72nd Seaforth Highlanders of Canada - Electric Scotland

SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS OF CANADA
that effect. Coming as it did on the conclusion of a wellpractised
attack, things looked well for the men who were
to occupy the front line.
Through the camp at the Chateau the bugles sounded
the "fall in." Men poured out of the huts buckling on
their "battle order," and as the sun went down behind the
high ground of Masnil Bouche, the clear notes of the "ad
vance" floated into the evening air, while the Battalion
swung away in column of route for the trenches. The
weather, which had been lovely during the day, now turned
to pouring rain. Black masses of cloud rolled across the
heavens making the night pitch dark. Up the slippery
slopes of Vimy Ridge the Battalion toiled, and after leav
ing the village of Givenchy behind, entered the tortuous
Clucas trench. After a long and trying relief the 72nd found
themselves in the front line. Already the eastern sky was
growing brighter with the dawn. Zero hour was fixed for
7 a.m., and barely had the Company officers received their
final hasty orders from their respective Commanders, when
the silence was shattered by the pulsating roar of the bar
rage. Across the intervening 100 yards separating the two
front lines the 72nd swept in perfect order. Over the
enemy front line they went and not a Boche shot had been
fired. Skirting the ruins of La Coulotte on the left the
Battalion headed for the formidable unfinished railway
embankment beyond the town, where it was anticipated the
Germans would put up a strenuous fight. As the soldiers
mounted and passed the embankment no resistance was
encountered, but the extent of the enemy withdrawal could
be seen, as parties of them could be observed falling back
on the line of Avion trench along the outskirts of the vil
lage from which it takes its name. This extends to the
high ground of the Eleu dit Leauvette spur which, rising
from the marshes of the Souchez, commands an extensive
view of Lens from the south west.
Modern warfare forbids pushing after an enemy when
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