The Bois des Tailles had doubtless been a very pretty wood in peace time, but it was now strewn with the debris remaining after the German occupation. It had afforded good natural cover for German guns, and in the valley which ran through the middle of the wood were some rather palatial dug-outs. The German guns were still in position, though the emplacements had been destroyed and the ammunition was scattered about the ground. Throughout its occupation by the Civil Service Rifles, the Bois des Tailles was subjected to a steady bombardment, gas shells being used freely every night. The aforesaid valley became saturated with gas and the dug-outs were rendered uninhabitable. Casualties were pretty heavy, and the five days spent in what became known among the troops as “toute de suite wood” were distinctly unpleasant.
At midnight on the 20th of August the 20th London Regiment took over the positions in the Bois des Tailles, and the Civil Service Rifles moved back to support positions in a valley near Marett Wood, close to Mericourt L’Abbé. Here the new Commanding Officer, Lieut.-Colonel R. C. Feilding, D.S.O., Coldstream Guards, took over the command of the Battalion.
Colonel Feilding had not had time to get to know his troops before he was leading them in battle, for after one day’s rest in support positions, the 140th Brigade moved up on the 22nd of August and was the Reserve Brigade in a big attack launched that morning by the 47th Division, in conjunction with the 12th Division on the left, and an Australian Division on the right.
The programme for the 47th Division was that the 141st Brigade holding the front line was to move forward at zero, and capture and consolidate the first objective, known for this battle as the Brown Line, running parallel with the Bray-Albert road and about 500 yards east of it. The 142nd Brigade was to pass through the 141st Brigade ten minutes after zero, and capture and consolidate the second objective (known as the Green Line.) Corps cavalry and twelve whippet tanks were then to pass through the 141st and 142nd Brigades, and capture the Blue Line (a line of defences from Fricourt to the woods known as Great and Little Bear), the 140th Brigade remaining in Divisional Reserve, ready to move forward and consolidate the Blue Line when captured.
Soon after 6.0 a.m. on the 22nd of August, the Civil Service Rifles marched forward from the positions near Marett Wood, and by 7.50 a.m. the Battalion was in position at the rendezvous—the sunken road running north and south along the western edge of the Bois des Tailles. Here a squadron of cavalry, about 80 strong, was waiting its turn to go forward, and just before 8.0 a.m. this squadron advanced to the attack, accompanied by tanks, but both tanks and cavalry came dribbling back about an hour later, having met with serious opposition.
The Companies of the Civil Service Rifles were now disposed in the fields on either side of the road, awaiting orders. There followed a long interval without any news, and throughout the whole morning nothing definite was heard as to how the attack had developed. Late in the afternoon, however, orders were received as to the part to be played by the Civil Service Rifles in an attack to be delivered by the 140th Brigade the following morning upon the Blue Line. Colonel Feilding had only just explained matters to Company Commanders, when the order was cancelled owing to the withdrawal of the 142nd Brigade from the Green Line, under pressure from the enemy, and the reoccupation by the latter of the Happy Valley (a valley just to the east of the Bray-Albert road, and about a mile north-north-west of Bray).
A gap existed between the right of the 141st Brigade and the left of the Australians, and the Civil Service Rifles were ordered at 7.0 p.m. to fill the gap. Colonel Feilding sent two of his Companies to the front line to dig themselves in along a bank where the gap existed, and two Companies to be in support along the Etineham-Méaulte road, just in front of the old front line in the Bois des Tailles. He established his Headquarters temporarily in the old front line north-east of the Bois des Tailles.
Darkness was falling as the Companies went to take up these positions, and when Colonel Feilding arrived with his Headquarters Company in the old front line in the Bois des Tailles he found the Headquarters of the 141st Brigade close by. He went into these Headquarters to see what further information he could gather, and learnt that the enemy was breaking through, and was believed to be coming on in large numbers. The trench, he was told, should be put in a state of defence, and every rifle would be needed. Headquarters Company was thereupon ordered to line the trench and each man had to make himself a good fire position. Officers’ servants and signallers, who had not used their rifles since the Retreat, had visions of a repetition of the Bourlon Wood incident, and every man got to work with his entrenching tool, and made every preparation for the coming fight. Colonel Feilding pushed off into the darkness ahead to find out how much truth there was in the story of the counter-attack. He found all quiet in the front line, which was nearly two miles ahead, and he decided to take his Headquarters Company and two support Companies to the foot of a bank close to the front line. These positions were occupied throughout the next day, when there was considerable shelling from the enemy.
Early on the morning of the 24th of August, an attack was delivered on the Green Line and the Happy Valley. The 140th Brigade was on the left and the 175th Brigade (58th Division) on the right. The Civil Service Rifles were to move through the Happy Valley behind a Battalion of the 175th Brigade, and deal with the enemy in the many dug-outs in the valley. After clearing the valley they were to take up positions just north of Bray and on the east side of the Bray-Méaulte road, in support to the 17th and 21st Battalions, who were to be by that time in the Green Line.
The attack began at 1.0 a.m., and by 2.0 a.m. large parties of German prisoners began to arrive at Battalion Headquarters. The operation had been entirely successful, the Civil Service Rifles having captured 300 prisoners in Happy Valley, as well as a considerable number of machine guns and some trench mortars.