The Battalion went back into billets at Verquin on the 13th, and then to Sailly-la-Bourse. On the 19th it returned to the trenches opposite Big Willie, and owing to some mistake Nos. 1 and 2 Companies were crowded into a trench capable only of holding one Company, with the result that quite an unnecessarily large number of men were hit. On the 19th Second Lieutenant F. A. M. Browning arrived, and on the 21st Major A. St. L. Glyn joined the Battalion as second in command. On the 22nd the shelling became so violent that a message was sent down the whole British line to the effect that at any moment an attack might be expected. On the 23rd the German artillery turned its attention to a communication trench called "King's Head," which it blew in in several places. Second Lieutenant H. Crookshank was wounded, and there was a certain number of casualties among other ranks. On the 26th Lieut.-Colonel Jeffreys was sent for to take command of the 35th Brigade, much to the regret of the whole Battalion. The Battalion was formed up in mass near Fosse 8, and Lieut.-Colonel Jeffreys thanked it for the splendid manner in which they had supported him during the time he had been in command. He made touching references to his predecessor Lieut.-Colonel W. Smith, and ended by congratulating it on all it had done since the beginning of the war. Thus the command of the Battalion devolved on Major A. Glyn, who had only just arrived, and who wrote diffidently to General Feilding, pointing out the difficulty in which he was placed by being in command of a Battalion so soon after his arrival. On the 23rd Lieutenant Irvine and on the 31st Second Lieutenant F. J. V. Hopley joined. [Sidenote: Nov.] The Battalion remained in billets at Lapugnoy until November 10, when it marched to Chocques, where it stayed till the 14th, and then marched to La Gorgue. On the 18th Lieut.-Colonel Jeffreys returned to the Battalion, as his appointment to the 35th Brigade had only been temporary, and it was not till some two months later that he was given command of the 58th Brigade. On the 20th Major the Right Hon. Winston Churchill was attached to the 2nd Battalion Grenadiers for instruction. The 1st Guards Brigade took over the line of trenches opposite Pietre, all in a very bad condition--communication trenches flooded, and front-line breastworks crumbling and not bullet-proof. There was consequently a great deal of work to be done, which the incessant shelling retarded, while the weather, being cold and raw, with snow at intervals, made things generally unpleasant. For the rest of the month the Battalion remained in this part of the line, retiring occasionally as far as Merville in reserve. [Sidenote: Dec.]