Page:Breaking the Hindenburg Line.djvu/64

52 not give much trouble. The enemy defended the eastern bank of the Canal with bombs, and with machine guns which were sited in concrete emplacements so arranged as to enfilade the Canal. The sting had been taken out of the resistance, however, by the intensity of the barrage, which had been so heavy, so well directed, and so closely followed up by our Infantry, that in many cases garrisons of enemy strong-points and trenches were unable to emerge before the positions were rushed by the advancing troops. For a few minutes some difficulty was experienced in gaining a footing on the eastern bank, but, owing to the fog, accurate machine-gun fire at anything but point-blank range was impossible and considerable parties of our men made good their positions. The enemy then surrendered freely, prisoners being collected in batches and sent back under the care of one or two slightly wounded men.

As soon as the machine-gun nests and posts immediately on the bank of the Canal had been cleared sufficiently to enable our men to deploy, the officers sorted out their commands as far as possible, and the leading companies advanced to the attack of the Blue line, a continuous line of trenches with numerous and well-constructed strong-points.

Great as the task had been, the crossing was accomplished up to time; the reorganization of the companies engaged took place under a protective barrage as arranged, and the advance to the Blue line was commenced as soon as the barrage lifted, at zero plus one hour and forty minutes.

Here again, the troops were faced with an obstacle that might well have sufficed to hold them up for several hours and the trench system was very stubbornly defended, enemy machine gunners fighting well, many of