On the 9th Major M. E. M. C. Maitland arrived from the 3rd Battalion, and took over command of the 1st Battalion from Major Glyn, who proceeded to take up an appointment at the base. On the 10th the following were selected from the 1st Battalion to attend the National Fête in Paris on July 14: Sergeant-Major Young, Lance-Corporal Ewell, Private Upcott, Private Ayres, Private Andrews, and Private Call. On the 12th Captain Viscount Lascelles was appointed second in command of the 2nd Battalion, and on the 13th Lieutenant E. B. Shelley and Second Lieutenant C. C. T. Sharpe joined from the Entrenching Battalion.
On the 15th the 1st Battalion returned to the trenches, where it remained until the 24th, with the usual routine of two days in and two days out of the trenches. On the 27th it left the Ypres salient without regret, and entrained at Poperinghe for Bollezeele, whence it marched to Watten. There it remained until the 29th, when it proceeded to Bavingchove and went by train to Fervent. On the 30th it marched to Halloy. On the 28th Lieutenant R. P. de P. Trench and Lieutenant M. D. Thomas joined from the Entrenching Battalion, and on the 30th Captain W. D. Drury Lowe, D.S.O., arrived. He had been in command of a Territorial Battery for a year and a half, and had so distinguished himself as a gunner that he had been awarded the D.S.O. But, being a true Grenadier at heart, he had decided to sink his rank and return to his old regiment.
Aug.
During August the 1st Battalion only had two days in the trenches at Beaumont-Hamel, when the King's Company had rather an unpleasant time with the enemy's trench mortars, and had nine casualties. On the 9th His Majesty the King, who was making an informal tour round the Front, visited the Grenadier Camp, but there was no inspection of any sort.
Before leaving France His Majesty sent the following message to Sir Douglas Haig:
August 15, 1916.
Officers, N.C.O.'s, and Men—It has been a great pleasure and satisfaction to me to be with my Armies during the past week. I have been able to judge for myself of their splendid condition for war, and of the spirit of cheerful confidence which animates all ranks, united in loyal co-operation to their chiefs and to one another.
Since my last visit to the Front there has been almost uninterrupted fighting on parts of our line. The offensive recently begun has since been resolutely maintained by day and by night. I have had opportunities of visiting some of the scenes of the later desperate struggles, and of appreciating to a slight extent the demands made upon your courage and physical endurance in order to assail and capture positions prepared during the past two years and stoutly defended to the last.
I have realised not only the splendid work which has been done in immediate touch with the enemy—in the air, under the ground, as well as on the ground—but also the vast organisations behind the fighting line, honourable alike to the genius of the initiators and to the heart and hand of the workers. Everywhere there is proof that all, men and women, are playing their part, and I rejoice to think that their noble efforts are being heartily seconded by all classes at home.
The happy relations maintained by my Armies and those of our French Allies were equally noticeable between my troops and the inhabitants of the districts in which they are quartered, and from whom they have received a cordial welcome ever since their first arrival in France.