The following description of the part the battalion played in the struggle would be somewhat difficult to follow without the accompanying sketch of the ground about the Hohenzollern Redoubt and the Dump.
At 2 o’clock A and D Companies, under Major Beevor, were ordered to relieve certain parties just north of Fosse 8, the situation at which point, it may be remembered, was described by the Commander-in-Chief as being “distinctly precarious.”
Finding that the position in question had been abandoned, these companies were ordered by their brigadier, who accompanied them, to establish themselves in the Hohenzollern Redoubt.
Finding that the normal approach to this, that is, the communication trench, was too congested with troops to use, the Buffs quitted it and reached their appointed place across country, being very heavily shelled en route. In fact, both Br.-General Pereira and his brigade major, Captain Flower, were wounded, as was Lieut. Cory-Wright, who commanded D Company. On arrival, a platoon of this company charged the enemy vigorously and accounted for a score.
The companies remained in situation all night, during which our bombers had to be very active, while the wounded—and there were very many of different units—were being removed, a matter of great difficulty on account of heavy rain and the distance they had to be carried. During this night the rest of the 85th Brigade came up and B and C Companies took up a position behind A and D.
After a contradictory order or two, an assault on the dump of Fosse 8 was arranged for 9.30 a.m. on the 28th, to be preceded by fifteen minutes’ artillery fire.
The Buffs began at the hour named to file up the trenches, A Company leading, with D just behind.
The congested state of these avenues, due to dead, wounded and troops waiting to be relieved, rendered progress very slow, and many casualties were suffered from shell fire. The place from which one of the companies was to start the attack was still in the hands of the enemy, and all these circumstances prevented the men from getting into their approximate positions till after 10 a.m. The Middlesex Regiment was in support of the Buffs.
When the time came B and C Companies, followed by A, charged across the open and were greeted with the fire from machine guns massed on either flank, also shell and rifle fire. At least eleven machine guns were afterwards counted firing from the Miners’ Cottages and Slag Alley. B and C Companies, every man cheering, gained the edge of the Dump and, clambering up the crumbling slopes of that 30-foot-high mound, gained the summit. On the way Captain W. R. Davis (commanding B Company) was killed and Lieut. S. C. Swayne and 2nd Lieut. M. Selby mortally wounded. Lieut. H. Mantle, 2nd Lieuts. C. H. B. Budd, G. E. Boon, Captain M. M. Brice (commanding C Company) and 2nd Lieut. G. E. A. Steggall were all wounded and the latter taken prisoner.
The Dump was then plastered with shells of all descriptions both from our own guns and those of the enemy and the attack was broken. The companies crossed the large expanse of the Dump summit and attempted to reach the enemy in the trenches at the foot. It was a hopeless task, and those who attempted it were shot or grenaded. The companies re-formed and returned to the original trenches, leaving over one hundred men killed or wounded on the Dump.