In the early hours of our second night at Vaux on April 15 we were rather disturbed by the excessive number of shells which were bursting near our billet and by the extraordinary noise our guns were making as they fired shell after shell and as it was impossible to sleep we simply lay awake wondering what the cause of it all was. About four am Captain Hosky and his other officers came to our billets and ordered us to dress quickly and stand to as the Germans had broken through the 9th Battalion’s outpost line and were advancing slowly towards Vaux in great numbers.
Bombs and extra bandoliers of ammunition were then issued to each man and we were then led out of the village into the shelter of the high banks of the roads beyond. Here we were given a meal of stew and tea and whilst engaged in eating it, we listened to the crackle of musketry as it approached closer and closer as the minutes sped by. At dawn, several 1st divisional artillerymen began to drift down the road from Lagnicourt towards us bearing the story of what had happened. It seems that the Huns had amassed about five thousand men opposite the front between Lagnicourt and Queant, occupied by the 1st division, and had attacked suddenly, catching the men in the front line unawares and overpowering the posts. They had then advanced rapidly and overpowered the artillery positions, capturing over 45 x 18 pounder guns of 1st Div. artillery and killing & capturing a number of the men.
They were then slowly advancing in extended order and were half way to Vaux-Vrancourt when we received the order to stand to. Our Colonel Ralston grasped the situation splendidly and very soon our battalion deployed and commenced to advance in open order towards the approaching Huns. No. 10 platoon, including myself, following on behind the advancing waves of our men, in echelon, until we reached a depression in the ground on the left of the Lagnicourt Road and there awaited the results of the counter attack. Here we obtained a magnificent view of the attack. There was practically no artillery fire on either side, except from our 9.2’s and other heavy guns which kept up a barrage behind the Huns. As soon as the Germans caught sight of our boys approaching with bayonets fixed in perfect order, they turned tail and commenced to retreat back towards their own lines, followed closely by the 20th and 19th battalions, who shot them down in dozens with their rifle and Lewis gun fire.
Presently the Hun retreat became a panic stricken rout with our men in amongst them with bomb, bullet and bayonet, and the slaughter was terrible. They chased the Huns back through the sunken roads and through the village of Lagnicourt in headlong flight, until they finally were caught in our barrage of heavy shells which completed the work of slaughter and almost annihilated their attacking force, very few escaping into their own territory.
The 20th battalion and the rest of the 5th brigade then dug in and held the line all that day and the following night and day. In all, our battalion had only suffered about 15 killed and fifty odd wounded, whilst the brigade captured some 600 prisoners and must have killed 1,000 more. Further to our left, near Noreuil village, the 2nd div. artillery caused terrific destruction amongst the enemy by firing at them with open sights and altogether the surprise attack by the Huns had ended in a dismal and costly failure to themselves, as it was computed that they lost over 3,000 men during the operation.
The papers on the Continent gave us a great deal of praise for this operation, saying that the rifle and bayonet had not been used with such effect since the time of the “Old Contemptibles” in the early days of the war. Our Colonel, Colonel Ralston and the Brigadier General Smith of the 5th brigade were each awarded the D.S.O. whilst numerous D.C.M.’s, M.M.’s and Military Crosses were awarded to the lower ranks for gallantry in action and altogether it was a proud day for the 5th brigade and especially the 20th btn.
Having re-established the front line, Nos. 10 and 11 platoons were called into use and for the remainder of the day and night were employed in carrying food, shovels and ammunition to the front line posts from Vaux, altogether a distance of nearly 4 kilometres. The first trip we did was immediately after the attack and I had charge of a stew carrying fatigue which carried food to the front line troops in the broad daylight being sniped at all the time we walked from one post to another. Altogether, I did, with my party, six trips to and from Vaux to the firing line during the two days and one night we were in at Lagnicourt during which time I got no sleep and it rained and blew the whole time.
During the following night we were relieved and came back to our billets in Vaux-Vrancourt where we remained in readiness to counter attack again at a moments notice and remained until the following night. We were not required for this work however, but at 6 pm we were fallen in with our fighting gear and rations, etc. and were marched across country through the artillery positions in Dead Mans Gully, and then on through the village of Noreuil to the outpost line two kilometres in front. There I was given charge of No. 4 post and remained for 24 hours in perfect quietness. On the barbed wire entanglements in front of us were hanging the bodies of four Engineers who had been killed, by a shell three nights before whilst engaged in erecting the entanglement and they remained as a kind of warning of the nearness of death even though our post was a very quiet one. The best thing about this post was that we discovered half a jar of rum in one of the dugouts with which we drowned our immediate sorrows much to the disgust of Lieut. Portman who discovered us during one of his inspectional rounds.