After the relief of the 153rd Brigade by the French, the southern boundary of the Divisional sector was found to run along the main drive in the Bois de Courton and thence to Chantereine Farm on the south-west corner of the Bois des Eclisses, the 152nd Brigade remaining in position on the right, the 154th on the left.
No attack was made on the 25th or 26th, but strong patrols maintained continuous pressure against the enemy. As a result of successful enterprises by these patrols the line was in certain parts of the front sensibly advanced. On the right the 5th Seaforth Highlanders pushed out eight posts sixty yards clear of the Bois de l’Aulnay; they also reached the Moulin de Voipreux, and found it unoccupied. The 4th Seaforth Highlanders advanced their line by some 100 yards in the wood, though not without having some stiff fighting for their gains.
The 7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were continuously engaged in the wood in trying to make headway, but the resistance they at all times encountered was such as to deny them any substantial progress.
After further fighting on the 26th, the 4th Seaforth Highlanders made good another fifty yards of ground. Both on this and the previous day there were occasions on which our troops suffered considerably from the enemy’s artillery, which at times became intensely active both on his forward and back areas.
The 26th was, however, the last day on which the enemy stood his ground in Espilly and the Bois de Courton. On the north banks of the Marne he had now been crushed into a small forward salient between Belval-sous-Chatillon on the east and the Forêt de Riz on the west; and while arrangements were being made to renew the attack on the Divisional front, he was perfecting his plans to evacuate his position before it was too late for him to disengage.
It had been intended to attack on the 26th, but it had been decided to give the troops, all of whom had now been engaged for several days, the benefit of twenty-four hours’ rest—a rest which was unfortunately denied to most of them by deluges of rain which fell incessantly through the night.
The plan was to attack on a three-brigade front, 152nd being on the right, 187th Brigade (from the 62nd Division) in the centre, and the 153rd Brigade on the left, the 154th Brigade being withdrawn to the woods between Nanteuil and St Imoges. It would at first sight appear abnormal that a brigade from the 62nd Division should attack between two brigades of the 51st; but by this time the liaison with the 62nd Division, commanded by General Braithwaite, had become so complete that these dispositions caused no lack of cohesion in the attack.
A careful barrage programme was arranged, which allowed ample time for the 153rd Brigade to fight their way through the difficulties of the wood.
Two objectives were selected, the first being roughly the line Moulin de Voipreux-Neuville within the Divisional boundaries, the second being a line some 500-700 yards beyond this, including the village of Nappes.