a great concentration of troops in the Pas de Calais, as this little place had to accommodate two battalions. The men were placed under canvas, and some of the officers lived in tents, while the remainder were accommodated in billets. The training was mainly devoted to the attack. The British and the enemy trenches were taped out on some cornfields, in propinquity to the hamlet, and the forthcoming attack was rehearsed time and time again by all the battalions in the Brigade. Great attention was paid to synchronisation of watches, and the immediate reporting of all information. Maps and aeroplane photographs of the ground were studied with meticulous care, and a model of the Battalion's sector over which it was to attack, showing Uhlan Farm, Jasper and Plum Farms, Pommern Castle, and Pommern Redoubt, was constructed outside the camp to explain the lie of the ground to the men. Tanks were represented by half limbers during these practices, and the shrapnel barrage by drums.
During the stay at Moringhem the officers were able to ride into St. Omer on one or two occasions, and there dine at the restaurants, where a welcome change in their usual menu was obtainable.
The Third Battle of Ypres.
On the 21st July the Battalion left Moringhem, and once more found itself at "B" Camp at Brandhoek. This was a very different place from what it had been during the winter, and being full of troops, the Battalion had only one-third of its former area in which to accommodate itself. Anti-aircraft batteries, tunnelling companies, transport lines, field hospitals, and
observation balloons were everywhere.
The training was complete. Everyone knew the orders and it was merely a case of waiting for "Z" day, the day of the attack. On the 29th July, which turned out to be "X" day, the fighting personnel left Brandhoek, and moved to Durham Redoubt, an area just west of Ypres, where the men bivouacked for the night. The next day illuminating flares, iron rations, spare water-bottles, bombs, and maps were given to the men.
Though all knew the rôle of the Battalion and its allotted objectives, no one in the Battalion knew the extent of the attack, or which divisions were attacking, or what was to happen if all objectives were captured. It was believed that if the attack succeeded, there were other divisions in rear ready to exploit the success. Wild rumours began to filter through. One of the most prevalent was that eighty mines would be sprung at zero, and this was inspiring to all, and infused new courage into the men.
Towards evening the companies left the area, and slowly in the darkness moved via the Plaine d'Amour past the Dixmude Gate and the Dead End to Oxford Trench, where they took up a position and waited. This waiting was very unpleasant, as the enemy was obviously expecting an attack and shelled the whole area almost all night. There was little shelter, as the trench was shallow and wide, and several were wounded before the fight commenced.
The objective allotted to the Battalion consisted of a section of the enemy second line called the "Stutzpunkt" Line, comprising Pommern Redoubt (called "Gartenhof" by the Germans) to Bank Farm, known to the enemy as "Blucher." The distance of the objective from
the Battalion's zero position was approximately a mile and a half, which was at that period of the war a big distance to be called upon to cover in one day.