It was Tanner’s first business to find out the situation. His patrols reported that the Germans still held the northern part of Longueval and all the wood adjoining the streets, but that the position in the rest of the wood was obscure. Some of the 5th Camerons were holding a trench running into Delville from the south-west corner, and in rear of this trench the 2nd and 3rd Regiments assembled about six o’clock. In such a posture of affairs, Lukin’s instructions had been to attack the wood from the south-west. As the coming action was fought in a narrow area where the smallest landmark had its importance, it is necessary to understand the nature of the place. From the road junction in Longueval there ran nearly due east a long ride which our men called Princes Street. Subsidiary rides branched off it to the north and south extending to the perimeter; these were in order from west to east, on the north side the Strand, Regent Street, and Bond Street; and on the south side Buchanan Street, Campbell Street, and King Street—an odd mixture of the nomenclature of London and Glasgow. Another ride, parallel to Princes Street and about half-way between it and the southern edge, ran from Buchanan Street to the eastern perimeter, and was named Rotten Row. Tanner decided to occupy the wood by first clearing the southern part—that is, the area south of Princes Street—and then pushing north from Princes Street, and occupying the Strand and the perimeter from its northern end round to the south-west corner. This would give him the whole of Delville except the north-west corner, which abutted on the uncaptured part of Longueval village. At first the attack moved swiftly. By seven o’clock the 3rd South Africans, supported by one company of the 2nd, held everything south of Princes Street. Thereupon Tanner sent the remaining three companies of the 2nd to occupy the Strand and the northern perimeter. This proved to be a heavy undertaking. The three weak companies reached their objective, and found themselves compelled to hold a front of some 1,300 yards on which it was almost impossible to maintain connection. They were well supplied with shovels, and did their best to dig themselves in and wire the ground they had won; but as soon as they reached the edge the whole wood was violently shelled by the enemy, while machine-gun and rifle fire broke out from the strong German lines around the perimeter. Meantime, in the southern and eastern parts, two patrols of the 3rd Regiment, under the command of Captains Medlicott and Tomlinson, had managed to get to close quarters with the enemy, and had captured three officers, 135 other ranks, and a machine gun.