One of the most prominent features of the whole sector of attack was the Albert-Arras railway, which lay some distance behind the enemy’s front line. It proved to have been carefully prepared for defence by the enemy, being commanded at point-blank range by a large number of field guns, which had been specially and secretly withdrawn from more forward positions, and all the sections of the line where it would be possible for the Tanks to cross--that is to say, the “neutral” portions where the line was neither embanked nor in a cutting--were not only carefully registered, but were blocked by concrete and iron anti-Tank stockades. The attack was to be opened at 4.55 a.m. on the 21st by the 4th and 6th Corps and their Tanks. V The morning dawned in the inevitable white blanket of mist which now always seemed to accompany our attacks. Till nearly 11 a.m. it was impossible to see more than a few yards ahead, and it was with the greatest difficulty that the Tanks kept their direction. If, however, the mist was confusing to us, it was doubly so to the enemy. The Germans were completely taken by surprise; we even found candles still burning in the trenches when we crossed them, and papers and equipments were scattered broadcast, bearing witness to a hurried flight. [Illustration: GERMAN ANTI-TANK GUNNERS (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH FOUND ON A PRISONER)] [Illustration: AN ANTI-TANK GUN IN A STEEL CUPOLA (VPRES)] [Illustration: A CAPTURED GERMAN TANK] [Illustration: A GERMAN ANTI-TANK RIFLE] We carried the front line so easily that we soon realised we must be up against a system of defence rather like that which the Germans had adopted at Ypres. He was keeping his reserves well in rear of a lightly-held outpost line, and, as we have said, unknown to us, his guns had been withdrawn in such a way as to cover the railway. The Armoured Cars and the Whippets both took an active part in the attack on Bucquoy. At the entrance of the village a large crater had been blown in the road over which the armoured cars were hauled, after a smooth path had been beaten down across it by a Whippet. The cars then sped on through the enemy’s lines, reaching Achiet-le-Petit ahead of our infantry, and silenced a number of machine-guns. Two of the cars received direct hits, one of them being burnt and completely destroyed. During the attack on Courcelles, Captain Richard Annesley West of the 6th Battalion took charge of some infantry who had lost their bearings in the dense fog. He gathered up all the scattered men he could find. He was mounted, and in the course of the morning he had two horses shot under him; but after the second horse had been shot he went on with his work on foot. Having rallied the infantry, he continued his original task of leading forward his Tanks, and our capture of Courcelles was chiefly due to his individual initiative and gallantry. He was awarded a bar to his D.S.O.