august 1, 1917
Yser crossed by the Allies
The tension of the past few days snapped at 3 o’clock this morning. The British Army has taken the field in what I believe will prove to be the biggest battle of this war on the Western front. The front from the River Lys to Boesinghe is blazing and booming as I write. Gas masks were worn by our troops, as rumour had it that they might be needed.The enemy troops bearing the brunt of the renewed British offensive are the Fourth Army of the Group of the Crown Prince Rupprecht, several divisions of which are known to have been very much knocked about, so that there is reason to believe that some have recently been withdrawn to reserve.
The weather is humid and misty, and not favourable to the airmen. The work done by the Royal Flying Corps and the Naval Air Service is magnificent, and we have established complete supremacy of the air in the region of the offensive.
Later. We have got on with the war famously within the past 12 hours. We have crossed the Yser in many places. The artillery has been literally pursuing the enemy. I hear that one minute after the appointed moment for the attack our guns were moving forward. For the conduct of our men I hear nothing but praise. They went in, not only with the will to win, but with the conviction that they would win. In many places the infantry had crept up close to the German front line in the wake of the barrage, ready to leap up and rush the trenches the instant the guns lengthened their range. In one case our troops saw a number of Huns beginning to run on the other side of our barrage, and actually dashed through the fire to prevent them escaping, being rewarded with a considerable bag of prisoners. It is small wonder to find the enemy sometimes lacking in stomach for the fight, for our attacks nowadays, when we are putting out the full weight of our resources, are a terrible ordeal to face. The boiling oil drums in themselves are enough to quench the most heroic spirits. Two officers, who were captured, are profoundly pessimistic. In the course of conversation, their interrogator said: “We shall go on fighting until you are beaten,” to which they replied that they were beaten already, that there were no more men left in Germany, and that the present was the last battle of the war.
