The occasion was signalized on the morning of the 29th by a grand assault along and on each side of the Menin road. This broad highroad was the most direct and obvious route to Ypres, and the Germans--as their way is--went straight for the shortest cut. There was no secret about the enterprise; it was, in fact, known among all ranks of the British Army, and even published in some of the general orders of the evening before, that the XXVII. German Reserve Corps would attack Kruiseik and Zandvoorde at 5.30 a.m. on the 29th. In the light of this general knowledge, subsequent events are not wholly easy to understand. The attack came at the very hour which had been announced, and--as far as Kruiseik was concerned--at the very spot. Zandvoorde, as a matter of fact, was not implicated, and so can be left out of the discussion. At Kruiseik our line of defence was just in rear of the cross-roads, about a quarter of a mile nearer Ypres than it had been on the 26th. The six regiments in the front line which came in the path of the attack were the 1st Grenadiers, 2nd Gordons and 2nd Scots Fusiliers south of the road, and the Black Watch, 1st Coldstream and 1st Scots Guards to the north of it. In reserve were the 2nd Scots Guards and the Border Regiment, the latter being in Gheluvelt, the former to the south of it. At 5.30 then, with true military punctuality, the Germans made their advance under cover of a thick fog, and, as subsequent events proved, succeeded in getting past and behind our first line without opposition. It is said that they marched in column of fours straight down the main Menin road, which, for some reason only known to staff officers, does not appear to have been in the charge of any of the first line troops.