The Russians, under General Korniloff, advanced in Galicia, and even gained some victories over the Austrians, but disaffection was beginning to show itself among the men, and the Germans found no difficulty in driving them back over the frontier. This retirement on the part of the Russians ended in an ignominious retreat and open mutiny. London was raided by a large number of German aeroplanes, and many people were killed and wounded by the bombs which were dropped. THE GUARDS DIVISION When the attack on the Boesinghe Sector was decided upon, the great difficulty of crossing the Canal under the enemy’s artillery fire at once presented itself to the Corps and Divisional Commanders. It would be necessary to construct bridges, and under an accurate barrage the loss of life entailed in crossing the Canal would certainly be very heavy. Lord Cavan thoroughly appreciated the drawbacks, but thought a well-organised attack would succeed. He ordered every detail of the attack to be carefully rehearsed over dummy representations of the Canal and the German trenches, and by the end of July every officer, N.C.O., and even every man knew exactly what he had to do. During this time the enemy seem to have been completely ignorant of the preparations that were being made, and imagined that so long as their positions farther south remained intact there was small probability of an attack on this sector of the line. [Illustration: _Boesinghe July 31st 1917_ _Emery Walker Ltd._] The date of the attack, or zero day, was originally fixed for the 28th, but on the 24th it was postponed until the 31st. About a week before zero day British aeroplanes reported that, although the German trenches were fully manned at dawn, the greater part of the garrison was withdrawn during the day to avoid the shells. A small incident occurred which left no doubt in General Feilding’s mind on this point. Two wounded British soldiers who had been left behind during a night raid were observed on the far side of the Canal, and Lieutenant C. J. Hambro and Private Smith of the 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards volunteered to go across the Canal and bring them in. This they succeeded in doing, and Lieutenant Hambro reported that not only had he not been fired on during his successful venture, but that he had seen no signs of the enemy at all.