No. 1 Company was now in a bad way, and Captain Hughes sent back an urgent request for more ammunition. But, as most of the pack animals had been killed in the morning's bombardment, it was a problem how to send it. Major Jeffreys collected as many orderlies as he could find, loaded them up with all the ammunition they could carry, and himself led them along to the trenches. This was no easy matter, as not only was the ground they had to cross under shell-fire, but the whole place was knee-deep in mud. The last fifty yards to the trenches they had to crawl. The firing had been kept up practically all the afternoon, and some idea of the amount of ammunition expended may be gathered from the fact that No. 1 Company alone fired 24,000 rounds. This was the first time our men saw the hand grenades which were to play such a large part in trench warfare. Little puffs of smoke had been occasionally seen bursting on the bodies of the Germans, and these proved to be caused by hand grenades of a primitive type, which exploded when hit by our bullets. By the evening the German attack had died down. The enemy had lost very heavily, and realised, apparently, that the line was too strongly held for any frontal attack to succeed: The casualties amongst the officers of the 2nd Battalion were unfortunately heavy: Captain E. J. L. Pike (Adjutant), wounded. Lieut. C. W. Tufnell (Machine-gun Officer), killed. Capt. C. Symes-Thompson (No. 1 Company), killed. Major Lord Bernard Gordon-Lennox (No. 2 Company), killed. Lieut. I. St. C. Rose (No. 2 Company), wounded. Lieut. C. M. C. Dowling (No. 2 Company), wounded. 2nd Lieut. F. W. J. M. Miller (No. 2 Company), killed. 2nd Lieut. J. H. G. Lee-Steere (No. 2 Company), killed. Capt. E. G. H. Powell (No. 3 Company), wounded. Lieut. H. R. C. Tudway (No. 3 Company), killed. Lieut. Lord Congleton (No. 3 Company), killed. Captain M. E. Makgill-Crichton Maitland (No. 4 Company), wounded. Captain E. D. Ridley (No. 4 Company), wounded. Lieut. M. G. Stocks (No. 4 Company), killed. The 2nd Battalion had been fighting incessantly from October 21 to November 16. Day and night it had been attacked by an enemy greatly superior in numbers. As it had never for a moment been able to leave the front line, its sleep had been broken and scanty. Yet well aware that no reinforcements were available, the Battalion had throughout realised that it must continue to hold the line, and had faced its task with the utmost determination. Even when it was in reserve, it had taken part in serious engagements, but this to a certain extent was an experience which it shared with the other battalions of the 4th Brigade.