left of the Seventh Division, was to fight its way to Rue du
Marais and Violaines. The Indian contingent had received orders
to keep in touch with the Third Division. The Fifty-first Division
was sent to Estaires to act as a support to the First Army. By the
night of May 17, 1915, the British held all of the first line of
German trenches from the south of Festubert to Richebourg l'Avoue.
For a part of that distance the second and third lines of trenches
had been taken and held; and still farther forward the British
possessed many important points. Moreover the British soldiers
were so inspired with their success that they desired to press
on in spite of the fact that the nature of the country was such
that they were wet through and covered with mud. It was not all
enthusiasm, however. Mingled with the desire for victory was a desire
for revenge. The British on this part of the line were enraged by
the use of gas at Ypres and the sinking of the _Lusitania_.

On the night of May 17, 1915, the Fourth Cameron Highlanders, a
Territorial battalion, met with disaster. The men composing this
unit were from Inverness-shire, Skye, and the Outer Islands. Many
of them had been gamekeepers and hence were accustomed to outdoor
life and the handling of guns, all of which aided them in saving
the remnant of their command. They had been ordered to take some
cottages, occupied by German soldiers as a makeshift fortification.
The Cameronians on the way to the attack fell into a ditch which
was both deep and wide. It was necessary for them to swim to get
across the ditch in some places. In the meantime Highlanders were
being slain by German shells and the rifle fire that the men in
the cottages rained upon the Scots. One company was annihilated.
Another company lost its way. The rear end of a German communicating
trench was reached by a third company. Long before midnight this
company was almost without ammunition. Two platoons reenforced it
at midnight; but the reenforcements had no machine guns, which
would have given at least temporary relief. Under the circumstances
the only thing for the Territorials to do was to retreat. The Germans
made that quite as perilous a venture as the advance had been.
Only half of those who started for the cottages returned. Among
the slain was the commander, and twelve other officers were also
killed.

The British, in spite of a cold rain, pushed on 1,200 yards north
of the Festubert-La Quinque Rue road