to which all details were attached, when the Battalion went into action. On the 24th Lieut.-Colonel Thorne returned to the Battalion, and took it up into the front line the following day. On the 27th the front posts were subjected to an unusually heavy shelling, during which Second Lieutenant C. L. F. Boughey was wounded, and there were 6 killed and 5 wounded among other ranks. On the following day the Battalion retired into Brigade Reserve, where it remained till the end of the month. [Sidenote: May.] During the first week in May the Battalion remained in the line, with an inter-company relief, Major Lord Lascelles taking turns with Lieut.-Colonel Thorne. On the 3rd Second Lieutenant R. P. Papillon and Lieutenant the Hon. M. H. E. C. Towneley-Bertie joined. Officers' patrols were sent out every night and in the early morning, to lie out and listen for any hostile movement. After three days' rest the Battalion returned to the trenches, and came in for much shelling. Our artillery carried out nightly a harassing fire on the enemy's tracks, roads, and possible assembly areas, and this naturally brought down considerable retaliation. Lieutenant the Hon. M. H. E. C. Towneley-Bertie was wounded, and among other ranks there were 10 killed and 14 wounded. Another tour of duty in the front line from the 20th to the 24th caused 2 killed and 25 wounded among other ranks. On the 26th Captain G. F. R. Hirst, Lieutenant E. R. M. Fryer, M.C., and Second Lieutenant J. Chapman joined the Battalion. On the 28th the Battalion returned to the front trenches, and again came in for a harassing fire. Inter-company reliefs were carried out, and the work was concentrated on shelters and the deepening of lateral communication trenches. [Sidenote: June.] The Battalion remained in the front line until June 3, and was constantly bombarded with Blue Cross gas-shells. On the 2nd Lieutenant G. M. Cornish, M.C., joined. After four days spent in reserve the Battalion retired to La Baseque, where the men were either billeted in the farms, or placed in tents and shelters in the wood. There they remained until the end of the month, training and practising tactical schemes. CHAPTER XXX APRIL 1-14, 1918 THE 4TH BATTALION [Sidenote: 4th Batt. April 1-14, 1918.] In April 1918 it fell to the lot of the 4th Guards Brigade to take part in some of the fiercest fighting of the war. Ludendorff had opened a concentrated attack with nine divisions on the line north of La Bassée, and General von Quast, who commanded the German forces, had penetrated the portion of the line held by the Portuguese, and gained a considerable amount of ground. Reinforced by General von Arnim's infantry, he pushed on in the hope of gaining the Channel ports, or, at the least, of cutting the British communications. The German masses were pressing forward, and the general situation became more and more critical.