Next day (21st) the expected orders to resume the advance were received. A general assault by the 3rd and 4th Armies was planned, the objectives of the 33rd Division being Wagnonville and Poix-du-Nord; the attack was to be on a grandiose scale, tanks assisting the infantry, while in addition to the 156th and 162nd Brigades the whole of the 38th Divisional Artillery and the 223rd Brigade R.F.A. (Naval Division) were to form the creeping barrage behind which the infantry would move forward. Two 6 in. trench mortars were allotted to each infantry brigade, the 6 in. howitzers of the V. Corps Heavy Artillery were detailed to bombard selected targets and engage in counter-battery work, and one 18-pdr. battery of the 162nd Brigade was placed at the disposal of the G.O.C. 19th Infantry Brigade.
In order to cover the Ovillers Slaughter House road for this attack the 156th Brigade moved to within 1,000 yards of the Selle, north-west of Montay. From here all necessary points were registered during the 21st/22nd, and on the 22nd every battery sent forward a reconnoitring party to examine the approaches to and crossings of the River Selle. This was to be no local attack but an operation on the very largest scale with tremendous issues hanging in the balance, for it marked the beginning of the destruction of the new water front, the Scheldt and the Sambre Canal, which the enemy was seeking to hold, and the start of the last of the great conflicts in the west. No precaution was to be overlooked, no step left untaken which in any way might assist in bringing success to this great combined effort further to hurl the enemy back towards his frontiers.
During the night of the 22nd/23rd the infantry of the 33rd Division relieved the 38th, the C.R.A. 33rd Division taking over control of the guns, and at 2.0 A.M. on the 23rd the attack was launched behind a creeping barrage with the 98th Infantry Brigade on the right, the 19th on the left. By 4.30 A.M. the 1st Middlesex were in Forest, and the 4th King's had passed through their lines and were pushing on towards the next objective; an hour later B/156 with one section of D/156 crossed the Selle and followed up the leading battalion of the 98th Infantry Brigade with whom they kept in close touch throughout the day, and by 6.45 A.M. both artillery brigades had crossed the Selle, the 156th shortly afterwards taking up positions 1,000 yards west of Croix, the 162nd dropping into action west of Forest.
Meantime the infantry, in face of strong opposition, were pushing slowly on, and by 10.30 A.M. were lining the Croix-Vendegies road ready for the next advance. Before this took place the guns of the 162nd Brigade again moved up, this time to Richemont, while C/156 pressed on nearly to Croix. So successful was the attack, however, that the batteries found themselves being left too far behind, and accordingly at 12.30 P.M. the 162nd Brigade again advanced its guns in close support of the infantry and came into action 1,000 yards north of Croix. Here it remained throughout the rest of the day, neutralizing machine-gun fire and generally assisting in every possible way the infantry who were slowly making their way through Vendegies Wood.
Scale 1:40,000.
By 5.0 P.M. the British line ran approximately along the northern edge of the wood, and here the advance was stayed for the night, the 156th Brigade, who had occupied the same positions since before midday, pushing up to an area 1,000 yards north of Croix where it remained throughout the hours of darkness. The day had been a complete and overwhelming success all along the line, and the batteries, after sixteen hours of continuous fighting and advancing, were thankful to snatch a short rest. The strain had been great, nor had the victory been won without loss; all batteries had suffered to a more or less marked extent, but in particular must be mentioned the tragic and yet glorious death of Lieut.-Colonel B. A. B. Butler. While riding up from his headquarters at Richemont to visit the batteries he was severely wounded and died the same evening, a loss which the 156th Brigade could ill afford. Elsewhere has been related the story of his gallantry during the enemy offensive, and in the advance of the British line his courage and example were no less marked. His death robbed the Brigade of a friend and a leader than whom a better could not be found, and with victory almost in sight it seemed doubly hard that he should not have survived to share in it.
On the 24th at 4.0 A.M. the advance on Englefontaine was resumed, Major W. G. Sheeres, M.C., taking over command of the 156th Brigade. Heavy bursts of fire were put down in front of the infantry under cover of which they moved forward towards Paul Jacques Farm and Wagnonville, and at dawn, although all ranks were now very exhausted, the batteries began to advance. At 6.0 A.M. the 162nd Brigade had reached the southern outskirts of Vendegies and was directing fire upon the eastern outskirts of Poix-du-Nord, where the enemy was reported to be retreating. By 8.0 A.M. the same brigade had again advanced to a position in observation 1,000 yards further on, the 156th Brigade reaching the edge of the Bois de Vendegies one hour later. From here harassing fire was kept up on the approaches to Englefontaine, while A/156 kept in close touch with the leading battalion of infantry. News was then received that, after the overcoming of strong opposition, Wagnonville had been captured and Englefontaine itself was being rapidly threatened. Upon receipt of this information further battery positions were hastily reconnoitred and all the guns were moved up, the 156th Brigade coming into action between Poix-du-Nord and Wagnonville, the 162nd Brigade in Poix-du-Nord itself.
As events turned out, the infantry were held up between Poix-du-Nord and Englefontaine, and the latter was accordingly kept under the fire of the guns. All through the night of the 24th/25th and during the day of the 25th the exits from the village were continually bombarded, and at 1.0 A.M. on the 26th an attack was carried out by both infantry brigades of the 33rd Division under cover of a thick barrage in which ten per cent. of gas shells were used. The programme for this barrage was worked out almost entirely by Brig.-General G. H. W. Nicholson who, depleted of his staff by "Spanish influenza" and other causes, tackled the work single-handed and with such skill that the operation was a complete success. Five hundred prisoners and many machine-guns were taken, and with the fall of the village one battery of the 162nd Brigade pushed forward to a previously reconnoitred position from which close support of the infantry was possible.
From the 26th until the end of the month the batteries remained in the same positions, and it was well that this was so, for the so-called Spanish influenza was now raging in both brigades. It was believed that this epidemic had been contracted through sleeping in dug-outs and barns recently occupied by the enemy who was known to be suffering from it very badly, but whatever the cause it handicapped the guns to a marked extent. At one time the brigade commander and all four battery commanders of the 162nd Brigade were down with the disease, but despite this counter-preparations were fired morning and evening to break up any would-be counter-attacks by the enemy, while frequent gas concentrations were fired into the hostile lines. On the 29th a successful "mopping-up" of houses on the Englefontaine-Bavai road was carried out by the 17th R.W.F. (the 38th Division had relieved the 33rd on the evening of the 26th), and on the 29th/30th there came to the weary batteries a short relief. On that night the 122nd Brigade R.F.A. "took over" from the 162nd who marched back to Bertry for a 72-hour rest, to be followed two nights later by the 156th Brigade.