At the end of November the Rev. R. Palmer, M.C., left the Battalion to take up the duties of Divisional Chaplain in the 24th Division, his place being taken a few days later by Rev. S. F. Leighton Green, who remained with the Battalion until after the Armistice.
About this period a Divisional Musketry Camp was formed at Le Sart, near Merville, and 2/Lieuts. Wreford and Pyne were appointed to it as instructors. 2/Lieut. E. G. Dew was also appointed Battalion Bombing Officer.
On the 21st December a readjustment of the Battalion sector was effected, and in the afternoon the sector as originally taken over from the 182nd Brigade was handed over to the 1/3rd Londons, and the Battalion marched to billets at Bout Deville.
After three days occupied in cleaning up and training, Christmas Day was celebrated as a holiday, and, the billets being beyond the range of any but heavy guns, with which the Germans were not well supplied on this front, the rest of the Battalion was quite undisturbed. But every effort was made to render the Germans' Christmas as uncomfortable as possible. At 6.30 p.m. on Christmas Eve a continuous steady bombardment of his defences by all available batteries up to 6-inch guns began, and lasted for forty-eight hours. This action was evidently much resented by the enemy, and after Christmas the trench warfare in this area was conducted with greater fierceness than it had been previously.
The Bow Bells were now established in the theatre at La Gorgue, and it was found possible to provide a free visit for every man in the Battalion to its splendid Christmas pantomime "Aladdin," which was most heartily appreciated.
During the temporary absence of 2/Lieut. O. D. Garratt, the duties of Intelligence Officer were taken by 2/Lieut. J. R. K. Paterson (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, attached), who remained with the Battalion for about a month.
On New Year's Day 1917 the 168th Brigade relieved the 169th Brigade in Moated Grange sector, the Rangers and Kensingtons occupying the trenches, with the London Scottish in support, about Rouge Croix and Pont du Hem on the La Bassée Road, while the 1/4th Londons remained in Divisional reserve billets at Riez Bailleul.
A week here was spent in supplying working parties, of which the labour was considerable owing to the long distance—about four miles—which had to be covered each night in each direction by parties going up the line for work. The weather, moreover, had taken a marked change, and a very severe frost had set in which increased tenfold the labour of digging. Towards the end of the week snow fell adding further to the fatigue of the long night marches.
On the evening of the 9th January 1917 the Battalion took over from the Kensingtons the right subsection of the Moated Grange sector. This sector had seen a good many changes both as regards defences and boundaries since the Battalion's previous occupation of it in the summer of 1915, and the lines now taken over extended from Sign Post Lane on the right for a frontage of some 1400 yards to a point opposite the village of Mauquissart which lay just within the German lines.