Two Other Ranks to Field Ambulance sick.
21st November. At 1 p.m. the relief of the 1/4th Royal Lancaster Regiment was completed. The 1/4th Royal Lancaster Regiment proceeded to KEN LANE and SART FARM. The day was quiet; the work of clearing the trenches and reorganising was continued. At 2 p.m. one Platoon B Company relieved a Company of the 1/5th King’s Liverpool Regiment in DOLEFUL POST.
22nd November. The day was abnormally quiet. Three daylight patrols were sent out to discover any signs of an enemy retirement. Enemy front line was found to be held in force. At 8 p.m. the Battalion was relieved by the 1/7th King’s Liverpool Regiment, and on relief proceeded to VAUCELLETTE Camp X 13 c, and came under command of the B.G.C. 166th Infantry Brigade. C Company did not go to VAUCELLETTE, but proceeded to billets in ST. EMILIE.
The Battalion was present in billets at VAUCELLETTE Camp by 11 p.m.
Three Other Ranks to Field Ambulance sick.
The next few days were spent in repairing billets and replacing equipment lost in the recent battle, and on the 28th we marched back to billets at VILLERS FAUCON; Major Crump left the Battalion to take over command of the 1/10th King’s Liverpool Regiment.
On the 29th, after a Warning Order, which was afterwards cancelled, we marched to VAUCELLETTE Camp, just behind the ruins of a farm of that name. Apparently the Divisional Commander had noticed, while making a tour of the forward area on the 28th, that the enemy was reconnoitring with low-flying aircraft as well as registering targets with his artillery, and knowing that movement behind the enemy’s lines was above normal, he suspected an attack on our front, hence our move.
In order to make clear the events that followed, which were by no means clear to us at the time, it is necessary to quote in extenso from the “History of the 55th Division”:—
“The Division was at this time holding a front of 13,000 yards, supported only by two Brigades of Field artillery!
“This wide frontage could not of course be continuously held; it consisted of Platoon posts, connected by travel trenches, and distributed in depth so far as circumstances allowed. But with such a wide front an effective distribution in depth was impossible with the troops available. On the morning of the attack, the portion of the line extending from BANTEAUX RAVINE to WOOD ROAD was held by the 1/5th South Lancashires. South of them in the HONNECOURT sector were the 1/5th North Lancashire Regiment, and in the OSSUS sector the 1/10th King’s Liverpool Regiment. The 1/5th King’s Own were in support. The 165th Infantry Brigade on the right was disposed as follows:—1/6th King’s Liverpool Regiment from OSSUS WOOD to HEYTHROP POST; 1/5th King’s Liverpool Regiment from GRAFTON POST to EGO POST; and 1/7th King’s Liverpool Regiment southwards from this point to CAT POST and NEW POST. The 1/9th King’s Liverpool Regiment were in support. The 164th Infantry Brigade were in Divisional reserve.