The assaulting companies of the 3 attacking battalions assembled in Grove Alley. The 1st Canterbury objective amounted to 500 yards, that of 1st Auckland to 750, and that of 1st Otago to 500, excluding the flank which they would form down the Abbey Road to the North Road valley. It was arranged between the 2 Corps that as soon as the New Zealanders were established in their objectives they should take over from the 1st Division the whole of Goose Alley from the Abbey Road down to its junction with the Flers System, and whatever further ground should be gained in Flers Support.

The 25th dawned beautifully fine, and only a few puffs of white cloud broke the steely blue of the sky. Early in the day the enemy bombarded our trenches for 2 hours, causing several casualties, and opened a searching fire with shells of all calibres on the battery positions in Devil's Valley. The gunners of one battery were forced to withdraw, but just prior to their returning to the gun-pits before zero, the bombardment fortunately slackened. In the course of the morning an enterprising feat was performed by 2nd Lt. L. S. Carmichael and a few men of the 13th Battery, which was supporting the troops on the right. They went forward to a captured group of German guns cast of Flers and fired 80 rounds of high-explosive at one of our abandoned tanks which was being used as a Strong Point in the German front line some 700 yards away. Most of the shots were direct hits. The tank was rendered useless before the party were obliged to withdraw by a concentrated relation which destroyed one of the guns and its detachment.

The moment fixed for the infantry attack was 12.35 p.m. The creeping artillery barrage was excellently steady, and the infantry, leaving their trenches at the appointed time, followed within 25 yards of the bursting shells. At the beginning of the assault, the enemy's artillery fire was not heavy, and though later it intensified with particularly marked violence on Flers, at no time were the advancing lines exposed to any considerable volume. Nor did the German infantry show their wonted resolution.

As 1st Canterbury advanced on Factory Corner, about 60 of the enemy attempted to retire towards the Goose Alley ridge, but were practically exterminated by our machine guns. Considerable anxiety had been felt about the Strong Point, which had twice repulsed 2nd Wellington, at the junction of Grove Alley with the sunken Flers-Factory Corner road. It was subjected, therefore, to a severe bombardment by light trench mortars prior to the assault. Its capture was effected without difficulty. The enemy garrison was found to have suffered heavily, and 2 machine gun crews had been put out of action. The guns themselves, however, were undamaged, and were subsequently used in our line. In an intermediate trench connected with the Strong Point some: resistance was offered, but for the most part the enemy ran, not a few falling in our machine gun barrage which, as the infantry approached their goal, lifted on to Gird and Gird Support. All the battalion's objectives were secured without trouble, and among the prisoners captured in the German headquarters at Factory Corner was a battalion staff of the same 13th Bavarian Reserve Regiment, another unit of which had disputed so obstinately with 2nd Canterbury the possession of Goose Alley. The German colonel was wounded, and while being attended to in the advanced dressing station was killed by one of his countrymen's shells. Factory Corner had been artillery headquarters, and one of the buildings also had been used as an Engineers' dump, so that the quantity of useful war material captured by 1st Canterbury was very considerable. In the centre and left, 1st Auckland and 1st Otago established the line of the Road with very few casualties.

After the pause, 1st Otago, gauging their flank by a signal displayed by the English troops in the southern end of Goose Alley, stormed the spur. in an irresistible onrush. They captured 30 Bavarians and 3 machine guns. Under cover of an advanced line of skirmishers, a series of posts was then dug in by 1st Canterbury and 1st Auckland on the high ground from in front of the German cemetery at Factory Corner to the point where Goose Alley crossed the Abbey Road.{56} Already, at a few minutes after 1 p.m., and again shortly afterwards, the Division had received reports from aeroplanes of a line of flares along this part of the ridge, showing that our furthest objectives were held in strength. Captured German officers agreed that the attack had been made with great dash. They spoke bitterly of their artillery, and said they were waging the war “on their own.” Many were frankly delighted to be taken prisoners and to be out of the “Hell on the Somme.”

In the afternoon a company of 1st Wellington, in conformity with Corps arrangements, moved up to support the left of Otago, and took over from the British garrison Flers Support and the southern sector of Goose Alley. Through the day, though observation was good, only 10 hostile aeroplanes and 4 balloons had appeared in the sky, and these at different times. In the evening the Indian cavalry trotted up to Flers. On their appearance a German balloon above Le Transloy was lowered in panic haste, and the fitful enemy artillery woke into precipitate activity. The cavalry's turn, however, had not yet come. Gueudecourt still resisted capture. Elsewhere the day had been one of success for the Allied Armies. The French had attained almost all their objectives. The British had seized Les Bœufs and Morval. The early fall of Combles was assured.

A certain amount of bombing exchanges took place between the Wellington sentries and the enemy in Flers Support, but on the whole the night 25th/26th September passed quietly. A gap of 500 yards on the 55th Division's flank to the right of Canterbury was filled by Liverpool troops, and thence to the other extremity-of the New Zealand sector the posts on the ridge were converted into a continuous line by dawn.

The 26th was another fine day. To make up for the previous day's curious inertia the Germans sent no less than 18 balloons into the sky, but an aeroplane attack destroyed one, and the rest were lowered. Observation was exceptionally good. There was considerable movement from the north-east of Gueudecourt back to the ridge running to Ligny Thilloy, and on these excellent targets the 3rd Brigade and other batteries poured effective fire. It was tantalising to the field artillery to watch traffic on the Bapaume-Peronne Road, out of reach. In the afternoon a German battery was seen retiring at full gallop towards Ligny Thilloy. After darkness fell, the flashes of another battery between the Butte de Warlincourt and Le Sars were observed. It was located and silenced.

Shortly after midday (26th September) heavy shelling in rear of our front line and on Flers village and the Flers System seemed to presage an enemy attack and indicate an attempt to bar the advance of our supports. A brigade of German infantry was also seen advancing from Ligny Thilloy and Le Barque in the direction of Factory Corner and of the 55th Division's line on our right. As they took cover for assembly in the corn and long grass, the artillery supporting the 55th Division and the “heavies” searched the area, and on the Germans advancing into the open in extended order, the guns broke into salvoes of destruction. The attack withered away, and the fleeing remnants were annihilated by the 3rd and 4th Artillery Brigades and the English batteries. By 6 p.m. all was quiet on the right. On the left, the 1st Wellington company, in cooperation with English troops in Flers Trench, bombed some distance up Flers Support.

While no movement of importance took place on the divisional front on the 26th, welcome progress was being effected elsewhere. Westwards, the Reserve Army struck before the enemy had time to recover front the blow dealt him on the 25th by the Fourth Army, and, swinging into line, seized Thiepval and the Thiepval Ridge. On the immediate right, Gueudecourt at last fell. A squadron of cavalry was sent out to the north-east of its ruins, and it was hoped that their action might lead to the evacuation of the Gird System in the neighbourhood and its peaceful occupation. This aim was not achieved, however, and the necessary full-dress attack by the 55th and New Zealand Divisions was ordered for the following day.

For this operation the 4th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade was put under the tactical command of General Earl Johnston from the evening of the 26th, and took over Goose Alley and Flers Support from 1st Wellington. The remainder of the Rifle Brigade lay in the intermediate area ready to move at 15 minutes' notice. The 2nd Brigade, in reserve, were similarly to be prepared to move on 30 minutes' warning. The road from Factory Corner to Ligny Thilloy was fixed as the boundary between the 55th Division and the New Zealanders. The former would seize the Gird System thence to Gueudecourt. The New Zealand Division would capture a further sector of the system from the road to the northern end of Goose Alley, and, in addition, the rest of Goose Alley down to the Abbey Road, from which point southward the success of the 25th had put it in our possession.

During the night patrols inspected the Gird entanglements, which extended on iron standards in 4 rows. Opposite the right of 1st Canterbury they were found considerably damaged, but 1st Auckland reported the wire in front of their objective to be intact. As on the 25th, the 1st Brigade policy was to employ 3 battalions. The right battalion was ordered to seize the Gird System from the road on the Divisional boundary to the parallel road running to Le Barque. The centre would capture the rest of the line to its junction with Goose Alley. The task of the left battalion was to complete the circle by forming a defensive flank from Gird Support down Goose Alley. In each case the frontage to be assaulted was about 500 yards. The enemy trenches were held by Bavarian Reserve Regiments who had relieved other units of their formation during the night. They had suffered heavy losses in the process and were much “mixed up.” They were themselves due for relief on the 27th/28th, and were looking forward to leaving the Somme. Before they left, however, they were still to feel the grit of the New Zealand soldier.

Zero was fixed for 2.15 p.m., but in order to avoid observation the troops were formed up before daylight. The dispositions were the same as on the 25th. 1st Canterbury were on the right and 1st Auckland in the centre; 1st Otago, on their left, assembled 3 assaulting companies in the Abbey Road and 1 company in Goose Alley. 1st Wellington were again in reserve in Grove Alley, and were now completed by the company relieved in Flers Support by the 4th Rifles. The weather on the 27th continued fine, and observation was good. Considerable hostile movement was noted, and effectively engaged, on the Ligny Thilloy slopes, where lay the last German line, and towards the roads and hollows behind Gird Support. About an hour before the assault, a party of 150 Germans, apparently relieved in the trenches and carrying full equipment, elected to make for their back area across the open. The batteries fell on them like lightning, and the survivors scattered. The German artillery, which had been active throughout the night on our rear areas, now devoted more attention to the front trenches, and the reserve battalion in particular suffered punishment.

Our preparatory destructive bombardment had started at 7 am., but there was no betraying increase of fire prior to the moment of attack. Then the "heavies" dropped ponderously and devastatingly on the position and searched back quickly for 200 yards. In accordance with programme, the attack was launched 3 minutes after zero. Directly our waves appeared, the enemy field guns opened, but their fire, though heavier than in the last operation, was still inadequate to cheek the assault. On the right, 1st Canterbury made no pause in Gird Trench, and with the 55th Division troops advancing in line, gained their objective in Gird Support with comparative case and few casualties. The left company was for a time held up by bombers and machine guns, but the opposition was beaten down by the initiative and dash of L.-Cpl. G. A. Hewitt and other Lewis gunners. Generally the enemy were demoralised. A considerable party flying eastwards were caught at 300 yards' range by our machine guns and mown down. Some 80 prisoners were captured, who said that before they knew it the New Zealanders were on them. Ten minutes prior to the attack, a battalion of a Reserve Division had started forward to reinforce the weak Bavarian garrison in the line. Only 1 company penetrated the barrage, and immediately on its arrival it was annihilated. The German losses were excessive. When the attack started, some of our old friends of the 13th Bavarian Reserve Regiment came up to reinforce, but were blotted out of existence. Gird Trench had not suffered much. Gird Support, however, which might have served as our front line, was in places only 18 inches deep, and elsewhere obliterated. A new trench was therefore dug on the reverse slope of a shallow depression beyond.

The other battalions were less fortunate. The right company of 1st Auckland gained its objective. The left company met a heavy artillery barrage and machine gun fire and was held up by the uncut wire reported on the previous evening. The enemy barrage fell similarly upon the 3 companies of 1st Otago who, preserving their order despite an awkward change of direction, attacked the northern end of Goose Alley. Only a handful of these companies reached the neighbourhood of the junction of Goose and Gird, where their numbers were still further reduced by a converging enemy fire on this deadly salient in our line. As our barrage lifted by stages up Goose Alley the remaining Otago company in its southern end bombed up 300 yards from the Abbey Road as far as the Factory Corner Eaucourt Road, where a Strong Point was made. The remainder of the sap had been blown to pieces and was little more than a track. NO news coming in of the other 3 companies, the Goose Alley company sent out patrols to clear up the situation. These were, however, held up by the machine gun fire from the junction of Gird Trench and Goose Alley. It was becoming apparent that just as the southern junction of Goose Alley with the Flers System had given trouble, so also trouble was to be given at its northern junction with Gird.

As soon as the assaulting battalions moved, the reserve battalion (1st Wellington) had sent one company to Factory Corner and a second to Goose Alley to take the place of the Otago company working northwards. A call was therefore made on this latter Wellington company at 4 p.m. Bombing its way up the shallow continuation of Goose Alley, it carried the line another 400 Yards north, establishing posts to within 100 yards of the Gird junction, where men fell, struggling in vain to make further progress. Immediately after dusk a platoon of this Wellington company was sent over the open to the right to occupy Gird Trench cast of its junction with Goose Alley and establish connection with the 1st Auckland troops in it. A further Wellington company moved up to the southern part of Goose Alley.

Meanwhile, for Battalion and Brigade Headquarters, the situation on the left long remained obscure. The afternoon was slightly hazy, but enemy movement from Thilloy towards the gullies and roads in front of our positions was repeatedly engaged and several times the good effect of our artillery was observed. Back at brigade headquarters, on the slopes beyond Flers, General Earl Johnston and his Staff strained their eyes to discern signs of movement beyond the spot where our waves had been lost to view. An enemy balloon broke loose and rose to an enormous height in the light-blue vault of heaven. Some German aeroplanes hovered over Ligny Thilloy unenterprisingly. But no news came from the line.

Orders were therefore given in the late afternoon to 1st Wellington to clear up the position at dawn. Only 1 company of the battalion now remained for operations, but it was strengthened by 2 companies of the 4th Rifles, who, as has been noted were at the disposal of the 1st Brigade, and by 2 sections of light trench mortars. An effort was also made to get the assistance of a tank. In the evening, 1st Wellington Headquarters moved to dugouts in the North Road. The Wellington company and one of the Rifles' companies were warned for the attack. The former were ordered to clear up Goose Alley, and the rifleman the Gird Trenches. Of the other companies of the 4th Rifles, one, as has been said, held the left of the line in Flers Support in touch with the 2nd (British) Brigade, and one was held in brigade reserve in Grove Alley.

At 3 a.m. on the 28th, no definite word having been heard of the tank, the 2 companies moved off, but in addition to the darkness a heavy hostile barrage prevented the Rifles' company-from reaching the assembly area, and the operation had to be cancelled. The tank, also, for which a Wellington officer waited some uncomfortable hours at Factory Corner, “failed to materialise.” All through the night stretcher-bearers toiled back with the wounded survivors of the attack. On daylight the Rifles' company was sent to strengthen the left of Auckland, where it made some progress by bombs up Gird Support. It was now established that the 2 Gird Trenches and Goose Alley were all held to within 100 yards of their junction and there “blocked,” but that the junctions themselves were not in our possession. Wellington were therefore ordered to carry out a fresh attack to secure them.

While preparations, however, were being made for this, a personal reconnaissance by Lt.-Col. Hart cleared up the actual position. It was found that the junction lay in an inconsiderable hollow about 150 yards wide, which formed the top of a shallow valley leading towards the Ligny Thilloy Road north of the point where the Gird System crossed it. This depression was not marked on the map and had not been detected on the aeroplane photographs, but, though of slight extent, its local tactical importance was considerable. It was untenable by either side without the possession of all the high ground which rose some 50 feet. on its 3 sides, and formed an incomplete lip to the saucer. Local attacks had already cleared the Gird trenches up to their points of intersection with Goose Alley, but the manning of them would have been costly, and they were commanded by our new positions. For while the Germans still held the northern and most of the western slopes, we were now firmly established on the southern and part of the western lips. Thus the objectives had in effect been gained. The further attack was cancelled, and orders were issued for the construction of trenches to connect our 3 separate lines in Gird Support, Gird Trench, and Goose Alley.

The casualties, especially of Otago, had been severe, and in the late evening General Earl Johnston asked the Division for another battalion. The 2nd Rifles was placed at his disposal to strengthen the left flank, and moved up to the support positions, 2 companies occupying Flers Trench and 2 Flers Support. But if our losses had been grievous, the Germans had been reduced by this succession of deadly blows well-nigh to despair. A captured diary had a final uncompleted entry for the 27th, written just before our attack:—

“No relief. Feeling of hopelessness, apathetic, everyone sleeps under heaviest fire—due to exhaustion. NO rations, no drink. The whole day heavy fire on the left. We got heavy and H.E. shells. Everything all the same to us. The best thing would be for the British to come. No one worries about us; our relief said to be cancelled. If one wants sleep, aeroplanes will not let us rest. In the present conditions, one no longer thinks. Iron rations, bread, biscuit, all eaten……”

During the night 27th/28th September patrols were sent out during an arranged interval in our protective barrage to discover any trace of rearward movement induced by these operations and by the fall of Gueudecourt on the 26th. On the right, a patrol moved 300 yards along the Ligny Thilloy Road without gaining touch with the enemy. On the left flank, a reconnaissance penetrated within 300 yards of Eaucourt l'Abbaye. No enemy was actually encountered, but just to the north of the abbey and in Gird Trench beyond were many flares, indicating the presence of strong forces. On the following day (28th) German working parties could be seen in the clear atmosphere feverishly digging trenches some 800 yards south and east of Ligny Thilloy. At various places behind his lines, north-east of Les Bœufs and at Villers-au-Flos, there were explosions and fires. The 2nd Artillery Brigade engaged large bodies of German infantry coming up to the front line north of Eaucourt l'Abbaye. In the afternoon the 1st Brigade infantry captured an officer and his batman of a battalion of the newly-arrived 6th Bavarian Reserve Division, who had come up to reconnoitre the position. This Division had occupied the trenches just south of Armentieres since 1914. Though not marked as assault troops, they had proved stubborn in defence, as the Australians had found in their attack on 19th July. They had left the northern area in the second week of September, arrived in Bapaume 2 days previously, and were now commencing to relieve the exhausted troops in the line.

On the night 28th/29th the 1st Infantry Brigade said farewell to the Somme front line trenches and marched back, 2 battalions to Savoy and Carlton Trenches, and 2 to Mametz Wood. The 2nd Brigade, who took over the line under heavy shelling, garrisoned the Gird System with 2nd Wellington on the right and 2nd Auckland on their left; 2nd Otago occupied Goose Alley, and 2nd Canterbury was placed in reserve in Grove Alley. All these units were now sadly reduced in number, and the 2nd Rifles remained on the extreme left of the line in Flers Trench and Flers Support under the command of General Braithwaite. The 4th Battalion moved back to join the rest of the brigade in the intermediate area, but its place was taken on the 29th by the 3rd Battalion:

The recent progress made had brought the III. Corps within striking distance of Eaucourt l'Abbaye, and a further attack was proposed for 1st October with a view to its capture. In this attack the New Zealanders on the left flank of the XV. Corps would co-operate. The 2nd Brigade prepared its plans accordingly. On the night 30th September/1st October the 3rd Rifles relieved 2nd Wellington on the right of the line, to enable Wellington to be brought into a preparatory assembly position on the left in Goose Alley and Flers Support. Under continued sniping fire, the trenches commenced by the 1st Brigade to connect Gird Trench with Gird Support and with Goose Alley were pushed through to provide the necessary accommodation and communications. Turk lane was extended by the indefatigable Maoris. The enemy persistently shelled Goose Alley and Factory Corner, where a magnificent well, 125 feet deep with 75 feet of water, was kept night and day under his shrapnel and indirect machine gun fire. During the night the 1st and 2nd Artillery Brigades pushed their guns still further up, west of Flers.

The weather was again heavy and foggy, with slight drizzling rain, which made visibility poor but screened parties working in the open. Both sides took full advantage of this, In the early morning of the 30th the light mist cleared away for a moment, and the sentries on the left of our line detected an enemy party of 2 officers and 20 men. The machine gun officer at the spot, Lt. H. M. Preston, had his guns on the unsuspecting Germans in a twinkling. Both officers and all but 2 of the enemy were killed.

In the afternoon at the same point a particularly clean piece of work was carried out in Flers Support by a party of the 2nd Rifles under Capt. H. E. Barrowclough. The 47th Division, who had again relieved the 1st Division on the III. Corps right, were holding Flers Trench west of Goose Alley. On the previous evening they had attempted, by bombing up Flers Trench and Flers Support, to extend their hold towards Eaucourt l'Abbaye, but without success. Their task would be materially lightened if the thrust up the Support Line were made by the New Zealanders. The 2nd Rifles' party therefore, in co-operation, forced a way up Flers Support for 250 yards past a German Strong Point which gave some little trouble, and then, in sheer fighting enthusiasm, pressed for another 100 yards beyond their objective towards Eaucourt l'Abbaye. The Londoners progressed equally well, and a connecting sap was dug between the 2 trenches and held as a front line. Our casualties were few.

A rather more ambitious operation, designed to clear the way for the division's part in the attack to be delivered on 1st October, was allotted to 2nd Canterbury and 2nd Otago. It was the intention that they should capture the northern lip which overhung the depression at the Gird-Goose junction, and thence establish a line in front of Goose Alley down to the Abbey Road. This was, however, cancelled in view of the shortness of time available for preparations and owing to other reasons, and it was decided to take all objectives in the one enterprise.

While the 2nd Brigade battalions prepared their plans at greater leisure for the morrow, the Intelligence personnel were busy ransacking the captured Gird dugouts. In the course of their investigations, Lt. H. Simmonds, of 2nd Wellington, lighted on several German papers which looked important. They were at once forwarded to Brigade Headquarters. The sequel is shown by the following extract from Divisional Routine Orders:—

“The following received from XV. Corps is published for information and is to be communicated to all ranks: (1.) A German Army Order was found by the New Zealand Division in the trenches on 30th September, (II.) The Order, which was of great importance, as it showed the position of the German reserves in the neighbourhood, reached Army Headquarters a few hours after it was picked up. (III.) The Army Commander wishes you to convey to the New Zealand Division his appreciation of the promptitude with which the Order was secured and forwarded to Army Headquarters,”

In its next and final attack the Division was to have on its left the same troops with whom it had co-operated in its first assault 16 days previously. While the 47th Division would capture Eaucourt l'Abbaye, their right would be secured by an advance of the 2nd Brigade to a line across from the Gird-Goose junction to near the abbey. Of the 2nd Brigade troops, 2nd Auckland on the right, east of the junction, would not participate. On their left, 2nd Canterbury, coming up from reserve into the line, would act as pivot for the brigade movement. 2nd Otago, supported by 2nd Wellington, would advance in line with Canterbury on the left flank. The point of junction between the 2 Divisions was laid down in the neighbourhood of a German Strong Point, some 500 yards north-east of the abbey. This redoubt was a maze of concentric circular trenches, which stood out very prominently on the map and won it the name of The Circus. From it a newly-dug line, called Circus Trench, ran to Gird on the northern lip of the saucer, and half way, a further branch fighting trench diverged from the Circus Trench to the Abbey Road. The Circus itself resembled a knot in the long thread of an unnamed communication sap which, like Goose Alley, connected the Gird and Flers Systems. Canterbury would carry the high ground held by the enemy over the depression at the Gird-Goose junction and seize: the Circus Trench as far as the Le Barque High Wood road. Otago, followed by Wellington, would cross the intermediate branch trench and capture the rest of the Circus Trench, linking up with the right of the 47th Division. Of the long communication sap, the section from the Flers System to the Abbey Road fell within the. 47th Division's area. The capture of the part from the Road to The Circus was assigned to the New Zealanders. The northernmost sector from The Circus to Gird lay outside the scheme of attack.

During the night (30th September/1st October) our forward areas were heavily shelled. At 7 a.m., on 1st October, in fine weather, our preparatory bombardment commenced all along the positions marked for assault and elsewhere. In front, of Canterbury, 4 light trench mortars made a gap in the wire protecting Gird. Soon after midday the 2nd Rifles' company was withdrawn from its most westerly positions in Flers Support to enable the artillery to shell the remainder of the trench towards Eaucourt l'Abbaye prior to the advance of the 47th Division.

The hour of attack was 3.15 p.m. It had been decided that not merely should the positions aimed at be smothered with high-explosive, but also that the enemy's defences on the Corps front not included in the day's objectives should be subjected to an intense barrage, of which advantage was to be taken to gain useful ground for forward movement in the future. The fact, however, that the New Zealanders were the only troops of the XV. Corps actually engaged allowed the use of preponderating artillery on their front. Up to the present the Division had been supported by 88 field guns and howitzers; for the forthcoming operation, 180 field guns and howitzers were behind the attack, and the increase of "heavies" corresponded. A detachment of the Special Brigade, R.E., operated on the 2nd Canterbury sector, and installed 36 oil mortars in Gird Trench. These were fired a minute before zero. 6 were a failure, but the remaining 30 projectiles were seen to reach their objective satisfactorily, bursting about 1 second after landing and covering the German trenches with lurid flame and great rings of black smoke. The moral effect, as testified to by an English-speaking prisoner, was terrifying. Our contact aeroplanes came down at zero and hovered over the scene for 2 hours, after which one "was up" till dark. The enemy's artillery replied to our bombardment within a few minutes of zero. A large proportion of his shells was wasted on Flers and at Factory Corner. His barrage was, however, appreciably better organised than hitherto. A high-velocity gun shelled the area between Bazentin and Montauban in rear.

2nd Canterbury had come into the line during the morning and occupied the south-eastern slopes overlooking the saucer depression in which the northern end of Goose Alley joined the Gird System These slopes sank gradually to the valley below, but on the other side of the saucer the ground rose steeply, with a well-defined terrace on which clustered ragged clumps of bushes. The whole surface of the once grassy slopes was now a churned-up mass of clayey shellholes. From the slopes in our possession which overlooked the hollow, 4 machine guns fired over the heads of the advancing Canterbury infantry at the enemy trenches on the crest and swept the saps and bushes on the terrace opposite. A few minutes after the attack started a large party of Germans jumped out of Gird Support and began to run back across the open country. They were literally wiped out by our machine guns. 2nd Canterbury attacked with 3 companies, holding 1 in reserve. Of these, the task of the right company was to seize the high ground on the north about Gird Support. The centre company was ordered to occupy the slopes overlooking the saucer from the west and capture the 200 yards of Gird Trench to the point of departure of Circus Trench. The objective of the left company was Circus Trench to the Le Barque road. The right and half the centre company of Canterbury in the hollow were exposed only to a moderate amount of hostile fire and bombs from the barraged trenches immediately in Front, but on the hogsback of high open ground further west, the inner flank of Canterbury and the right of Otago were heavily raked by distant machine gun fire from Gird. Despite their losses, however, the left of Canterbury, like the center and right, completed its task after some bitter fighting. The trenches were found packed with corpses, piled in many places one over the other. One or two loathsome groups in the centre of the position lay burned and half eaten away by the oil. The huddled German dead, not a few of whom carried souvenirs of the Australian attack in July,{57} looked spick and span in uniforms which made the victors appear ragged in comparison. Their physique, however, was strikingly poor, and many of them were mere boys.

The whole lip of the contested depression had now once for all come into our hands. Round its far crest a new trench was dug, which was strengthened by the reserve machine guns. The continuation westwards of Gird was strongly held by Germans, who sniped at and harassed our working parties. They were effectively dealt with by Ptes. R, E. Fairbrother and L. D, McLachlan, who fired their Lewis guns over the shoulders of 2 of their comrades and inflicted many losses. The Canterbury reserve company was not sufficient to fill all the gap in the line caused by their casualties. 2nd Auckland, therefore, extended their left up Gird Support, and an Auckland company went into the line. In the afternoon, en enemy battalion was seen massing in rear, but was scattered by machine gun fire, and no attack developed. The services of a further Auckland company were called on at midnight to strong then the right flank and centre and to act as supports. A bombing counter-attack began at 11 pm down Gird, but the attackers were not of the same calibre as those with whom 2nd Canterbury had last to grapple with, at the other end of Goose Alley. They were easily held, and our light trench mortars, in the bottom of the hollow, enfilading the approaches, intimidated further efforts.