The plan of attack was to push forward in two bodies and to encircle Villers-Bretonneux, while some Northamptons and others were in the centre with the order to fight through the village from the north. This manoeuvre was carried out owing to the magnificent courage of each Australian soldier and the gallantry of the officers. The Germans fought desperately when they found themselves in danger of being trapped. They had nests of machine guns along the railway embankment below the village, and these fired fiercely, sweeping the attackers who tried to advance upon them. Those who worked around north and east of the village also came under a burst of machine-gun fire from weapons hidden among the ruins and trenches, but they rounded up the enemy and fought him from one bit of ruin to another in streets which used to be filled with civilian life only a few weeks ago and crowded with staff officers and staff cars, but now were littered with dead bodies and raked by bullets. The Australians captured two light field guns, which the enemy had brought up in the morning, according to his present habit of advancing guns behind his third wave of men, and several minenwerfer and many machine guns. Great Piles of Dead During the night they and the English troops seized over 500 men as prisoners and sent them back, and several hundred seem to have been routed out. Today, [the 25th,] judging from these I saw myself, the living were not so many as the dead. It was fierce fighting in Villers-Bretonneux and around it last night and this morning the enemy fought until put out by bayonet, rifle bullet, or machine gun. The Australian officers say that they have never seen such piles of dead, not even outside of Bullecourt or Lagnicourt last year, as those who lie about this village of frightful strife. The German tanks, which were first seen in this battle, though heavier than the British, with bigger guns, have now beaten a retreat, leaving one of their type in No Man's Land. The tank has a high turret and thick armor plates, and is steered and worked on a different system from the British. One of them was "killed" by a tank of the old British class, and then the British put in some of the newer, faster, and smaller types, which can steer almost as easily as a motor car, as I know, because I have traveled in one at great pace over rough ground. These set out to attack bodies of German infantry of the 77th Division forming up near Cachy. It was a terrible encounter, and when they returned this morning their flanks were red with blood. They slew Germans not by dozens nor by scores, but by platoons and companies. They got right among the masses of men and swept them with fire, and those they did not kill with their guns they crushed beneath them, manoeuvring about and trampling them down as they fell. It seems to have been as bloody a slaughter as anything in this war. Battle for Kemmel Hill