.

Brigade Headquarters marched on--and with it the Duo--to where a long
line of duck-boards led into a line of wide trenches. The Ten Hundred
came to a halt in the immediate rear, received the order to lie
down--and waited.

A night of wondrous calm and quiet. Within one mile of a watchful foe
and not a sound. Once or twice a machine gun awoke wild echoes with
brief spluttering bursts ... in silence more acute for the interruption
hearts beat faster, hands tightened involuntarily about rifles.

Thus the young, full-blooded Normans awaited their first fray. Even as
the mighty Ragnar Lodbrok and his fierce men in mail launched merciless
onslaught with the breaking of day, so did Sarnia's young warriors look
eastward for the Dawn.

V

CAMBRAI OFFENSIVE

NOVEMBER 20th, 1917

THE ADVANCE

It was just after six in the morning of November 20, 1917, and the dew
lay thick on the soil. Men were quietly roused, rifles slung, and with
fast tattooing pulse paused for orders. First wave "over" stamped feet
impatiently in those interminable hours of waiting blended in what was
only a few short minutes; an almost frenzy of anxiety to get through the
waiting possessed them. Then the tanks, faintly outlined forms in the
grey light, moved ponderously forward.

A nerve-straining silence held momentary sway.

From point to point at a few yards' interval a milliard blinding flashes
of dull crimson flames leapt from out the gloom like one gigantic
sunset, casting sinister glares in ceaseless succession upon the heavy
mist. Roar upon roar, blending, echoing and re-echoing like unto the
roll of countless mighty drums, throbbed in one great deafening
crescendo. It was futile to count explosions: they all merged one into
another. But words are fatuously inadequate and convey little.

"Stand by." Your pipe is in your mouth, unlit, empty. You don't want to
smoke, really, but still ... the eye glances along the line of strained
white faces. Someone MUST go under; still, it might not be you. Anyhow,
if it is, funk will make no difference, so--one wild scramble over
the top, an almost imperceptible pause and then forward. A cry, a fall
here or there, and then on again. As in a dream you find yourself still
carrying on unhurt ... it's not so bad.

The Undertaking had commenced.

The Ten Hundred moved forward grouped in artillery formation, C., D.,
and B. Companies moving onward in that line from right to left; A.
Company and