“The enemy took it into his head to bombard with lachrymatory and other gas shells, and the night was so black that it was impossible to keep gas-masks on the whole time. “So with streaming eyes, with no sort of light, with Tank Commanders and drivers coughing and spluttering, the Tanks forged ahead over this area of unseen trenches, barbed wire and shell-holes, the men buoyed up by the knowledge of the shock the Hun would receive in an hour or so.” Zero hour was to be at dawn. Somewhere north of Wytschaete a German dump had caught fire, and the red flames streamed up against the pale summer sky. It grew lighter, and our aeroplanes and balloons began to go up, dark against the dawn. Our unusual activity in the air did not escape the watchful enemy, and his suspicions were soon thoroughly aroused. He began to send up rockets calling for barrage fire, and soon his guns were responding with growing emphasis. At seven minutes past three our artillery stopped, and the rattle of machine-guns stood out in the comparative silence. There was a pause. A low rumbling was heard. The earth rocked and quivered until with a prolonged and rending crash a screen of fire rose where the German front lines had been. Masses of earth were hurled skywards, and as they rose gleamed for a moment purple and gold in the first rays of the sun. They writhed and shifted, fantastically swaying, and shot through with flames. Balls of fire were hurled in every direction, and the air quivered and vibrated with the shock. Before the tortured earth could fall again, down came the stunning roar and crash of the British barrage; and Tanks and infantry were over the parapet. By 7 a.m. the Anzacs were in Messines, and both Tanks and infantry had reached Fanny’s Farm by noon, their day’s objective gained. One Tank working with the 2nd Corps reached its final objective (at a distance of about two miles) in an hour and forty minutes. A Tank led the Ulstermen and the Southern Irish of the 9th Division into Wytschaete. By about three o’clock three Tanks had reached Oosttaverne, and they patrolled the ground beyond the village till their accompanying Welsh and West Country troops came up. By nightfall we held our final objective everywhere, and had besides captured 7300 prisoners and 67 guns, 94 trench mortars and a very large number of machine-guns. All through the night of the 7th-8th the Germans launched small hastily organised counter-attacks, and in repelling one of these, chance enabled three Tanks to play a curious and useful part. Three of the Tanks, which had helped in the capture of Oosttaverne, had ultimately got ditched near a place named Joye Farm. It was impossible to extricate them in the darkness, and the crews stood by, hoping to get them out as soon as it was light again. Meanwhile towards morning word came that the Germans were going to counter-attack.