117 Sentences With "shell hole" | Random Sentence Generator

The next thing I remember was Gorden pulling me in a shell hole and he told me to stay there.

The hollow interior and tightly wound spiral stairs inside are clearly visible through a monstrous shell hole on its west side.

The Germans deployed to attack short of the new British positions and trickled forward from shell-hole to shell-hole but were repulsed by the small-arms fire of the 10th Essex.

The survivors trickled forward from shell-hole to shell-hole until forced to stop well short of the German line. The rigidity of the corps artillery plan meant that the barrage moved on, giving no assistance.

Among the fatalities that day was the Irish war poet, Francis Ledwidge, who was "blown to bits" while drinking tea in a shell hole.

The sniper's second shot hit its mark and Dòmhnall slid feet first back into the shell hole. As he examined his injuries, Dòmhnall realized that he had been wounded in the side by shrapnel and that the sniper had shot him through his arm, which was hanging limp.Domhnall Ruadh Choruna (1995), page 34-35. Dòmhnall waited inside the shell hole until he was certain that the sniper had stopped watching him.

During the Battle of the Somme, German forces near Beaumont-Hamel were attacked in vain on 1 July 1916. The area was finally captured by the 51st (Highland) and 63rd (Royal Naval) Divisions on the following 13 November. Hunter's Cemetery, possibly named after Reverend Hunter, a Chaplain attached to the Black Watch Regiment, is in fact a great shell-hole. Soldiers of the 51st Division, who fell in the capture of Beaumont-Hamel were buried in the shell-hole after the battle.

He had to cover about 700 yards, the whole of which was under observation from the enemy. He succeeded in delivering the message in spite of being wounded, and then rejoined his company despite having been advised to go to the dressing station. The return journey had again meant facing 700 yards of severe rifle and machine-gun fire, but by dodging from shell-hole to shell-hole he managed it.Lewisham War Memorials Evans was captured following his VC action, and spent the rest of the war as a POW.

The machine-gun strongpoint was overcome, very heavy casualties were inflicted and a critical situation was relieved. Later, although wounded, Corporal Metcalf continued to advance until ordered to get into a shell hole and have his wounds dressed.

Wounded and disabled in the course of the second combat, by sheer strength he succeeded in landing in no man's land and after passing the day in a shell hole, by night he got back to the Allied trenches.

Corporal Mayfield's official Medal of Honor citation reads: > He displayed conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call > of duty while fighting in the Cordillera Mountains of Luzon, Philippine > Islands. When 2 Filipino companies were pinned down under a torrent of enemy > fire that converged on them from a circular ridge commanding their position, > Cpl. Mayfield, in a gallant single-handed effort to aid them, rushed from > shell hole to shell hole until he reached 4 enemy caves atop the barren > fire-swept hill. With grenades and his carbine, he assaulted each of the > caves while enemy fire pounded about him.

When back home and talking to Richard, he tells him about his ten days missing; a German officer was about to shoot him when he found him injured in a shell hole, but, for some unknown reason, he did not, and gave James the chance to shoot him instead. James also says that he felt his mother's presence while in the shell hole. James sees no further active service for the rest of the war. On 8 November 1918, days before its end, Hazel dies during the Spanish flu pandemic, and is buried on Armistice Day.

The capture of the redoubt was considered by some German officers to be a worse blow to morale than the fall of Thiepval. The 28th Reserve Division positions in the Ancre valley were exposed to British ground observation and made Grandcourt a death trap. The trenches were demolished and movement had to be from shell-hole to shell-hole; it was easy to get lost and blunder into British positions. Ludendorff and Rupprecht considered a retirement from the salient that had formed around St Pierre Division and Beaumont Hamel as the Germans had been pushed off the west end of Bazentin Ridge.

The attack from the north came from three companies of Infantry Regiment 88 and Stormtroops either side of Tea Lane. British return fire caused many casualties and forced the attackers to move from shell-hole to shell-hole, eventually being pinned down in no man's land. The survivors withdrew after dark, rallying at Flers. I Battalion, Bavarian Infantry Regiment 5, with a company of Battalion 3, attached flame-thrower and bombing detachments, attacked eastwards towards the 56th Division, along Tea and Orchard trenches, where a bomber killed a British machine-gun crew, by throwing a grenade .

Immediately, he came under heavy rifle and machine gun fire from the German positions and was forced to throw himself to the ground. He then began to crawl sixty yards across the broken ground from shell hole to shell hole to where the wounded soldier was sheltering. One eyewitness later wrote - “We could see bullets striking the ground right around the spot over which Heaviside was crawling. Every minute we expected to be his last but the brave chap went on.” As he crawled closer to the German lines, the firing increased. - “The enemy seemed to be more determined to hit him, for the bullets were spluttering about more viciously than ever.” When Private Heaviside reached the soldier, he found the man nearly demented with thirst for he had been lying badly wounded in the shell hole for four days and three nights, without any food or water. Michael Heaviside gave the soldier water, dressed his wounds and then promised that he would return with help.

Set towards the end of the Spanish Civil War, four soldiers from different sides and different countries seek shelter in a shell hole during a battle. Unarmed, they each tell their stories for entering the war to pass the time. With art by Carlos Ezquerra.

The ball opens in a shell-hole during the Siege of Tobruk. Two Diggers meet and dream of leave in Sydney. The scene dissolves to a bar in King's Cross. They met barmaid May and her friend Sheila plus an Elegant Inebriate and a "Bodgie".

He stopped at the shell hole in which James was lying, raised his weapon, but then lowered it and looked in James's eyes. This gives James enough time to unholster his own pistol and shoot the German soldier in the head, but not before feeling an intense connection with the soldier. After ultimately spending three days in the shell hole, he is taken captive and moved to a German dressing station, but he wanders out into the smoke and chaos in a fevered attempt to escape the chatter of the prisoner in the bed next to him. He wanders for an indeterminate time before being picked up at a Canadian dressing station.

Then, as his eyesight began to return, he saw the ruins of the bridge and remembered where he was. He then crawled out of the shell hole and sat down on the edge of it. At that moment, a German sniper opened fire on Dòmhnall from close range.Domhnall Ruadh Choruna (1995), page 34.

No barrage was seen and no infantry attack took place at zero hour but at the Australians attacked anyway, advancing from shell-hole to shell hole, covered by Stokes mortar fire and forced back the Germans. The advance was stopped while touch was sought with the 1st Middlesex and a small party of troops was found over to the right. Australian troops far out to the right rear saw two companies of the 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders advance down the head of the valley, with no protective barrage. The Scots advanced in two lines, through a huge amount of return-fire and the first line passed Lone House, south-west of Black Watch Corner, cutting off a small party of Germans.

On 25 January 1915, Whitham enlisted in the British Army. He was 29 years old, and a private in the 1st Battalion, Coldstream Guards, during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC. On 31 July 1917 at Pilckem near Ypres, Belgium, during an attack an enemy machine-gun was seen to be enfilading the battalion on the right. Private Whitham on his own initiative immediately worked his way from shell-hole to shell-hole through our own barrage, reached the machine-gun and, although under very heavy fire captured it, together with an officer and two other ranks. This bold action was of great assistance to the battalion and undoubtedly saved many lives.

It was thought that the right company, that advanced east of Beck House, was caught by machine-gun fire from behind and annihilated. The advance of the left company of the 8th Seaforth was costly but got to within of Iberian Farm. The support company went forward to reinforce by rushes, from shell-hole to shell-hole, reaching the forward company despite many casualties and linked with the 7th Cameron on the left. The 7th Cameron had reached the crest of Hill 35, where the advance was stopped by machine-gun fire from Gallipoli and the troops dug in. Iberian Farm had not been captured by the 8th Seaforth and the machine-gunners in the blockhouse fired on the 7th Cameron troops on Hill 35.

The starboard side of the Japanese submarine's conning tower has one shell hole, evidence of damage from Wards number-three gun. While her depth charges were sufficient to fully lift the , submarine out of the water, they did no apparent structural damage to the submarine, which sank due to water flooding into the vessel from shell holes.

In the British official history (1948), James Edmonds recorded that Sergeant Alfred Knight of the 2/8th (City of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Post Office Rifles), had rushed twelve Germans in a shell hole, killed three and captured a machine-gun. Soon after, he rushed another machine-gun nest, killed the gunner and captured the gun.

Two dead Japanese soldiers in a water filled shell hole somewhere in New Guinea Wau is a village in the interior of the Papuan peninsula, approximately southwest of Salamaua. An airfield had been built there during an area gold rush in the 1920s and 1930s. This airfield was of great value to the Australians during the fighting for northeast Papua.Morison 1950, p.

When the town was bombarded in 1920 during the Kapp Putsch, the town hall was also hit. The shell hole on the rear of the building may still be seen today. The New Town Hall was renovated around 1997 as part of a general urban regeneration project. The town council is located today on the western edge of the Old Town.

The two brothers meet in the trenches. When Ralph and his patrol are caught in a shell hole behind German lines, Jim comes to the rescue. Blossom is threatened by a German officer, who is shot by another German soldier that she befriended. After additional adventures, the brothers return to their sweethearts, and Monsieur France swears allegiance to the American flag.

In a charge two companies become mixed and he finds himself in a shell hole with a black soldier who is dying. Edward's manliness asserts itself and he accomplishes the soldier's final request. Leo is discovered listening to a German officer (Peil) discussing plans and is shot. He creeps back to the cellar and Jeannette relays the information by telephone to the French.

During the war Wicks was attached to the Fifth Army (United Kingdom) as a YMCA worker and Padre. While in a shell hole in France, he made up his mind to quit the ministry. He was injured and invalided back to England. On his return he took up the role of educational officer for YMCA at the Shoreham Army Camp, traveling to London and the Welsh border.

During the German counterattack at Lagnicourt in April, Martin's headquarters was caught up in the fighting. At Menin Road on 20 September, he moved it into a shell hole in the front line so as to better supervise the defence effort. Martin was mentioned in despatches twice more in 1917 and he was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG).

Numerous counter-attacks by battalions of the 1st and 2nd Marine Regiments eventually forced the Canadians to withdraw, before attempting to attack again by dribbling forward from shell-hole to shell-hole. The Canadian attacks ceased at nightfall, having been costly to both sides. On 2 October, parts of the 66th and 170th regiments of the 52nd Division, attached to the 26th Reserve Division, attacked at the east end of ( Redoubt) and the German lines further east and gained a small amount of ground. On 7 October the 110th Reserve Regiment of the 28th Reserve Division, which was relieving the 26th Reserve Division, began attacks on assisted by detachments, which continued on 8 October. Another British attack on 7 October, captured parts of before the 2nd Marine Regiment and part of the 1st Marine Regiment repulsed the attack, with many casualties on both sides.

Henry Reynolds (16 August 1883 – 26 March 1948) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Reynolds was 38 years old, and a temporary captain in the 12th Battalion, The Royal Scots (The Lothian Regiment), British Army during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC. On 20 September 1917 near Frezenberg, Belgium, Captain Reynolds' company were suffering heavy casualties from enemy machine-guns and a pill-box. Captain Reynolds reorganised his men and then proceeded alone, rushing from shell-hole to shell-hole under heavy fire. When near the pill-box, he threw a grenade which should have fallen inside, but the entrance was blocked, so crawling to the entrance he forced a phosphorus grenade in.

A German party in a shell-hole position were rushed and bayoneted and the four battalions, mingled together, pressed on into the north end of the Triangle and Serpentine Trench to the left, where the wire had been well cut and the trenches devastated. I Battalion and II Battalion Bavarian Infantry Regiment 7 (BIR 7) had little artillery support and reported later that aircraft strafed them as the British advanced. Despite many casualties, the brigade overpowered the defenders and occupied part of the first objective by the survivors of BIR 7 retiring on the III Battalion in . The 1st Guards Brigade was also met with machine-gun fire from Pint Trench and Flers Road; the two leading battalions hesitated momentarily before rushing the Germans and capturing several prisoners, four machine-guns and a trench mortar. The supporting battalion had advanced, veered north and overrun a shell-hole position, then arrived on the first objective simultaneously with the 2nd Brigade.

Thomas Henry Sage VC (8 December 1882 - 20 July 1945) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Sage's grave in Tiverton Cemetery Sage was born in Tiverton in Devon and returned there after his military service. He was 34 years old, and a private in the 8th Battalion, The Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Albert's), British Army during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC. On 4 October 1917 at Tower Hamlets Spur, east of Ypres, Belgium, Private Sage was in a shell-hole with eight other men, one of whom was shot while throwing a bomb which fell back into the shell-hole. Private Sage, with great presence of mind, immediately threw himself on it, and so saved the lives of several of his comrades, although he himself was severely wounded.

Landing against fierce opposition, PFC Caddy went through the fighting on Iwo Jima for 12 days. On March 3, 1945, he, along with his platoon leader and his acting platoon sergeant, were advancing against shattering Japanese machine-gun and small arms fire in an isolated sector. Seeking temporary refuge from the assault, the three Marines dropped into a shell hole where they were immediately pinned down by a well-concealed enemy sniper.

Odlum's battalion moved into the front lines in April 1915, and only days later was subjected to the first gas attacks on the Western Front that heralded the Second Battle of Ypres. Odlum showed great personal bravery during the battle. On a reconnaissance with Hart-McHarg, the two suddenly came under heavy small arms fire from a concealed group of Germans. They took cover in a shell-hole, Hart-McHarg seriously wounded.

Boyce (2004). Such was Northcliffe's influence on anti-German propaganda during the World War I that a German warship was sent to shell his house, Elmwood, in Broadstairs, in an attempt to assassinate him. His former residence still bears a shell hole out of respect for his gardener's wife, who was killed in the attack. On 6 April 1919, Lloyd George made an excoriating attack on Harmsworth, terming his arrogance "diseased vanity".

In June 2012, after a three-year search, Turkish marine engineer Selçuk Kolay and filmmaker Savas Karakas discovered the wreck of E14 in 20 m of water about 250 m off Kum Kale. The boat is largely buried in sand, only 7 m of the coral-encrusted bow, with a shell hole, remaining visible. The British government is to ask the Turkish authorities to ensure the wreck is respected as a war grave.

Lee was the last person to leave the opposing forces' trenches, and he carried wounded soldiers back through the counter-barrage. Lee spent the entire day of August 31 in a shell hole in no man's land because he wanted to help all wounded soldiers return to the American line. For this, Lee was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Silver Star Citation. Lee received a promotion to the rank of major.

Mephisto after recovery from the battlefield. Jun 14, 1919, Mephisto Tank unloads off the SS Armagh at Brisbane Mephisto Tank lands at Brisbane "Mephisto" on display in the Australian War Memorial, July 2015. Mephisto is a World War I German tank, the only surviving example of an A7V. In April 1918, during a German attack at Villers-Bretonneux on the Western Front, it became stuck in a shell-hole and was abandoned by its crew.

He was shot in the arm and suffered shards of a whisky bottle becoming imbedded in his side from an explosion. After lying wounded in a shell-hole for six hours, he was rescued and sent home for sick-leave. He soon volunteered to go back to the front. He was promoted to captain, when his elder brother Peter, also an officer in the East Surrey Regiment, arrived in France in December 1916.

Mooney (Lee Marvin) and privates Sapiros (Nick Dennis) and Muller (Dickie Moore). Muller opens the package and finds a fruitcake, which he divides eight ways. Carter and Ferguson manage to get back, but the clumsy Small has been left behind, trapped in a shell hole by the machine gun fire. Sgt. Mooney wants to send out a rescue party, and persuades his platoon leader Lt. Crane (Richard Grayson) to take the request to Capt.

German , supported by artillery around Bapaume, made a determined attack from both ends of Gird Trench and the British and Australians were relieved at dawn by the 28th Battalion and two companies of the 1/4th East Yorkshire. Opposite the French Sixth Army, Operation Hanover (), a plan to recapture the fringe of St Pierre Vaast wood on 15 November, succeeded but other attacks to recapture the Saillisels failed and the Germans occupied shell hole positions on the outskirts.

The German aircraft eventually flew away after one aeroplane each was shot down; three more German aircraft were lost and a British aircraft was shot down into the British lines near Morval from which the crew escaped. Another aeroplane force-landed at Pozières and a 23 Squadron F.E.2b crashed into a shell-hole with a dead pilot. During the night, 18, 19 and 13 squadrons bombed Cambrai and Vitry stations and the aerodrome at Douai.

Ten days later, Fraser was killed in action in the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 1916. He was leading his company in an assault on German positions, when he was hit by a machine-gun bullet. His orderly got him into a shell-hole and dressed his wound but was then struck by shrapnel. He is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing of the Somme (Pier and Face 16 B and 16 C).

The dead were buried in a mass grave in a shell-hole, which later became the nucleus of the Orthodox Cemetery in Warsaw. Expecting a Polish counter-attack, Russian engineers started to repair Forts 54 and 55. Initially only Polish artillery from forts 73, 21, 22 and 23 responded with fire, while Dembiński's reserves remained passive. Seeing no activity on Polish side, Russian II Infantry Corps' artillery started supporting its neighbours of the I Infantry Corps.

Earwig- A one-time crony of Grogan's and the regiment's barber. He holds a grudge against Charley for his role in Grogan's death and they often clash. He dies at the Third Battle of Ypres, after taking shelter in a shell hole full of mustard gas. Budgie- A conscientious objector who has been forced into the army through torture and intimidation and works as a miner alongside Charley in 1917 employed to lay explosive mines beneath the German lines.

One crewman ran amok off Madagascar and had to be shot. Battle damage to cruiser Zhemchug inflicted at the Battle of Tsushima. Note shell hole in stack. Photo taken in June, 1905, at Manila Bay The Second Pacific Squadron took part in the decisive Battle of Tsushima from 27–28 May 1905 and, as part of Admiral Oskar Enkvist's cruiser division, Zhemchug was one of the first ships to open fire on the Japanese Combined Fleet.

In the following days, a lot of speculation and contradictory facts appeared about the alleged death of Hitler. According to Rzhevskaya, Hitler's corpse was found by accident. Shortly before their departure from Berlin, a group of Soviet soldiers led by commander Klimenko visited for the last time the garden of the Chancellery, where the burned corpse of Goebbels was found. Near to the entrance to the bunker, soldier Churakov found a shell hole filled with unusually fresh soil.

He was killed (instantly) in action during the Battle of Pozières on 27 July 1916.Died on Active Service: Walker, The Argus, (Friday, 1 September 1916), p.1.Casualties in France, The Argus, (Monday, 4 September 1916), p.8. Buried that evening in a shell-hole, he has no known grave.Australian Red Cross Society Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau files, 1914-18 War: 1DRL/0428: 1825 Sergeant John Preston Walker, in the collection of the Australian War Museum.

The next two shells landed much closer to Dòmhnall's position, blew him up into the air, and knocked him unconscious. One of Dòmhnall's closest friends, Ruairidh MacLeòid from Howmore in South Uist, volunteered to go out in no man's land to look for him, but soon returned in tears, saying that Dòmhnall had been killed in the barrage.Domhnall Ruadh Choruna (1995), page 32-34. Dòmhnall Ruadh remained unconscious in the shell hole for three hours before he began coming to.

He hurled himself on a live grenade in a shell hole to save the lives of three comrades, though he knew death for himself was almost certain. Anderson was evacuated to a ship, where he died of his wounds on February 1, 1944. He is buried at Lot #5 Block C Section 1 #182 at the New Tacoma Cemetery, 9212 Chambers Creek Road West, Tacoma, Washington. He posthumously received the Medal of Honor — the nation's highest military decoration — and the Purple Heart.

Casualties among the attacking infantry were extremely heavy, but they succeeded in capturing High Wood and the gun batteries began to move up in support, crossing deeply- cratered ground. The first to arrive was 1/19th Bty under its commander, Maj Lord Gorell, who brought it up into the shell-hole area immediately behind High Wood. He then made a reconnaissance of the whole divisional front with Maj E.H.Marshall of 1/18th Bty. Lord Gorell was awarded a Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for this work.

"Even so, in virtually every shell hole there lay at least one dead Marine ..."Wright, Iwo Jima 1945: The Marines Raise the Flag on Mount Suribachi, p. 32 By 11:30, some Marines had managed to reach the southern tip of Airfield No. 1, whose possession had been one of the (highly unrealistic) original American objectives for the first day. The Marines endured a fanatical 100-man charge by the Japanese, but were able to keep their toehold on Airfield No. 1 as night fell.

On a later occasion, when firing at roads from a low altitude, he received a direct hit from a shell, which carried away a portion of his machine. He, however, regained control, and, landing upside down-in a shell hole full of water, was suspended in the water until nearly drowned. After his rescue, he remained all day working under shell fire until he had salved the engine. He has at all times proved himself to be a very gallant, keen and able pilot.

Born in Germany but later a naturalized American citizen, Wasmuth enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on June 11, 1861. Ultimately attached to the Marine detachment of the sidewheeler Powhatan, Wasmuth took part in the assault on Fort Fisher, North Carolina, on January 15, 1865. During the battle, Ensign Robley D. "Fighting Bob" Evans fell wounded from a Confederate sharpshooter's bullet. Private Wasmuth picked up the seriously wounded young officer and carried him to a place of comparative safety-—a shell hole on the beach.

On June 23, 1918, the height of the Battle of Belleau Wood, Lt. Yarborough arrived on the front lines. The next day, intense enemy fire from skillfully placed machine guns pinned down Yarborough's unit—a platoon in a support position in the American lines. The young lieutenant dashed from one shell hole to another, in the open, steadying his men, until a burst of machine gun fire hit him. Severely wounded, he refused aid until other wounded men in his unit received medical attention.

In addition they retired their left to protect their flank which was also covered by intense supporting artillery fire. Buck spent the night of 20/21 July going from shell hole to fox hole along the front line to explain the attack order for that day. Each commander was given a copy of a sketch map outlining the area of attack. The attack was to be made in three waves with the first wave to be led by Sorenson and the second wave following in support.

Theodore William Henry Veale VC (11 November 1892 – 6 November 1980) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Veale was 23 years old, and a private in the 8th (Service) Battalion, Devonshire Regiment, British Army during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC. On 20 July 1916 east of High Wood, France, Private Veale, hearing that a wounded officer (one Lt Eric Humphrey Savill) was lying in the open within 50 yards of the enemy, went out and dragged him into a shell hole and then took him water. As he could not carry the officer by himself, he fetched volunteers, one of whom was killed almost at once, and heavy fire necessitated leaving the wounded man in a shell hole until dusk when Private Veale went out again with volunteers. When an enemy patrol approached, he went back for a Lewis gun with which he covered the party while the officer was carried to safety.

Cecil Harold Sewell VC (27 January 1895 - 29 August 1918) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Sewell's tank, Whippet A259, Caesar II at The Tank Museum (2010) One of nine children, he was educated at Dulwich College between 1907 and 1912. He was 23 years old, and a lieutenant in the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment, British Army, attached to 3rd (Light) Battalion, Tank Corps during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC. On 29 August 1918 at Fremicourt, France, Lieutenant Sewell, who was in command of a section of Whippet light tanks, got out of his own tank and crossed open ground under heavy machine-gun fire to rescue the crew of another Whippet of his section which had side-slipped into a shell-hole, overturned and caught fire. The door of the tank had become jammed against the side of the shell-hole, but Lieutenant Sewell, unaided, dug away the entrance to the door and released the crew.

Later they are mistakenly fired upon by their own artillery due to a misjudgement of distance and are again saved by the Student, who as a messenger risks his life to relay instructions to the soldiers setting the firing range of the artillery. Karl receives leave, returning to his starving home town and promptly catches his wife in bed with a butcher. Embittered and unreconciled, he returns to the front. In his absence, the student is stabbed in a melee; his body lying in the mud of a shell-hole, only one hand sticking out.

The fall of Trônes Wood on 14 July, exposed Guillemont to attack and British heavy artillery shells began falling on the village soon after. By 20 July, the shelling had smashed road surfaces and cratered adjacent fields; a super-heavy gun fired a shell into the village every few minutes day and night. Most of the 8th Bavarian Reserve Division, relieved the 123rd Division around Maurepas in shell-hole positions. Reserve Infantry Regiment 104 held Guillemont and Reserve Regiment 13 the trenches in front of Ginchy, which were "destroyed" by the British bombardment.

The hasty German counter-attack () was forestalled and the remedy of a well-prepared methodical counter-attack () was rarely mounted because of the chronic shortage of infantry, artillery and ammunition. Attempts to link shell-hole positions failed, because they were visible from the air and British reconnaissance aircraft directed artillery onto them. Trenches were abandoned during an attack in preference for shell- holes further forward. Unobtrusive positions were much harder for British air observers to spot and much more artillery ammunition was needed to bombard areas which were thought to contain them.

The initial advance of the division's artillery (still part of the corps group) had been hampered by the torn-up ground of the battlefield, on one occasion taking up to six hours to move guns , and on another losing one gun in a water filled shell hole. In order to improve the roads in the division's rear the 96th engineer company, 11th D.L.I., 10th RB. and 7th K.O.Y.L.I were detached under corps orders to improved road and rail communications, returning to the division at the end of the month.

The diarist of BIR 14 wrote that British aircraft had strafed the trenches and shell-hole positions from , causing many losses. After officers at the regimental HQ in saw British infantry away, moving from Flers either side of the road to Gueudecourt and more troops advancing from Delville Wood to . What was left of the regiment retreated to and engaged the British as they advanced downhill from Flers. Morale revived somewhat and more troops joined in, frustrating the British attacks until the British took cover in shell-holes and communication trenches, ending the attack.

Realizing Hart-McHarg needed immediate medical attention, Odlum left the safety of the shell hole and zig-zagged up a hill under heavy fire in order to locate a medical officer. Despite Odlum's bravery, Hart- McHarg's wound proved fatal, and Odlum was subsequently promoted to command of the 7th Battalion, reporting to Brigadier-General Arthur Currie, commander of the 2nd Brigade. Odlum's battalion was almost immediately transferred to the 3rd Brigade under Brigadier-General Richard Turner and moved to the vicinity of St. Julien. The next day, the entire 3rd Brigade came under intense attack.

Large shell hole in the side of Castor after the Battle of Jutland Commissioned in November 1915, Castor was the flagship of Commodore (D), assigned to the 11th Destroyer Flotilla in the Grand Fleet. She fought in the Battle of Jutland, in which she was damaged by German gunfire and suffered 10 casualties. On 4 October 1917, the United States Navy patrol vessel suffered an uncontrollable leak in her hull while on patrol duty off France. Rehoboths crew had to be taken off, and Castor sank her with gunfire.

The mini-sub still contained the dead pilot in its cockpit, with a shell hole through the mini-sub canopy clearly visible. Subsequent efforts to trace the history of this mini-sub have proved fruitless. On the night of 23 / 24 June 1944, HMS Nith was attacked by a Mistel, a German prototype drone aircraft packed with explosives, remotely controlled by a mother aircraft that released the drone after being previously attached to it. Nine crew were instantly killed and were buried at sea, with a tenth succumbing to his wounds shortly after.

A veteran of World War I, Thomas Holmes (Richard Barthelmess), struggles to make his way in civilian life in almost every way imaginable. In the opening scene of the movie, Tom and his friend are on a mission to gather intelligence by capturing a German soldier. Tom's friend, the banker's son Roger Winston (Gordon Westcott), in terror, refuses to leave the shell hole so Tom volunteers to go alone. He captures a German but is apparently killed; in fact, he has only been wounded, and the Germans take him to their hospital to recover.

The corpses of Goebbels and his wife Magda were found and identified, and a subsequent report about it was openly publicized. This apparently outraged Stalin, who immediately ordered to keep secret all records related to the search for Adolf Hitler. The contacts with the press and photographers were banned and the information was sent directly to Stalin. July 1947 photo of the rear entrance to the Führerbunker, in the garden of the Reich Chancellery; Hitler and Eva Braun were cremated in a shell hole in front of the emergency exit at left.

Three field artillery brigades reinforced the New Zealand divisional artillery, for a creeping barrage by 18-pounder field guns just in front of the infantry. Another barrage beyond was to be fired by 18-pounders and 4.5-inch howitzers. On the right flank, the field artillery of IX Corps was to sweep the Menin road, Gheluvelt and the Scherriabeek valley. North of the Reutelbeek, the German shell-hole positions and emplacements would be bombarded and two machine-gun barrages were to be fired on Polderhoek Spur and the north side of the château.

Zero hour was on 23 July but two divisions made zero hour to conform to the French, who then cancelled their attack. The co-ordinated attack planned by the French Sixth Army, Fourth and Reserve armies became uncoordinated minor attacks, at and the first serving to alert the Germans. British artillery had good observation over the German defences at Guillemont but the German infantry dispersed into shell-holes, which nullified the effect of much of the artillery fire. British infantry reached the village several times and were then trapped by fire, from shell-hole positions on both flanks and from ahead.

Wounded in his leg, his plane and motor riddled, Captain Biddle was forced to land in 'No Man's Land' less than 70 yards from the German trenches in the region of Ypres. With remarkable courage and presence of mind and despite his wound, he detached himself from his smashed machine and made his way from shell hole under intense artillery, machine gun and rifle fire, to an advanced British Observation post. French Croix de Guerre citation, 4 June 1918 Pilot of marvelous spirit. Attacked two enemy two-seaters successfully behind their lines, probably shooting down the first.

However, his imaginative existence was to be changed dramatically by a number of traumatic experiences. He fell into a shell hole and suffered concussion; he was caught in the blast of a trench mortar shell and spent several days unconscious on an embankment lying amongst the remains of one of his fellow officers. Soon afterward, Owen was diagnosed as suffering from neurasthenia or shell shock and sent to Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh for treatment. It was while recuperating at Craiglockhart that he met fellow poet Siegfried Sassoon, an encounter that was to transform Owen's life.

In the late autumn of 1916, while serving at the Battle of the Somme, Dòmhnall Ruadh received orders from his Captain to take up a position in no man's land, fifty yards forward of the Cameron Highlanders' trench and twenty yards from a bridge, which was being worked on by a bomb squad commanded by an Irish NCO named Corporal Donnelly.Domhnall Ruadh Choruna (1995), page 34. Soon after taking his place in a shell hole, Dòmhnall found himself in the midst of an artillery barrage. The first shell hit the parapet of the bridge and exploded.

The first objective was taken at German field guns opened fire from the Becelaere–Broodseinde–Passchendaele road and were attacked and captured. Fresh battalions continued the advance, were fired on from Retaliation Farm and a German headquarters in a shell-hole. The troops advanced about a third of the way up the road from Molenaarelsthoek to Beclaere until they were cleared. At the advance resumed to the final objective (blue line) which was consolidated and outposts established in front of it, despite long-range fire from the Keiberg spur and a small rise north east of Broodseinde village.

Richard is able to fill in this gap for him and explain that the Canadians transferred him to Georgina's hospital. James also says that he felt his mother's presence while in the shell hole. The episode ends with James emotionally and physically broken. His encounter with the German soldier leaves him tormented by the feeling that he should have been the one who died, and his few minutes in the morning room plus a glass of champagne leave him giddy and unable to continue to hold himself upright, so Richard helps him up the stairs and back to bed.

The 28th Reserve Division faced XV Corps with I and III Battalions, Reserve Infantry Regiment 109, which had in shell-hole positions and the II Battalion in reserve, opposite the British 7th Division. The regiment was due for relief on the night of but the extent of British artillery-fire kept Infantry Regiment 23 back near Montauban. Deep dugouts had been built in the front line but few had been dug further back, which led to the trench garrison being crowded in the first trench. The divisional artillery, an essential part of the defence plan, was smashed by British artillery-fire.

On 1 July 1916 he went "over the top" near La Cigny on the Somme while serving with the 15th (Service) Battalion, the West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own), also known as "The Leeds Pals". He was followed a short while later by another wave of soldiers among whom was Abe Waddington (later also Yorkshire and England). Waddington was hit and found himself in a shell hole near Serre with Booth, who was also injured, and held him until he died. Booth's body then remained there until the spring, when he was buried at Serre Road No 1 Cemetery.

Siege of 1608–1610: Orthodox monks led by the chronicler Avraamy Palitsyn defended the monastery against Polish troops from September 1609 to January 1611. In 1550s, a wooden palisade surrounding the cloister was replaced with 1.5 km- long stone walls, featuring twelve towers, which helped the monastery to withstand a celebrated 16-month Polish-Lithuanian siege in 1608–1610. A shell- hole in the cathedral gates is preserved as a reminder of Wladyslaw IV's abortive siege in 1618. By the end of the 17th century, when young Peter I twice found refuge within the monastery from his enemies, numerous buildings had been added.

Otto Günsche, Hitler's personal adjutant, and Johann Rattenhuber, head of Hitler's RSD bodyguard, were arrested in different sectors, and their testimonies weren't available at the time. On 13 May, the Soviet Army arrested Harry Mengershausen, a member of Hitler's personal SS guard. During an interrogation, he confirmed that on 30 April, he witnessed Hitler's valet, Heinz Linge, and Günsche carrying the bodies of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun through the bunker's emergency exit to the garden behind the Reich Chancellery, where they were doused in petrol and set alight. Mengershausen identified the shell hole and also provided other details.

On 21 August 1918 the 42nd Division joined in the Second Battle of the Somme by attacking towards Miraumont in the Battle of Albert. 125th Brigade captured a strongpoint named 'The Lozenge', after which 1/7th Lancashire Fusiliers was tasked with taking the second objective, 'The Dovecot'. When the morning mist cleared, the battalion 'found that they were advancing upon an enemy battery, which opened fire at point-blank range. An attempt was made to hold a shell-hole position but the enemy was in strong force, and a fierce counter-attack practically wiped out the defenders.

By late August, Inverness Copse on the north side of the Menin road and Herenthage Park to the south, were held by troops of Infantry Regiment 67 in shell-hole positions along the western fringe of the Copse. The ran along eastern edge of the Copse but the defences on the west side, about forward, were a vital outpost line. The defenders were ordered to hold on at all costs because the was on the edge of the Gheluvelt Plateau. The capture of the decline to the east would provide the British with valuable observation posts for the next advance.

The group landed in Liverpool before going to an army camp in Wales, South Yorkshire. On June 4, two days before the landings, Moore observed a map produced by officers and realized the land depicted was not England, but France, and that he would be involved in the invasion of Normandy. The regiment was reattached to the 4th Infantry Division for the operation. On June 6, Moore's division landed on Utah Beach, where they faced German resistance and other obstacles; at one point, as he waded through the water, Moore stepped in a shell hole and fell in, causing him to go underwater before recovering.

Posted to the 34th Division headquarters on Salisbury Plain, he developed his humorous series for the Bystander about life in the trenches, featuring "Old Bill", a curmudgeonly soldier with trademark walrus moustache and balaclava. The best remembered of these shows Bill with another trooper in a muddy shell hole with shells whizzing all around. The other trooper is grumbling and Bill advises: Many of his cartoons from this period were collected in Fragments From France (1914) and the autobiographical Bullets & Billets (1916). Despite the immense popularity with the troops and massive sales increase for the Bystander, initially there were objections to the "vulgar caricature".

Though Lindemann strongly advocated chasing Prince of Wales and destroying her, Lütjens obeyed operational orders to shun any avoidable engagement with enemy forces that were not protecting a convoy, firmly rejecting the request, and instead ordered Bismarck and Prinz Eugen to head for the North Atlantic. In the engagement, Bismarck had fired 93 armour- piercing shells and had been hit by three shells in return. The forecastle hit allowed of water to flood into the ship, which contaminated fuel oil stored in the bow. Lütjens refused to reduce speed to allow damage control teams to repair the shell hole which widened and allowed more water into the ship.

The ship suffered more serious damage from manoeuvres to evade the torpedoes: rapid shifts in speed and course loosened collision mats, which increased the flooding from the forward shell hole and eventually forced abandonment of the port number 2 boiler room. This loss of a second boiler, combined with fuel losses and increasing bow trim, forced the ship to slow to . Divers repaired the collision mats in the bow, after which speed increased to , the speed that the command staff determined was the most economical for the voyage to occupied France. Shortly after the Swordfish departed from the scene, Bismarck and Prince of Wales engaged in a brief artillery duel.

General Orders: War Department, General Orders No. 13 (January 18, 1919). Citation: :During an operation against enemy machinegun nests west of Varennes, Corporal Call was in a tank with an officer when half of the turret was knocked off by a direct artillery hit. Choked by gas from the high-explosive shell, he left the tank and took cover in a shell hole 30 yards away. Seeing that the officer did not follow, and thinking that he might be alive, Corporal Call returned to the tank under intense machinegun and shell fire and carried the officer over a mile under machinegun and sniper fire to safety.

Air superiority allowed the British artillery observation aircraft to cruise over the German defences, despite the efforts of Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG 1, the Richthofen Circus) of the . On 26 May, the German front garrisons were ordered to move forward into shell-holes in no man's land at dawn and return to their shelters at night. When the shelters were destroyed, the shell-hole positions were made permanent, as were those of the support companies further back. Troops in the were withdrawn behind the ridge and by the end of May, the front battalions were being relieved every two days instead of every five, to maintain their battle-worthiness.

Worthington was born at Alderley Edge, near Stockport, the youngest son of architect Thomas Worthington. He was educated at Sedbergh School from 1900–1905 and then at the Manchester University school of architecture, before being articled to his half-brother Percy. From 1912 until the outbreak of the First World War, Worthington spent two years working with Edwin Lutyens, whom Worthington found to be inspirational. Worthington fought with distinction as a captain in the Manchester Regiment, and was severely wounded on 1 July 1916 during the offensive on the Somme, but he survived overnight in a shell hole and was rescued the following day.

By both brigades had reached the final objective and were digging in on the east side of the Steenbeek. A battalion of the 3rd Guard Division was relieving Infantry Regiment 392 when the attack began and the 51st (Highland) Division troops found many Germans in shell holes to take prisoner. The 152nd Brigade on the right, captured McDonald's Farm after a volley of rifle grenades was fired inside and a tank fired from the right, which caused the survivors to surrender; 70 prisoners, a howitzer and two machine-guns were captured. A tank suppressed the garrison of Ferdinand Farm and routed infantry from shell hole positions nearby.

Following the engagement his engine failed, and Elton glided the six miles back to the Allied lines, but crash-landed in no man's land. His observer/gunner Sergeant Hagen had been wounded in the leg, so Elton dragged him out of the aircraft and into a shell hole, then crawled and ran 200 yards to the Allied lines to fetch help. He returned with a first aid man to dress Hagen's wounds, then sat with him until dark, when he was stretchered back to safety. The aircraft was later recovered and was found to be riddled with bullet holes, including in the fuel tank under the pilot's seat.

The 7th Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry took over captured German trenches behind the front line on 5 August, which had been turned into the British reserve line and lost three men to shellfire while waiting for dark. On arrival at the support line forward and the front line another beyond, the battalion found that the front line consisted of shell hole posts with muddy bottoms strung along the Steenbeek, from the Langemarck road to the Ypres–Staden railway. British artillery was engaged in destructive bombardments of the German positions opposite and German artillery fire was aimed at the British infantry concentrating for the next attack.

Men of the 2nd Canterbury Battalion, New Zealand Division, rest in a shell hole on the opening day of the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, 15 September 1916Kippenberger finally arrived on the Western Front in September 1916, as a private in the 1st Canterbury Regiment. His arrival at the front coincided with the Somme Offensive. He took part in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette which began on 15 September and remained in the front lines for over three weeks before the regiment was withdrawn. His unit suffered heavy casualties during this time; Kippenberger was one of just five soldiers left in his platoon after the battle ended.

The Fifth Army made several minor attacks in September, most of which failed and the attacks were stopped, except for smaller local operations by divisions. On 1 September, the 58th (2/1st London) Division took Spot Farm and two battalions conducted raids on 8 September. A pillbox close to the British front line, which blocked the route to Wurst Farm, was damaged and a bunker in a fortified shell-hole was attacked and found to be connected to other shell- holes and a pillbox, before the raiders retired. On 14 September, a battalion attacked Winnipeg and in the evening a German counter-attack took ground towards Springfield.

South of the embankment, astride the Broombeek and Watervlietbeek streams, several German farm strongpoints, pillboxes and shell- hole positions were overrun by the infantry, who were able to keep well up to the very-slow-moving barrage. The brigade reached its first objective by despite a number of German reinforcements arriving through the British artillery barrages. The final objective was reached at and on the right a defensive flank was thrown back from Memling Farm at the final objective, to link with the 4th Division. By noon the advance was complete, had been taken and no German counter-attack followed, resistance being limited to a small amount of rifle fire.

The first two objectives were on the rise south-east of Flers and the third was on the Flers–Lesbœufs road beyond. The 41st Brigade was to take the first two and the 42nd Brigade the last. At tank D3 drove towards Cocoa Lane, one having ditched and D5 lagged behind. Two battalions overran shell-hole positions of BIR 14, whose telephones had been cut and SOS rockets obscured; Tea Support Trench and Pint Trench were taken with many prisoners and then the Switch Line (first objective) by Troops linked with the Guards Division on the right and formed a defensive flank on the left facing the 41st Division (Major-General Sydney Lawford) area.

Following the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Morgan's battery departed for the Western Front in October 1914 as part of the 3rd (Lahore) Division. Morgan suffered a near-miss from a German 5.9-inch gun which blew him into the air and buried him in a shell hole, and he was evacuated to hospital in Boulogne with shell shock. He was granted a short sick leave in England only to be present when news reached his family that his brother had been killed in action. On returning to the front, Morgan became aide-de-camp (ADC) to Brigadier General Edward Spencer Hoare-Nairne, the commander of the Lahore Divisional Artillery.

In the XVIII Corps area, a brigade each of the 48th (South Midland) Division and 11th (Northern) Division, took hours on the night of to reach the front line through mud and rain. When the brigades attacked, they were swept by machine- gun fire from the fresh German 16th Division, which had crept forward in the dark and occupied shell-hole positions so close to the British jumping-off line, that the British barrage overshot them. The British infantry lost the barrage, which was as ineffective as elsewhere due to shells being smothered and moving at in four minutes, too fast for the conditions. The German counter-barrage arrived after seven minutes and was equally ineffective.

Films shot on 13, 14 and 15 October 1944 in Aachen by US forces. Footage depicts wrecked buildings, German prisoners carrying a wounded prisoner, artillery shell strikes building, burning buildings of city, M-10 tank destroyer fires at buildings in center of city, gliders and C-47s prepare for take-offs, a re- enactment of a 105mm cannon, US infantry men in shell hole look over rim for enemy, tank destroyer in action, antitank gun in action, four aged German refugee women on streets seek shelter during fighting. Unedited 35mm film footage of the battle filmed by US forces on 15 October 1944. Unedited 35mm film footage of the battle filmed by US forces on 15 October 1944.

He served with distinction as a captain and was wounded on three occasions. Shot in the right hand and receiving a glancing bullet wound to the head in the Battle of Loos in September 1915, Macmillan was sent to Lennox Gardens in Chelsea for hospital treatment, then joined a reserve battalion at Chelsea Barracks from January to March 1916, until his hand had healed. He then returned to the front lines in France. Leading an advance platoon in the Battle of Flers–Courcelette (part of the Battle of the Somme) in September 1916, he was severely wounded, and lay for over twelve hours in a shell hole, sometimes feigning death when Germans passed, and reading the classical playwright Aeschylus in the original Greek.

He was 36 years old, and a Private in the 15th Battalion, The Durham Light Infantry, British Army during the First World War at the Battle of Arras when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC. On the evening of 5 May 1917, the battalion returned to their barricades on the Hindenburg Line, near Fontaine-les- Croisilles, France. Only one hundred yards separated the British and German positions but the terrible fighting of the preceding days had died down. Snipers and machine gunners were, however, still active and any movement attracted deadly fire. Then about 2 o’clock the next afternoon, 6 May 1917, a sentry noticed movement in a shell hole about forty yards from the German barricade.

Harold William Roberts (October 14, 1895 - October 6, 1918) was a United States Army Corporal and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions in World War I. Roberts, a tank driver, was moving his tank into a clump of bushes to afford protection to another tank which had become disabled. The tank slid into a shell hole, 10 feet deep, filled with water, and was immediately submerged. Knowing that only one of the two men in the tank could escape, Cpl. Roberts said to the gunner, "Well, only one of us can get out, and out you go," whereupon he pushed his companion through the back door of the tank and was himself drowned.

Private First Class Alford L. McLaughlin killed or wounded an estimated 200 PVA, victims of the machine guns, carbines and grenades that he used at various times during the fight, and survived to receive the Medal of Honor. Private First Class Fernando L. Garcia, also earned the award, although already wounded, he threw himself on a PVA grenade, sacrificing his life to save his platoon sergeant. Hospitalman Third Class Edward C. Benfold saw two wounded Marines in a shell hole on Outpost Bruce; as he prepared to attend to them, a pair of grenades thrown by two onrushing PVA soldiers fell inside the crater. Benfold picked up one grenade in each hand, scrambled from the hole, and pressed a grenade against each of the two soldiers.

Then, on 11 May, while laughing at two men whose water bottles had been holed, he received a severe wound in his right shoulder and was evacuated to the hospital ship HMHS Gascon. While it was still anchored off Anzac Cove, Bridges was wounded on 15 May and brought on board the same ship (and to the same bed, Gellibrand was moved out of the way), where Bridges died on 18 May 1915. Gellibrand (wearing a hat) and his staff having breakfast in a shell hole in Sausage Valley. Gellibrand returned to Anzac on 31 May 1915, to find that Forsyth had been given command of the 2nd Infantry Brigade and Foott, who had been his subordinate, had become AA & QMG and was now his superior.

The German front line opposite XV Corps was held by most of Reserve Infantry Regiment 109, with the I Battalion and III Battalion distributed in shell-hole positions around the front line and the II Battalion in support near Danzig Alley. The regiment was to have been relieved on the night of but only companies of Infantry Regiment 23 got through the British artillery-fire, the rest collecting at Montauban. Deep dugouts in the front line had not been damaged but there were few dugouts in the rearward lines, which led to most of the garrison being congregated in the front trench. A second position existed about further back from Maurepas to Guillemont, Longueveal and the Bazentin villages but was little more than a shallow trench.

After the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Briggs enlisted as a corporal in McCrae's Battalion of the Royal Scots. He was badly wounded near La Boisselle on the first day of the Somme, being "hit by four machine gun bullets; one in his leg, another in his left foot and through his arm, another in his right ankle, coming out above the knee and another winging his forehead, knocking him out". He sought refuge in a shell hole and was returned to an advanced dressing station near Bécourt, where he was expected to die, but made a recovery before being returned to Britain. Prior to becoming a professional footballer, Briggs worked as a machine builder for the Singer Corporation in Clydebank.

When Hindenburg and Ludendorff took over from Falkenhayn on 28 August 1916, the pressure being placed on the German army in France was so great that new defensive arrangements, based on the principles of depth, invisibility and immediate counter-action were formally adopted, as the only means by which the growing material strength of the French and British armies could be countered. Instead of fighting the defensive battle in the front line or from shell-hole positions near it, the main fight was to take place behind the front line, out of view and out of range of enemy field artillery. Conduct of the Defensive Battle () was published on 1 December 1916. The new manual laid down the organisation for the mobile defence of an area, rather than the rigid defence of a trench line.

Ammunition supply was sufficient and from the column supplying I Battalion, Reserve Foot Artillery Regiment 27 delivered of ammunition. On 1 July, deliveries began after despite British artillery-observation aircraft directing the British guns onto the German gun positions and another were carried up. The trench lines at Ovillers area were the result of two years' work and dominated ground which had no cover from small-arms fire. The British made a tactical mistake in not attacking the most northern part of the IR 180 defences, which allowed the defenders to enfilade the 70th Brigade and the 32nd Division, unopposed. A lull came after the 8th Division attacks ended but IR 180 worked on the defences for another attack, repairing wire and trenches, linking shell-hole positions by saps.

On 19 May, as the French prepared to attack, news was received from a deserter that the garrison in the tunnel had been asphyxiated and an hour later, thirty Germans who had surrendered said the same but did not know if the tunnels had been reoccupied. To reach the crest of Mont Cornillet, the French had to advance up a steep slope swept by machine-gun fire. The French gained the crest after a costly advance and broke up into groups, which bombed and bayonetted their way through the German shell-hole positions and pillboxes, against enfilade fire from machine-guns in Flensburg Trench and the west slopes of Mont Blond. The summit was captured and the French began to descend the northern slopes, some moving beyond the final objective towards Nauroy.

The farm cellars had been fortified and with shell-hole positions and part of a trench behind, the garrison held out, tired the attackers and reduced their supply of grenades. The attackers put out signals to the RFC crews observing the attack, sent runners to battalion headquarters and at boards were hoisted in the three front trenches to show that they had been captured and consolidation began. About prisoners were escorted back but unfortunately about eighty were killed in no man's land by German artillery-fire and the rest were sent back to their dugouts. The German bombardment increased to the point that the party digging the trench to protect the right flank could not begin and many of the bombers ready to advance at were also caught in no man's land, became casualties and could not participate in the next stage of the attack against the Quadrilateral.

The many British "nibbling" attacks after 14 July had been costly to contain, as German defences had been under frequent artillery bombardment, which had turned German positions into crater-fields, buried the entrances of dug-outs, vaporised barbed-wire and demolished trenches. Allied air superiority and artillery dominated the battlefield and kept the German defenders under constant strain and caused many casualties, the most notable being Falkenhayn who was sacked on 28 August and replaced by Hindenburg and Ludendorff, who scrapped Falkenhayn's policy of rigid defence and automatic counter-attacks. German field fortifications had evolved since July from a trench-system into an outpost line in shell-holes, with supports and reserves further back in shell-holes or any cover that could be found. The outpost line, containing two or three soldiers every and the occasional machine-gun was often overrun, after which similar shell-hole positions were improvised by the British before a German counter-attack could be mounted.

After a two-hour pause, the second phase would begin, with three companies of the 10th Battalion Essex Regiment leap-frogging through the Norfolk positions, following a creeping barrage to the final objectives from Meunier House to Nobles Farm, beyond the Brewery. If the attack succeeded, the third phase would begin with the fourth Essex company near Gloster Farm on the right flank, advancing to capture the Beek House blockhouse. The 34th Division was to attack up the Watervlietbeek and Broenbeek valleys on a front, from the north end of Poelcappelle to the Ypres–Staden railway. The 102nd Brigade was to attack on the right flank from Poelcappelle to the Watervlietbeek and two battalions of the 101st Brigade were to attack north of the stream. On 21 October, the positions north of the Watervlietbeek had been hit by British artillery, causing The adjoining companies of the 15th and 16th Royal Scots had to assemble behind the front line shell-hole positions.

After being slightly wounded by shell fragments in the head, he personally destroyed one enemy machine gun position with a hand grenade, and led the men of C company on to a second German line of resistance when he was wounded for the second time in the hip. He struggled to his feet and led his men forward where the Essex Scottish overran the enemy positions with rifle butts, bayonets and knives in close hand-to-hand combat. While consolidating the Canadian position against German counterattacks and on his 6th trip from a neighbouring unit bringing ammunition and grenades to his company, which had been depleted to about 25% of its usual strength or 40 men, Tilston was wounded for the 3rd time in the leg. He was found almost unconscious in a shell hole and refused medical attention while he organized his men for defence against German counter-attacks, emphasized the necessity of holding the position at all cost, and ordered his one remaining officer to take command.

Dispersed and camouflaged German defences, using shell-hole positions, pillboxes and with much of the German infantry held back for counter-attacks, meant that as British units advanced, they became weaker and disorganised by losses, fatigue, poor visibility and the channelling effect of waterlogged ground, they met more and fresher German defenders. The German defensive system had been more effective in the unusually rainy weather in August, making movement much more difficult and forcing the British to keep to duckboard tracks, easy to identify and bombard. Objectives were chosen to provide the British infantry with good positions from which to face German counter-attacks, rather than to advance with unlimited objectives. The Fifth Army had set objectives much closer than after 31 July and the Second Army methods of September were based on SS 144 The Normal Formation for the Attack (February 1917), reflecting the experience of the fighting in August and to exploit opportunities made possible by the reinforcement of the Flanders front with another before 20 September.

On Passchendaele Ridge and the Wallemolen Spur, inadequate artillery support, the German pillboxes and extensive uncut barbed wire of the (Flanders I Position), rain, mud, shell-hole machine-gun nests and counter-attacks, led the attackers being forced back towards their start lines. The brigades from the 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division and 49th (West Riding) Division of the II Anzac Corps began the attack exhausted from the conditions of the approach march and some units had not arrived when the attack began, although on the right of the 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division, German troops surrendered readily to the depleted British battalions. In I Anzac Corps, the Australian divisions were understrength after the attack of 4 October and the strain of holding the front until the attack. From 30 September to 14 October, BEF shell consumption (most being fired at Ypres) fell from 2.5 million – 1.6 million by the field artillery, shells by the medium artillery and by the heavy artillery, although German accounts mention "heavy", "indescribably heavy" and "drumfire" bombardments.

Ridges radiated down to the Aisne valley, over which the German positions had inadequate observation. Due to a lack of manpower, constant French artillery-fire and the autumn rains, the condition of the German defences was poor and in some places, only narrow trenches and shell-hole positions existed. There were few pillboxes and tunnels but numerous underground quarries, which had been equipped with ventilation and lighting systems, for ammunition and food storage. Behind the (Pinon trench) in the south-west corner of the salient near Laffaux, work had begun on a reserve line from Pinon to Vaudesson and on rearward defences behind the for a possible retirement, known as the (Gudrun Manoeuvre). From 11 October, the right flank division of Group Vailly was relieved by the 13th Division and on the left the 2nd Guard Division was moved into the line near Malmaison. The west face of the salient from the Anizy–Vauxaillon railway line to the canal tunnel, the area considered must vulnerable, was held by Group Crépy, the VIII Reserve Corps headquarters (General Georg Wichura), with the 37th Division and the 14th Division, joined by the 52nd Division from 15 October.