a series of other trenches and
fortified positions in shell holes and the like. And here the "tanks"
did effective service, their appearance creating consternation among
the German troops, whose gunfire was powerless to injure or to impede
the triumphal progress of these ungainly forts on wheels. In one
instance a German battalion commander surrendered to a "tank" and was
taken on board as a passenger. Up to the outskirts of Martinpuich
there was stiff fighting and the village itself bristled with machine
guns. The Germans stubbornly and bravely contested the British advance
through the ruins. The British troops, however, continued to push
forward almost yard by yard until the whole place was in their hands,
and they had dug themselves in in a line on the farthest eastern and
northern sides of the village.

Before the hour set for the advance the British troops who took
Courcelette were strongly attacked by the Germans on the front just
north of the Bapaume road. The British front-line trench was broken by
the attack, and hard fighting was in progress when the hour set for
the British advance arrived. Then from support lines and other
positions to the rear of the trench the Germans had entered the
British troops swept forward. The Germans were overwhelmed as the
waves of khaki-clad, cheering men rushed forward and over them and out
beyond the objective points as originally planned. In front of
Courcelette there were formidable German positions; two trenches in
particular which had been strongly fortified and against which the
British troops for a time hurled themselves in vain. Twice the
British troops were driven back, but the third assault was entirely
successful, the British troops sweeping over the two trenches and into
the outskirts of Courcelette. By 8.10 o'clock the British forces had
worked clear through the village ruins and had carried two especially
strong positions on the farther side, a quarry on the north and a
cemetery on the northeast of the village.

In the High Wood area, to the right of the two attacks described, the
Germans had converted a large mine crater into a fortress of
formidable strength, for from this position they could sweep the
entire wood with machine guns so placed that the British were
powerless to reach them. The "tanks" were of great efficiency in
reducing this strong point on the eastern angle of the wood. The
British troops fighting every yard of the way, slowly encircled the
wo