As the sun went down the activity of the enemy’s guns increased, and the darkness of night was turned by shells and liquid fire into a feverish and blazing noon. The German rate of fire was often as high as 400 shells a minute. The position that evening was as follows:—The north-west corner of the wood was in the enemy’s hands. The north-east corner was held from left to right by one and a half companies of the 2nd Regiment, with one company of the 1st in support, and by one company of the 3rd Regiment, with one company of the 4th in support. The south-east corner was held by two companies of the 3rd Regiment. The southern face from left to right was held by one company of the 2nd Regiment and by one company of the 3rd, with one company of the 4th in support. A half company of the 2nd Regiment held the western third of Princes Street, with two companies of the 1st forming a defensive flank on the side of the village. The headquarters of the 2nd and 3rd Regiments were at the junction of Buchanan Street and Princes Street. Machine guns were in position round the perimeter—four at the northern apex, four at the eastern end of the north-eastern face, and two in the eastern half of the southern face. It will be seen that twelve companies of infantry, now gravely weakened, were holding a wood little less than a mile square with a long, rambling perimeter—a wood on which every German battery was accurately ranged, and which was commanded at close quarters by a semicircle of German trenches. Moreover, since the enemy held the north-west corner, he had a covered way of approach into the place. The only reserves of the South African Brigade were one company of the 1st Regiment and the two companies of the 4th which had been lent to the 26th Brigade, and were due to return the following morning.