support in the event of a counter attack. At one time our men had taken the third line, but owing to want of reorganisation & our (?) shell fire they did not hold on long enough. Had there been some officer strong minded enough to take in what was happening, he could have held the men there till reinforced. The German artillery was wonderfully effective & they brought up reserves (?) of guns after the action had begun. In spite of all the preparations we made three or four days before the action such as making new assembly trenches etc the enemy were not expecting an attack. Our bombers were not so well trained as the Germans, & they ran short of bombs before the Germans did.