he 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. As has already been told, the
Second Royal Berkshires and the Second Lincolns took the first line
of trenches in front of them, and opened the middle of their line
to permit the Second Rifle Brigade and the First Irish Rifles to
dash on to the village. The British artillery range was lengthened,
thereby preventing the German supports from interference with the
well-defined plan of the British. Into the wrecked streets of Neuve
Chapelle swung two battalions of the Twenty-fifth Brigade. The few
of their enemy who offered resistance were soon overpowered--being
captured or slain.

These men of the Twenty-fifth Brigade found terrible scenes of
destruction. The village had been knocked literally into a rubbish
heap. Even the dead in the village churchyard had been plowed from
their graves by the terrific bombardment.

The Garhwal Brigade captured the first line of trenches on the
right, and the Third Gurkhas, on the southern outskirts of the
village, met the Rifle Brigade. Then it dashed on to the Bois du
Biez, passing another rubbish heap which once had been the hamlet
known as Port Arthur.

The attack on the left, however, resulted less successfully for
the British forces. As indicated above,