The object of the attack by the 11th Infantry Brigade in front of Ploegsteert Wood on this date was to clear its edges, including German House, and, if possible, establish a line in front in the part afterwards known as the "birdcage." _To face page 13._ [Illustration: PLOEGSTEERT WOOD.] The Somerset Light Infantry and Rifle Brigade attacked. The London Rifle Brigade was in support. The weather could not have been worse, and the ground was impossible. The result was that the wood was cleared, and German House remained in No Man's Land. The London Rifle Brigade was not called upon to continue the attack. This was the first experience the Battalion had of anything like heavy artillery fire, and also of the difficulty of consolidating at night in an unknown bit of ground. Two half-companies were engaged in assisting in this work, while the rest of the Battalion spent a miserable night in the marshes in the wood. [Sidenote: =Dec. 23rd.=] Each of the four companies was definitely attached, as a fifth company, to one of the Regular Battalions--"A" to the East Lancs, "B" to the Somerset Light Infantry, "C" to the Hants, and "D" to the Rifle Brigade. All four companies of the London Rifle Brigade being in the front line on the same night, it so happened that before the end of 1914 a Territorial Battalion held the whole of a Regular Brigade's front with the exception of half a company on the extreme left. [Sidenote: =1915.=] [Sidenote: =Jan. 5th.=] The London Rifle Brigade was taken out of the trenches preparatory to taking over a bit of line of its own on the right of the 11th Brigade. Owing to the incursions of the river Warnave, this trench was in a very poor state of repair and badly flooded. The dispositions of the Battalion were--one company in the front trench, one in London Farm and its environs (this supplied the night-carrying and working parties), one company, which was used for general fatigues for the Brigade, in reserve in Ploegsteert, and one company resting, washing, and cleaning in billets at Armentières. Every company spent three days in each place, and in many ways this was the most comfortable tour of duty the Battalion ever had. The men made themselves thoroughly at home in the cottages of the village, while the three days' rest in Armentières owed much of its enjoyment to the initiative shown by the 4th Division in organising both divisional baths and divisional Follies. Headquarters and various details, which included for the first time a permanent working and wiring party, were, of course, always "in action" in Ploegsteert. [Sidenote: =Mar. 11th--20th.=] This was a period of "standing by" and various small moves, but eventually, after three days in the East Lancashires' trenches in front of the Convent, the Battalion took over the centre section in the wood on the 21st March. Lieut.-Colonel Earl Cairns, C.M.G., owing to ill-health, left the Battalion on March 16th, and Major A. S. Bates took over command.