Nor was Second Lieutenant C. Mecredy, a Section Commander, less anxious that his knocked-out Tank should be completely destroyed rather than fall into the hands of the enemy. He had been advancing ahead of his infantry, when a shell from a concealed field gun hit the Tank in which he was leading the attack. At once seizing up a number of smoke bombs, he got out of his machine, went back, and, throwing down his bombs, put up a smoke curtain to cover the Tanks that were following him, lest they should share the fate of his own machine. His manœuvre was perfectly successful, for under cover of the smoke the other Tanks changed their direction and escaped the guns. With some difficulty Mr. Mecredy managed to dodge his way back to his Tank, under heavy hostile shelling and machine-gun fire, successfully blew it up, and was preparing to go back when he discovered that one of his crew was lying wounded in the leg in a very exposed place. This man he managed to bring back with him to safety. By the evening all the three objectives had been gained, and the French Command were very well satisfied with the success of the action. Especially delighted was the General Commanding the 3rd Division--General Bourgon--who was a great friend of the British Tank Corps, and who had been as anxious as we that no hitch should mar this first combined battle. Both French and British had suffered rather heavy casualties, the French 3rd Division, with whom we had acted, losing over seven hundred officers and men. Fifteen Tanks out of thirty-six had been knocked out by direct hits, and of the fifteen rather a large proportion were beyond salving. However, the enemy’s losses were also heavy. The prisoners totalled over eighteen hundred, and we took 5 field guns, 45 trench mortars and 275 machine-guns. Before the 9th Battalion went back to the training area it had the honour of being inspected by General Debeney, commanding the 1st French Army. He was kind enough to express extreme pleasure at the way in which the Tanks fought, and in his special Order of the Day gave the Battalion praise of which they will ever be proud. “Finally, I owe a special tribute of thanks to the Battalion of British Tanks, whose powerful and devoted assistance has aided and assured our success. “Commanded by an experienced and skilful leader, the Tanks have again added to that rich harvest of laurels which this new arm has not ceased to gather since its first appearance in September 1916. They have given to the Division the finest example of bravery, of energy, of comradeship in action, and of training for war carried to the highest degree of perfection. Their assistance has enabled the infantry to gain a brilliant victory in which they themselves share largely.”