The fighting continued without intermission all through the night, and,
to those who observed the indications that the attack was being pushed
with ever-growing strength, it hardly seemed possible that the
Canadians, fighting in positions so difficult to defend and so little
the subject of deliberate choice, could maintain their resistance for
any long period. At 6 A.M. on Friday it became apparent that the left
was becoming more and more involved, and a powerful German attempt to
outflank it developed rapidly. The consequences, if it had been broken
or outflanked, need not be insisted upon. They were not merely local.
It was therefore decided, formidable as the attempt undoubtedly was, to
try and give relief by a counter-attack upon the first line of German
trenches, now far, far advanced from those originally occupied by the
French. This was carried out by the Ontario First and Fourth Battalions
of the First Brigade, under Brig. Gen. Mercer, acting in combination
with a British brigade.
It is safe to say that the youngest private in the rank, as he set his
teeth for the advance, knew the task in front of him, and the youngest
subaltern knew all that rested upon its success.
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