Next day the 4th Brigade was sent up into the front line. The men had breakfast at 3.30 A.M., an unusually early hour even for those about to take part in the fighting, and after standing by all the morning marched at 1 P.M. to Le Touret, where they received orders to make good the line of La Quinque Rue. This involved not only getting up to the front line, but also attacking La Quinque Rue, which ran about five hundred yards east of it. The Germans were systematically shelling all the roads leading to the trenches, and it was therefore some time before the 2nd Battalion Grenadiers could be moved up in artillery formation across the open via Cense du Raux Farm, Rue de l'Epinette, and the hamlet known as "Indian Village."
When it reached the supports of the front line, it was by no means easy to ascertain precisely what line the Battalion was expected to occupy. Units had become mixed as the inevitable result of the previous attack, and it was impossible to say for certain what battalion occupied a trench, or to locate the exact front. An artillery observation officer helped, however, by pointing out the positions on the map.
It was not till late in the afternoon that the 2nd Battalion began to move up into the front line. Progress was necessarily slow, as after the heavy rain the ground was deep in mud, and the shell-holes were full of water. It advanced gradually through a maze of old British and German trenches, much knocked about and obstructed with troops' material and a great many wounded, and passed through the Scots Fusiliers, the Border Regiment, and the Yorkshire Regiment. Its orders were to pass over what had originally been the German front line, and to establish itself about five hundred yards from the German trench at La Quinque Rue. The 5th and 6th Brigades had in the meantime been sent back in reserve, while the Canadian Division had been ordered to come up on the right and take the place of the 20th and 22nd Brigades.
It was dark before the 2nd Battalion Grenadiers reached the line it was ordered to occupy. The men had stumbled over obstacles of every sort, wrecked trenches and shell-holes, and had finally wriggled themselves into the front line. The enemy's trenches over which they passed were a mass of dead men, both German and British, with heads, legs, and other gruesome objects lying about amid bits of wire obstacles and remains of accoutrements. Lieut.-Colonel Smith had originally intended to launch the attack on La Quinque Rue at once, but decided to wait until dawn. Brought up in the dark to an entirely strange bit of country, without any landmarks to guide him, or any means of reconnaissance, and not even certain as to what troops were on each flank, the Commanding Officer was faced with many anxious problems.
The 4th Brigade, however, was no novice at this type of fighting, and it was astonishing to see how quickly the men settled down. The 2nd Battalion Grenadiers was on the right, the Irish Guards on the left, while the 1st and 2nd Battalions Coldstream were in reserve some way back. Lieut.-Colonel Smith ordered Major Jeffreys to take charge of the front line, while he remained in the proper place assigned to the Commanding Officer, which was with the supports. No. 2 Company under Captain P. Clive on the right, and No. 3 under Major Barrington Kennett on the left were in the firing line, and No. 1 under Lord Henry Seymour, and No. 4 under Major C. de Crespigny were in reserve, in some old German breastworks. As No. 1 Company moved up, Second Lieutenant A. H. Penn was shot by a sniper through both legs.
By a curious coincidence the 1st Battalion Grenadiers in the Seventh Division was immediately on the right, so that for the first time in the war the 1st and 2nd Battalions were side by side in the line. Second Lieutenant C. J. Dudley-Smith came over from the 1st Battalion to get touch, and to his surprise found himself amongst brother officers.
The men had only their little entrenching tools, and with these they dug frantically, and managed to scrape up some sort of protection before the morning. The Germans fired a good deal at first, but finding it difficult to locate exactly the position of the line they determined later to save their shells, and as the morning went on did not molest the Battalion much. The Battalion Headquarters and Reserve Companies came in for a lot of shelling, but owing to the soft ground many shells failed to explode. Sleep in such an advanced position was out of the question, more especially as every moment was precious.
May 18.
The 4th Brigade was ordered to attack a point marked P 14 and Cour l'Avoué at 9.30 A.M., but owing to the mist and bad weather the attack was indefinitely postponed, and the 2nd Battalion had to remain all day in its hastily made trench, which really offered very little resistance to artillery fire. The weather cleared about 10 A.M. and the enemy began a terrific bombardment, which made things very unpleasant, although it did very little actual damage. It was not till 3.45 P.M. that the 2nd Battalion received orders to attack at 4.30 P.M., which gave no time for adequate preparation. Soon afterwards a second message arrived to the effect that, if the Canadians were late in relieving the 20th Brigade on the right, the attack was not to be delayed, although there would necessarily be a gap on that flank.
The front of the Canadian attack was to extend to the left, so that it overlapped No. 2 Company. The attack was therefore to be made by No. 3 Company alone, although a platoon from No. 2 was to be pushed forward as far as the barricade.