Exactly as the soldier-ghost predicted, the creeping barrage stopped when the advancing soldiers closed in on the enemy positions. A hail of gunfire immediately erupted from the German lines. Many of the men, who had broken into a run, dropped to the ground. But none of those left standing stopped. They poured across the open ground, through gaps in the barbed wire guarding the trenches or scrambling over it until they disappeared into the enemy trenches, from which emanated shouts and curses mixed with gunfire and screams of pain.

One group heading for the ridge was already scrambling up the slope when Johnny felt a touch on his shoulder and found himself standing on top of the hill looking down, as the soldiers surged upward. Another deadly hail of bullets came from the trenches, and many of the soldiers on the slope fell.

Two machine gun posts were exacting a particularly heavy toll, and the soldiers caught in their fire began to falter. Suddenly, one man from the Canadian side rose and started running toward the two posts, crouching low and weaving from side to side. Miraculously, the hail of bullets missed him and he reached the posts unharmed. Pulling a grenade from his belt, he yanked out the pin and flung the grenade into the first machine gun dugout. He followed it with another, which flew into the second dugout. Two explosions erupted almost simultaneously, and both machine guns fell silent. With a loud cheer, the soldiers further down the slope got to their feet and charged up the rest of the hill, pouring into the main enemy trenches behind the machine gun posts, the solder who had silenced the two machine guns leading the charge.