and made several journeys, but had not room for all the Battalion, so 70
set off to march under Major Toller, who had returned to us in
Lancashire trench. It proved to be a dark night, and the party lost
their way slightly in Verquigneul, but finally arrived singing (led by
C.S.M. Gorse) at Hesdigneul, and reached their billets about midnight.

In so far that Fosse 8 still remained in the hands of the enemy, the
battle was a failure, but in capturing the Redoubt the Brigade had
prevented it being a complete failure. Though we only held the German
front line and one small point in advance of it, we made it impossible
for the enemy to hold any of the Redoubt himself, and so robbed him of
his commanding position on the high ground. Our casualties had been
heavy, and the two attacking Battalions had only one officer left
between them, while we in reserve had lost four officers and 22 men
killed, six officers and 132 men wounded and 13 men missing. Two
officers and 22 men had been gassed, but presently returned to us. The
causes of our failure were mainly two. First, the failure of the
Artillery to wipe out "Mad Point" and Madagascar and their machine guns;
secondly, the gas. This last was undoubtedly a mistake. It caused us
several casualties; it made it necessary for the attackers to wear
rolled up gas masks which impeded them, it stopped our H.E. bombardment
an hour before the assault and so enabled German machine gunners to come
back to their guns, and above all it had a bad effect on us, for we knew
its deadly effects, and many a man swallowing a mouthful or smelling it
became frightened of the consequences and was useless for further
fighting. There was also the mistake of leaving Fosse and Dump trenches
untouched by the bombardment, because they were reported weeks before to
be shallow and unoccupied; as it happened we found them full of men.
Finally, there were the bombs. We had been promised Mills only, and yet
found many other types during the battle. Possibly a shortage of Mills