On the 27th September the Battalion took part in the advance. The men got to the position of assembly in the Hindenburg Line and then passed through Moeuvres, crossed the Canal du
Nord and advanced in artillery formation towards the southern corner of Bourlon Wood.
While coming over the crest just north of Anneux "A" Company came under the direct fire of a 105 m.m. enemy gun, the detachment of which was firing over open sights, and several casualties were sustained. The Battalion was soon held up by machine gun fire, but it afterwards advanced and took up a position between Anneux and Bourlon Wood. The 29th was spent in re-organisation.
On the 30th the Battalion paraded, and an attempt was made to carry on the attack. Unfortunately, the suburb of Proville had not been captured, as had been originally supposed, and the attack could not proceed on account of the heavy machine gun fire from the houses.
The Battalion was then withdrawn to La Folie Wood, where a few days were spent in old German shelters. The enemy evidently knew that the wood was occupied, for he persistently shelled it with his heavy batteries, and the trees served to intensify the sound of the explosions. Several 18-pounder guns and a battery of 8-inch howitzers were about a hundred yards or so in rear of the Battalion's position; and when an attack by one of the other units in the Division was in progress the noise was intense.
On the 5th October the Battalion took over the outpost zone at Proville, with headquarters at La Marlière. At this time there were few troops on the bridgehead east of the Canal de l'Escaut. The area was periodically searched by the enemy heavy artillery, and the posts at Proville suffered considerably from minenwerfer fire. On relief the Battalion returned to La Folie Wood.
When Cambrai fell on the 9th October the Battalion left for the Cantaing area and on the
11th moved to a bivouac area by Inchy. The next day it marched to Hermies, and there entrained for Bethune, where it arrived next day and marched to Douvrin.
It was now almost three years since the Battalion had been in the vicinity of Bethune, but there were still some present who could remember how the Battalion in the spring of 1915 had marched for the first time to the trenches in front of this town. The next day the Battalion went by motor lorries through Locon and other places the men had known so well in 1915 and, debussing near Laventie, the Battalion marched via Fromelles to Le Maisnil en Weppes. Passing through what was formerly no man's land at Laventie, the men were able to recognise the places they had held in the trenches in the early part of the year.