In anticipation of the enemy’s withdrawal, fighting patrols went out by day and night to obtain certain information of his dispositions. As a rule the enemy withdrew from his forward positions on the approach of our patrols, relying on machine guns to defend his line.
On the 2nd, several explosions and fires were noticed behind the German lines, and our aeroplanes flew over Sallaumines and Méricourt without drawing any fire. On the morning of the 3rd, the 59th Brigade found the enemy’s positions in the Avion sector unoccupied, and immediately advanced. At 3.30 P.M. Divisional Headquarters sent out the order for an advance by battle patrols on the whole front to be begun at 5.30. Schemes had been prepared for some time, so that all units moved on receipt of the code word “Berlin.”
Avion Sector
The Green Crassier and Flooded Area
At this time the dispositions were as follows. The 61st Brigade on the right held the line opposite the German positions between Fresnoy and Acheville, the 60th Brigade in the centre faced the trenches between Acheville and Méricourt, and the 59th Brigade on the left carried on the line to the Souchez river. The front line was held from right to left by the 7th D.C.L.I., the 12th King’s, the 12th K.R.R.C., the 6th K.S.L.I., the 2nd Scottish Rifles, and the 11th K.R.R.C. In reserve were the 7th Somerset L.I., the 12th R.B., and the 11th R.B.
The 8th Division was on the right of the 20th and the 58th on the left.
The operations began on the left, where on the morning of the 3rd the enemy was found to have withdrawn. “A” and “B” Companies of the 11th K.R.R.C. advanced at 9 A.M. An hour later, although fired on by snipers and isolated machine guns, these two companies established an outpost line north of the Bull Ring and a thousand yards in front of their former line. On the following day “D” Company moved forward through “A” and “B,” and occupied the Sallaumines Ridge. Patrols penetrated as far as Noyelles, 2500 yards east of Lens, but coming under heavy shell-fire they were forced to withdraw. The line gained on this day was held until the 6th, when the battalion was relieved.
On the right of the 11th K.R.R.C., “C” Company of the 2nd Scottish Rifles occupied the near embankment of the Bull Ring on the morning of the 3rd, while patrols of “D” Company passed through. These patrols came under heavy machine-gun fire from the south, but they rapidly gained the far side of the Bull Ring and the village of Sallaumines. The only point at which they were held up was on the right, where the enemy opened very heavy fire from machine guns in Méricourt and at the south-east end of the Bull Ring.
To support the advance of these two battalions, the batteries of the 91st Field Artillery Brigade moved forward on the 3rd to positions along the Lens—Arras road.