The weather, the congestion, and the condition of the roads had become worse, and the 127th Brigade, which entered the forest on the following day, had a more wretched experience even than the others. For two days they had had no shelter from the bitterly cold rain, and as they were badly in need of a rest, the 125th Brigade was ordered up from Herbignies, where shelter and rest had been obtained, to become the support brigade, the 127th being moved to billets in Le Carnoy for a couple of days. The central road past Forester’s House was the widest and best of the routes, but even here there was barely room for one wagon to pass another. Trees had been blown across it; there were bogs on either side, and its eastern part was shelled continually. If, in making way for motor-traffic, a gun- or wagon-wheel got off the track by so much as a foot, it was at once bogged up to the axle. The Divisional Commander therefore issued an order prohibiting the use of motors beyond a certain point, so Generals and Staff Officers had to proceed on horseback or on foot. It was a necessary but not a popular order, particularly with supply officers, but in spite of all adverse conditions—rain and mud, craters and blown culverts, congestion of men, horses, guns, ammunition and ration vehicles—the transport was most efficiently managed; supplies and ammunition got through, and the troops even received a hot meal from the field-kitchens in the middle of the forest. The Engineers and Pioneers worked magnificently, as always. [Sidenote: _November 5-6_] On the evening of November 5 the command of the left division sector of the 4th Corps front passed to the G.O.C. 42nd Division, and by 3.30 a.m. on the 6th the relief of the leading N.Z. Brigade by the 126th Brigade had been completed. The relief had been peculiarly difficult, on account of the intense darkness, the uncertainty of the location of the troops to be relieved, and the state of the forest roads. The front taken over ran from a point just beyond the forest near Petit Bayay on the right and along the extreme eastern fringe a little further north, then bent back through the forest to Les Viviers and La Grande Rue, where the situation was obscure, the right division of the 6th Corps being echeloned some 3000 yards to the rear of the 42nd’s front. The 4th Corps front was, as usual, in advance of the Corps to right and left, and once again the 42nd Division formed the spearhead of the 4th Corps offensive, taking this rôle turn and turn about with their New Zealand comrades. To cover the exposed left flank a second M.G. Company was allotted to the 126th Brigade. [Illustration: FORESTER’S HOUSE AND CRATERS IN THE FORÊT DE MORMAL.] [Illustration: EASTERN EDGE OF THE FORÊT DE MORMAL.] [Illustration: NOVEMBER 1918. THE ENEMY’S EFFORTS TO DELAY OUR ADVANCE.] [Illustration: FORT EAST OF HAUTMONT, NEAR WHICH THE DIVISION HAD ITS LAST FIGHTING ON NOV. 8, 1918.]