This, the last fight of the 1/4th Londons, produced nine prisoners and cost in casualties: 2/Lieut. A. M. Bullock, killed; 2/Lieut. G. H. Sylvester, died of wounds; 2/Lieut. H. W. Taylor, wounded; and in N.C.O.'s and men, 11 killed, 55 wounded and 1 missing.
From now onwards the 56th Division was fighting on a one-brigade front, with the 167th leading, and the 1/4th Londons were engaged in following up the advance by stages so as to be within supporting distance of the leading troops. Nowhere was the enemy's opposition more than trifling, and the advance proceeded rapidly, though under conditions of some discomfort and difficulty. The line of the Division's advance lay almost due east, roughly parallel to the marshes about the Canal de Condé which connects the Canal de l'Escaut with Mons, and the whole countryside is cut up by innumerable small streams discharging northwards into the marsh area. The banks of these streams are everywhere steep, and bridges had been systematically destroyed by the retiring enemy who had also blown craters at almost every road junction. It was an ideal country for a determined enemy to fight a rearguard action, but the Germans' powers of resistance were broken, and beyond the delays caused to the progress of our troops by the wholesale destruction, opposition was negligible. The extreme rapidity of the advance indeed made it almost impossible for the supply services to keep pace, and the damage to the roads prevented lorries from proceeding beyond the Grande Honnelle River till the necessary repairs could be completed. The weather, moreover, had broken, and for three days rain fell incessantly. But these discomforts were slight in comparison with the enormous wave of enthusiasm which passed over all the troops who had the good fortune to take part in this extraordinary victory.
On the 7th November the line of the Bavai-Hensies Road was crossed, and the following day the leading troops had reached the line Petit Moronfait-Rinchon-Ferlibray. The 9th November saw the Mons-Maubeuge Road crossed, and on the 10th the 1st Londons, who were leading, captured Harveng, and after slight opposition pushed forward to Harmignies.
The 1/4th Londons following up the advance moved on the 8th to Autreppe and the following day to Blaugies. The band was now with the Battalion and played on the march. This gave rise to most remarkable patriotic demonstrations on the part of the liberated villagers who everywhere greeted the Battalion with cries of "Vive l'Angleterre!" and showered flowers on the troops, while crowds of children marched beside the band cheering. The plight of these poor people was deplorable. The Germans in their retirement had taken with them practically all food supplies and utensils of every description. Scarcely the bare necessities of life remained. All live stock had also been driven before them by the retreating hordes of the enemy, but when the Battalion reached Blaugies the presence of live stock in the village showed the ever-increasing confusion and speed of the enemy's retirement. At this time the Division was feeding some 16,000 civilians, on an allowance of one iron ration to four people.
On the morning of the 10th November the 1/4th Londons continued their almost triumphal progress to La Dessoue, but there being no accommodation here, found billets in Sars-la-Bruyère, where an overwhelming welcome was accorded them. In this village Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien (II Corps) had had his Headquarters on the 23rd August 1914.
The Brigade Ammunition Column at this time was in charge of Lieut. E. P. M. Mosely, whose diary illustrates the extraordinary spirit of humour which carried the men through this period of hard work and exposure. The Column reached Famars thoroughly tired out one wet night at about midnight, and halted in rear of the advancing troops. The civilians had been evacuated and the men rapidly made themselves comfortable in some of the cottages. One of the transport drivers, according to the immemorial custom of transport drivers, quickly began to forage round, and attired himself in a top hat, white scarf and frock coat, in which remarkable garb he put his head round the door and said: "I've come for the rent!" This, after a hard night's work, shows a spirit which takes a lot of damping.
It was in this advance also that the Column arrived in a battered village late at night, thoroughly worn out and drenched to the skin. The place was muddy, shell torn and desolate, and its exact whereabouts on the map far from certain. The men began to picket their horses and spread tarpaulins over their heaped-up stores, and afterwards disconsolately to search for odd bits of timber in the endeavour to construct some sort of shelter. The O.C. Column produced from a waggon an antique arm-chair, which had somehow attached itself to the Column at an earlier stage of the advance, and in this very much improvised headquarters took up his station in the mud, when suddenly—the post arrived! The Army Postal Service had throughout been so efficient as to become almost a matter of course—but in this effort it surely surpassed itself!
On the night of the 10th November the 56th Division was relieved by the 63rd Division by whom the advance was to be pursued; but early the following morning the news of the Armistice was received and the troops stood fast. The record of this grand culmination of the years of bloodshed is contained in the Battalion Official War Diary as follows:
| Sars-la-Bruyère. 11.11.1918. | 08.30. | Bde. Memo. B.M. 971 received hostilities would cease at 1100. |
| The news had an unexpected effect on the troops: everybody appeared to be too dazed to make any demonstration. Men were much less cheerful than they had been for some days. | ||
| 11.00. | Hostilities ceased. | |
| Transport Personnel and Nucleus rejoined Battn. |
The vast Forêt de Mormal had been passed, Mons and Maubeuge had fallen, and the German Army was divided into two parts, one on each side of the natural barrier of the Ardennes.