heavily at the hands of the German gunners on the Le Tronquoy high ground, and one of them, disabled and on fire, was a mark for several German batteries.  Some of the crew managed to escape, but others, too badly wounded, were left inside; one crawled to our Aid Post.  Padre Buck heard of this and at once went off to the rescue.  The shelling was very heavy, and he was hit almost at once and wounded in many places.  He was carried back to the Aid Post, but died soon afterwards, conscious to the last, but not in great pain.  The Padre had been with us two years, and during all that time, there was never a trench or outpost that he had not visited, no matter how dangerous or exposed.  In addition to his Chaplain’s duties, he had been O.C.  Games, Recreation Room and often Mess President—­a thorough sportsman and a brave soldier, we felt his loss keenly.

Meanwhile every effort was being made to tell Brigade of our success, and, while one aeroplane with British markings bombed us (in spite of numerous red flares), another took down a message from the “Popham” sheet, which Serjeant Signaller Wilbur was operating.  Soon after 4.0 p.m.  Captain D. Hill, the Brigade Major, appeared and told us that the 32nd Division would soon arrive, and at 5-15 p.m. their leading Battalions came through us.  However, they found it was now too late to go forward, so put out Outposts just in front of our line.  Their appearance provoked the Boche to further shelling, and an unlucky hit killed Serjeant Taylor, an experienced and valuable platoon Serjeant of “C” Company.  Serjeants Marshall of “C” Company and Clarke of “D” Company, were also wounded, but our total casualties for the day were under 25.  We had reached our objective at all points and captured 8 guns and about 100 prisoners.  The Division altogether had taken 4,000 prisoners and 80 guns and had smashed the Hindenburg Line.

Though the machine-gun fire from low flying aeroplanes was somewhat troublesome at dusk, we had a quiet night after the battle, and were able to distribute rations and ammunition to the companies soon after midnight.  At the time, we hardly gave a thought to this last, but it was a feat deserving of the highest praise.  We had advanced some four miles into the enemy’s country across a canal, and by dusk bridges and roads had been built sufficient to enable horse transport to carry rations and ammunition to the most advanced units.  Ours were delivered just outside Battalion Headquarters, and the Companies fetched them from there.  The admirable organization of the Staff, and the skill and pluck of our Transport Drivers, had enabled us to go into action carrying only our rations for the one day—­very different from the Germans in their March offensive, when each man was loaded up with food for five days.