Heavy as was the enemy artillery fire, the activity of the British gunners was greater. The German attack of July 11th had caused great anxiety to the higher commands, and an enormous weight of artillery had been brought up. Behind Nieuport, the country was packed with guns of all calibres, and firing programmes were so arranged that some batteries would always be in action. As many as 18,000 shells were sometimes fired on that front in a single twenty-four hours. The protective barrage which could be put down by the eighteen-pounders was thicker than the Battalion had ever dreamed of; where it had been used to a single gun, there was here, not a battery, but a brigade. On one occasion, when a S.O.S. was sent up on the sector, the eighteen-pounders alone fired over 8,500 rounds in about half-an-hour. And on that sector every available gun fired on S.O.S. Such was the Lombartzyde Sector in which the Battalion spent the first half of August, 1917. As has already been said, the night the Battalion took over the line was particularly quiet. But a very clear warning was given by the outgoing battalion that this was not the normal state of affairs. The only casualty of importance that night was Capt. N. Geldard, O.C. D Company, who was wounded in the Redan. But the first complete day that the Battalion spent in the sector it had a taste of what was in store for it, suffering heavier casualties[9] than on any previous day since it left the Somme battle in September, 1916. One of the main features of this tour in the line was the great patrol activity. Nightly, four standing patrols--one to every two hundred yards of front--were pushed out into No Man’s Land, to give early warning of any attempt by the enemy to assemble for the attack. The whole of the enemy wire, or rather what remained of it for the British artillery had done its work well, was reconnoitred. But the main point of interest was a post[10] in the old British front line, which had been retained by the enemy after his abortive attack on July 11th. This post lay just to the west of the Nieuport-Lombartzyde Road, and it was hoped to regain it in connection with a raid which was pending. The position was carefully reconnoitred by Sec.-Lieut. A. J. Robb, of A Company, the officer detailed to carry out the operation.