r the spell of action
he did not even know that he was hurt.

It was Canada's hour; all the months of drill at home, all the dreams on
board the transport of charges to come, all the dull monotony of
billets, all the slimy vigil of trenches, all the labor of preparation
come to a head for every individual. Such was the impulse of the tidal
wave which broke over the crest upon the astounded Germans who had
gained a footing in the trench, engulfing them in as dramatic an
episode as ever occurred on the Somme front.

"Give yourselves up and be quick about it! We've business elsewhere!"
said the officers.

Yes, they had business with the German first-line trench when the
artillery curtain lifted, where few Germans were found, most of them
having been in the charge. The survivors here put up their hands before
they put up their heads from shelter and soon were on their way back to
the rear in the company of the others.

"I guess we had the first batch of prisoners to reach an inclosure on
the morning of the 14th," said one Canadian. "We had a start with some
coming into our own front line to be captured."

On the left Mouquet Farm, which, with its unsurpassed dugouts and
warrens surrounded by isolated machine gun posts, had repulsed previous
attacks, could not resist the determined onslaught which will share
glory, when history is written, with the storming of Courcelette. Down
hill beside the Bapaume Road swept the right and center, with
shell-craters still thick but growing fewer as the wave came out into
open fields in face of the ruins of the sugar factory, with the tank
Creme de Menthe ready to do her part. She did not take care of all the
machine guns; the infantry attended to at least one, I know. The German
artillery turned on curtains of fire, but in one case the Canadians
were not there when the curtain was laid to bar their path. They had
been too rapid for the Germans. No matter what obstacle the Germans put
in the way the business of the Canadians was to "get there"--and they
"got there." The line marked on their map from the Bapaume Road to the
east of the sugar factory as their objective was theirs. In front of
them was the village of Courcelette and in front of the British line
linked up on their right was Martinpuich.

Spades now! Dig as hard as you have charged in order to hold the freshly
won position, with "there" become "here" and the Ridge at your backs!
The London song of "The Byng Boys are Here