The extended lines started in excellent order but gradually melted away. There was no wavering or attempting to come back, the men fell in their ranks, mostly before the first hundred yards of No Man's land had been crossed.

The magnificent gallery, discipline and determination displayed by all ranks of this North Country division were of no avail against the concentrated fire effect of the enemy's unbroken infantry and artillery, whose barrage has been described as so consistent and severe that the cones of the explosions gave the impression of a thick belt of poplar trees.

Sir James E Edmonds, Military Operations: France and Belgium 1916