"I have this moment heard from an officer of the Indian Corps an account of what he saw at the fight for Givenchy, in which the 1st Brigade was engaged. His position enabled him to see the attack of the Coldstream, and the following are his words: 'They marched forward without the least hesitation under the most terrific fire, just as though they were on parade. The Indian Brigade watched the progress of the Guards with the profoundest admiration. I thought perhaps the officers and privates of the Brigade of Guards might like to know the admiration which their conduct inspires in outsiders. We who have been through much with them know right well that the description I have given merely represents their normal behaviour in action, yet possibly it may please the men to hear what I have written.'" Lieut.-Colonel Smith in a private letter to Colonel Streatfeild wrote: I cannot thank you enough for the excellent officers you have sent me out. I have had the sorrow of seeing nearly a whole battalion of first-rate officers go one by one, and yet you have been able to send me a second lot who promise to be almost as good. [Sidenote: Jan. 18-20.] The Battalion was relieved by an Indian regiment, and went into billets at Le Touret to rest for two days, after which it returned to the trenches in Rue des Bois near Rue des Berceaux. The water was as bad as ever, and even rose after a snowstorm. The whole country was water-logged, and there was constant difficulty in keeping up the parapets, which crumbled and fell in great blocks, in spite of the ceaseless labour expended on them. The enemy's snipers took every advantage of the crumbling parapets, and accounted for many of our men. Sergeant Croft was killed by a sniper, and Corporal Parkinson, who, as Lord Bernard Gordon-Lennox's orderly, must have evaded thousands of bullets and shells, was shot dead by a stray bullet. [Sidenote: Jan. 25-28.] After another four days in reserve at Les Choqueaux, the 4th Brigade marched to Gorre in support of the First Division, which endeavoured to retake the trenches which had been lost at Givenchy. Having waited about all day, the Brigade returned to its billets at Les Choqueaux in the evening. The same procedure was gone through the following day, but on neither occasion was the Brigade wanted. Four officers of the Grenadiers had been temporarily attached to the Scots Guards: Second Lieutenant H. S. E. Bury, Second Lieutenant G. Hamilton Fletcher, Second Lieutenant A. H. Lang, Second Lieutenant J. A. Denny. On the 25th they were all four hit by a shell that exploded in the trench. Second Lieutenants Bury, Hamilton Fletcher, and Lang were killed, and Second Lieutenant Denny was severely wounded.