72nd Seaforth Highlanders of Canada - waughfamily.ca

SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS OF CANADAthat effect. Coming as it did on the conclusion of a wellpractisedattack, things looked well for the men who wereto occupy the front line.Through the camp at the Chateau the bugles soundedthe "fall in." Men poured out of the huts buckling ontheir "battle order," and as the sun went down behind thehigh ground of Masnil Bouche, the clear notes of the "advance" floated into the evening air, while the Battalionswung away in column of route for the trenches. Theweather, which had been lovely during the day, now turnedto pouring rain. Black masses of cloud rolled across theheavens making the night pitch dark. Up the slipperyslopes of Vimy Ridge the Battalion toiled, and after leaving the village of Givenchy behind, entered the tortuousClucas trench. After a long and trying relief the 72nd foundthemselves in the front line. Already the eastern sky wasgrowing brighter with the dawn. Zero hour was fixed for7 a.m., and barely had the Company officers received theirfinal hasty orders from their respective Commanders, whenthe silence was shattered by the pulsating roar of the barrage. Across the intervening 100 yards separating the twofront lines the 72nd swept in perfect order. Over theenemy front line they went and not a Boche shot had beenfired. Skirting the ruins of La Coulotte on the left theBattalion headed for the formidable unfinished railwayembankment beyond the town, where it was anticipated theGermans would put up a strenuous fight. As the soldiersmounted and passed the embankment no resistance wasencountered, but the extent of the enemy withdrawal couldbe seen, as parties of them could be observed falling backon the line of Avion trench along the outskirts of the village from which it takes its name. This extends to thehigh ground of the Eleu dit Leauvette spur which, risingfrom the marshes of the Souchez, commands an extensiveview of Lens from the south west.Modern warfare forbids pushing after an enemy when62