Dec.
After a fortnight at Méaulte the Battalion went into dug-outs in Bouleaux Wood on December 6, and two days later relieved the 4th Battalion in the trenches. On the 11th it retired to Maltzhorn Camp, moving on the following day to Bronfay, and then back to Bouleaux Wood. This routine was followed up to the end of the month, the Battalion spending three days in the trenches followed by a week at Maltzhorn, Bronfay, and Bouleaux, but nothing of importance happened. On the 17th Captain P. J. S. Pearson-Gregory joined, and during the month several drafts arrived to bring the Battalion up to strength.
INSPECTION OF THE GUARDS DIVISION BY FIELD-MARSHAL H.R.H. THE DUKE OF CONNAUGHT, K.G.
NOVEMBER 1, 1916.
The 2nd Battalion
2nd Batt.
Oct.
After spending the end of September at Morlancourt, the 2nd Battalion proceeded in buses lent by the French Government to Aumont, where it remained for six weeks. The time was spent in training and musketry, with instruction in bombing and Lewis gunnery. The following officers joined during the month: Second Lieutenant W. H. S. Dent on the 2nd; Captain E. O. Stewart on the 5th; Lieutenant the Hon. F. H. Manners and Lieutenant F. A. M. Browning, Second Lieutenant R. A. W. Bicknell and Second Lieutenant J. H. Jacob on the 6th; Second Lieutenant E. W. Seymour on the 7th; Captain C. F. A. Walker, M.C., and Second Lieutenant J. D. C. Wilton on the 12th; Captain I. St. C. Rose, Captain Lord Frederick Blackwood, D.S.O., Lieutenant A. H. Penn, and Second Lieutenant Lord Basil Blackwood on the 16th. On the 10th Captain the Hon. W. R. Bailey, D.S.O., was granted the temporary rank of Major, and became Second in Command of the Battalion, his place as Adjutant being taken by Lieutenant A. H. Penn.
Nov.
On November 6 Captain I. Rose was transferred to the 3rd Battalion. On the 10th the 2nd Battalion proceeded in French motor buses via Méaulte to the Citadel Camp, where it remained for two days, after which it marched to “H.I.” Camp near Montauban. The weather was very bad, and the whole country was a sea of mud, which made marching across country anything but easy. On the 15th the Battalion proceeded to Camps A and B at Trônes Wood, and moved up the following day into the line, relieving the 1st Battalion Irish Guards in the inside right sector between Lesbœufs and Gueudecourt, where the front line consisted of shell-holes joined up, and was held by a succession of small posts. Owing to the frosty condition of the ground, the relief was carried out quickly and without casualties, but a working platoon that had been sent on ahead had two men killed, and Lieutenant J. D. Wilton, the officer in charge, and two men wounded. The line was