If any of the Tanks were required to operate again the next day, that reorganisation must be begun at once. So reluctantly leaving the “Hilda” to carry on to further objectives, the General came back on foot, somewhat impeded by various parties of “unmopped up” Germans who insisted on surrendering to him. By the afternoon, General Elles was back at his Headquarters, functioning by telephone and shorthand-typist in the manner usual to Generals. Here and there, after the first rush, a desperate handful of the enemy would be rallied by their officers to defend some point of vantage. At Lateau Wood on the right of the attack heavy fighting took place, including a duel between a Tank and a 5.9 in. howitzer. Turning on the Tank the howitzer fired, shattering and tearing off most of the right-hand sponson of the approaching machine, but fortunately not injuring its vitals; before the German gunners could reload, the Tank was upon them, and in a few seconds the great gun was crushed in a jumbled mass amongst the brushwood surrounding it. A little to the west of this wood the Tanks of “F” (the 6th) Battalion, which had topped the ridge, were speeding down on Masnières. One approached the bridge, the key to the Rumilly-Seranvillers ridge, upon the capture of which so much depended. The bridge had, as the Tank Commander knew, been damaged either by shell-fire or by the German sappers. It was, however, most important that he should cross, and he very pluckily, therefore, went for it. As the Tank neared the centre of the bridge, there was a rending of steel girders--the bridge had broken, and as it collapsed the Tank disappeared into the waters of the canal. Other Tanks arriving, and not being able to cross, assisted the infantry to do so by opening a heavy covering fire. The Tank that had fallen into the canal had been let down quite gradually into the water as the bridge slowly subsided. There was but one loss. The wig of one of the crew got knocked off as his head emerged from the manhole, and it floated away down the canal and was never seen again. Lost to view, its memory was kept green for many months by its injured owner’s claims for compensation. The dilemma which most cruelly racked the official mind was the question whether a wig came under the heading of “Field Equipment,” “Loss of a Limb,” “Medical Comfort,” “Clothing,” “Personal Effects,” or “Special Tank Stores.” Finally, however, its owner did receive monetary compensation for his loss. But the genius of Comedy had not done with the Tanks. [45]“The town had been evacuated so suddenly by the enemy that some civilian population still remained. “Two cows belonging to the German Town Major were solemnly presented by their French civilian keeper to Major Hammond as a token of the joy that the inhabitants felt at their liberation.” These absurd camp followers remained for long the most cherished possessions of the Battalion, and accompanied them wherever they went.