During the night of the 3rd they were ordered to relieve the 2nd Brigade of Guards at Gouzeaucourt, nine miles off. The 9th Division became part of the VII. Corps, under Sir Walter Congreve. By the night of the 4th the 2nd and 4th South African Regiments had taken over a section of the front line, with the 1st in support and the 3rd in reserve. The line now held was that established by the Guards Division after their brilliant advance on 1st December. It consisted of a newly-dug trench on the east slope of Quentin Ridge, extending from Gauche Wood, on the right, to a point near the head of Flag Ravine. No communication trenches existed, and in the right battalion section all approaches to the front line were under enemy observation. The trenches were neither fire-stepped nor revetted, and no dug-outs or shelters existed in the forward area. There was also very little wire, the whole position having been extemporized during the recent battle. The relief was carried through successfully, and the commanding officer of a Coldstream battalion wrote to Lieutenant-Colonel Christian complimenting the 2nd Regiment on its work, adding that the Guards had long heard of the South Africans’ reputation, and did not wish to be relieved by better troops. As attacks on this part of the front were daily expected, the forward battalions had to detail troops to occupy the immediate support trenches as “counter-attack forces,” while the reserve battalion constituted a counter-attack force for the Brigade. The next few weeks were filled with strenuous work. Material had to be salved or brought up for the defence of the area, a large number of British and German dead had to be buried, trenches had to be broadened and deepened, and shelters constructed. All through December the Brigade was heavily shelled. On the morning of the 8th, for example, the 2nd Regiment lost by shell-fire Captain E. C. Bryant and Second-Lieutenants V. S. Dickerson and G. J. S. Mandy killed, while Second-Lieutenants B. Pope-Hennessy and L. Arnold were wounded. On the night of the 8th the 2nd and 4th Regiments were relieved by the 1st and 3rd, the 4th becoming the Brigade reserve, while the 2nd formed the garrison of the support and reserve lines. During the first week the casualties averaged throughout the Brigade about thirty a day, which were severe for trench warfare. After that they slackened, but carrying parties at night continued to suffer heavily. The Brigade, by constant patrolling, maintained its ascendancy in No Man’s Land, but the German outposts were exceptionally vigilant. The worst trial was the weather, which was first frost, then thaw, and then about the middle of the month a settled frost, which lasted until the New Year.