During the early morning shells were heard passing over at a great height, and as the Battalion went through St. Pol it was clear that the enemy had begun a systematic bombardment of the back areas, and was paying particular attention to that town. Lieut.-Colonel Pilcher, who had gone on ahead with Lord Ardee, sent back word for the buses to proceed through Blairville to the cross-roads west of Boisleux-au-Mont. There he summoned the Company Commanders, and explained the situation to them. From where they were the men could see a large fire burning on the sky-line, and this proved to be the canteen at Boisleux-au-Mont, which was destroyed together with many thousand pounds' worth of food in order to prevent these stores falling into the hands of the Germans. Whether these drastic measures were necessary seems doubtful, since the enemy did not reach this place till four days later. Guided by Lieut.-Colonel Pilcher, the 4th Battalion moved through Hamelincourt to a ravine east of the Ervillers-Boyelles road, where it arrived on the morning of the 23rd. The line occupied by the 4th Guards Brigade ran through Judas Farm, to the east of Ervillers; St. Leger was in the hands of the Germans. The 4th Battalion and the 2nd Battalion Irish Guards held the front line, while the 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards was in support. During the morning the news reached the Battalion that the enemy had broken through at Mory, and that the right flank of the Brigade was in danger; this was contradicted later. An order issued to the Battalion to feel its right, and take over ground occupied by the Fortieth Division was never carried out, as the troops on the right refused to move, stating that they had received no orders. Then commenced a most harassing shelling of our trenches by our own guns, which every effort on the part of the Commanding Officer failed to stop. Both British and German shells fell on our trenches and caused many casualties, including Second Lieutenant Gilbey, who was wounded. Nor was the shelling the only annoyance: the men in the front trench were constantly employed in repelling attacks, and fired off no less than 80,000 cartridges, inflicting continual losses on the advancing enemy. The fighting went on intermittently all day, and, although the enemy continually attacked the Brigade front, he was unable to make the slightest impression on the line. That night Lord Ardee issued definite orders for the whole Brigade to "side step" 1000 yards to the right, in order to close any gaps that might exist near Mory. When the order was carried out the next morning, the 2nd Battalion Irish Guards found no troops on its right, and was in a precarious position. During the whole day constant rumours of trouble on the right succeeded each other, and in the evening the news arrived that the Fortieth Division had suffered so severely that it had been relieved by the Forty-second Division. Still the line remained intact, and the German attacks only resulted in