On the 22nd Brigadier-General Lord Henry Seymour took with him in buses the Commanding Officers of Battalions as well as the Company Commanders, to reconnoitre the ground round Henin. As soon as Lord Gort returned, the Battalion was ordered to move at half an hour’s notice in buses to the Mercatel area. At 6 P.M. it reached its destination, and went into billets in some Nissen huts in the neighbourhood of that village. Immediately on arrival Lord Gort took the Company Commanders with him, to reconnoitre the 3rd system to the north-east of Boiry Becquerelle, and on the 23rd the Battalion went up into the front line with the King’s Company under Lieutenant Lloyd on the right, No. 2 under Lieutenant Harvard in the centre, and No. 3 under Captain Stein on the left, while No. 4 under Lieutenant Mays remained in reserve. Patrols were at once sent out along the whole front, but discovered nothing, although a number of the enemy had been seen assembling in the sunken roads leading to Henin. [Sidenote: Mar. 24.] On the morning of the 24th the Germans commenced an attack across the front of the Battalion, and were caught by enfilade fire from Captain Stein’s Company, which inflicted heavy losses on them as they advanced. The troops employed by the enemy seemed to have been well trained in the new method of attack, and men were dribbled forward to their assembly positions, where they deployed into waves for the attack, but when they came under our machine-gun, Lewis-gun, and rifle fire, they soon began to bunch in groups. It seemed as if the enemy’s troops had started with the intention of carrying out the operation at the double for the whole 3000 yards. In order even to attempt this, they must have undergone a considerable training to reach the standard of physical fitness necessary for such an attack. Round discs were used to maintain the correct direction, and the flanks of the attack were marked by flags. In other respects they appeared to have evolved no new ideas in minor tactics, and the absence of any covering fire during the advance was most noticeable. Light machine-guns followed up in rear of the assault, and only came into action to cover the retirement of the defeated “Sturm-Truppen.” [Sidenote: Mar. 25.]