clearly expressed order of the general officer commanding the First Army
been carefully observed.

The difficulties above enumerated might have been overcome earlier in
the day if the general officer commanding the Fourth Corps had been able
to bring his reserve brigades more speedily into action. As it was, a
further advance did not commence before 3:30 o'clock. The Twenty-first
Brigade was able to form up in the open on the left without a shot being
fired at it, thus showing that, at the time, the enemy's resistance had
been paralyzed.

The brigade pushed forward in the direction of Moulin-du-Pietre. At
first it made good progress, but was subsequently held up by machine gun
fire from houses and from a defended work in the line of the German
intrenchments opposite the right of the Twenty-second Brigade.

Further to the south the Twenty-fourth Brigade, which had been directed
on Pietre, was similarly held up by machine guns in houses and trenches.
At the road junction, 600 yards to the northwest of Pietre, the
Twenty-fifth Brigade, on the right of the Twenty-fourth, was also held
up by machine guns from a bridge held by the Germans over the River Les
Layes, which is situated to the northwest of the Bois du Biez.

While two brigades of the Meerut Division were establishing themselves
on a new line the Dehra Dun Brigade, supported by the Jullunder Brigade
of the Lahore Division, moved to the attack of the Bois du Biez, but
were held up on the line of the River Les Layes by a German post at the
bridge, which enfiladed them and brought them to a standstill.

The defended bridge over the Les Layes and its neighborhood immediately