If the 7th
Manchesters, and not only the 7th, but the 5th, 6th and 8th as well will
allow me to say so, I did not enjoy the same complete confidence as to
the result before and during the night in question. The operation
consisted of digging a complete new front line trench, a mile long, on
the whole Brigade Sector, five hundred yards in advance of the existing
front line, and half way across No Man's Land. June nights are short and
it needed practically the whole brigade to get the job done in time. We
had to find not only the diggers, but the covering troops and strong
parties for carrying and wiring. Now four battalions digging on a bare
hillside within point blank range of the enemy's rifles and machine guns
are not well placed to meet attack or even to avoid fire if they are
caught. So everything possible had to be done to avoid raising any
suspicion of what was on foot in the minds of the watchful Germans. The
troops had to work at high pressure and in absolute silence. The R.E.
who were to lay the tapes were the first to go forward after the
covering troops; then came the wire carriers, and, as soon as the R.E.
had had time to get the tapes into position, out went the diggers, who,
after reaching the line, had to be spaced out at working distances along
the whole front. We who stayed behind spent some anxious hours. However
complete the arrangements and however perfectly executed there was yet a
chance that some enterprising and inquisitive German patrol might find
out what was happening in time to give one of their local commanders an
opportunity of hindering our work.
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