72nd Seaforth Highlanders of Canada - waughfamily.ca

SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS OF CANADAinto the enemy front line, and incidentally and incrediblyas it might seem into a German poker party seated onthe floor of the trench. Despite two misfires occuring tohis rifle, Brown shot three of the five before the arrivalof reinforcements forced a tactical withdrawal. But forhis rifle going back on him twice, the party would eitherbeen wiped out ortaken prisoner.The Battalion s first night attack came on June 27thwhen, after 24 hours wire-cutting fire on the defenses ofAvion trench and the Eleu spur, the 72nd fronted a definite objective.This was that portion of Avion trench thatlay between Patrick communication trench on the rightand another about 800 yards off on the left. The 72ndknew all about the hostile position through the efficientwork of its scouts and observers, and the C. 0. decided toput only one company into the attack. The honour fellto "D"Company, plus squads from "A" and "C",andafter the assembling, partly in Quebec trench, but mostlylined along tapes stretched into No Man s Land on theleft flank along a line roughly paralleling Avion trench andabout 400 yards distant from it,"D"Company jumped offfollowing a rolling barrage at 2:30 a.m. on June 28th. Despite the almost absolute darkness, and the fact that thetroops used had never seen the ground in daylight, owingto their being in support during the previous attack, theassault was a complete success. The highest praise is dueto Lieut. W. G. Mclntosh, and those of his officers and N.C. O. s who had seen the position on the previous day andwere thus able to keep direction the most difficult of allthings in a night attack over unfamiliar ground. But thedetermined valour of the men they led was amply witnessedto when the breaking light of June 28th revealed theslaughtered and vanquished foe in Avion trench. For theKilties had swept through the darkness into that trenchwith irresistible force. The bayonet, the bomb and theclubbed rifle did their work. The objective was cleared64