On the evening of November 5 the command of the left division sector of the 4th Corps front passed to the G.O.C. 42nd Division, and by 3.30 a.m. on the 6th the relief of the leading N.Z. Brigade by the 126th Brigade had been completed. The relief had been peculiarly difficult, on account of the intense darkness, the uncertainty of the location of the troops to be relieved, and the state of the forest roads. The front taken over ran from a point just beyond the forest near Petit Bayay on the right and along the extreme eastern fringe a little further north, then bent back through the forest to Les Viviers and La Grande Rue, where the situation was obscure, the right division of the 6th Corps being echeloned some 3000 yards to the rear of the 42nd’s front. The 4th Corps front was, as usual, in advance of the Corps to right and left, and once again the 42nd Division formed the spearhead of the 4th Corps offensive, taking this rôle turn and turn about with their New Zealand comrades. To cover the exposed left flank a second M.G. Company was allotted to the 126th Brigade.
FORESTER’S HOUSE AND CRATERS IN THE FORÊT DE MORMAL.
EASTERN EDGE OF THE FORÊT DE MORMAL.
NOVEMBER 1918. THE ENEMY’S EFFORTS TO DELAY OUR ADVANCE.
FORT EAST OF HAUTMONT, NEAR WHICH THE DIVISION HAD ITS LAST FIGHTING ON NOV. 8, 1918.
