At dawn the drizzle stopped, but a wet mist remained, which blinded our air reconnaissance. At twenty minutes to six, preceded by a barrage of high explosive and smoke shells, the attacking troops moved into the desert of mud. In the dim light, obscured by smoke, it was impossible to see their objective. The advance had scarcely begun when the German barrage came down on our old front line, so that the supporting battalions had to close up as near as possible to the leading troops. The right battalion, the 3rd Regiment, had “A” Company, under Captain Vivian, on its right; “B” Company, under Captain Sprenger, in the centre; and “C” Company, under Captain Ellis, on the left; with “D” Company, under Captain Tomlinson, in support. Its strength was 20 officers and 617 other ranks. The left battalion, the 4th Regiment, had a strength of 21 officers and 511 other ranks. It had on its left “A” Company, under Captain Farrell; “B” Company, under Captain McCubbin, in the centre; and “C” Company, under Major Browne, on its right; with “D” Company, under Captain Gemmell, in support. Now was seen the value of their careful training. The 4th Regiment took the strong-points known as Beck House and Borry Farm in their stride, and by half-past six had reached their first objective. Seeing the place called Mitchell’s Farm in front of them, a party went through our own barrage and captured it, killing most of its garrison. A machine gun across the brook on their left flank gave trouble, so a platoon, under Second-Lieutenant Saphir, crossed the stream and took the German post there, bringing back the gun and twenty prisoners. In the meantime the left wing of the 3rd Regiment had taken Vampir Farm and reached its objective. Its right, however, was held up by the position of the left battalion of the 27th Brigade, the 12th Royal Scots, who, in their area, had encountered the formidable redoubt known as Potsdam, which, in addition to other defences, included three “pill-boxes.” When “A” Company and part of “B” Company of the 3rd Regiment reached their objective they were too far in advance of their neighbouring brigade, and were subjected to a heavy enfilading fire from Potsdam. Captain Vivian of “A” Company immediately organized an attack on that point, leading the assault in person, but he, together with Lieutenants Coxen and Newbery, was killed. Captain Sprenger of “B” Company then collected all the men he could, both from the 3rd Regiment and the 1st, and with two Lewis guns and one machine gun he advanced by rushes from shell-hole to shell-hole against the redoubt. This gallant attack, combined with the pressure of the 27th Brigade from the west, brought about the fall of the place. The enemy was seen bolting south towards the Ypres-Roulers railway line, and in a quarter of an hour the fort was in our hands.