In the middle of the next night the Battalion was ordered to return to the trenches and join the 4th Brigade. Its four days' "rest" was over, and all ranks welcomed with enthusiasm the prospect of getting back to the trenches!
Nov. 15-16.
Next day the Battalion marched back through Zillebeke to Lord Cavan's Headquarters, and was at once sent back into the trenches, part of which it had held the week before. The companies were sent up on each side of the Cavalry Brigade, which was holding a line across Brown Road, and the Battalion was therefore split up into two portions. Nos. 4 and 2 Platoons of No. 3 Company were on the left of the cavalry, and Nos. 1 and 2 Companies on the right; the only reserve there was consisted of two platoons of No. 3 Company, and so they "carried on" for two days without any happenings of great importance. The weather meanwhile became very cold, and there were continual snow blizzards.
Nov. 17.
On November 17 the Germans made their last serious attack on Ypres. The day opened with a terrific bombardment, evidently heralding a determined attack. The shelling went on steadily all the morning, and about 1 P.M. the attack started, the brunt of it falling on No. 1 and No. 2 Companies. No. 2 in particular was very hard pressed. Captain Symes-Thompson was killed, and Lieutenant Lee-Steere, who took over the command, sent back word that they were running short of ammunition. There were but two platoons in reserve, and they numbered only thirty men, but Lieut.-Colonel Smith sent them up under Captain Cavendish with some ammunition. By the time they arrived Lieutenant Lee-Steere had been killed. Captain Cavendish sent back a message that the enemy was apparently entrenching in a spinney about four hundred yards to our front, and that his numbers were estimated at 500. About this time the enemy attacked in great force, but was quite unable to make any headway against our rifle-fire. The spirits of the men were wonderful, and they fought on, quite unaffected by the terrible casualties caused by the shell-fire amongst their ranks. Captain Cavendish was surprised at suddenly hearing a burst of firing intermingled with shouts of laughter. It turned out that some Germans, who had lain down in a slight fold in the ground when their attack failed, were trying to crawl back, and the men of Nos. 2 and 3 Companies were firing at them as they went. The enemy was now becoming very numerous in front, and the situation was reported to Lord Cavan by Lieut.-Colonel Smith, who received this reply:
Call on 1st Battalion Coldstream for help if required at once. Brigade Headquarters knocked to bits, so have shifted to farm north-west of wood, on Figure 17 of K 17, in dug-out.
A little while afterwards the situation was easier, and on hearing that the line was still intact, Lord Cavan sent the message:
Well done. Hope you got my memo, re calling on 1st Battalion Coldstream at once if necessary, now in the wood alongside of you. You must use them to help both yourself and the Irish Guards. When called on let me know. Am turning all the artillery on the wood to your front. I have no means of communication left except orderlies.
The 1st Battalion Coldstream at that time consisted of a draft of 300 men under Captain G. Edwards, which had just arrived from England, the Battalion having been practically wiped out in the Prussian Guard attack of November 4.
No. 1 Company was now in a bad way, and Captain Hughes sent back an urgent request for more ammunition. But, as most of the pack animals had been killed in the morning's bombardment, it was a problem how to send it. Major Jeffreys collected as many orderlies as he could find, loaded them up with all the ammunition they could carry, and himself led them along to the trenches. This was no easy matter, as not only was the ground they had to cross under shell-fire, but the whole place was knee-deep in mud. The last fifty yards to the trenches they had to crawl.