On the 20th Captain Derriman who had been appointed Staff Captain to the 4th Brigade was very seriously wounded, and although he was moved down to the base, he never recovered, and died some time afterwards. The pluck he had shown in coming out in spite of a stiff knee which made him lame, and the dogged manner in which he had persisted in serving with the Battalion in the trenches until he was placed on the Staff aroused the admiration of every one. On the 18th Lieut.-General Gough, the new Commander of the First Corps, Major-General Horne commanding the Second Division, and Brigadier-General G. Feilding commanding the 4th Brigade paid a visit to the Battalion, and went round the trenches at Cuinchy. [Sidenote: Aug.] During the first fortnight in August the Battalion followed the same routine, spending two days in the trenches at Givenchy followed by two days in billets at Le Preol. Mining operations were begun on a large scale by both sides. It was assumed that as an advance above ground in the face of machine-gun fire was too costly, the only other alternative was to advance under ground and blow up the enemy's parapet. In the craters made by the explosion of the mines men were then pushed, and the position was consolidated. The advantage of this subterranean method of warfare was that the men were safe from rifle- and shell-fire while they were working, but there was always the danger of a counter-mine which meant being buried alive. On the 2nd the Battalion exploded three mines successfully near Sunken Road, and in doing this blew in some of the enemy's galleries, and that night the Irish Guards exploded three more mines. In each case the positions were consolidated after much bomb-throwing, but the occupation of the craters was always difficult, on account of the bombs from the enemy's Minenwerfer. On the 5th Brigadier-General Feilding and the Prince of Wales came round the trenches, and inspected the sap-heads and craters.