Soon after 8-0 a.m., serious enemy counter-attacks began on A Company’s position. For some time the barrage had slackened, and even rifle and machine gun fire had died down. What puzzled the men of A Company was to see Germans in the neighbourhood of the Pope’s Nose, and in the support line in rear of it; for it must be borne in mind that no one knew anything of the situation on any other front than his own. These Germans, as has already been said, were cautiously working their way along the trenches towards the British, bombing as they went; but they were still a long way off. The real counter-attack at length came from enemy troops who advanced across the open, on both sides of the Munster Gasse. The post at point 86 had, by this time, completely run out of S.A.A. and bombs, and so was unable to offer any real resistance to the advance. The Germans came cautiously forward; avoiding a frontal attack, they worked round the right flank of the post until they were in its rear. Bombing it from this position, they caused many casualties. Sergt. Bancroft, Cpl. Payne and several men were killed; Cpl. Denham and a number of others were wounded. Having thus prepared the way for an assault, the enemy rushed the post, overwhelmed and made prisoners of the few survivors. This happened unbeknown to the rest of the men of A Company. The first indication they had of it was the enemy bombing along the second objective from the right. The situation soon became impossible. With no bombs and scarcely a round of S.A.A. left, they were forced slowly to withdraw towards their left. On arriving at point 66, they found themselves between two fires, for the enemy bombing party from the west was also approaching along the trench. The position was clearly untenable. Lieut. Everitt had only a handful of men left. He gave orders to withdraw down the communication trench to point 54. The withdrawal was conducted slowly and in good order, two or three men waiting at each bend in the trench to cover it. At length the front line was reached, but only a few isolated men of B Company could be found there; the enemy artillery and machine guns had done their work only too well. The party reconnoitred along the trench towards the Pope’s Nose; another enemy bombing party was encountered. With so few survivors, and almost without ammunition, Lieut. Everitt could do no more. He gave the order to withdraw to the parallels. The men jumped out of the trench and started across No Man’s Land, but they did not scatter sufficiently. Few ever reached the comparative safety of their own lines. A machine gun opened from the Pope’s Nose, and most of them fell. Of the fate of Lieut. Everitt nothing certain is known. For some time it was hoped that he was still alive. But nothing definite was ever learned of what happened to him after he gave the order to withdraw. One of the most gallant, competent and hardworking officers the Battalion ever had, he probably fell when so many of his men went down in that last crossing of No Man’s Land.

And what of D Company? Its fate was much the same as A Company’s. Harassed by machine guns from the Schwaben Redoubt, and by rifle fire from snipers to the east, it beat off several counter-attacks. S.A.A. and bombs ran out, and the men searched the dead to replenish their supplies. Rapidly their numbers dwindled. Severely wounded and in great pain, Lieut. J. T. Riley fought fiercely until he was at length killed. C.S.M. J. C. Walker, who had carried on though wounded early in the action, was also killed. Yet, practically leaderless, the men still fought on, until an officer of the 5th Battalion, who had become mixed up with D Company, ordered a withdrawal. Then the remnants of the company—they did not muster twenty, all told—withdrew to the parallels.

Everything that had been gained was lost. Not a Britisher remained in the enemy lines, save the few men who had been captured. The number of these was very small. On the authority of the Germans themselves, only seven unwounded prisoners from the 4th and 5th Battalions were taken that day. Many men were still lying out in shell holes, and, during the rest of the day and night that followed, some of these crawled back into the lines. But there were far more lying out there who would never crawl again.

Throughout the action Battalion H.Q. was located in a deep dugout, near the junction of Inniskilling Avenue with Whitchurch Street; C Company was in Battalion reserve, either in or near the old British front line. All arrangements had been made for sending up stores soon after the objectives were taken. East Koyli Sap was to be improved, and used as a communication trench for that purpose. But this was never done. Early in the action it became so crowded with casualties and others that parties could not move along it. Even if they had been able to do so, it entered the enemy front line at the Pope’s Nose, which was never occupied by the British on September 3rd.

Lack of reliable information was the most serious difficulty with which Battalion H.Q. had to contend dining the battle, and the 5th Battalion was even worse off in that respect. Signallers had gone forward with the assaulting companies, but no message ever came back from them. Cpl. C. Landale, D.C.M. made gallant attempts to run a telephone line across No Man’s Land, but it could not be maintained on account of the enemy barrage. Most of the runners who left with messages were killed. No information was ever received from the observation post. The result was that, during the whole operation, Battalion H.Q. was almost completely ignorant of what was happening.

For a long time the sole information obtained was from wounded men, and was very indefinite. At 5-55 a.m. it was learned that the first objective had been taken, that the second was being attacked, and that the two assaulting battalions were badly mixed. Ten minutes later a wounded man reported that A Company had taken its objective. Then there was little news for more than an hour and a half. Two carrying parties were sent forward, and it is believed that a few bombs did reach the German front line and were used by the 5th Battalion. Runners were twice sent out to get in touch with B Company, but none came back. Information that the attack of the 146th Infantry Brigade on the left had failed was received by the Battalion about 6-30 a.m. Knowing so little of the situation, the Commanding Officer naturally hesitated to throw any more troops into the battle; and, as events turned out, it is well he did not use his reserves, for they could have done little real good, and there would only have been more casualties.

At last a wounded runner arrived from B Company, bearing the following message from Sec.-Lieut. H. E. Pohlmann:—

“To I.R.

Am holding point 54 and to left 100 yds. In touch with 5th. Only remaining officer in B Coy. Bombs wanted. 6-40 a.m. 3.9.16.

H. E. Pohlmann, 2 Lt. B Coy.”