A few days' rest worked wonders with the Battalion, and converted ill-shaved men, in clothes sodden and coated with mud, once more into smart, well-turned-out Guardsmen. The line now taken over was near Rue du Bois, and the Battalion Headquarters were at Rue des Berceaux. Two companies were in the firing line, with two platoons in the front trench and the other two in support; the remainder of the Battalion formed the reserve.
The rain continued in torrents, and the trench line became a sort of lake. The companies, not in the front trench, were engaged in digging second-line trenches, and a trench that was dug by Nos. 2 and 4 Companies was known for two years after as the Guards' trench. It was considered a model of what a good trench should be.
The usual routine was to relieve the men in the trenches every twelve hours, and bring them back to be dried, rubbed, and cleaned; and there was not much sickness, although several men were crippled with rheumatism, and would have found great difficulty in marching any distance. The gruesome task of removing the dead was effected by floating the bodies down the communication trenches.
On the 12th the following order was circulated from Brigade Headquarters:
The Brigadier has much pleasure in forwarding a copy of a letter received from General Monro, and desires that it should be read to every man.
"I have this moment heard from an officer of the Indian Corps an account of what he saw at the fight for Givenchy, in which the 1st Brigade was engaged. His position enabled him to see the attack of the Coldstream, and the following are his words: 'They marched forward without the least hesitation under the most terrific fire, just as though they were on parade. The Indian Brigade watched the progress of the Guards with the profoundest admiration. I thought perhaps the officers and privates of the Brigade of Guards might like to know the admiration which their conduct inspires in outsiders. We who have been through much with them know right well that the description I have given merely represents their normal behaviour in action, yet possibly it may please the men to hear what I have written.'"
Lieut.-Colonel Smith in a private letter to Colonel Streatfeild wrote:
I cannot thank you enough for the excellent officers you have sent me out. I have had the sorrow of seeing nearly a whole battalion of first-rate officers go one by one, and yet you have been able to send me a second lot who promise to be almost as good.
Jan. 18-20.
The Battalion was relieved by an Indian regiment, and went into billets at Le Touret to rest for two days, after which it returned to the trenches in Rue des Bois near Rue des Berceaux. The water was as bad as ever, and even rose after a snowstorm. The whole country was water-logged, and there was constant difficulty in keeping up the parapets, which crumbled and fell in great blocks, in spite of the ceaseless labour expended on them. The enemy's snipers took every advantage of the crumbling parapets, and accounted for many of our men. Sergeant Croft was killed by a sniper, and Corporal Parkinson, who, as Lord Bernard Gordon-Lennox's orderly, must have evaded thousands of bullets and shells, was shot dead by a stray bullet.