At 2 a.m. (October 20) the barrage came down 300 yards in front, and the first waves went over as one man. The bandsmen of the 5th East Lancashires, who were on duty as extra stretcher-bearers, had brought up their instruments, and played the Regimental March under teeming rain and heavy fire. Enemy machine-guns opened at once and caused about fifty casualties among the 5th East Lancashires, and a thick belt of wire had to be got through in the dark. But the sections were on the railway in good time, and with a terrific yell the Burnley men entered the steep cutting and went for the defenders with the bayonet, and in a very short time a red Very light signalled back that the railway was captured. Meanwhile the platoon detached to carry Belle Vue Farm—a formidable position, strengthened by three cunningly devised machine-gun nests—had achieved its object, though both its commander and sergeant had fallen before the objective had been reached. The barrage slowed down to the four-minute rate, and the second wave advanced in extended order and captured the ravine. They were then enfiladed by machine-guns, but this hardly checked the advance, and the Green Line was carried, the battalion having passed through six defensive belts, at all of which opposition was encountered. On reaching the final objective they were harassed for a time by machine-gun fire from the left, and in the blackness of the night a number of the men lost direction and wandered into the 10th Manchester’s territory. Touch was soon established, however, with this battalion, and, later, with the 5th Division; and the ground was thoroughly mopped up. The battalion had suffered more than a hundred casualties, but had captured 300 prisoners, of better physique and appearance than any previously taken.