The Germans had been trying all day to reach Maple Copse, but we held
there. Our artillery observer at Zillebeke now phoned that the Huns were
massing in Sanctuary Woods--"Fire must come from somewhere." We pulled
the last two guns of the Imperial battery and shoved them out in the
open; the crews of the remaining guns of this battery were gone; these
guns were 4.05's. On they came, and we let them have it beautifully for
a good five minutes, and they faltered and fell back. In another ten
minutes they came again, when suddenly hell broke loose from our
lines,--the Empire batteries had opened up on them. These batteries
derived their name from the fact that they were comprised of Australian
guns, South African guns, guns from New Zealand, Canada, Scotland,
England, in fact every part of the Empire was represented. For a time
they smothered the German batteries in Sanctuary Woods. Then a flock of
German airplanes flew over these guns and smothered them partially for a
few minutes with their machine guns. This entire action had lasted an
hour, and at this moment the little relief party, accompanied by our
parson, arrived from the wagon lines.
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