began its attack at 7:00 a.m., which coincided with the opening of the artillery barrage, which had been delayed because the various batteries had been late arriving at their locations; a breach in the line between two strong points had been made at 7:45 a.m. The German 900th Engineer Battalion was able to make crossings over the anti-tank ditch using prefabricated bridging equipment; the first German tanks were across the ditch by 8:30 a.m., Playfair 1960, p. 266 by which time several strong points had been taken by the infantry, creating a bridgehead 2 kilometers wide.