The attack at 5.10, covered by a creeping barrage, moved swiftly towards its goal, and by 7 o’clock the South Africans had their first objective. The enemy resisted stoutly, and made full use of the sunken roads, especially at the Usigny ravine, which was in the ground of the 2nd Regiment. There he disputed every yard with machine guns and snipers, and did not yield till all his posts had been killed or captured. The whippet tanks, moving in front of the infantry, were mostly put out of action by shell-fire at the start, but one arrived opportunely at the Usigny ravine, and helped to break down the last resistance there. The 2nd Regiment took at this stage nearly 500 prisoners, two anti-tank guns, seventeen machine guns, and four field-pieces. These last were captured by a few men under Lieutenant E. J. Brook and Sergeant Hinwood, who pushed forward and rushed the guns 400 yards south-east of Petite Folie farm, and then turned them on the retreating enemy. The 4th Regiment on the left had also to face heavy machine-gun fire, but it swept through the German position at La Sablonnière and Hamage Farm, taking no less than thirty-five machine guns. As soon as the first objective was won the ground was consolidated. Covering posts were pushed out, and the two regiments were reorganized. The supporting battalion, the 1st Regiment, had been caught in the early morning barrage on the railway embankment north of Beaurevoir, and had suffered 23 casualties. Later it moved east of Beaurevoir, and provided a platoon to reinforce the 2nd before retiring to brigade reserve. The losses so far in the assaulting battalions had not been unduly heavy. The 2nd had suffered most in its commissioned ranks. Lieutenant R. G. A. M’Carter had been killed, and Lieutenant-Colonel Bamford, Captain Symons, Lieutenant Egan, and Second-Lieutenants Giddy, Birrell, Fernie, Roberts, Gunn, and Francis wounded, the last officer subsequently dying of his wounds. The 4th had 45 men killed, and 4 officers and 194 men wounded. [Illustration: SOUTH AFRICANS’ ATTACK.]