The Division, by the satisfactory conclusion of this difficult operation deserved all the high praise[44] that it received from the G.O.C. and General Congreve.
At 3.20 A.M., when the light was just sufficient for one to distinguish friend from foe, the first barrage opened, and the leading waves moved as close to it as they could safely go. Five minutes later, on the hour of zero, the whole line moved forward to the attack.
On the right, Brig.-General Ritchie’s men made on the whole very satisfactory progress. Most trouble was experienced by the Black Watch, whose right company encountered a stubborn resistance from a machine-gun nest on the south-east corner of Longueval. This post was covered by the fire of two field-guns in the south-west corner of Delville Wood, which were later withdrawn, and owing to the confined space in which they had to manœuvre the Black Watch were unable to get to grips with the garrison of the post, which held out until late in the afternoon. With this exception the objectives allotted to the battalion were taken by 10 A.M. At one time the leading men took up a position along Buchanan Street, a ride branching off Princes Street at right angles to the south of the wood, but this line could not be maintained as the left flank was in the air. At noon the line held by the battalion ran from the main square of the village north of the church and then south-east to within 100 yards of the west corner of South Street, the path skirting the southern edge of Delville Wood. Patrols were immediately pushed forward, but during the afternoon stiff resistance was experienced, and the patrols became standing picquets on the edge of the wood.
The Argylls, on the left of the Black Watch, met with complete success. The leading companies kept close to the barrage, leaving the supporting companies to clear the enemy’s front trenches. The 11th Royal Scots on the left being delayed by uncut wire, “C” Company of the Argylls in left support came to their assistance by bombing to the north. This company killed at least 100 of the foe, and drove others along the front of the 27th Brigade. In this lively action a machine-gun was captured, a well-aimed bomb accounting for the whole team. The other companies of the Argylls in their impetuous eagerness ran into our barrage and suffered some casualties. Then until the barrage lifted the men lay down in shell-holes, while a piper played the regimental march. When the advance was resumed Clarges Street was reached without much resistance, and the battalion, having cleared the houses on the west side of the main street, commenced to consolidate.
Waterlot Farm and its defences had still to be taken before the job of the brigade was accomplished.
The left brigade was equally successful in securing its first objective. The first task, the capture of the enemy’s front defences, was straightforward. Unfortunately on the front of the 11th Royal Scots delay was caused by wire, and gaps were cut by hand with very great difficulty, owing to machine-gun fire; but the battalion’s Lewis Guns rendered great service by keeping down the enemy’s fire, while a platoon of “A” Company, finding a gap in the right flank, went through and bombed down the opposite trenches. Lieut.-Colonel Croft’s men rapidly effected the capture of this objective, though they had much stern fighting, and a party of 63 Germans was rounded up and taken prisoner by 2nd Lieuts. Turner and Fleming after a combined bombing attack, in which the battalion Lewis Guns, skilfully handled by Lieut. Winchester, played a noteworthy part.
Lieut.-Colonel Fulton[45] with the “Rifles” had an easier passage. The proffered resistance was rapidly overcome, and a company of the battalion, by bombing along the German trenches to the north, assisted the progress of the right battalion of the Third Division, which had been stopped by uncut wire. Many of the enemy were killed, and 80 were captured.
Thus by 4.15 A.M. the brigade had gained the whole of the first objective, but the second phase was more complicated. The 11th Royal Scots, which had been the right battalion, at this point became the left, and were to take Duke Street from its junction with Piccadilly to its junction with Pont Street. The 12th Royal Scots passed through the 11th on the first objective, and, wheeling to the east, advanced against the village. The death of Lieut.-Colonel Budge proved a great misfortune; for the task of the battalion, to secure Longueval from the corner of Duke Street and Piccadilly to a point on Princes Street on the fringe of Delville Wood, was one of extraordinary difficulty. The left battalion made good progress, and dug in on a line south of Duke Street; but the right battalion, coming under very heavy machine-gun fire and accurate sniping from a post in the orchards and from Piccadilly, was compelled to dig in on a line facing east, with its right flank on Clarges Street in touch with the Argylls, and its left in touch with the right of the 11th Royal Scots.
Thus the advance of the 27th Brigade was brought to a standstill before the second objective had been reached.