"March 10th. Arrived in a trench line at about 3 A. M. after a march full of checks, owing to the crowded roads. The action about to take place was not a small one, but one by a front of three divisions, of which we were the center one. At 4.30 A. M. punctually, 480 guns opened fire and never I should think in history has there been such a bombardment. Our guns blazed away--the country behind was a mass of gun flashes--and in front of us a mass of smoke and shell bursts. There was not a second in which you could say, there is no gun firing--it was a continuous rattle and roar, and you could not hear yourself speak. We had to lie very low in our trench and there were several short bursts of our own shell going overhead; in fact I picked up two shrapnel bullets on my right hand side, and the base of a fuse on my left hand side. According to arrangements, at 8 A. M. our guns increased their range, and our first attacking line advanced under the enemy's trenches. The first and second lines reached the enemy's trenches with very little loss comparatively, as the enemy were quite disorganized by our shelling. They passed over two lines of trenches and reached an old trench line dug in the early days of the war--called the Smith-Dorrien line--about 1,200 yards beyond. I followed close behind, and Major B---- came last--we had about 96 casualties in the first advance. We all reached the Smith-Dorrien line with the Germans in full retreat, our guns firing shrapnel on them. At this point we could have advanced still further, but that for one thing our guns were still dropping shells just in front of us, and for another the division on our left had not advanced sufficiently to support us. My double company only got about thirty prisoners and two machine guns. We immediately started digging ourselves in against an expected counter-attack. Some snipers from a trench on our right troubled us for some time; the regiment on our right had somehow advanced beyond the trench without killing its occupants.... At dark another brigade passed through us and advanced towards a wood 1,000 yards in front of us, and entrenched themselves 250 yards in our front. Maxim and rifle fire was opened on them by the enemy from the edge of the wood, but they did not suffer very heavily.