r repeated attacks where
initial attacks had failed might seem to the observer--unless he knew
that the German losses had been equally heavy if not heavier since July
1st--disproportionate not only to the ground gained but also to general
results up to this time which, and this was most important, had
demonstrated, as a promise for the future, that the British New Army
could attack unremittingly and successfully against seasoned German
troops in positions which the Germans had considered impregnable.

"The spirit that quickeneth" knew no faltering. Battle police were
without occupation. There were no stragglers. With methodical,
phlegmatic steadiness the infantry moved up to the firing-line when its
turn came.

The second-line German fortifications, if not as elaborate, were even
better situated than the first; not on the crest of the Ridge, of
course, where they would be easily swept by artillery blasts, but where
the latest experience demonstrated that they could make the most of the
commanding high ground with the least exposure. Looking through my
glasses I could see the portion of the open knoll stretching from
Longueval to High Wood which was to be the object of the most extensive
effort since July 1st.

As yet, except in trench raids over narrow fronts, there had been no
attempt to rush a long line under cover of darkness because of the
difficulty of the different groups keeping touch and identifying their
objectives.

The charge of July 1st had been at seven-thirty in the morning.
Contalmaison had been stormed in the afternoon. Fricourt was taken at
midday. When the bold suggestion was made that over a three-mile front
the infantry should rush the second-line trenches in the darkness,
hoping to take the enemy by surprise, it was as daring a conception
considering the ground and the circumstances as ever came to the mind of
a British commander and might be said to be characteristic of the dash
and so-called "foolhardiness" of the British soldier, accustomed to
"looking smart" and rushing his enemy from colonial experiences. Nelson
had the "spirit that quickeneth" when he turned his blind eye to the
enemy. The French, too, are for the attack. It won Marengo and
Austerlitz. No general ever dared more than Frederick the Great, not
even Caesar. Thus the great races of history have won military dominion.

"Up and at them!" is still the shibboleth in which the British believe,
no less than our pioneers and Grant