Two hours before zero it became known that the artillery was firing gas shells on the enemy batteries, so that at zero the enemy would not be able to work their guns. The drone of the gas shells passing overhead, and the knowledge of this device on the part of the British artillery, was very reassuring to the waiting troops.
For a few minutes before zero all was tranquil, and the men were quietly waiting. Zero was at 3-50 a.m., at which hour it was quite dark. Suddenly there was heard the firing of an 18-pounder battery. It was a battery firing just a second or two early. There followed a deafening roar. All the guns had fired together, and their shells were racing across the sky. A sheet of flame covered the enemy trenches. The fight had begun. The men rose from their positions slowly and went over the top to the front line, where according to plan they waited twenty-five minutes. The advance then continued. They should have advanced in waves, but that was impossible over the shell-cratered ground, as the going over the churned-up earth was very difficult, particularly in view of the heavy loads the men carried. All cohesion was soon lost, and the men sauntered forward in little groups endeavouring as best they could to keep the proper direction. No one knew what was happening. After passing the enemy front line all danger from his barrage was over, but his machine guns were active, and every now and then a man dropped—in many cases not to rise again. At length the river Steenbeek was reached. Numbers were few and hopes of success were rapidly
vanishing. How the fight had progressed on the right or left no one knew. In front was a strong position on the other side of the Steenbeek Valley, which turned out ultimately to be Bank Farm.
The enemy in the dim light was firing his machine guns and causing casualties, but with a final rush the men were in the centre of a German strong point. The companies were weak, one consisting of only a dozen men or so, and the Germans were in occupation of the position as well, and fired coloured lights to encourage the support of their artillery. They were dealt with by the bombers, and one sensible private, who soon used up all his available bombs found a store of German bombs, which he employed to advantage. About the same time another party of the Battalion captured Pommern Redoubt, while the 7th King's on the right got into Pommern Castle. In all about eighty prisoners were taken, which considerably exceeded the numbers of the men that first dashed up to the objective. The prisoners belonged to the infantry regiments of the 235th Division, and a few of them were artillerists belonging to the 6th Feldartillerie Regiment.
The taking of Pommern Redoubt was specially commented upon in the Dispatch of Sir Douglas Haig dealing with this battle, though the Redoubt fell much earlier than was therein stated.
Among the dugouts several things were found, such as field glasses, medical apparatus, rifles, bombs, and so on. In one was a store of bottles of aerated water. In another there was a store of rations which were ultimately consumed, and strange to relate, in one dugout there was a copy of a recent number of the "Tatler."
The position was consolidated, trenches were
dug and manned by the men. A captured German machine gun was turned round and got into action. Four or five hours after the capture of the Stutzpunkt position another brigade continued the attack, but though the efforts of its members were successful at first they had in consequence of their exposed flanks to retire at nightfall, and the Battalion was then holding the line without anyone in front. Rain commenced to fall, and the ground having been churned up by countless shells, the whole area soon became dissolved into a morass of spongy earth pitted with innumerable shell craters half full of water. The trenches that had been dug soon filled, and the men were wet through. They were utterly exhausted, and some of them had to get what sleep they could, huddled up in these wet trenches, with their feet several inches deep in water.
Cooking was impossible, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that any food at all could be supplied to the men in the advanced positions. Added to this was the fact that the enemy artillery was exceedingly active, and the shells killed many in the exposed trenches. The British heavy artillery also fired short, which had a most demoralising effect on the men in front.
On the 2nd August it became known that the enemy intended definitely to recapture the Stutzpunkt line. The men were informed of this, and told to resist to the last. All available men were sent up from the transport lines to reinforce the men in front. These reinforcements suffered considerably from shell fire on the way up, but their advent inspired and cheered the weary men who had been through the whole fight, and whose rifles were in many cases so choked with mud as to be unserviceable. Towards