German dug-out, with its previous occupants
lying at the mouth of it.... I then found the commander of the left
attacking battalion, who had established his headquarters in an old
German dug-out." From him the Brigade-Major hears a ghastly tale of
casualties. Not a single officer left, with any of his four attacking
companies! Yet in spite of the loss of all their company officers, and
of the fact that the left company of the battalion had been
practically wiped out before the attack started, the greater portion
of the battalion, led by their regimental sergeant-major, had reached
their final objective.... "It was certainly," says the Brigade-Major
quietly, "a very magnificent performance."

Meanwhile he finds the commander of the right battalion further up the
ravine. The greater portion of the support battalion is also in the
ravine. Here there were elements of three battalions, considerably
disorganised, suffering from want of sleep and a terribly hard time.
The commanders, dead beat, want reinforcements, and take a pessimist
view. The Brigade-Major, coming fresh, thinks, on the contrary, that
there are already too many men on the ground, who only want
reorganising. To satisfy himself he goes forward, with the adjutant of
the right battalion, to find out "exactly where our leading troops
were and in what condition."

"I satisfied myself of the exact situation, and having visited the
troops of the brigades on both flanks, went back to the ravine,
and from one of the battalion headquarters telephoned to my
Brigadier and told him what I had found out. I mentioned that both
the battalion commanders said they needed more troops to reinforce
them, but added that in my opinion there were already sufficient
troops on the spot, and that all that was necessary was that they
should be placed under the command of one officer, and reorganised
by battalions, to hold their present positions. I told him
everything I knew, and tried to give him a good idea of the
condition of the troops on the spot. He then sent orders to me
that the senior battalion commander was to assume command of all
troops on the brigade front, and that under his orders they were
to be reorganised into battalions and companies, in order that the
defence should be as strong and efficient as possible. I then
returned to Brigade Headquarters to tell my Brigadier more fully
what I had seen."