of attack--still away back from Hill 70--by which time the enemy
had recovered from his first surprise, had reorganized his guns, and was
moving up his own supports. Tragedy befell the Scots on Hill 70 and in
the Cite St.-Auguste, as I have told. Worse tragedy happened to the 21st
and 24th Divisions. They became hopelessly checked and tangled in the
traffic of the roads, and in their heavy kit were exhausted long before
they reached the battlefield. They drank the water out of their bottles,
and then were parched. They ate their iron rations, and then were
hungry. Some of their transport moved too far forward in daylight, was
seen by German observers, ranged on by German guns, and blown to bits on
the road. The cookers were destroyed, and with them that night's food.
None of the officers had been told that they were expected to attack on
that day. All they anticipated was the duty of holding the old support
trenches. In actual fact they arrived when the enemy was preparing
a heavy counter-attack and flinging over storms of shell-fire. The
officers had no maps and no orders. They were utterly bewildered with
the situation, and had no knowledge as to the where-abouts of the enemy
or their own objectives. Their men met heavy fire for the first time
when their physical and moral condition was weakened by the long march,
the lack of food and water, and the unexpected terror ahead of them.
They crowded into broken trenches, where shells burst over them and into
them. Young officers acting on their own initiative tried to lead their
men forward, and isolated parties went forward, but uncertainly,
not knowing the ground nor their purpose. Shrapnel lashed them, and
high-explosive shells plowed up the earth about them and with them.
Dusk came, and then darkness. Some officers were cursing, and some
wept, fearing dishonor. The men were huddled together like sheep without
shepherds when wolves are about, and saw by the bewilderment of the
officers that they were without leadership. It is that which makes for
demoralization, and these men, who afterward in the battle of the Somme
in the following year fought with magnificent valor, were on that day
at Loos demoralized in a tragic and complete way. Those who had gone
forward came back to the crowded trenches and added to the panic and
the rage and the anguish. Men smashed their rifles in a kind of madness.
Boys were cursing and weeping at the same time. They were too hopelessly
disorde