The Battalion had done superbly! They did what was required of them; they took what they were told to take; and tried hard to hold it alone.... At last an order came to withdraw; it came from the right, but from whom no one knows. Then they came back—all that was left of them.
'A' Company who went over the parapet first have had the heaviest losses, Murray, Macdonald and Kennedy all killed, McLean's nerves completely shattered, and every Sergeant gone save Downie.
Of the other Companies, Brown killed, J. H. Keith twice buried in shell holes and dug out with shattered nerves, and Capes in much the same condition. Poor Pat Keith killed, Stewart, Brown and Logan all wounded. Young J. B. Wilson killed, Wishart very badly hit, died later, and Major MacKenzie wounded.
Poor Major Shaw! it is so sad about him, Ralston bound up his first wound on the chin, and still he cheered on the men, and got well forward when he was shot dead. Ralston succeeded in getting one of his guns planted right in the German lines, when it was put out of action by shell fire. His other gun under Sergeant Thompson got into difficulties at a ditch, and was splendidly led on by J. B. Wilson, who came across it after being cut off from his own men. Wilson did splendidly in taking that gun forward till he was shot dead. Sergeant Thompson was also killed, and the gun is reported to have been smashed by bombs.
In a field opposite the Transport lines the men were fed and rested, and that same morning before noonday the Companies held their roll-call. Out of the total number of Officers and men who went into the trenches on Sunday night, 13/14th June, exactly half answered their names.
That same afternoon orders came for the Battalion to move back to the same billets at Le C—— M——[[4]] as had been occupied before the fight. That was Wednesday afternoon.
[[4]] Le Cornet Malo.
What haunted me most was the thought of those still lying out in front. Another attack had been ordered for Wednesday night, and that made a search party out of the question for that night. The attack took place with much the same result as on Tuesday night. The Battalion that attacked was cut to pieces like one man. On Thursday afternoon I asked permission from the Brigade to take up a party of volunteers to try to bring in wounded. Leave was granted and there was no lack of willing men to go. We set out in the early evening and Ralston and Hay came too. Fifty men had been selected, i.e., ten from each Company and ten from Transport, &c.
On the way we stopped at Brigade Headquarters to ask permission for Hay to go, and the General said that before going down to the trenches we must present his compliments to the Brigadier-General of the Brigade in occupation of the trenches, and get his sanction for the effort. On we went and halted at the moated farm and saw the General. He said we might try if we liked, but that an attack had been ordered for 9.30 that night and another for 3 a.m., preceded by bombardment, and that we must be clear of trenches before the second one began, and in any case we must see the Commanding Officers of the Battalions holding the trenches, to be sure that we did not interfere with any of their arrangements. So on we went to the reserve trenches, and there we saw the Commanding Officers of the two Battalions in the fire trench. They were not encouraging. They had ration parties in the communication trenches and water parties, and a certain amount of ammunition had to be taken up before the second attack began. The first attack was said to be going on at the moment, and there was certainly a good deal of rifle fire, but they could get no news of its progress as the wires were cut. Three working parties had already been told off by them to go out between the first and second attack, should the first prove unsuccessful (as they seemed to think it would), and bridge the ditches, &c., preparatory to the second show, and it was expected that these parties would do all they could to bring in wounded.
All this was most unsatisfactory. Everything seemed against us. Ralston and Hay and I went up the communication trench a short way, and we then very reluctantly decided that we must abandon the attempt. It was hard to have to give up. Our hope of being able to bring in any of our own men had never been very strong, as we knew only too well that the same front as the Battalion had attacked over had yet again been swept with fire in the attack that had followed ours on the next night. But faint though the hope was, no stone must be left unturned to try to realize it, and now even that last hope was taken away. They lie where they fell.