The other
brigades were supposed to have gone over the top at dawn. So we went
over at 7 a.m. We went forward very nicely, under cover of a 'creeping
barrage' which was represented by drums rumbling and flags waving. At
the little village of (Noir Carme) Giffin went to the right, and I took
Topping's and Heap's sections through the village and round to a field
the other side where I turned half-left and awaited Giffin's arrival on
the right. When he came up we all advanced to our final objective which
was in advance of the Battalion's objective. We have to go to the
outpost line. Then we sent off flares to signal to the aircraft that we
had reached our objective; and then we were supposed to be digging in
and putting out wire, patrolling, and resisting counter-attacks! As a
matter of fact we sat there for a an hour or two. My two sections were
on the extreme left of the whole Brigade.
"At 11.30 the stunt was declared over and the men went home; but General
Stockwell wished to see all the officers in the Brigade. So we assembled
near the aerodrome. The General was very agreeable; he was in a most
agreeable and accommodating mood; he seemed very pleased indeed with
everything. He spoke for about twenty minutes on the operations. He is
really a brilliant speaker.
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