A very heavy thunder of guns rumbled incessantly from the south: the German artillery, including 42-centimetre guns, had bombarded DIXMUDE throughout the 24th October and morning of the 25th, and now the 43rd Reserve Division had begun its assault on the town. It resulted in the most violent street fighting; fast and furious came the bullets from the machine-guns posted in the houses along the edge of the town, and from the shells from the batteries massed west of the YSER, but nothing could hold up our attack. The Belgians have given the following description of the power of the German assault: 'What plunder must not they have been promised, to allow themselves to be killed in such a way? What drink must they not have taken to give themselves such animal courage? Like devils, thirsting for blood, they storm forward with the howls of wild beasts; lusting to massacre, they tread the wounded under foot and stumble over the dead: and, though shot down in hundreds, they keep coming on. Then follow isolated fights with bayonets and the butts of rifles: some are impaled, others strangled or have their skulls bashed in.' The fight swayed backwards and forwards till well into the night: guns brought up into the front line fired at point-blank range: both sides put in their last reserves. During the night, rifles were unloaded, bayonets fixed, and we attacked again. A small German detachment of about fifty men advanced across the YSER bridge, but in endeavouring to assault the enemy's batteries, it succumbed to greatly superior numbers. Thus the morning of 26th October found the attackers back in their assault-positions: their courage, spirit and indifference to death having added another leaf of fame to the chaplet of the Guards. It was clear, however, that another artillery bombardment was indispensable to success, and it was carried out on the 26th and 27th. That heavy losses were suffered by the Belgians and the French Marine Fusiliers in the fighting just described is shown by the fact that on the morning of the 26th Senegalese troops who had been hurriedly brought up took over the defence of the bridge-head. A German attack on the 28th was able to make some progress on the southern flank against these fresh troops, but a decision could not be obtained. No further effort was made on the 29th, for there was a shortage of artillery ammunition. The eastern edge of the town was, however, bombarded by trench-mortars, which had just arrived, with good effect. Army Orders for the 30th prescribed that the XXII Reserve Corps should only leave a weak force of from three to four battalions on the eastern bank of the Yser opposite DIXMUDE; that DIXMUDE should be kept under heavy artillery fire; and that the remainder of the 43rd Reserve Division should cross the YSER, north of DIXMUDE, in order to attack the town from the rear.