.

Gough sent the London Scottish to join the 3rd Hussars in support of
Bingham's 4th Cavalry Brigade (Household Cavalry, composite regiment,
6th Dragoon Guards and 3rd Hussars) on the left of the 3rd Division.

At the same time, three battalions of French infantry, supported by 12
guns, were just starting their attack from St. Eloi on Oesttaverne.

At about 11.45 a.m., two battalions King's Own Scottish Borderers and
King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry were sent forward to retake the
Messines ridge.

General de Lisle, commanding the 1st Cavalry Division, was commanding
at Messines. The Oxfordshire Yeomanry and an Indian battalion were the
last reserves sent up to him.

About noon, when the 1st Cavalry Brigade were still clinging to the
western edge of Messines, a counter-attack by the 3rd Hussars and
London Scottish began on the north of the village. By 1 p.m.,
considerable progress had been made. The 3rd Corps had regained the
trenches north of the River Douve to within half a mile of Messines.

The K.O.S.B. were on the right of the town, and the K.O.Y.L.I. on the
left. The London Scottish and 3rd Hussars were engaged on the north of
the latter, and an intense struggle for the convent and southern
portion of the town, which was a point from which the lost ground
could be recovered, was proceeding to our advantage.

At this hour the news appeared more hopeful, and I left Allenby in
order to join Haig at Hooge, east of Ypres. A battalion of French
arrived to support the troops fighting at Messines just as I was
leaving.

I learned later that the London Scottish attack reached the
north edge of Messines shortly after 2 p.m.; that towards 4 p.m. the
attack was checked on the Messines--Wytschaete road by heavy
artillery; that fierce fighting went on in the streets, and that the
town was severely shelled; but that, later, the Germans were driven
completely out, and were holding the ridge to the east, including a
ruined factory and some farms to the south.

At nightfall the line held about Messines was the same as in the
morning.

As I passed through Ypres on my way to Haig, there were manifest signs
of unusual excitement, and some shells were already falling in the
place. It is wonderful with what rapidity the contagion of panic
spreads through a civilian population. I saw loaded vehicles leaving
the town, and people were gathered in groups about the streets
chattering like monkeys or rushing hither and thither