attack from the north, the remaining Brigade, the 14th Army Brigade R.F.A., was detailed to assist the 137th Infantry Brigade, whose orders were to hold the original line on which the fighting had taken place a few days previous, and to act as the "pivot" of the attack.
In order to distract the enemy's attention from the main attack, arrangements were made for a "Chinese" attack to be carried out by this Brigade, every effort being directed towards giving to this the appearance of reality. With this idea, all the visible and audible signs of a frontal attack on the wood from our old front line were simulated in detail. In the preparation of this attack, the Engineers were once more given opportunity to display the genius for construction which is essentially their strong point and, once more, this work had to be carried through against time. At four hours' notice, apparatus for elevating ninety dummies was made by three carpenters; in addition, the work was carried out to a new design, so that the whole range of ninety men could be packed in one lorry. These dummies were laid out during the night in front of convenient shell holes, in which the men operating them could lie concealed. One man could operate nine dummies and, at zero hour when the barrage opened, the dummies were pulled up, thus giving the appearance of men springing forward to the attack. The men controlling them then fastened the raising-line around some convenient stump and made the best of their way back to avoid the retaliatory barrage.
In addition to the dummy figures, three dummy tanks had been provided, and these also were taken up during the night to positions where they would be likely to attract the enemy's attention. Of these dummy tanks, one was a full-sized replica of the largest and most
