As soon as the machines had arrived the Company Commanders went out to reconnoitre the position near the village (Mailly-Maillet). The result of their investigations is typical of the whole retreat: [58]“The position on the front between Beaumont-Hamel and Hébuterne proved to be very obscure, a gap in our line appearing to exist between these two places. The only troops of ours to be found consisted of two small posts of about one platoon each on the outskirts of Colincamps, the ground to the front and between them being occupied by enemy patrols and machine-gunners.” About noon the Whippets arrived at the village. The situation was explained to the Section Commanders, and half the Tanks proceeded down the main street while the rest guarded the two flanks. A small body of our infantry which was holding the village had been on the point of falling back before the rapidly advancing enemy when the Tanks arrived. The Tanks had gone forward almost beyond the village, when suddenly, round the edge of the wood, they met 300 of the enemy advancing in close formation. The Germans were too much surprised to attempt to resist, and fled in disorder. A number of them were shot down by the Whippet’s machine-guns, and many surrendered to the infantry who had by now arrived. The remnant scattered, and were pursued by the Tanks right on to the outskirts of Auchonvillers. The two Whippets remained out on patrol for about an hour, but no further attack was attempted, and they returned to the village about 3 p.m. Later in the afternoon the gap in our lines was filled by the arrival of a New Zealand Division. This successful little action is interesting as the first ever fought by the Whippets. There were several other sections of Whippets and heavy Tanks out on patrol on this and the following days. Several Tanks of the 10th Battalion fought in Rossignol Wood on two occasions, and Whippets of the 2nd Battalion were in action near Bouzencourt in a blinding rainstorm. Everywhere it was the same story of villages the question of whose ownership was “obscure” of gaps in the line which the Tanks had to bridge for a critical hour or two, often firing their machine-guns into the advancing waves of the enemy until the guns grew hot and jammed and the Tanks had to retreat. Often they would go back till their petrol gave out, and the crews had to blow up their machines. The new Medium A machines (the Whippets) acquitted themselves extremely well, and there were astonishingly few cases of mechanical trouble. The Battalion histories describe many pitiful scenes which took place during the retreat, the fate of the inhabitants, for whom our withdrawal meant complete ruin, striking the eye-witnesses as the most distressing feature of the whole business.