(f) Kemmel.[18]
About 8-45 a.m. on April 25th, the order to move arrived. The Brigade was proceeding at once to Ouderdom in support of the 9th Division. The Battalion was to move by march route as it was to remain in Brigade Reserve, but motor buses were provided for all the rest of the Brigade. However, so quickly did the Battalion fall in and move off that it arrived at Ouderdom long before the buses appeared.
The situation was very obscure. A great battle was in progress to the south and it was believed that the enemy had captured Mont Kemmel; but nothing was definitely known. The 6th and 7th Battalions were moved forward to form a defensive flank from Beaver Corner to Millekruisse, as the Cheapside Line was thought still to be in British hands; but touch had been completely lost with the troops on the right. All that day the Battalion remained inactive in the fields near Ouderdom. They were little troubled, except by an occasional aeroplane. One of these dropped a bomb which caused one or two casualties, but otherwise the Battalion escaped unscathed.
In the evening the Battalion moved up to positions in some old trenches a little to the north of Millekruisse, and here it settled down for the night. But it was not to rest for long. About 2-30 a.m., Major A. L. Mowat arrived from 147th Infantry Brigade H.Q. with orders for an immediate attack. The situation and details were as follows:—
1. A big counter-attack was to be launched, by French troops on the right and the 25th Division on the left, to recapture Mont Kemmel and establish a line to the south of it.
2. The Battalion was to co-operate on the left of the 25th Division. It was to assemble on the Cheapside Line and attack in a south-easterly direction, on a front of about six hundred yards, with the trench system on the York Road as its objective.
3. In the event of the 25th Division not being able to advance, the Battalion was to conform to its line.
4. Zero hour was fixed for 4-25 a.m., when a creeping barrage would come down.
From the Battalion point of view, this operation was extremely difficult. No one had any knowledge of the ground, and the assembly was to take place and the attack to open before dawn. As the companies were much below full strength, the Commanding Officer decided to attack on a three-company frontage—B Company was to attack on the right, D Company in the centre, and A Company on the left. C Company was in support, and was to advance about two hundred yards in rear of the assaulting troops.
At once the Battalion fell in and marched off. Owing to the darkness of the night and the fact that everyone was completely ignorant of the ground, companies did not quite reach their assembly positions by zero hour, but were drawn up about the line of the Kemmelbeke. At 4-25 a.m. the barrage—a very thin one—opened, and the Battalion advanced. It passed through a deserted camp and came to a road, along the line of which were some old trenches. These had been occupied by the enemy, but he retired when the British advanced. The trenches were occupied and a halt was made there. This was due to the failure of the next battalion to advance.