It was a brilliant bit of work, and was specially mentioned by General Capper in his report. But it was very costly: Major Colby, Lieutenant Antrobus, and a hundred men were killed, and Captain Leatham was wounded. The only officer of this company who escaped unhurt was Lieutenant Sir G. Duckworth-King.

In the evening news arrived that the First Corps was attacking the enemy on the left, and this somewhat relieved the situation. The reserve trenches came in for severe shelling during the night, but, as it happened, there was only a platoon of No. 2 in reserve at the time. It had a curious experience, which might have had serious results. Two companies of the Queen's had been sent up to the reserve dug-outs. Somehow the report was spread that the Germans had got into Kruiseik, and an alarm was raised. The platoon from the Grenadiers stood to arms, and as it waited saw in the moonlight a line of men with fixed bayonets advancing on their flank. They were preparing to meet them with the bayonet when they suddenly realised that they were friends. Major Stucley leaped from the trench, and went himself to explain matters to the two companies, which returned to their original position.

Oct. 25.

The Germans were reported next day to be entrenching all along our southern front and opposite Zandvoorde. About sunset the Grenadiers were attacked, and one platoon from No. 2 Company under Lieutenant Lambert became isolated, the enemy having taken the trench on its right and also the houses behind it. Three messengers were sent back to Battalion Headquarters for help, but only one got through, and he was wounded. Lieut.-Colonel Earle sent up a platoon of No. 3, and the houses in the rear of the line were partially cleared.

A determined attack developed later that night, and a mass of men was seen advancing on the left. A voice called out, "Don't shoot! We are the South Staffords." But the German helmets could be distinctly seen against the glow from a burning farm; a heavy fire was opened on them, and slowly they disappeared. As a matter of fact two companies of the South Staffords had come up to the Battalion as a reserve that night, and the Germans must have known it. In the morning forty or fifty dead Germans were counted in front of the platoon under Lieutenant Lambert, and 200 prisoners were captured by the Scots Guards in a house in rear of the line. Viscount Dalrymple and Captain Fox, with two companies of the Scots Guards, cleared all the Germans out of the village, and restored the line.

During the night Lord Claud Hamilton, whose guns were in action all night, saw a body of men moving in fours down the road behind him, and naturally thought they were men of the Brigade. But as they passed a burning house he saw the German helmets, and turned one of his guns on them, while the other gun continued to engage the enemy in front. He was relieved before dawn by Lieutenant Gladwin of the Scots Guards with a fresh team of men, who took over the Grenadier machine-guns. Soon after he took charge Lieutenant Gladwin was killed.

Oct. 26.

The First Division had now taken over the line from Reutel to the Menin road, so that the Seventh Division held only the section from the Menin road through Kruiseik to Zandvoorde. But this salient had become more and more acute and dangerous, and General Capper decided to readjust the line and reduce the salient as far as he could. To withdraw from a position when at close grips with the enemy was a task requiring careful staff work, but it was successfully carried out that night.

Before dawn the King's Company took over the fire trenches with a platoon of No. 3 under Lieutenant Van Neck, while a platoon from No. 2 under Sergeant Boyles occupied a trench about 200 yards to the left. One platoon of the King's Company was 300 yards to the right of the rest of the company, and another 300 yards farther to the right were the Scots Guards.

A terrific shelling of our trenches began early in the morning, and reached such a pitch that the men counted as many as sixty shells a minute on each small trench. The whole of the enemy's artillery fire was concentrated on Kruiseik. Gallantly our men held on, in spite of the fact that again and again the shells blew in the trenches and buried half-a-dozen men at a time, all of whom had to be dug out with shovels. Some of them had as much as three feet of earth on top of them, and many were suffocated before they could be rescued.