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Rh modern type of tank. Most of the Division will remember this as a legacy left by the Australians near Vendelles, when we first took over the sector. The other two were profiles only, and were drawn from Corps Stores for the occasion. These latter two were erected during the night sideways on to the enemy. All three were sighted by the enemy and received considerable attention from his guns during the following morning.

To complete the thorough simulation of the false attack, a special rolling barrage was arranged and, in this barrage, the machine-gun company attached to the Brigade took part. This barrage was arranged to come down at zero hour on a line at safety distance in front of our most advanced posts. It was then to move through the Bois de Riquerval in an easterly direction, by jumps of one hundred yards every four minutes. Thus no pains were spared to deceive the enemy as to the real intentions of the Division, and events showed that the trouble taken in these elaborate preparations and the ammunition expended in the barrage were not thrown away. Ten minutes after zero, a heavy barrage was put down by the enemy on the front of the 137th Brigade, thus materially decreasing the weight of enemy gunfire available for the main front of the attack. The attention paid to the tanks has already been referred to, and whole ranges of the dummy figures were torn to pieces, or overset, by the German artillery fire.

During the period of preparation for the battle, Divisional Headquarters remained at Fresnoy. As this village, however, was several miles from the scene of action, an advanced report centre was opened in Bohain. This report centre was connected with Divisional Headquarters by a strong poled route of three pairs of cable and, during the two or three days immediately preceding 10