When relief was complete, a small party of officers and runners left Battalion H.Q. The air was thick with diphosgene, but the night was so dark that movement in respirators was extremely slow and precarious. Hence, everything was risked, and the party rushed through numerous gas pockets to the Cinq Ponts. The first two bridges were passed without difficulty, but over the remainder the enemy was putting an intense barrage of shrapnel and high explosive. The trenches between these bridges were crowded with men awaiting opportunities to cross. Never before that night did some realise how fast a man can run when carrying a “tin” box of Lewis gun magazines, in addition to his ordinary equipment. One by one the bridges were rushed until the last had been crossed--and the party was still intact. Then the town of Nieuport had to be crossed, and, in the streets, one shrapnel shell burst so close on the top of everyone that all “ought” to have been hit; yet, in some strange way, everyone escaped. At length Nieuport was left behind and a long dreary walk brought the party to Queensland Camp, near Oost Dunkerque, where the rest of the night was spent. No one wept when he saw the last of Nieuport and the Lombartzyde Right Sub-sector. (_c_) Coast Defence and Training. For more than a month the Battalion remained on the coast under the XV. Corps, but it did not go into the front line again. The day after its relief in the Lombartzyde Sector it marched to Oost Dunkerque Bains, where coast defence duties were taken over from the 2nd Battalion Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders (33rd Division). It was the first time the two battalions had met, but they were destined to come in contact again on several occasions. The coast defence duties were not burdensome, two companies at a time providing all garrisons. The sector extended nearly up to Nieuport Bains, and one or two casualties were sustained from shell fire. Much amusement was provided by a number of French 37 mm. revolver guns which had been taken over as part of the defences. The men had never seen these weapons before and felt compelled to perfect themselves in the handling of them by frequent practice out to sea. The result showed itself in a few days in a scarcity of ammunition, and indents for more began to come in from companies, one Company Commander asking for a large supply of 37 cm. shells. As he was not known to have on his charge any guns of such high calibre, the indent was ignored. The shell cases also formed desirable souvenirs.