[Illustration: ROUND ABOUT BAPAUME]
The head of the brigade column had reached Gomiecourt when word was
received that the enemy was attacking again, and there were vague
reports that Behagnies had either been captured or was being hard
pressed. It was considered inadvisable to continue the journey to Mory,
and more important to hold up this possible enveloping movement. We were
therefore deflected to the right, and then those things were done which
we used to practise on the desert, but never expected to put into use in
France. We moved across the open in artillery formation by battalions
and finally deployed into a defensive position. Meanwhile the guns
were hammering away at S.O.S. speed from their hastily improvised
positions either on or near the roads. The difficulty of all this work
was not diminished by the darkness, and it was with some astonishment
that we found the 125th brigade coming through our lines diagonally. One
or two stragglers from other divisions came in and told stories of heavy
enemy attacks, but a gunner major rode back from the front on a white
horse, and said the situation was not so bad as these men's reports had
intimated. Still, there seemed to be a good deal of confusion, and the
7th were somewhat bewildered, not knowing quite what to expect next.
Meanwhile they longed hard for daylight in order to get their
whereabouts and some idea of the lie of the land.
As daylight approached on the 25th it was obvious, from the increasing
proximity of rifle fire on our left, that Mory had fallen and the line
was falling back steadily.
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