roops in
Picardy were dealing hammer blows to the German line with the rallying
cry of "Vive la France" that made up in sincerity what it lacked in
Parisian accent.

The front selected for the British attack was a space of about four
miles from a point southeast of Longueval, Pozieres to Longueval, and
Delville Wood. The work cut out for the British right flank to perform
was the clearing out of Trones Wood still partly occupied by the
Germans. The two Bazentins, Longueval, and the wood of Delville were
either sheltered by a wood, or there was one close by that was always
a nest of cunningly hidden guns. More than a mile beyond the center of
the German position, High Wood, locally known as Fourneaux, formed a
dark wall in the background.

The British had only consolidated their new line on the day before the
attack of July 14, 1916, so every preparation was hurried at topmost
speed. In the first hours of the morning they began a furious
bombardment of the German positions. This was continued until 3.20 a. m.,
when the hurricane of fire abated. The Germans, as it developed
later, were not expecting an assault, such bombardments being of
frequent occurrence, a part of the day's program intended to impress
them, or to hide some stupid British strategy.

At 3.25 a. m., when the day was breaking and a faint light covered the
scene from a cloudy sky, the British infantry attacked. The Germans
were so completely surprised that the battalions which were assigned
to strike at the most distant points, hardly suffered a casualty
before they were within a few hundred yards of the enemy's defensive
wires. When the Germans did awake to their danger and loosed their
barrage fire, it fell to the rear of the attackers.

Success crowned the British efforts at every point on the line of
attack, though in such places where the German defenses had not been
destroyed the advance was necessarily slow. It may be of interest to
cite one instance to show how the British military machine worked on
this important day in the history of the battle of the Somme. In one
division there were two attacking brigades, each composed of two
battalions of the New Army, and two of the old regulars. It might
appear a hazardous experiment that the British command should have
placed the four battalions of the New Army in the first line, but the
inexperienced troops justified the confidence that had been placed in
them. They went forward with the dogged deter