Meanwhile the 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards had passed through, and had succeeded in reaching the Green Dotted line, with its left on Fourche Farm and its right on Signal Farm. For the first two hours after the Green line had been captured the shelling was negligible, but when three German contact aeroplanes flew very low over the line, and located the Battalion, every one feared the worst. It was not long before a heavy bombardment took place, and the shells fell with alarming rapidity. Captain Pixley had a somewhat lucky escape: he had selected a
concrete dug-out in Captain’s Farm for his headquarters when he was requested by the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards to hand it over to be used as its Battalion Headquarters. He had hardly left it when it was blown to pieces by a shell. He then changed his quarters to a hut, but had to move farther to the left when the Battalion took over the whole line, and soon after he vacated it the hut was demolished by a shell.
Orders were now received for the 4th Battalion to take over the whole frontage, from Captain’s Farm to Colonel’s Farm, so that the 2nd Scots Guards might be withdrawn. This operation was carried out in pouring rain, and the Battalion spent a miserable night, being soaked to the skin and continually shelled. The next morning, August 1, the trenches were in a shocking condition owing to the rain, and the shell-holes were full of water. A heavy bombardment took place in the morning, and died down later. At 7 that evening the 4th Battalion was relieved by the 3rd Battalion Coldstream, and returned to Forest Area Bivouac Camp. Both officers and men were dead-beat, having had no sleep for three days: they were so wet that everything they had with them was ruined by the rain, and any paper or book was like pulp.
There were 2 officers wounded (Lieut.-Colonel Lord Gort and Captain C. H. Greville), while the casualties amongst the other ranks were: killed 15, wounded 94, gassed 1, shell-shock 3, died of wounds 4, missing 5. On Lord Gort being sent to hospital, Captain the Hon. F. E. Needham took over the command of the Battalion.
2nd Batt.
The assembly march on the night of the 30th of July was carried out by the 1st Guards Brigade without any difficulty, and all units were in position by 1 A.M. The 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards moved from bivouacs in the Forest Area, 2½ miles west of Elverdinghe, to a field near Roussel Farm, where cookers, sent on with the platoon guides, provided tea and rum for the men before they bivouacked in the open.
The following officers of the 2nd Battalion took part in the attack on the 31st:
| Lieut.-Colonel C. R. C. de Crespigny, D.S.O. | Commanding Officer. |
| Capt. C. F. A. Walker, M.C. | Acting Second in Command. |
| Lieut. A. H. Penn | Adjutant. |
| Capt. J. N. Buchanan | No. 1 Company. |
| 2nd Lieut. R. G. Briscoe | ” ” |
| 2nd Lieut. P. A. A. Harbord | ” ” |
| Capt. A. T. A. Ritchie, M.C. | No. 2 Company. |
| Lieut. A. S. L. St. J. Mildmay | ” ” |
| Lieut. F. H. G. Layland-Barratt, M.C. | ” ” |
| Lieut. R. G. C. Napier | ” ” |
| Capt. Sir A. L. M. Napier, Bart. | No. 3 Company. |
| Lieut. K. O’G. Harvard | ” ” |
| 2nd Lieut. H. Minto-Wilson | ” ” |
| Lieut. J. H. Jacob | No. 4 Company. |
| Lieut. R. M. Oliver | ” ” |
| 2nd Lieut. F. H. J. Drummond | ” ” |
| Capt. J. A. Andrews, M.C., R.A.M.C. | Medical Officer. |
The task assigned to the 1st Guards Brigade was the capture of the farthest objective, after the first three objectives had been secured by the