The ridge by this time was secured and our front line was still pressing forward on the heels of the retreating Germans.

It was a glorious moment.

The attack which we had looked forward to and prepared for so long had been successful.
The Germans had been taken by surprise and the important strategic point which guarded the rich coal fields of Northern France was in our possession.
The sight of the German trenches was something never to be forgotten.
They had been strongly held and had been fortified with an immense maze of wire.

But now they were ploughed and shattered by enormous shell holes.

The wire was twisted and torn and the whole of that region looked as if a volcanic upheaval had broken the crust of the earth.