Shortly after 11pm the eight attack battalions of the AIF 3rd Division left their camps and billets and began their move to the front. In and around Ploegsteert Wood the infantry were coming under German artillery fire including gas, high explosive and incendiary shells. At least 500 men in the wood had been affected and put out of action, many from the effects of gas. For the others the efforts of having to proceed and carry while wearing their gas marks meant that they arrived at the jumping off line exhausted.
Following the Twenty-Second 