is direction was straight ahead in line with the men on his right and
left.

With dead and wounded scattered over the field behind them, all who
could stand on their feet, including officers and men knocked over and
buried by shells and with wounds of arms and heads and even legs which
made them hobble, reached the edge of the village on time and lay down
to await the lifting of the fire of their own guns before the final
rush.

After charging such a distance and paying the toll of casualties exacted
they enjoyed a breathing space, a few minutes in which to steady their
thoughts for the big thing before, "lean for the hunt," they sprang up
to be in for the fray with the burst of the last shells from their guns.
They knew what to do. It had been drilled into them; they had talked it
and dreamed it in billets when routine became humdrum, these men with
practical minds who understood the essentials of their task.

There were fewer Canadians charging through the streets than there were
Germans in the village at that moment. The Canadians did not know it,
but if they had it would have made no difference, such was their spirit.
Secure in their dugouts from bombardment, the first that the Germans, in
their systematized confidence that the enemy would not try for a second
objective that day, knew of the presence of the Canadians was when the
attackers were at the door and a St. Lawrence River incisiveness was
calling on the occupants to come out as they were prisoners--which
proves the advantage of being quick. The second wave was left to "mop
up" while the first wave passed on through the village to nail down the
prize by digging new trenches. Thus, they had their second objective,
though on the left of the line where the action had been against a part
of the old first-line system of trenches progress had been slow and
fighting bitter.

The Canadians who had to "mop up" had the "time of their lives" and some
ticklish moments. What a scene! Germans in clean uniforms coming out of
their dugouts blinking in surprise at their undoing and in disgust,
resentment and suppressed rage! Canadians, dust-covered from
shell-bursts, eyes flashing, laughing, rushing about on the job in the
midst of shouts of congratulation and directions to prisoners among the
ruins, and the German commander so angered by the loss of the village
that he began pouring in shells on Germans and Canadians at the same
time! Two colonels were among the capture