72nd Seaforth Highlanders of Canada - waughfamily.ca

AMIENS.foe" whom they had so energetically harried all throughthe spring and early summer had thus struck so crushBut for the Hun, worse was yet toing a blow in return.come, and the men of the 72nd, fired bytheir first realopen warfare, looked forward eagerly to the resumptionof the offensive.All through the night of August 8-9, fresh troopswere moving into position behind the 4th Division in preparation for the continuance of the advance. At about 1p.m. on the 9th, the attack blazed out all along the front.The 5th and 8th Battalions of the 1st Canadian Division,moved through the positions held by the 72nd and flungthemselves against the line of machine gun-pits which theGermans had thrown up during the night. After quittingthe shelter of Caix Wood and the neighbouring re-entrants,it was necessary for the attacking force to cross an openplain varying in width from 500 to 1000 yards beforereaching the line held by the 72nd. In order to cover thismovement, the 72nd poured an intense machine-gun andrifle fire against the line of rifle-pits in front of them. Onthrough the position held by their Vancouver brothersin-armsthe 5th and 8th Battalions went. As the attackingtroops jumped off over the short No Man s Land, the 72nd scovering fire being masked, ceased automatically. Theenemy, no longer beaten down by covering fire from ourtrenches, redoubled .his fire. It seemed impossible thattroops could face such a murderous hail of nickeled steel aswas now directed at the 5th and 8th, but by sheer stubborn courage it was accomplished. The enemy, fightingdesperately, was dislodged from his positions, and forcedinto headlong retreat. By 5 o clock in the afternoon theline had been carried to the eastern edge of the village ofMeharicourt an advance of 7,000 yards.After the 1st Division had passed through our positions,the Battalion was withdrawn into the re-entrant to thewest of Caix Wood, where it117spent that day and the next