Platoon 5, 2nd Lieut. Foster Platoon 1, Lieut. Ethelston
Platoon 6, 2nd Lieut. Burnand Platoon 2, 2nd Lieut. Guthrie
Platoon 7, Lieut. Lord Platoon 3, 2nd Lieut. Goschen Brabourne
Platoon 8, Major Duberly Platoon 4, Capt. Douglas-Pennant
Leaving the old British line it advanced across the open, over trenches which had been captured from the Germans the day before. Almost immediately after the advance began, Captain Douglas-Pennant was struck by a shell, and mortally wounded just as he had emerged from a trench, and was looking round to see whether his company was going in the right direction.
When the accounts written by the Divisional and Brigade Staffs are compared with those written by the Commanding Officer and individual officers, there can be no doubt that the information, which trickled back during the day's fighting, was often so incorrect, that it led not only General Capper, but also General Heyworth, to form entirely wrong conclusions as to what was happening in front, and the orders issued were in many instances unintelligible. Communication between the Battalion and the Brigade was maintained by orderlies, and on several occasions when the orderlies were killed the orders never reached the front line, or reached it so long after they had been despatched that the situation in front had completely changed. It hardly seems to have been realised at Divisional Headquarters, how much the artillery bombardments on both sides had obliterated all landmarks. Roads were mentioned of which no trace could be seen, and the four lines of trenches, the old and the new German lines, and the old and the new British lines, no doubt added considerably to the lack of clearness in the orders.
The whole position was most complicated, as the Germans had been only partially driven back on the 10th, and consequently their line in places faced in different directions. Though Neuve Chapelle itself was in our hands, the enemy still occupied part of their old line farther north. In order to attack this position, it was necessary to come down the old British trench, and then advance due west for a quarter of a mile, after which the attacking force had to wheel round, and go in a northerly direction.