Some excellent training meanwhile was being obtained on the racecourse at Dainville, and several rifle competitions were introduced to add to the keenness of the men. The Battalion was largely reclothed and much done to improve its excellent parade discipline. On the 21st October a Guard of Honour was provided, consisting of 100 all ranks under Capt. H. N. Williams, M.C., for President Poincaré, who was visiting Arras—"the finest Guard the Division ever turned out," as Faulkner described it. The identity of this distinguished visitor remained for a long time shrouded in mystery, and curiosity reached fever-pitch. The Mess decided that the only way to deal with the problem was to have a sweepstake, in which the names of the Prince of Wales, M. Clemenceau, General Smuts, Marshal Foch and the Lord Nozoo (representing The Field) were included. Captain Williams' return was awaited with breathless anxiety, but, alas, in the dark he had failed to solve the mystery. The Mess paid out on M. Clemenceau—he being apparently the nearest to the distinguished visitor who actually arrived.
During this rest at Arras the Battalion was joined by Capts. H. W. Spiers and D. S. Boorman, M.C. (to command B and C Companies respectively), and by Lieuts. E. G. Dew and H. D. Rees, the latter being appointed Assistant-Adjutant. Regimental Sergt.-Major Jacques, who was returning to England in training for Quartermaster, was replaced by Sergt.-Major Wilson, who had been wounded at Ypres in 1917. The strength of the Battalion was now 38 officers and 721 other ranks.
The latter half of October had seen most rapid and important changes on the British battle front, to which we must refer briefly. The success of the attack towards Le Cateau in the early days of the month had been complete and had driven the enemy back to the line of the Selle River. This enabled G.H.Q. to initiate the second stage of this last phase of the War, which was to force the enemy from the Selle River back to the general line Sambre Canal—western edge of Forêt de Mormal—Valenciennes. The occupation of this line would enable the British Armies to launch their final attack on Maubeuge.
The Battle of the Selle was opened by the Fourth Army on the 17th October, the fight gradually involving the Third and First Armies in succession. By the 20th October the enemy had been driven across the Sambre as far north as Catillon, Le Cateau was occupied, and the Selle River left two miles behind our advanced positions. The main attack developed on the 23rd October, and by the end of the following day the enemy was driven on to the western edge of the Forêt de Mormal, the outskirts of Le Quesnoy had been reached, and the lateral railway connecting Le Quesnoy with Valenciennes had been crossed on a front of about four miles. This latter portion of the success was on the front of the XXII and Canadian Corps of the First Army. The Selle River Battle resulted in the capture of 20,000 prisoners and 475 guns, and in the defeat of 31 German divisions by 25 British and 2 American divisions.
On other parts of the front successes had been equally striking. Laon had fallen to the French on the 13th October. In Belgium, Menin, Thorout and Ostend had been occupied in rapid succession, and by the 20th October the Allied line rested on the Dutch frontier. This advance in the extreme north had the effect of turning the defences of Lille, which was encircled and occupied on the 18th October, after which a steady advance brought our troops to the line of the Scheldt north of Valenciennes to Avelghem.
The critical condition of the Germans is summed up by Sir Douglas Haig in his despatches:—
By this time the rapid succession of heavy blows dealt by the British forces had had a cumulative effect, both moral and material upon the German Armies.... His reserves of men were exhausted.... The capitulation of Turkey and Bulgaria and the imminent collapse of Austria—consequent upon Allied successes which the desperate position of her own armies in the western front had rendered her powerless to prevent—had made Germany's military situation impossible. If her armies were now to be allowed to withdraw undisturbed to shorter lines the struggle might still be protracted over the winter. The British Armies, however, were now in a position to prevent this by a direct attack upon a vital centre which should anticipate the enemy withdrawal and force an immediate conclusion.
A necessary preliminary to the final attack was the capture of Valenciennes itself, and this was accomplished on the 1st November. The XXII Corps, advancing on a front of six miles to the south of the city, crossed the Rhonelle River, and occupied the high ground overlooking the valley of the Aunelle River, while the Canadians entered Valenciennes and pushed on to the east of it.