72nd Seaforth Highlanders of Canada - Electric Scotland

SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS OF CANADA
into the enemy front line, and incidentally and incredibly
as it might seem into a German poker party seated on
the floor of the trench. Despite two misfires occuring to
his rifle, Brown shot three of the five before the arrival
of reinforcements forced a tactical withdrawal. But for
his rifle going back on him twice, the party would either
been wiped out or
taken prisoner.
The Battalion s first night attack came on June 27th
when, after 24 hours wire-cutting fire on the defenses of
Avion trench and the Eleu spur, the 72nd fronted a defi
nite objective.
This was that portion of Avion trench that
lay between Patrick communication trench on the right
and another about 800 yards off on the left. The 72nd
knew all about the hostile position through the efficient
work of its scouts and observers, and the C. 0. decided to
put only one company into the attack. The honour fell
to "D"
Company, plus squads from "A" and "C",
and
after the assembling, partly in Quebec trench, but mostly
lined along tapes stretched into No Man s Land on the
left flank along a line roughly paralleling Avion trench and
about 400 yards distant from it,
"D"
Company jumped off
following a rolling barrage at 2:30 a.m. on June 28th. De
spite the almost absolute darkness, and the fact that the
troops used had never seen the ground in daylight, owing
to their being in support during the previous attack, the
assault was a complete success. The highest praise is due
to Lieut. W. G. Mclntosh, and those of his officers and N.
C. O. s who had seen the position on the previous day and
were thus able to keep direction the most difficult of all
things in a night attack over unfamiliar ground. But the
determined valour of the men they led was amply witnessed
to when the breaking light of June 28th revealed the
slaughtered and vanquished foe in Avion trench. For the
Kilties had swept through the darkness into that trench
with irresistible force. The bayonet, the bomb and the
clubbed rifle did their work. The objective was cleared
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