 The 47th Division planned to attack with two brigades , each reinforced by a battalion from the reserve brigade , along either side of the Ypres – Comines Canal . Large numbers of machine @-@ guns were organised to fire offensive and defensive barrages and signal detachments were organised to advance with the infantry . An observation balloon was reserved for messages by signal lamp from the front line , as insurance against the failure of telephone lines and message @-@ runners . The divisional trench mortar batteries were to bombard the German front line opposite the 142nd Brigade , where it was too close for the artillery to shell without endangering British troops . Wire @-@ cutting began in mid @-@ May , against considerable local retaliation by German artillery . At the end of May the two attacking brigades began training at Steenvoorde , on practice courses built to resemble the German positions to be attacked , using air reconnaissance photographs to mark the positions of machine @-@ gun posts and hidden barbed wire . Divisional intelligence summaries were used to plan the capture of German company and battalion headquarters . The 140th Brigade with four tanks attached , was to occupy White Château and the adjacent part of Damstrasse , while the 142nd Brigade attacked the spoil heaps and the canal bank to the left . On 1 June , the British artillery began the intense stage of preparatory bombardment for trench @-@ destruction and wire cutting and the two attacking brigades assembled for the attack from 4 – 6 June . 
