47th Infantry Brigade 2400 59th „ „ plus 6th Oxford and Bucks L.I. 2300 60th „ „ less 6th Oxford and Bucks L.I. 1000 61st „ „ 2253 ---- Total 7953 The operations began at 6 A.M. on the 3rd with a deliberate bombardment of certain selected areas. A “Chinese attack” was made at 8.15 A.M., when all batteries delivered a burst of rapid fire on the enemy’s lines. At 8.30 the whole of the 6th and 24th Divisional Artilleries concentrated an intense fire on an area on the north-east of Guillemont known as the “trap” area, which had purposely not been shelled before, while the howitzers opened with gas shell. At 9 A.M. the 5th Division began to advance towards Falfemont Farm. This attack was at first only partially successful, but indirectly it was very useful in diverting the enemy’s attention from Guillemont. Zero hour for the 20th Division was noon. Just before this, liquid fire was projected and a “push pipe” mine was exploded with the object of destroying a German machine-gun emplacement in the line of the first sunken road opposite Arrow Head Copse--a formidable obstacle which had held up former attacks on this flank. The mine had evidently struck a stone in being run out and had turned back. The explosion made a shallow trench about 120 feet long, leaving intact the machine-gun emplacement, which was, however, destroyed by the guns and which gave no trouble in the advance. At zero the artillery fire became intense. Half the field artillery guns were used for stationary barrages and half for creeping barrages. At the beginning of the advance towards each objective the procedure was the same; a stationary barrage was put down and a creeping barrage moved forward in front of the assaulting infantry at the rate of fifty yards per minute. The stationary barrage lifted at certain stated times, or whenever the creeping barrage came up to it.