When the Battalion first moved back to Raincheval, the operation was expected to take place within a very few days. But, like so many of the British attacks, it was postponed. It was a pity that the Battalion did not know from the very first how long a time it would have out of the line. The men were very run down after their long spell in Thiepval Wood, and much might have been done to improve their condition. Instead, they were kept for many days in that nervous state which must precede every attack, and the period of rest could not be utilised nearly so fully as it might have been. Even after a move had been made to Forceville on August 27th, the exact date of zero day still remained for a time in doubt. At length the attack was definitely fixed for September 3rd. Two days before the operation, the Battalion suffered a great loss. Lieut.-Col. E. G. St. Aubyn became so seriously ill that he was evacuated sick on September 1st, and soon afterwards was sent to England. So ended his connection with the Battalion, for which he had done so much. He returned to the 147th Infantry Brigade in the autumn, but took command of the 7th Battalion Duke of Wellington’s Regt. Thus it fell to Major J. Walker to command the Battalion in its first big attack. (_b_) September 3rd, 1916. The attack made on September 3rd, 1916, is one of the most important events in the Battalion’s history. Never before had it been selected for an operation of that kind. It is therefore very unfortunate that the difficulties of writing a strictly accurate account are so great. Yet, of all the operations in which the Battalion took part during the war, none is so obscure in many of its details, and around none has so much controversy raged. At the time, the higher commands certainly did not understand clearly what had taken place. Nearly all the officers and senior N.C.O’s, who took part in the assault, were killed. Survivors’ narratives differ considerably in matters of detail. In short, it is impossible to write an account which is absolutely exact in such details as the precise times at which certain events took place. The following account has been written after a careful study of all the available official documents, supplemented by the personal narratives of many of the survivors. Among the official papers, none is of greater interest and importance than a German narrative, which was captured two or three weeks after the event. This is the report of the Officer Commanding the 1st Battalion 180th Infantry Regt.--the unit which was holding the line south of the Ancre when the Battalion attacked. In it are detailed the extent of the British success, the dispositions made by the Germans to counter-attack, and the operations which finally resulted in the recapture of the positions, which the enemy had temporarily lost.