The main tactical features of the attack were the strongholds of Vaire Wood, Hamel Wood, Pear-shaped Trench and Hamel Village. There was no defined system of trench, except the old British lines just east of Hamel which the enemy now occupied, and which had, of course, been originally sited to face east. For the rest, the German defensive consisted in machine-gun nests. The attacking forces were the 4th Australian Division and four companies of American infantry. The Artillery was to provide a rolling barrage, behind which the infantry were to advance, followed by the Tanks, which were only to pass ahead of them when resistance was encountered. This last arrangement did not prove a good one. The going was good, and the fertile country lay still and smiling in its Midsummer pride. The camp allotted to the Tanks lay five miles behind the line in the angle formed by the meeting of the Somme and the Luce. [64]“It was an ideal spot in which to spend the summer months. In the cool of the evening, looking toward the west over the uncut cornfields, we could obtain a wonderful view of the old city of Amiens, its large cathedral, with the numbers of smaller church spires and smokeless chimneys clustering around it, being outlined against the setting sun. Toward the east one saw the ruined village of Villers Bretonneux standing on Hill 104, its château dominating the surrounding wreck of houses. It was hard to believe that the line was so close until the view was suddenly obliterated by the familiar sight of bursting shrapnel and the heavy smoke of the gas shells.” The sixty fighting Tanks which were employed in the attack were divided into two waves, the first of forty-eight, and the second of twelve machines. As the advance intended was but a short one, the usual gigantic system of supply dumps was not necessary. On the contrary, each fighting Tank carried forward ammunition and water for the infantry, and the four supply Tanks were detailed to carry up R.E. supplies and other stores. [65]“Each of these four machines eventually delivered a load of about 12,500 lbs. within 500 yards of the final objective and within half an hour of its capture. The total amount of supplies delivered on July 4 at 40 lbs. per man represented the loads of a carrying party 1,250 men strong. The number of men used in the supply Tanks was twenty-four.” No precise information as to time and place had been given to the Tank Corps till just a week before the battle; but as the area had been carefully reconnoitred for the last two months, very little had to be done to complete this side of the preparations. On the night of July 1–2, the Tanks were moved up to the assembly point, an early move which was the result of the Australians’ last lingering doubts as to the capacity of the Tanks for arriving in time at _rendezvous_. No chance was thus given to any Tank of being late in the starting line.