Fresh in his memory is that terrible day in the second week of March 1915, when he raced through the streets of Neuve Chapelle full of hope that the goal would be reached before nightfall. Alas! he and his fellows were again doomed to disappointment. The Aubers ridge, so near and yet so far, was still beyond our grasp. And now the rumour reaches his ears that another big effort is to be made. The French are striving south of the canal to carry Lens,[41] and we are to attack for the double purpose of preventing the enemy from sending reinforcements to the south, and of reaching the ridge if possible. Once we are securely established on it the flat plain to the eastward will be commanded by our guns, and La Bassée and Lille will soon know the German no more. * * * * * Look at this map and find the wood of Biez, which, you will remember, figured largely in the fighting around Neuve Chapelle. To the east of the wood you will see a road which skirts the ridge for a mile and a half and then climbs it to pass through the villages of Aubers and Fromelles. We were now about to make a thrust through the wood and through Fromelles, in the hope of reaching the ridge. On the morning of Sunday, 9th May, the 8th Division advanced against the village, and at the same time the 1st Corps and the Indians began to push through the wood. The attacks were preceded by the usual bombardment. Our high-explosive shells wrecked the first line trenches of the enemy, but unhappily did not do sufficient damage to the second line, and our men found themselves up against unbroken wire and unbreached parapets. Some ground was gained, but it could not be held, and by the evening we had made but little progress. Many fine deeds of heroism were done during the fierce fighting of the day. [Illustration] On the left the 24th and 25th Brigades behaved most gallantly, and a Territorial battalion, the 13th (Kensington) of the London Regiment, performed a feat which won high and well-deserved praise from Sir John French. The Kensington men carried three lines of German trenches with the bayonet, and held on to them until the German artillery fire became so intense that flesh and blood could no longer endure it. When they fell back they had but four company officers left.