 After capturing the crater , Cherry pushed on through the village , where his party emerged from among the buildings on the far side . Another stiff fight ensured with a group of Germans in dug @-@ outs by the side of the road , before the company was able to meet up with its fellow units which had bypassed the village and were already established to the north and east of the area . Cherry 's orders were to fall back into reserve , but he disregarded them as he sensed a counter @-@ attack was forthcoming . At 09 : 00 on 27 March , the Germans launched a very strong counter @-@ attack under heavy artillery fire . At one point , Cherry noticed that the Germans were firing yellow flares to pinpoint Australian positions to their gunners . He found some of these flares , and fired them away from his position . The German attempts to retake Lagnicourt — at a cost to the 7th Brigade of 377 casualties — raged all day before they abandoned the counterattack . 
