The machine gun companies fought valiantly but suffered great loss. Of the 217th, in the area north of Lateau Wood, only a few men got back. The 59th Machine Gun Company was on the ridge a little further east. As soon as the German aeroplanes came over, the twelve guns in the front line were mounted for anti-aircraft work and so had to be immediately remounted to engage the infantry attack. These guns then continued to fire, helping to cover the retirement of their own infantry, but the company was overcome, and such guns as still remained in action were destroyed before falling into the enemy’s hands. The officer commanding the company took the headquarter party forward to a trench which except for one machine gun was empty; he then went to look for a better position and was not seen again. The sergeant-major took command, fired the gun until it was put out of action, and then held the trench with bombs for an hour. After that the party moved to another trench occupied by one man with two guns, and remained there till at 4 P.M. the sergeant-major reported to an officer of the 61st Machine Gun Company, under whom he worked for the next three days. The second in command at the transport lines brought his men forward with two guns and joined the 11th R.B., with whom he served until the following afternoon. Twelve guns of the 61st Machine Gun Company near Les Rues Vertes were quickly overwhelmed. All the teams disappeared, but from the accounts of eyewitnesses it seems clear that they fought bravely to the last. Meanwhile, Lieut. J. Neil had got No. 2 Section into action about 2000 yards south-west of the village, and opened fire directly on to the enemy, who was then on the spur east of his position. When he had only two guns left, the pressure of the enemy, and the fact that he was well in front of the infantry, forced him to withdraw. Pte. Drummond showed great courage at this time by firing his gun till the last possible moment although surrounded by the enemy. These two guns fired till 3 or 4 o’clock in the afternoon, when they were moved to form a defensive flank to the right. Two sections of the 83rd Field Company R.E. were resting after night work north of Lateau Wood when the attack began, and became involved in the fighting between Lateau Wood and La Vacquerie. Their bivouacs were completely outflanked and they lost 2 officers and 22 men. The rest of the company manned a trench in front of Villers Plouich.