During the whole month the 1st Battalion remained either in the front trenches or in reserve. When in the trenches one and a half Companies held the front line, and one and a half Companies were in support, with one Company in reserve. On the days they became the Reserve Battalion, they were simply targets for the German artillery; every day there were casualties, and the number of men killed, wounded, and gassed amounted to a good many during the month. On some days the enemy activity was very slight, and on others the shelling would become intense. Patrols under officers were sent out every night, and the information gained varied. Occasionally bodies of Germans would be reported, moving about and talking, but when no attack developed such movements ceased to have any significance. The back areas were shelled with gas-shells daily, and so it happened that the casualties, when the Battalion was in reserve, were often greater than when it was in the front line. On the 17th the area occupied by the 1st Battalion was subjected to a severe bombing by aircraft; Second Lieutenant W. A. Fleet and Second Lieutenant G. E. A. A. Fitz-George Hamilton were killed, and Second Lieutenant S. J. Hargreaves and Second Lieutenant G. D. Neale were seriously wounded. The two latter never recovered from the wounds they received, and died the next day. The loss of these four keen young officers was deeply felt by the whole Battalion. At the same time Sergeant Robshaw and Lance-Sergeant Nicholson, the Lewis-gun instructors, were wounded and buried by the walls of a house, which were blown in by a bomb on the top of them. On the 20th the Cojeul Valley was bombarded with gas-shells, and Captain O. Stein, Second Lieutenant R. Holmes, and Second Lieutenant C. Brutton were gassed. A few days of rain and mist were welcomed by every one, since it made observation impossible, and therefore the enemy's artillery had to content itself with a small amount of inaccurate shelling. On the 24th Second Lieutenant O. W. D. Smith was seriously wounded by a shell. On the 28th a German propaganda balloon was shot down near Quesnoy Farm; it contained copies of the _Gazette des Ardennes_, a French newspaper, edited by the Germans. Although enemy transport activity could be often distinctly heard, the impending offensive never developed. [Sidenote: June.] Much the same programme was followed at the beginning of June, and without any definite movement the enemy continued to bombard both the front trenches and the back area. On the 5th the Germans were located by a patrol, working on the road, and Stokes mortars were turned on to them, with the result that Véry lights went up in quick succession, no doubt an appeal for assistance. The guns on both sides were continually busy both day and night, and a great many shells of various sorts must have been fired. On the 8th the Battalion retired for a rest to Barly, where it remained until the end of the month. [Sidenote: 2nd Batt.]