The southern end of the British line had troubles enough before, but they were now accentuated by the fact that the Germans had made a very rapid advance in the Montdidier sector which placed them in the right rear of the Nineteenth Corps. On this right flank there was much confused fighting, and a mixture of units which reached such a point before the morning of March 29 that the Twenty-fourth, or what remained of it, found that it had unwittingly {144} changed from the right to the left flank of the Eighth Division. There could perhaps be no clearer illustration of the dimensions to which the division had shrunk. These confused movements caused loss of touch, and there was a time when Corps Headquarters had completely lost the right of the line, which was badly disorganised. It was a time of great danger. Yet another division, however, the Twentieth, was given to Watts, and though it was already worn to the bone, and could not reckon a thousand men in all three brigades, it was still battleworthy and formed an invaluable asset at such a time. They were lined up, or perhaps dotted along would be a fitter term, upon the front of Mezières-Demuin, and formed a frail barrier behind which the hard-pressed men could have a brief breathing space while they endeavoured to reform. By the late afternoon of March 28 this operation was in progress, and before 11 P.M. the new positions were actually occupied. The line, which was partly wired, now ran from Mezières, through Demuin, Marcelcave, and Hamel to the Somme, but it would be hard to add the exact alignment of the units, as in many places they were inextricably mixed. The Sixty-first and the Cavalry had been placed behind Carey's line, in order to support it should it weaken. South of this was the Twentieth Division, reinforced by fragments of other divisions, which among them had the strength and spirit to beat off a strong German attack delivered by the force which had been engaged by the cavalry in the morning. The country here was seamed by the old French trenches, which were woefully out of repair but none the less were of great value to the defence. Carey's force was involved in this German {145} attack on March 28, but with the help of the First Cavalry Division they managed to hold their line. Upon that date the exhausted troops received the following well-timed message from the Fifth Army commander: "By the grand and stubborn way you are holding out and delaying the advance of the enemy, the British and French reserves are being given the necessary time to come up and assume the offensive. Your great exertions and sacrifices are not being thrown away: they are of immense importance, and your resistance and your deeds in this great battle will live for all time, and will save our country." [Sidenote: Nineteenth Corps. March 29.]