On the 31st October the 56th Division rejoined the XXII Corps in the battle area, and the battalions of the 168th Brigade embussed from Arras to Douchy (two miles south of Denain). For a couple of days the 1/4th Londons remained here in very fair billets, receiving a most hearty welcome from the inhabitants, who had been for four years under the heel of the enemy.
At 8 a.m. on the 2nd November the Battalion marched about five miles forward to the staging area at Maing, which it reached at about 11.30 a.m., and that evening advanced again at short notice and relieved the 4th K.O.Y.L.I. (49th Division) in advanced positions facing Saultain, the relief being completed by 2 a.m. on the 3rd November. The advance was led by D Company, which came under heavy shell fire when passing through Famars, and lost 4 men killed and 14 wounded.
The 168th Brigade section which was the left of the Divisional front, the 169th being on the right, was held with the Kensingtons and 1/4th Londons in the line. D Company occupied small sections of trenches in the front line some 500 yards west of the Château de Saultain, while A, B and C Companies were held back in a sunken road south-east of Aulnoy.
Lieut.-Col. Marchment was now in command of the 168th Brigade, General Loch having gone to hospital, and the Battalion was temporarily under Major R. B. Marshall, with Captain T. B. Cooper, M.C., M.M., acting as second in command. Battalion Headquarters opened in Aulnoy.
The Battle of the Sambre, 1918
About the time of the relief it became apparent that the enemy had retired again opposite the Canadians on our left and was about to do so on our own front. At 10.35 a.m. a wire was received in the Battalion stating that the Canadians had entered Estreux, and ordering the Battalion to push strongly supported patrols through Saultain as far as the Ferme du Moulin. D Company moved forward at 11.15 a.m., supported by A Company, and entered Saultain which was found to be unoccupied except for four men of the 109th Infantry Regiment who were taken prisoners. By two o'clock the Ferme du Moulin was occupied with very little opposition and Battalion Headquarters advanced to the Château de Saultain. On the right the Kensingtons had also pressed forward towards the cemetery of Curgies, and touch was obtained with them and with the 4th Canadian Division on the left. This advance—over 2000 yards—was consolidated by the 1/4th Londons, while two squadrons of Australian Light Horse and a company of New Zealand cyclists endeavoured to push forward during the evening to secure the crossings of the River Aunelle. Their attempt, however, was checked about 1000 yards in front of the infantry by enemy machine-gun fire, and in this position the progress for the day was concluded, the Kensingtons occupying with the cavalry and cyclists the advanced line, which extended in a north-westerly direction from the cross-roads at Le Talandier. That night the 1/4th Londons' position was held with D and A Companies in front and B and C Companies in support.
The immediate resumption of the advance being ordered by XXII Corps, arrangements were made by 56th Division with the adjoining divisions to pursue the attack at 6 a.m. the following morning, 4th November, each division operating independently. Orders for this advance did not reach the 1/4th Londons, who were detailed for the attack on the 168th Brigade front, till 1 a.m., and there was thus no more than enough time to assemble the companies close in rear of the line held by the Kensingtons. For reconnaissance there was no time at all. The attack was delivered on a two-company front by B Company on the right and A Company on the left, each moving in square formation of platoons with a screen of scouts and cavalry patrols in front. C and D Companies followed in diamond formation at a distance of about 200 yards. The objective was given as the high ground across the River Aunelle about 500 yards east of Sebourquiaux.
The morning dawned mistily, but in this case the mist was not altogether a disadvantage. The whole of this countryside was a swelling waste of stubble fields with practically no landmarks, but fortunately a line of telegraph poles going due east which was visible through the mist enabled the leading companies to keep their direction well—a great stroke of luck, as the advance lay up hill and down dale over this barren land for some 2000 yards before the crest of the Aunelle Valley was reached, and the objective was for a long time out of sight. The mist thus served to conceal the advance from the enemy till the leading companies breasted the hill overlooking Sebourquiaux itself, and started descending the slope to the village.