A Company was on the right, B Company in the centre, and D Company on the left. C Company was in Battalion Reserve, in deep dugouts off St. George’s Trench. Both the right and left companies lived almost entirely in the tunnels, but B Company had its H.Q. in a deep dugout, which was approached by the half-derelict Grimwood Trench, and its principal post in Newport Sap, a great mine crater garrisoned by one platoon by day and two platoons by night. Fosse 8, an enormous slag-heap a little to the north of the St. Elie Sector, was the dominating feature of the district. Machine guns from this mound had been one of the main obstacles to the British advance in the Battle of Loos. Its possession gave the enemy excellent observation over a large area and was probably the main reason for his great artillery and trench mortar activity. Never had the Battalion experienced such trench mortar activity. The Stokes mortar battery, which had been left in the line by the 6th Division, fired until its guns were red-hot. A heavy trench mortar, which had its home thirty to forty feet below the surface and fired up a sort of chimney, made things very lively for the Germans in Cité St. Elie with its “flying pigs.” The enemy too was very active in this department. Opposite the Battalion’s left were the St. Elie quarries and these were packed with trench mortars of all descriptions, which were able to carry on their deadly work in almost complete security. The enemy, when he thought fit, could put down such a trench mortar barrage as the Battalion had never known before. Deservedly, the sector bore a very bad reputation. However, the first day passed quietly, and the night of June 26/27th was one of those glorious nights, with an almost full moon, which one sometimes gets at Midsummer. Dawn had almost come before the silence was broken. The Battalion was already standing to, and the additional platoon had just been withdrawn from Newport Sap, when, at 3-10 a.m., without any warning, the enemy opened a terrific bombardment. Trench mortar shells of all calibres rained down on the posts at Boyau 78, Newport Sap, “K” Dump and Devon Dump, and on the centre company H.Q. A heavy barrage of high explosive and shrapnel fell on St. George’s Trench and Devon Lane. At the centre company H.Q. Capt. J. G. Mowat, M.C., Sec.-Lieut. I. C. Denby and four other ranks were instantly killed by a heavy trench mortar shell, just after the first had sent up the S.O.S. signal. The entrance to “K” Dump was blown in and Sec.-Lieut. H. Pollard wounded. All quickly realised that an enemy raid on a large scale was in progress.