THE YPRES TIMES
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until these were rising thickly along the enemy's front. It appeared almost certain that
the Germans had seen the waiting troops, and that this was his call to his artillery for
barrage. Within a few minutes the German artillery opened, its shells falling fairly
across the waiting lines of the 1st and 2nd Australian Divisions, and for half-an-hour
the officers and men lying out in shell-holes had to endure this tempest. Losses were
heavy, and officers were wondering whether their units could possibly carry out the
assault, when, at 6 a.m. (the hour for the attack), the German fire suddenly ceased and
simultaneously the British barrage, enormously greater in volume, descended. The
troops rose to their feet and began to advance. In the dim fight a man would be visible
about 40 yards away, and they had gone 100 yards when they saw before them another
Photo] [Imperial War Museum, Crown Copyright.
VIEW OF THE YPRES SALIENT BATTLEFIELD AT GARTER POINT ON OCTOBER 22nd, 1917
line of men, also rising to its feet, its members looking round them as if puzzled, waiting
for an order.
It was a fine of Germans. The German command had planned an assault at exactly
the same hour as the British, but on a smaller scale. The attacking troops of each side
had been lying out in No-Man's Land at 5.30 a.m. without the other's knowledge. The
yellow flares probably meant the detection of some part of the Australian force, but
the German bombardment was part of the normal preparation for their own attack.
At 6 a.m. the two lines met, and the Australian rolled over that of the Germans and
continued on up the Broodseinde heights to where some of the German staffs and the
artillery observers were awaiting news of their own operation. The officers and men
