The fighting around MESSINES on the 31st had been equally severe. On the 30th the 26th Infantry Division under Duke William of Urach had already got its patrols up to the edge of the village, but before any assault could be made an artillery preparation was required, especially against the northern sector. On the morning of the 31st October our howitzers and trench-mortars bombarded the enemy in his trenches, and by 10.30 A.M. the moment had arrived for the Würtemburg troops to advance. The 122nd Fusilier Regiment was to attack the ridge north of MESSINES, along which runs the road to WYTSCHAETE, whilst the 125th Infantry Regiment was to advance against MESSINES itself, and the 119th Grenadier Regiment against the enemy's trenches immediately south of it. The hostile position was so strong that a force greatly inferior in strength would be able to hold it against an attack coming up from the valley. Bare sloping ground lay in front of it, and only a few hedges limited the field of view, so that every advance and assembly position for miles round could be seen. A strong British garrison held MESSINES: the trenches had been well made, and were covered by a continuous and broad system of obstacles.[80] [Illustration: THE CAPTURE OF MESSINES. ON OCTOBER 31ST. 1914 BY THE 26TH. INFANTRY DIVISION.] The way in which the Swabian troops[81] broke down the enemy's resistance was indeed a masterpiece. Neither the enemy's artillery fire, which imperilled the advance of the reserves, nor the British machine-guns, a large number of which enfiladed the attack from the south, could restrain the dash of the Würtemburg troops. At 11 A.M. the 125th Stuttgart Infantry Regiment had got possession of the north-east corner of MESSINES. The road entering the village from GAPAARD was blocked by a barricade; and after storming it, another one, a hundred yards further inside the village, closed the way. The streets could not be used for our advance, being choked with debris, and under heavy rifle and machine-gun fire, so the attackers had to make their way through or over the walls. There are a number of large, well-built houses in MESSINES, which the enemy had turned into a succession of strongholds, but they were rapidly blown up by our sappers. The convent looked especially impregnable with its walls a yard thick, and strong towers from which machine-guns and rifles fired frantically. Captain Heinrich's Würtemburg battery of the 65th Field Artillery Regiment was therefore brought up, the men dragging the guns through the streets, as horses could not move along them, and the infantry carrying up the ammunition. The convent was soon in flames, burying its stubborn defenders under its ruins. Lieutenant Mösner of the 125th Infantry Regiment, following a narrow footpath through gardens and backyards, was the first to make an entry into the market-square. With a few stout-hearted followers he occupied a large building there which he