nd horror that were endured heroically but
unavailingly on the slopes between Eaucourt L'Abbaye and Le Barque.
Never have the soldiers of the 50th Division deserved more and won
less praise than they did during the operations between October 25 and
November 15. I have no pen to describe the conditions that were faced
by the brave men, who, after labouring unceasingly in the slimy
horrors and rain for three weeks without rest or relief, stormed and
took Hook Sap, only to be cut off and killed to the last man by
successive counter-attacks. It is a sorrowful page in the history of
the 7th N.F., but for stark grim courage and devotion to duty it
cannot be surpassed by anything in the history of the battalion.

The first attack on the Butte and Butte Trench took place about the
beginning of November and was made by the 151st Infantry Brigade. On
the right the attack did not succeed; but on the left the troops
reached the Butte and took or killed many Germans. Unfortunately the
machine-guns behind the Butte prevented the Brigade from
consolidating the ground won, and the troops eventually retired to
their original line. During this operation the men of the 149th
Infantry Brigade were employed in carrying up stores and as stretcher
parties. Eventually, about November 12, the Brigade took over the
front line, with a view to renewing the attack whenever the weather
should permit. Our H.Q. were established at Seven Elms, about a mile
from the front line, with rear H.Q. at the sugar factory. At dawn on
November 14 the Brigade attacked the Hook Sap and Gird Line, the 5th
N.F. on the right, the 7th N.F. on the left opposite the sap. At the
same time an Australian Corps attacked farther to the right, but no
attack was made on the Butte itself. An officer, who was in the
trenches south-west of the Butte and saw the Northumberlands go
forward, told me that he had never seen such a strange sight. The men
staggered forward a few yards, tumbled into shell-holes or stopped to
pull out less fortunate comrades, forward a few more yards, and the
same again and again. All the while the machine-guns from the German
trenches poured a pitiless hail into the slowly advancing line; and
the German guns opened out a heavy barrage on the trenches and on the
ground outside. In spite of mud, in spite of heavy casualties, the
survivors of two companies of the 7th N.F. struggled across that
spongy swamp and gained the German line. What happened after that