On that date the Fifth Corps on the right went forward once again, with the Thirty-third Division {237} on the right and the Twenty-first on the left. If we attempt to describe the action from the broad point of view of the whole Corps front, the order of battle from the right was the Thirty-third, Twenty-first, Fifth, Forty-second, Third, and Second. On the front of the Sixth Corps there was a sudden outburst of artillery fire during the assembly of the troops, which unhappily caught the Third Division and caused many casualties. It is a hard test even for the most veteran troops to be under a hurricane of shells in the dark and cold of an autumn night, but the men of the Iron Division came into the battle as blithely as ever. The Harpies River, and a whole screen of villages and of woods, with the great Forest of Mormal at their back, were the immediate obstacles which confronted the Army. On the right the village of Forest was soon secured, though an obstinate pocket held out for some time to the north-east of it. The enemy in this quarter could be seen retiring in small parties towards Vendegies and the wood near that village. The Thirty-third Division on the flank had a greater volume of fire to contend with and was rather slower than the Twenty-first, which never halted until it was close to Vendegies, reaching it at 10 A.M. The defence was thickening, however, and both divisions had very heavy going in the afternoon, though the 19th Brigade of the Thirty-third Division fought its way along the north of Vendegies Wood, and reached its allotted line, while the 98th Brigade was held up by the fire from Bousies. As the farther line was reached the two reserve brigades of each division--the 62nd and the 100th Brigades--were pushed up to take the burden from those who {238} were wearied out by the long and strenuous day. Nearly 800 prisoners had fallen to the Fifth Corps.