The responsible task of taping out the assembly areas was satisfactorily accomplished by both brigades. On the night of the 19th the assaulting battalions made the purgatorial march along the slippery trench-board tracks to the forming-up points. Heavy rain descended for nearly three hours, but by rare good fortune the enemy’s guns were unusually quiet and comparatively few casualties were suffered; this was taken as a good omen. By 5 A.M. on the 20th the assembly of the Division was completed.
At zero the light was perfect, being sufficient for the assailants to distinguish their objectives, but rendering them only dimly visible to the enemy. Under a first-rate barrage the leading lines advanced, one company of the K.O.S.B. halting near the west margin of Hanebeek Wood, which appeared like a gigantic furnace shooting up blazing roots and trunks to an enormous height. To the left of it another company, advancing along a lane flanked by two walls of smoke and fire, took up a position on the rear, having intercepted and killed on the way a party of Germans who were moving up to reinforce their comrades in the wood. When the barrage lifted the wood was rushed from front and rear, and the terrifying combination of lusty Australians and dour Scotsmen was invincible. The Germans were allowed no time to bring their machine-guns into action, and the wood yielded up four machine-guns and about 50 prisoners. Our casualties were few and were caused chiefly by rifle-fire and by our own shrapnel which was used on the right flank of the wood.
On the flank of the K.O.S.B. the right company of the “Rifles” encountered very feeble opposition and reached the first objective in good time, but the left company, being seriously delayed by machine-gun fire from a “Pill-box” on the Railway, gained the objective only in time to go forward with the advance to the Green Line.
The Railway line was a formidable fortress, as it was defended by several strong “Pill-boxes,” R1, R2, R3, R4, and R5, and was flanked by the fire of the Potsdam group on the left. A company of the 12th Royal Scots was detailed to seize the “R” “Pill-boxes” up to the first objective, but its onrush was checked at the outset by bombs and machine-gun fire from R1, so Lieut.-Colonel Ritson sent up two platoons from his reserve company to attack it from the south. This manœuvre, attracting the attention of the enemy, gave the platoons on the Railway the opportunity of rushing the “Pill-box” and overcoming the garrison, of whom 40 were taken and three machine-guns. This practically ended the resistance on the Railway, and the right company of the Royal Scots soon arrived at the Red Line. The task of the left company was to capture “A” and Potsdam. The defenders of the former were wide-awake, and their raking machine-gun fire made the assailants very uncomfortable, but Captain Reynolds and six men managed to move close up to the “Pill-box,” where they were safe from the hostile fire. They tried to put a Mills bomb through the loophole, but this the garrison blocked with a pack while still keeping the machine-gun firing. There was a real danger of the attack in this sector being held up by the obstinate “Pill-box”; but Captain Reynolds, showing extraordinary bravery and resource, under a storm of lead contrived to squeeze a phosphorous bomb past the obstruction through the loophole; the explosion set the place on fire and smoked out the garrison, who immediately surrendered, 7 prisoners and two machine-guns being the result of this lively episode.
At Potsdam two machine-guns were in action in the open. While two platoons of the Royal Scots made a frontal assault, a third, assisted by some South Africans, attacked from the north, and another platoon from the south. Before this converging onslaught the defenders were overpowered, and 70 prisoners and two machine-guns were captured.
During the pause on the first objective the K.O.S.B. and the right companies of the “Rifles” reorganised their forces. In each case the supporting companies had now to lead the attack, but as the right supporting company of the K.O.S.B. had already suffered severely from the enemy’s barrage, Lieut.-Colonel Maclean was obliged to put his whole battalion in the front line, and he asked Lieut.-Colonel Sir John Campbell to support him with two companies of the 11th Royal Scots. On the left, Lieut.-Colonel Lumsden, owing to the late arrival of his left companies, resolved to swing his right companies towards the Railway, and to keep in touch with the K.O.S.B. by means of one platoon.
The operations against the Green Line caused very little trouble. The K.O.S.B. encountered one machine-gun in a shell-hole right out in the open, but the men worked round it and bayoneted the team. At the Zonnebeke Redoubt the enemy made no show of a fight, and 40 prisoners were taken. Equally swift progress was made by the “Rifles.” The two left companies, moving up rapidly, caught up the barrage and joined in the action; except for slight opposition from two “Pill-boxes” all was plain sailing.
Brig.-General Maxwell, who reached the Green Line just after its capture, selected the line to be consolidated, and this was done by improving shell-holes and then forming short lengths of trench by connecting them up. The workers were covered by a number of advanced posts, each with a Lewis Gun, but the enemy made no attempt at a counter-stroke. At the same time half of the men cleaned their rifles while the others kept guard, and machine-gun sections arrived and took up positions. While the consolidation was in progress a hostile aeroplane, flying low up and down our line, roughly indicated the position to the German gunners who sent over a few shells.
On the South African front the Red Line was carried almost without a check, and the 4th Regiment on the left entered Borry Farm, isolated in the same manner as Hanebeek Wood, and Beck House, before the Germans had time to resist. The only trouble was on the right, where the 3rd Regiment sustained several casualties from Potsdam, but an assault by Captain Sprenger with a few men materially assisted the 12th Royal Scots to overcome this stronghold. At the first objective the supporting battalions took the lead, and at 7 A.M. the 1st and 2nd Regiments moved against the Yellow and Green Lines. The former reached its objective without opposition, but the latter had to fight nearly every yard of the way. From Waterend House, Tulip Cottages, and Hill 37, all in the area of the Fifty-fifth Division, machine-gun fire scourged the flank of the South Africans, and created a gap between them and the troops on the left. When the 2nd Regiment eventually carried Zevencote and Bremen Redoubt, a defensive flank was thrown out on the south bank of the Zonnebeke stream, and the garrison of Mitchell’s Farm was augmented. So heavy had been the losses of the South Africans that they had to be reinforced by the Camerons. Late in the evening the Fifty-fifth Division succeeded in clearing Hill 37, and thus closed the gap between it and the South Africans.
At the fall of night all the objectives of the Division had been secured and consolidated. A counter-thrust was expected and even hoped for, but it did not come. A terrific barrage along our line about 5 P.M. seemed to be the prelude to an onslaught, and our men, surging forward out of the shelled zone, peered eagerly into the mist for a sight of the field-grey foemen, but all attempts of the enemy to mass were broken up by our artillery-fire. So accurate and stupendous was our barrage that it seemed like a solid, impenetrable barrier.