It was here that the first real difficulty arose along parts of the
line. Some sections found in front of them the trench which they were
looking for--an excellent deep trench which had survived the
bombardment. Other sections found no recognisable trench at all, but a
maze of shell craters and tumbled rubbish, or a simple ditch reduced to
white powder. Parties went on through the trees into the village,
searching for the position, and pushed so close to the fringe of their
own shell fire that some were wounded by it. However, where they found
no trench they started to dig one as best they could. Shortly after the
bombardment shifted a little farther, and a third attack came through
and swept, in most parts, right up to the position which the troops had
been ordered to take up.

As daylight gradually spread over that bleached surface Australians
could occasionally be seen walking about in the trees and through the
part of the village they had been ordered to take. The position was
being rapidly "consolidated." German snipers in the north-east of the
village and across the main road could see them, too. A patrol was sent
across the main road to find a sniper. It bombed some dug-outs which it
found there, and from one of them appeared a white flag, which was waved
vigorously. Sixteen prisoners came out, including a regimental doctor.
There were several other dug-outs in this part and various scraps of
old trenches, probably the site of an old battery. The Germans, now that
they had been driven from their main lines, were naturally fighting from
the various scraps of isolated fortification which exist behind all
positions. During the afternoon two patrols were sent to clear out other
snipers from these half-hidden lurking places. But the garrison was
sufficiently organised to summon up some sort of reserve, and the
patrols had to come back after a short, sharp fight more or less in the