Brigadier-General Lord Henry Seymour, D.S.O.
On the 23rd the following special order was issued:
The Commanding Officer congratulates all ranks on the way in which the attack of the 20th was carried out. The difficulties of a night attack are always great, but in this case they were almost entirely eliminated by the obvious care with which the officers and N.C.O.'s had made their preparations and explained the scheme of attack to their men. No one lost direction, and the orders given out beforehand were carried out almost to the letter.
The conditions have been very bad, but as always you have made the best of things and have kept up the Grenadier tradition of invariable cheerfulness under hardships. You are now out for a short time to reorganise and refit. In a day's time the Battalion will be as keen and smart as it was before, and I am confident that that spirit which has carried you through this attack so well will be as good and keen in any other operation which you may be called upon to perform in future.
I congratulate all ranks, and I sympathise with you for not having found more Germans to kill, which would have made up in some small degree for all the worry and anxiety of the preliminary preparations.
(Signed) W. R. Bailey, Lt.-Col.
Commanding 1st Batt. Gren. Gds.
While the Second Division continued the attack, the 3rd Guards Brigade remained in billets in St. Vaast. On the 25th Lieutenant H. Freeman-Greene and Lieutenant W. A. Pembroke joined the Battalion.
The 2nd Battalion
2nd Batt.
After the operations at the end of September the Battalion bivouacked close to the village of Demicourt for ten days' training. Meanwhile Lieut.-Colonel Rasch, having been appointed to command the 1st Provisional Battalion at Aldershot, left for England, and Major C. F. A. Walker, M.C., took over the 2nd Battalion.
The following officers took part in the fighting on October 9:
During the night of the 7th the Battalion moved into some trenches near Marcoing, and next morning it crossed the St. Quentin Canal at Masnières. The canal was being shelled at the time, but the Battalion escaped without any casualties. Orders were now received for the Battalion to take part in an attack, the first objective being the La Targette—Forenville road, and the second the railway running north-east of Wambaix. In view of the possibility of the enemy being forced to retire, the instructions were that the leading companies were to push on in the general direction of Cattenières.