The German artillery could not, however, be checked by the British heavy artillery. Many of his guns were firing from new positions in the open, which had not been previously located. They were also firing from positions as far in rear of their lines as the range of the guns would allow. They were therefore beyond the reach of the bulk of the British counter-battery guns. The British field-guns in the most advanced positions received considerable attention from the enemy's artillery, and were in particular deluged with gas shells. A number of field-guns were also knocked out by direct hits. Two anecdotes connected with this battle are worth recording. During the early stages of the German attack a runner arrived at the headquarters of the 6th Gordon Highlanders. Colonel Fraser asked him where he came from. "Aberdeen," said the runner. "No, no! Where do you come from now?" "Yonder," replied the runner, pointing towards the front line. "Well," said the Colonel, "what's happening there now?" "Well, a Boche officer comes up to us and he says, 'Surrender!'" "Well?" "We told him, 'To hell with surrender.'" "Where's the officer now?" said the Colonel. "Yonder." "What's he doing yonder?" "Doing?" said the runner; "doing? He's dead." Some of the tunnelling company, with their infantry assistants, also joined in the fray, and took part in Captain Clarke's counter-attack. On their return from the trenches they met the staff-captain, who hailed them, and said, "Are you the tunnelling company?" "Tunnelling be damned," a voice replied; "we've been ower the bags." The casualties to the 152nd Infantry Brigade, with the 5th Gordon Highlanders, amounted to about 900, including 53 officers. In this case most of the wounds were serious. The men had had such slight protection in which to withstand the bombardment that the shell-splinters unfortunately did considerable execution. The medical officers reported that they had never seen so large a percentage of seriously-wounded cases. The spectacle of a steadily-increasing number of men arriving at the dressing stations with shattered limbs was most pitiable, and the medical personnel could hardly keep pace with the number of cases brought in. The stretcher-bearers went backwards and forwards through the most hellish barrage both on the day before and during the attack in their usual exemplary manner. Many of them were, however, killed, often with the wounded man they were carrying. On 19th May the following message was issued to the troops by the Divisional Commander:-- "The Divisional Commander wishes to express his sincere appreciation of the resource and bravery shown by all which led to the great defeat of the enemy on the 16th May. He has much pleasure in communicating the following message from the Corps Commander:--