he Division, therefore,
now consisted of the 7th, 15th, and 9th Brigades (the latter
comprising the Northumberland Fusiliers, Royal Fusiliers, Lincolns,
and Scots Fusiliers)--in that order from right to left. It looked,
therefore, as if we ought to be soon relieved by the 8th Brigade and
return to our own Division. Vain hope! We were not destined to be
relieved for another fortnight.

There was a good deal of shelling of the 9th Brigade during the
morning, but we personally had not many shells into us, and were
fairly quiet till past 2 o'clock.

Suddenly, about 3, a hellish hostile fire broke out in the wood--not
in our front, but close on our left. A hail of bullets whizzed over
our heads, responded to by our fire trenches; and then, to our horror,
we saw our Bedford supports, to our left front, retiring slowly, but
in some confusion, on top of us--many of the men only half-dressed,
and buckling on their kits as they moved. We jumped out of our
dug-out, and with the assistance of their officers stopped and rallied
them. They were certainly not running, and were in no sort of panic;
but they all said that the word had been passed from the right front
that the Bedfords were to retire, so they had done so--half of them
being asleep or feeding at the time the fire began.

We made them advance again, which they were more than willing to do,
and then there was a cheer from the Bedfords in front. Upon which the
supports pricked up their ears, rallied to the sound, and charged
forward like hounds rallying to the horn.

Violent firing and confused fighting and yelling in the wood for a
space, and some wounded began to come back. Then some Germans, both
wounded and prisoners, in small batches, and at last the news that the
Bedfords had completely repulsed the attack and taken about 25
prisoners, driving the enemy back with the bayonet at the run.

Who it was that started the order to retire we could never find out.
It certainly was not Milling, who was commanding in the front trench,
nor was it any officer. Quite conceivably it may have been started by
the enemy themselves.

What happened, as far as I could make out, was that the right centre
of the Northumberland Fusiliers on our left had been pressed back and
the Germans had poured through the opening. The right flank of the
Northumberlands had sat tight, so the Bedfords in our front line had
known nothing of the German success till they were fired at by the
enemy in t