ne a great
gash in the earth some 7,000 or 8,000 yards in total length. In form
like a great "Y" lying on its side, the prongs at the top projected
down to the German front line while the stem ran back connecting with
the road through the dip which goes from Beaumont-Hamel on the north
to the Ancre. At the forked or western end, projecting down to the
front, there is a chasm more than thirty feet deep, with walls so
precipitous that in some parts they overhang. The Germans had burrowed
into the sides of the earth and established lairs far below the thirty
feet level of the ravine, where they were practically out of reach of
shell fire coming from whatever direction. In some instances they had
hollowed out great caves large enough to contain fully a battalion and
a half of men. In addition, the thoroughgoing Germans had made a
tunnel from the forward end of the ravine to their own fourth line in
the rear. Altogether the position was admirably adapted to sustain a
long defense and it was owing to the darkness when the British
attacked, and which took the Germans by surprise, that the stronghold
was captured. The violent artillery bombardment by the British before
the attack had battered all the ordinary trenches and positions to
pieces without effecting any serious damage to the underground
shelters. Following the bombardment, the Scotch troops broke over the
German defenses, meeting their only check in the onward rush at the
ends of the "Y" ravine. On the south of this narrow point, keeping
step with the Naval Division on their right, they swept across the
first and second lines to the third. Here there was stiff fighting for
a time, and when the Scots had struggled forward they left behind a
trench full of German dead. On the north side every foot of ground was
contested before the third line was reached, and then from both sides
the ravine was attacked with bombs. At a point just behind the fork of
the "Y" the first breach was made, and down the sheer sides of the
ravine the British troops dropped with bayonet in hand. Then followed
a stubborn struggle, for the Germans filled both sides of the chasm.
Bombing, bayoneting, and grappling hand to hand continued for some
time, the Germans despite their bravery being slowly forced back. At
this stage of the fighting the British delivered a new frontal attack
against the narrow bit of the front line still unbroken at the forward
end of the "Y." As the Germans at that end turne