| Clerks, signallers, pioneers, snipers, etc. (34 other ranks) | In dugout and control trench of Woman Street. |
| Company runners (16 other | In a sap adjoining. ranks) |
| Battalion Bombers | In a "crump" hole near the Woman Street Battalion H.Q. dugout. |
| Battalion Trench Pioneers | W 50 R. |
| M.O. and Staff | Aid Post (Junction of Wood Street and Cross Street). |
| Band | Ditto. |
| Reserve Lewis Gunners | Divided between A and B Companies. |
| Regimental Police | In control posts, chiefly at intersection of fire trenches with communication trenches throughout the sector. |
A runner from the right company (A) reporting it in position arrived at Headquarters at 8.15 a.m., but no report was received from any other company, and from this time onwards throughout the day communication was exceedingly difficult on account of the very heavy German barrage which fell on all lines in W sector immediately after zero. It was reported, however, by observers that all had successfully formed up on their battle positions.
We must now turn for a moment to the leading battalions.
On the right the London Scottish advanced under the effective cover of the smoke barrage, which was in fact so thick as to render the maintenance of the correct direction a matter of difficulty, and occupied Farm, Fell and Fate as far north as the Bucquoy Road, and also the greater part of the strong point at the southern extremity of attack. The blocking of the adjoining trenches and consolidation of the captured lines was at once put in hand. The left companies appear to have been drawn off somewhat towards Nameless Farm but seem to have kept in touch with the Rangers on their left.
Shortly after 8 o'clock the Scottish were joined by a company of Kensingtons, who did good work in the consolidation of Farm-Farmyard.
On the left four companies of the Rangers also crossed No Man's Land, and although the position is obscure there can be no doubt that parties of all companies succeeded in reaching the final objectives in Felon, Elbe and Epte, and gained touch on Nameless Farm Road with the 169th Brigade on the left.
At these advanced points bomb fighting in the communication trenches began and the struggle was pursued along the line with varying success. Realising the pressure that was being brought to bear on his now dangerously weak companies the O.C. Rangers asked for two companies of the 1/4th Londons to lend the weight necessary to carry forward his attack again.
This order was received by Lieut.-Col. Wheatley at 8.45 a.m. and at once he ordered A and C Companies to reinforce the Rangers in Fetter, and D Company to move up to the W front line in their place. Telephone communication having been cut by the enemy shell fire this order was despatched by runner to the front companies; but of six runners despatched by different routes, and two additional runners sent after fifteen minutes' interval, only one returned after an unsuccessful attempt to find the left company. The others were all killed. We must pause here to offer a tribute to the bravery of runners, a class of soldier whose gallantry was only too seldom adequately rewarded; their duties compelled them to attempt to pass through impossible barrages without the moral support of comradeship, and to face almost certain death in the forlorn hope of getting through with a vital order. But never once did they flinch from their duty.
At 9.5 a.m. a report was received through the Rangers that Rangers and 1/4th Londons were together in the German front line, and this was followed at intervals by other reports indicating their further progress, till at 10.25 a.m. a message from the Rangers reported parties of both battalions in the second German trench. Following the receipt of this information at 10.45 a.m. Lieut-Col. Wheatley despatched the Battalion Trench Pioneers to help consolidate the trenches gained.