From July 9 to August 22 the Divisional Headquarters were in the Third Army reserve area at Achiet-le-Petit, where the 127th Brigade was stationed, with the 125th Brigade at Gomiecourt and the 126th at Courcelles. This area, which was visited by the King on July 12-13, had been wholly devastated. What had once been a village was now a heap of broken bricks and rubble; a few stark walls standing grimly against the skyline and a name painted in bold black lettering on a white ground informed the passer-by what village had once stood here. The fields were scarred with trenches and shell holes, and all the indescribable debris of an abandoned battlefield was spread around. Most of the troops were under canvas, but as there were not enough tents for all a number had to live in little “shacks” made of odd bits of corrugated iron and any other scrap material available. The fine weather continued and the six weeks in this area partook of the nature of a holiday, though the days were fully taken up by intensive training, special attention being paid to training in attacks upon fortified posts and strong points. Instructional visits were made to the scarred battlefields of the Somme, Brig.-General Henley taking a number of his officers to Thiepval and giving his personal experiences of the fighting there. The various training stunts—battalion, brigade, and divisional—enabled the troops to gain a thorough knowledge of the ground in this area, and this familiarity with the topography stood them in good stead when seven months later they were called upon to withstand the German onrush on this very ground. Time was found for divisional and brigade sports, inter-battalion football and cricket matches, boxing contests in the large crater at Achiet-le-Petit; and the visits of “Th’ Lads” to the Brigade Headquarters were keenly appreciated. There had never been such a time for sports as this, and it was hard to realize that “there was a war on.” Newly-painted vehicles, perfectly turned-out animals, bands playing, troops spick-and-span, all combined to lend a gala aspect to this period. On August 22 the period of rest came to an end, and the Division entrained for the most detested of all fronts—Ypres. CHAPTER VI YPRES (_September 1917_) The Division reached Watou, a village in the Poperinghe area, on the 23rd of August, and, with the exception of the artillery, which went straight into the line near Potijze Château, under the 15th Division, remained in that district for a few days’ training prior to going into the line at Ypres, rather more than a dozen kilometres to the east. Parties of officers and other ranks from all units were attached to units of the 15th Division in order to learn the geography of the sector. Except for the nightly bombing raids by hostile air squadrons this would have been an uneventful week.