72nd Seaforth Highlanders of Canada - waughfamily.ca

SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS OF CANADACompany had been withdrawn into reserve at 72nd headquarters, which afterwards proved to be a very wise move.This left "C","D" and "A"Companies in the front line,holding from north to south in the given order. As nosatisfactory touch could be established with either flank,the Battalion formed a complete circle around the villageof Chilly and awaited the counter-attack, which all ranksknew, this time, to be inevitable.The situation was rather obscure.The position occupiedby the 72nd formed the "nose" of a very sharp salient.On either flank the troops had been unable to carry theline so far forward. To the north this was particularlytrue, as the line dropped back some 1,500 yards. The corpson the left had been unable to take Lihons, and in consequence, the troops immediately to the south of the Villers-Bretonneux-Chaulnes railway suffered severely from intenseenfilading machine gun and artillery fire from the highground near Lihons. The 38th and the 85th Battalions lostheavily in their gallant endeavor to push on to secure theflank by reason of this fire.Immediately after the 72nd reached its objective in frontof Chilly, the 78th Battalion (Winnipeg Grenadiers) passedthrough them and attacked and captured the village ofof Hallu. Thus the already dangerous salient was, by virtueof their spirited attack, deepened by some 1,500 yards.This was the situation at 3 o clock in the afternoon.At 3:30 p.m. the first counter-attack developed againstthe left company, N.E. of Chilly. The enemy was first seenabout 1,000 yards away, advancing in open order, and asthe distance lessened to effective rifle range, a ripple offire broke out along our left flank. It was a deliberate pickyour-mansort of business, and the Kilties enjoyed it! Bydint of clever rushes under covering fire, and also by theexcellent cover afforded by the maze of old trenches, theenemy succeeded in reaching, in one spot,to within fifteenyards of our position, but was speedily decimated by point-120