Little need be said of the second tour in this sector except that it only lasted 48 hours. If such a thing were possible, the conditions were even worse than before. Some snow fell during the tour, but it melted almost as it fell and simply helped to make things more miserable. When the 1/7th Battalion West Yorkshire Regt. came in to relieve, it was with the greatest joy that the Battalion bade farewell to the Keerselaarhoek Sector.
The next rest period was spent at Halifax Camp, which adjoined Vancouver Camp. About this time the weather changed and bright days, with hard frost, supplanted the constant rain which had helped to make things so miserable of late. Though much colder, the change in the weather was a great improvement. On December 23rd, when the time came for another tour in the front line, the Battalion was taken up in the morning by broad gauge railway as far as Hellfire Corner, and halted there until the middle of the afternoon. Cook kitchens had been brought up to this point and hot dinners were served before the men started again. Shortly before dusk the Battalion marched off, via Mole and Jabber Tracks, to the Molenaarelsthoek Sector, where it relieved the 1/5th Battalion King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry.
Since the Battalion had held this part of the line a month before, the length of the front had been reduced by the New Zealanders taking over part on the right flank. It was now only necessary to have two companies in the front line. Of the other two, one garrisoned a line of posts on the western slope of the ridge, and the other lived in shelters and pill-boxes near Battalion H.Q. Companies inter-relieved after three days in the front line.
This tour was the pleasantest the Battalion had on the Passchendaele Ridge. The frost, which continued throughout, had made the ground everywhere passable. Though colder, it was quite dry, and so far more comfortable than the damp had been. Snow covered the ground, but not to any great depth. Except for some further snow occasionally, the weather was bright. The nights were wonderful. The moon was at the full, and, assisted by the reflection from the snow, the light was so bright at midnight that observers on the crest of the ridge were able to use ordinary glasses for observing the Keiberg Spur, more than 2,000 yards away. The days were often misty, which made it possible to move about freely to the east of the ridge where, before, all movement had been forbidden in daylight.
Advantage was taken of the bright nights to do a great deal of work. Much wire was put out in front, posts were improved and shelters built therein, and a lot of work was done on the support posts west of the ridge. Since the Battalion had last occupied the sector, two communication trenches had been cut through the ridge nearly up to the front line, and these made movement both safer and easier. Enemy artillery was not very active, and, with one important exception, most of the shelling was very scattered. It was one of these scattered shells that wounded Capt. E. V. Blakey, M.C., and C.S.M. J. Parkinson, as they were going the round of their company posts in the support line. The exception was a small but prominent pill-box on the crest of the ridge, which the Battalion used as an observation post, and the enemy apparently as a registration point. Fortunately this pill-box was very strong and had a cellar, to which the observers retired when things became too lively. The nearest enemy posts were a long way off; indeed, later information goes to show that the nearest post was at least a thousand yards east of Celtic Wood.
Christmas Day, for the first and only time during the war, was spent by the Battalion in the front line. In the circumstances, little could be done to celebrate the occasion. Messages of goodwill were telephoned to the Brigadier and the Divisional Commander. One Company Commander, after laboriously putting a message of seasonable greetings into B.A.B. code, sent it over the wire to another company. The O.C. that company, delighted with his success in deciphering the first few letters of it, repeated it to Battalion H.Q. and to the remaining companies, in his own name. Rumour has it that one company, not very expert in B.A.B. code, spent a dreadful night wondering what operation was to take place; perhaps the mistakes which had been made in encoding the message accounted for the inability of these officers to read it. Many visitors called at Battalion H.Q. and visits were exchanged with the 1/6th Battalion Duke of Wellington’s Regt., which was holding the sector on the left. Apart from a present of shells, despatched to the enemy on the stroke of midnight, there was little activity on either side.
The nights were so bright, and movement over the snow visible at so great a distance, that special white overalls were worn by men when patrolling. Unfortunately, no change was made in the colour of the equipment which had to be worn over them. The result was that, though the men of a patrol were practically invisible at no great distance, sets of equipment could be seen moving about in No Man’s Land. There was much patrol activity on both sides, rendered necessary by the hard frost which had made No Man’s Land easily passable. There is also no doubt that the enemy was as anxious to secure identification as the British were. So patrols, both defensive and offensive, were out practically the whole of every night. On the night of December 23rd/24th Sec.-Lieut. J. W. Lumb, while reconnoitring in the neighbourhood of Flinte Farm, narrowly escaped being surrounded by a large enemy patrol. After that, nothing further was seen of the enemy in No Man’s Land for several nights. About 11-0 p.m. on December 28th, a small defensive patrol of one N.C.O. (Cpl. Aspin) and three men left the right company front. They had not been out very long, and were near the north-west corner of Celtic Wood, when they saw a party, about twenty strong, moving towards them along the northern edge of the wood. At first they believed this to be a New Zealand patrol from the battalion on the right, but soon they found it was a party of the enemy. All were clad in long white coats and a few were wearing belts filled with bombs; most were armed with revolvers. The German party tried to surround the small British patrol, and succeeded in cutting off one man and capturing him. The other three broke through the cordon and made for their own line, with the enemy in pursuit. On reaching the wire there was a scuffle in which one man was killed, but Cpl. Aspin and the other succeeded in forcing their way through the wire and gaining one of their own posts. The garrison of this post, warned by the noise, was standing to, but had hesitated to fire for fear of hitting its own men. It now opened a heavy fire with Lewis guns and rifles, and the enemy immediately made off. As soon as one could be organised, a strong fighting patrol was sent out; but the enemy had disappeared. It is probable that the German party was on its way to raid the British line and that the patrol had served its object, though it had been unfortunate enough to lose one man killed and another captured. This mishap was undoubtedly due to the carelessness which had developed owing to previous immunity, and was a salutary lesson to many in the Battalion.
The next night the Battalion was relieved and went back into Brigade Reserve. The relief did not pass off without casualties. A shell exploded among a party of H.Q. scouts, as they were crossing the Hanebeek Valley on their way to Westhoek Ridge, killing one and wounding six. In Brigade Reserve the Battalion was very scattered, dispositions being as follows:—
| Battn. H.Q.: | Garter Point. |
| A Company: | Tokio. |
| B Company: | Westhoek Ridge. |
| C Company: | Tunnels near Moulin Farm. |
| D Company: | Distributed between Anzac Ridge, Tokio and Retaliation Farm. |
About this time the lessons learned in the recent battle of Cambrai were beginning to take effect, and an elaborate system of defensive lines was in course of construction in the Ypres Salient. While in Brigade Reserve, all men were kept hard at work on these rear lines of defence, and on tunnels which were being made near Moulin Farm. The birth of the New Year passed almost unnoticed at Garter Point. On January 4th, 1918, the Battalion was relieved by the 1/8th Battalion West Yorkshire Regt. and moved to Infantry Barracks, Ypres. Several casualties were suffered during the relief. So ended the first period of the Battalion’s defence of the Passchendaele Ridge.