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[Page 147]
All other companies carried out their allotted duties, but of course, what happened with them I don't know, I can only describe my own experiences. At 3.2 a.m. the usual morning strafe was put into Vaire Wood by our artillery for 8 minutes, & at 3.10 crash came the barrage from all our guns, & we moved forward slowly – one would think the awful crash of artillery & bursting shells would deafen or drive you crazy, but your blood is warm, & really, I felt as cool as could be, just slightly "Keen" I'll admit. We moved to within 30 to 50 yards of our barrage, & one felt he could go through to Berlin under it. However, there is a temptation to go too fast, & one of our shells burst fair among our company, & played havoc. I was pleased to see the tanks moving forward, they had arrived to time without mishap. After 3 minutes our barrage lifted another 100 yards, & we moved on, the companies were now rather mixed up. Came to a trench, & I saw a Fritz with his hands up surrendering to some of our boys, they fired into other dugouts, in case there were some hiding in there before we moved on. I was amongst some Yanks & A Coy now, the tanks still trudged along, & day was breaking. I then saw the tank in front of me hit with a shell. After going about 800 yards, D Company's objective was reached & we immediately began to dig in, while A, B & C Coys.