undred and fifty guns at short range began a most terrific
bombardment March 10, 1915, at 7.30 a. m. It is said that the
discharges of the artillery was so frequent that it seemed as if some
gigantic machine gun was in action. Shortly after this bombardment
started, the German trenches were covered by a great cloud of smoke
and dust and a pall of green lyddite fumes. The first line of German
trenches, against which the fire was directed, became great shapeless
furrows and craters filled with the dead and dying.

This was the condition all along the line except on the extreme
northern end where the artillery fire was less effective, owing, it
was said, to a lack of proper preparation by the British staff. This
terrific artillery fire was continued for thirty-five minutes; and
then the range was changed from the first line of German trenches to
the village of Neuve Chapelle itself. Thereupon the British infantry
advanced and made prisoners of the few Germans left alive in the first
line. The men found unwounded were so dazed by the onslaught which the
guns had made upon their position that they offered no resistance. The
bombardment had swept away the wire entanglements; and the British had
only the greasy mud with which to contend, when they made their dash
forward.

Where the wire entanglements had been swept away, the Second
Lincolnshire and the Berkshire regiments were the first to reach the
German trenches. These regiments then turned to the right and left,
and thus permitted the Royal Irish Rifles and the Rifle Brigade to go
on toward the village.

In order to understand the infantry attack in detail it is necessary
to know the manner in which the British troops were distributed before
they made their dash at the ruined trenches of the Germans. Two
brigades of the Eighth Division, the Twenty-fifth to the right and the
Twenty-third to the left, were due west of Neuve Chapelle. On a front
a mile and a half long to the south of them was the Meerut Division,
supported by the Lahore Division. The Garhwal Brigade was on the left
and the Dehra Dun Brigade was on its right. In the first attack the
Twenty-third dashed to the northeast corner of the village, the
Twenty-fifth against the village itself; and the Garhwal Brigade
charged on the southwest corner.

The trenches opposite the Twenty-fifth were taken with practically no
fighting. The Germans who had manned them were either killed or too
dazed to offer resistance.