bivouac area at E. 15 a., outside Dernancourt.
Though this was some considerable distance behind the front line the enemy
forced the Battalion to evacuate this area by firing at it with a
long-ranged gun. In the evening there was a cinema show in the open, at
which were shown pictures of the Somme Battle. It was very strange to see
the soldiers keenly interested in the pictures of what shell fire was like
when there were actual shells falling about half a mile away, and they had
been shelled out of their camp that very afternoon. The British Army had
made a successful attack on the 15th September, and on the 17th the
Battalion went into line again at Flers, where two miserable days were
spent in an incessant downpour of rain and very heavy shell fire. On
relief it came back to the transport lines at Pommier Redoubt.

On the 23rd the Battalion paraded, leaving behind its surplus personnel
and moved up to Flers for the attack. Orders were received the next day
that the attack was to take place on the 25th, and that zero was to be at
12-35 p.m. The objective allotted to the "Ninth" was from Seven Dials to
Factory Corner, which meant an advance of 1,000 yards. At 7-30 a.m. the
barrage commenced and lasted for hours, and increased in intensity as the
moment for the advance drew nearer. At zero the Battalion advanced in four
waves, the distance between the waves being 100 yards. The first wave had
to keep close to the creeping barrage of shrapnel. Of the last wave
scarcely a man survived, as it came in for the enemy barrage which the
leading waves had escaped. The bombers took an enemy strong point and
fought their way along Grove Alley and got to work with the bayonet,
inflicting many casualties on the enemy and taking several prisoners. This
was the first experience the men had of advancing under cover of a
creeping barrage of shrapnel and the first occasion that they saw tanks in
action. The attack was a great success and reflected no little credit on
the Battalion. Everyone of the Headquarters personnel present will
remember the Advanced Headquarters being blown up and the signallers and
runners sustaining many casualties. During the same evening two companies
of another unit came to the trench occupied by Headquarters. They tried to
enter the trench at the same spot and crowded close on each other. At this
time the enemy suddenly dropped four 5.9 shells among the crowded men.
Next morning forty-seven dead were counted.