In the short period available, elaborate preparations were made for the support of the attack. The position was eminently suitable for the use of enfilade as well as frontal fire, the general direction of the attack on Mont Houy being parallel to our front, and full advantage of this was taken in arranging the artillery and machine-gun barrages.
The application of heavy artillery fire was restricted because the enemy had retained many civilians in Valenciennes and the adjoining villages. Strict orders were issued that the city and villages were not to be bombarded, with the exception of a row of houses on the eastern side of the Canal which were occupied by a large number of machine guns. To hinder the good observation which the enemy would otherwise have been able to enjoy from the city and villages, very elaborate arrangements were made to place heavy smoke screens along certain areas.
Despite great difficulties of transport, the supplies of ammunition, bridging material, etc., moved forward were sufficient, and before dawn on November 1, 1918, all preparations were completed.
At 5.15 a. m., November 1, 1918, the attack was launched, and from the first went entirely according to plan on the Canadian Corps front. The enemy barrage dropped quickly and was very heavy, but shortly afterward slackened down under the influence of efficient counterbattery fire. In the meantime the attacking infantry got well away, advancing under a most excellent barrage and reaching their objective, the line of the Valenciennes-Maubeuge railway, on time right behind the barrage.
The fighting during the advance was heavy, especially around the houses along the Famars-Valenciennes road and in Aulnoy.
The thoroughness of the preparations made for this small but important battle is better illustrated by the following striking figures:
| Number of enemy dead buried, over | 800 |
| Prisoners captured, over (Exceeding the number of assaulting troops.) | 1,300 |
| Canadian casualties (approximate), | 80 killed and 300 wounded. |
On the left, the left brigade of the Fourth Canadian Division and the Third Canadian Division had, in the meantime, succeeded in crossing the Canal. Bridgeheads were established north of the city, the station and railway yards were seized, and the engineers commenced the construction of bridges.
The enemy did not counterattack against the Canadian Corps during the day, but continued to hold out strongly in the southern outskirts of Valenciennes and Marly, and in the steel works to the southeast until dark. Two counterattacks against the Twenty-second Corps front on the right caused some anxiety, but that flank was strengthened and no trouble developed.
During the night the Fourth Canadian Division took over an additional brigade frontage from the Forty-ninth Division (Twenty-second Corps) on the right preparatory to the capture of the high ground east of Marly.