every effort was made to reorganize the companies and platoons. The evacuation of the wounded was rendered most difficult, as were the ration and ammunition carrying parties, owing to the continuous machine gun fire and the fact that we were occupying shell holes with very little cover. During the night, orders were received to make a further attack in conjunction with other units of the 9th Brigade on Artillery Hill from the Bois du Sart; on the morning of the 28th Aug., after getting into our assembly positions this order was cancelled, and we were ordered to take up new ground and closely support the 4th C.M.R. Battalion in a flank movement from the south of the Bois du Vert, in conjunction with other units of the 3rd Division.
At 11 a.m., “zero hour,” our artillery laid down a perfect barrage and both Boiry and Artillery Hill were captured with a large number of prisoners, a line being established just on the outskirts of the town. At 9.30 p.m. very welcome orders were received that our division would be relieved by the 4th British Division and at 3.10 a.m. on the 29th of August the 116th Battalion was relieved by a battalion of the Hampshire Regiment, companies moving off independently when relieved and assembling in billets in Feuchy.
In these two days of fighting our losses were three officers, Major J. Sutherland, D.S.O., Lt. H. D. Livingstone, Lt. R. Campkin, and forty-two other ranks killed, seven officers and two hundred and forty-three other ranks wounded or missing.
On the 17th September the battalion was resting in the Guemappe area, close to the scene of the fighting described above, and about 5 p.m. the German artillery suddenly commenced to register on our camp with 5.9’s; several men standing round the field kitchens were killed, and a number wounded. One of these shells burst within a few yards of a party of our officers who were on their way over to look after casualties, and Captain F. W. Ott and Captain T. H. Broad, both of whom came over to France with the battalion, were killed. Colonel Pearkes and Lt. Proctor were wounded, the former very seriously. This was a terrible blow to the battalion, coming on top of the very severe casualties we had experienced during the last month, and left us incidentally sans Colonel, second in command (Major Sutherland); Adjutant (Captain Ott); Intelligence Officer (Captain Broad); and Scout Officer (Lt. Proctor). The general surroundings and our recent losses had a most depressing effect on the whole battalion, and we were glad when orders were received to move back to Arras, which was accomplished on the 19th, under the command of Major Pratt.