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[Page 10]
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8. Reliefs of Brigades of Fourth Australian Division by the 9th. and 11th. Inf. Brigades were completed without any hitch, though enemy shelling was incessant throughout. Th 9th. Inf. Brigade completed at 1.20 am. but message from 11th. Inf. Brigade reporting completion was not received until 5.45 a.m. owing to communications breaking down.
9. The operation by the 10th. Inf. Brigade, however owing to enemy bombing, artillery and machine gun fire could not be completed. At 7.46 p.m. a message was received from 10th. Inf. Brigade saying "established new location (i.e.Q.30.c.5.4/ near hospital) aaa retard Zero half hour." The G.O.C. 10th. Inf. Brigade took this action, as owing to the light and lack of cover and the large number of enemy balloons, he considered that movement would be seen and the success of the operation imperilled. Zero hour, however, had been fixed to coincide with the operation of the 13th. Inf. Brigade and, therefore, a wire was sent to 10th. Inf. Brigade to cancel alteration, but it arrived too late for this to be done.
The head of the column passed 10th. Inf. Brigade Headquarters (Q.30.c.5.4) at 9.15 p.m. and everything was reported as going well until 9.50 p.m. when enemy aircraft dropped bombs along the main road, causing many casualties, and wounding and killing teams of wagons taking up Stokes ammunition. This caused a certain amount of disorganisation; but notwithstanding fairly heavy shelling near dump R.25. and along the road, the leading troops in artillery formation passed cross-roads LA FLAQUE (as arranged by 10th. Inf. Brigade) at 10.0 p.m. (the original Zero hour having been 9.30 p.m.
The original plan had intended the tanks to move, one on the road and one on either side, but it was found impracticable to move off the road, owing to the darkness and the many small enemy dumps.
10. When the leading battalion (37th) and the Tanks were about 300 yards beyond this point, the enemy put up a number of VERY Lights and very heavy machine gun fire was encountered from both sides of the road, and a heavy hostile barrage came down in the vicinity of LA FLAQUE. Many casualties were suffered by the infantry.
The concentration of machine gun fire on the tanks is reported to have been such that they appeared to be lit up with the splash of bullets. A large number of the personnel in the tanks became casualties; in the last tank to return to our lines only the driver was unwounded. An enemy anti-tank gun was also firing and causing casualties.
11. The troops continued to push forward in extended order, but owing to the necessity of taking advantage of all available cover, this was done at a slower rate. The flank guards were slightly better off for cover, but the main body could only move by means of the drains along the road-side and by crawling. The Tank Officer and the Infantry Officer, who were acting as guides to the tanks, both became casualties and the tanks stopped, after the leading troops had worked forward to with a short distance of AVENUE CROSS. It subsequently transpired that the leading tank swung in order to get its side guns to bear on the machine gun nests, and this caused the two in rear to stop and blocked the road.
12. Lieut.-Colonel E.K. KNIGHT, commanding the 37th. Battalion, instructed the Tank Section Commander to keep the tanks going at all costs; so that he might push on. The Section Commander, on going forward to so, found that they had already turned around and the advance of the Infantry was blocked, particularly as the tanks themselves were firing at enemy machine gun positions on both sides of the road. The tanks then commenced to come back and the crews stated they had received orders to do so, but were unable to say who gave them.
P.T.O.