But much still remained to be done. A number of wounded were lying out in No Man’s Land and these had to be brought in. This business was taken in hand by Major A. L. Mowat, M.C., who had gone up to the line immediately the Commanding Officer returned. Some of the enemy meanwhile had hoisted a white flag, and, under its protection which had not been violated by the British, were collecting their wounded. Seeing this, Major Mowat ordered a white flag to be put out, and stretcher-bearers to go over and bring back the wounded. This was done but, no sooner did they appear on the top of the parapet than every enemy machine gun in the district opened fire on them. It was a typical “Hun” trick--to make use of the white flag to collect their own wounded and then to open fire at once when it was used by their opponents. The flag was quickly hoisted down and fire was opened in retaliation. It is unlikely that any man in the Battalion ever respected a German flag again. In spite of this failure, it was not long before every wounded man was brought in. Lce.-Cpl. A. Moon, of D Company, particularly distinguished himself in this work. He had already done yeoman service during the raid; though not himself one of the party, he had taken a Lewis Gun out into No Man’s Land on his own initiative, and with it had provided covering fire during both the advance and the withdrawal. Now he twice went out, and on each occasion succeeded in bringing in a wounded man. For these actions he afterwards received the Distinguished Conduct Medal. Later in the morning, a large party of the enemy was seen advancing to reoccupy the empty pill-box. Attempts to bring artillery fire to bear on them failed, but a heavy fire was opened with rifles and Lewis guns. Eventually the enemy artillery put down a protective barrage, under cover of which the Germans were able to rush forward and enter the pill-box. Apart from artillery activity, the rest of the day passed quietly, but during the night Patu Support was heavily shelled and several men of B Company were killed or wounded. Needless to say, the Battalion received many messages of congratulation and commendation, for the raid had been one of the most successful on record. The Commander-in-Chief sent his congratulations, an unusual thing in connection with a minor operation, while the following wire was received from Second Army H.Q.:-- “General Plumer was delighted on his arrival to hear of the successful raid this morning of West Riding, 49th Division, and wishes to convey his congratulations to all concerned.”