It was now time to withdraw the 28th Division. It had fought without a pause from 22nd April to 12th May, and had suffered almost as severely as the famous 7th Division at the First Battle of Ypres. Cavalry divisions took over its trenches, and the weary and much-battered survivors went into billets for greatly-needed rest. Still the fierce contest continued. The cavalry were terribly assailed, and on 13th May the artillery fire was so deadly that the 7th Brigade, lying to the north of the lake which you see on our eastern front, had to fall back, leaving an ugly rent in the line. Troops were hurried up to fill the gap, and at 2.30 the 8th Brigade, assisted by armoured motor cars, made a charge that will go down to history. The dismounted cavalrymen advanced as if on parade; they swept forward, utterly regardless of death, and won back the lost ground. But no soldiers that ever wore uniform could have held on to the position in face of the awful fire of the German guns. Our men did all that men could do, but they had to retire; and when the muster roll was read, the regiments which had taken part in this glorious but unavailing charge were found to be but shadows of their former strength. [Illustration: Second Battle of Ypres. Sketch showing the shortening of the line on May 3, 1915.] The infantry on our left were also fiercely attacked, but they managed to hold their ground. The Territorial battalions on this part of our front fought like veterans. Sergeant Douglas Belcher, with six men, repeated the exploit of Captain Ralston, and nobly won the Victoria Cross for saving the flank of his division (see page 218). The 2nd Essex cleared the Germans out of Shell-trap Farm at the point of the bayonet, and held on to the ruins all day. Like the Welsh, they were quite cheerful under their ordeal, and one of them swam to and fro across the moat carrying messages to headquarters. [Illustration: The Northumberland Fusiliers (the Fighting Fifth) beating off a German Attack. (_From the picture by Philip Dadd. By permission of The Sphere._) "It was in the early hours of morning that the Germans began to attack us in force. They battered our entanglements and our trench breastwork for some time, and part of the entanglements was actually blown across the trenches. Fortunately, we were able to meet them with steady and continuous rifle fire, and stopped the rush. . . . . In some cases the Germans were so bunched together that our men simply fired into the brown, it being impossible to miss them at such close range."]