CHAPTER XXXI
APRIL TO NOVEMBER 1918
The 4th Battalion
4th Batt. April 1918.
Lieut.-Colonel Pilcher brought the remnants of the 4th Battalion out of the line on the 15th, and after halting for a few hours at Grand Sec Bois, arrived at Borre. The billets into which the Battalion went, were between Hazebrouck and Borre, and the men were glad to get a rest after their hard fighting. Captain the Hon. F. E. Needham arrived, and took over command of No. 1 Company, and Second Lieutenant P. G. S. Gregson-Ellis, who joined at the same time, was posted to No. 2 Company. The Battalion was now so weak in numbers that Lieut.-Colonel Pilcher organised it into two companies of three platoons each. Being in reserve it was still in the area of operations, and on the 16th, while the Germans were shelling the back areas, one shell fell in one of the billets, killing three men, and wounding five more, including Company Sergeant-Major Pettit. On the 16th the Battalion marched to La Kreule, moving on the next day into billets at La Halte. Brigadier-General Butler found that these sadly depleted battalions were difficult to work with, since at any time his Brigade might be called upon to take over a portion of the line, and a battalion of six platoons would be expected to hold trenches, occupied by a battalion up to full strength. He therefore determined to make a composite battalion of the 4th Battalion Grenadiers and the 3rd Battalion Coldstream, and to place it under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Pilcher, with Major Gillilan as Second in Command. In all the history of the two regiments this had never been done before; not even at the first battle of Ypres, where battalions of each regiment had been decimated, had any amalgamation been attempted. This composite battalion now took over from the 5th Battalion of the 2nd Australian Regiment the billets in Le-Tir-Anglais, and was placed in support. During a severe shelling on the 20th Second Lieutenant R. D. Richardson was severely wounded, and died four days later. On the 22nd the composite battalion relieved the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in the front line, and came in for a heavy bombardment of gas and high-explosive shells from the enemy's artillery, during which Lieutenant R. Rolfe was killed. After three days in the trenches the composite battalion moved back into support, and now that drafts of men had been sent up to both battalions, it was split up again into two. The officers of the 4th Battalion were:
On the 27th the Battalion proceeded to Hondeghem, where Lieutenant A. A. Morris and Second Lieutenant the Hon. S. E. Marsham joined.
May.
At the beginning of May the 4th Guards Brigade was transferred from the Second to the Third Army, and was placed directly under the orders of General Headquarters. On the 21st it marched via Wandicourt to Saulty, where it remained until the end of the month.