six o'clock in the afternoon
It was no great battle , no important historic event , just an incident in the policy of attrition which was constantly wearing away the German lines . An attempt was to be made to drive a wedge into the enemy 's front at a certain vital point , and , in order to cover the real thrust , several feints were to be made at other places not far away . One of these latter expeditions had been intrusted to a part of Pen 's battalion . At six o'clock in the afternoon the British artillery was to bombard the first line of enemy trenches for an hour and a half . Then the artillery fire was to lift to the second line , and the Canadian troops were to rush the first line with the bayonet , carry it , and when the artillery fire lifted to the third line they were to pass on to the second hostile trench and take and hold that for a sufficient length of time to divert the enemy from the point of real attack , and then they were to withdraw to their own lines . Permanent occupation of the captured trenches at the point seemed inadvisable at this time , if not wholly impossible . It was not a welcome task that had been assigned to these troops .