Only one mule was hit during these operations, an instance of the benefit which results from carrying out a task of this nature quickly and in daylight during the comparatively undisturbed hours which always occur behind the fighting line during an actual attack. At this period the enemy’s artillery is too preoccupied in trying to check the attacking infantry to pay much attention to the activities that may be going on in rear of the attack.
Throughout the battle little trouble was experienced as regards communication. A cable-tank had carried signal gear to a prearranged dump between Sandown and Hurst Park. Wires were then quickly laid to the battalion headquarters which were established in various fortified farms.
A message-carrying dog sent from the Green line during the engagement reached its destination two days later, minus its collar and message.
As was usually the case when the Division carried out a trench-to-trench attack, rain fell heavily during the night. In many cases men were flooded out of their trenches and had to lie in the open. Throughout the whole captured area movement became a matter of the greatest difficulty. Luckily the enemy suffered equally, and remained quiet.
The troops on the Green line, however, remained in good heart, and reported the situation as “water two feet deep, but spirits very high.”
The eight tanks which supported the attack in some cases did valuable work; their doings, briefly summarised, were as follows:—
G 49 stuck in the Blue line; G 41 stuck 200 yards beyond the Blue line; G 51 reached Kitchener’s Wood; G 44, 45, and 52 reached the Green line after having dealt with several machine-guns. G 50 reached Varna Farm after several engagements with machine-guns. G 42 reached the Black line and worked along it.
The 152nd and 153rd Brigades had each gone into action with the approximate strength of 80 officers and 2700 other ranks. Their casualties totalled 52 officers (32·5 per cent.) and 1516 other ranks (28·07 per cent.).
As opposed to this, 15 officers and 624 other ranks, 2 field-guns, 4 trench-mortars, and 29 machine-guns were captured, many enemy killed and many machine-guns and trench-mortars destroyed.