Upon August 12 the Fourteenth Light Division, which in spite of its initial misfortune at Hooge had won the name of being one of the finest divisions of the New Army, came up into line. Its first station was in the Delville Wood area, which was still a most difficult section, in spite of our occupation of the wood. Orchards lay upon its fringes, and the German trenches around it swept the edges with fire, while several German strong points lay just outside it. An attempt was made by the Fourteenth Division to enlarge an area outside Longueval upon August 18. At 2.45 that day the 41st Brigade advanced upon the right of the Thirty-third Division with Orchard Trench as an objective, while the 43rd Brigade kept pace with them to the north and east of the wood. The German front trenches were carried without much difficulty, but, as usual, the process of consolidation was an expensive one. The men in small groups dug themselves in as best they could under fire from both flanks. The 7th Rifle Brigade upon the extreme left of the line was in the air, and their left company was almost entirely destroyed. The new line was held, however, and knotted together with three strong points which defied German attack. This was attempted upon the 19th, but was a total failure. In these operations the Fourteenth Division took 279 prisoners. For the sake of consecutive narrative, the doings in the High Wood and Delville Wood district have been given without a break, but in order to bring the rest of the chronicle level one has to turn back a few {214} days and turn our attention to the long right flank of the army, from Longueval in the north to Falfemont, where we joined on to the French in the south. The northern angle of this position was, as has already been explained, extremely disadvantageous to us, forming an almost fantastic peninsula, which jutted out into the German positions. Even if their infantry could not carry it, their guns could at all times rake it from three sides, and could command the whole Montauban valley, along which our supplies were bound to pass. Therefore it became very necessary to get more elbow-room along this line.