To understand the battle which followed, it is necessary to examine more closely the nature of the Brigade’s position. The country around Gouzeaucourt is more deeply cut than most of the tableland, with small valleys and ravines running north by east. The South African “forward zone” lay west of the village of Villers-Guislain, and was separated from it by a well-defined hollow. The outpost line had two important points—Quentin Redoubt on the north, garrisoned by a company of the 1st Regiment; and Gauche Wood on the south, held by a company of the 2nd Regiment. The line of resistance ran from near the point called Chapel Crossing on the railway, along the west side of the Gouzeaucourt valley, and along the east side of the ruins of Gouzeaucourt. The “battle zone” began about the same point, and its first line, following the high ground west of the valley, curved round the western end of Gouzeaucourt. The reserve line of this zone lay some three-quarters of a mile farther west, from Chapel Hill along the eastern slope of the ridges north of Revelon Farm. This was known to the Brigade as the Yellow Line. A few hundred yards farther back, on the western slopes of the same ridges, lay the Brown Line, the final line of the “battle zone.” Three miles in the rear lay what was known as the Green Line, the third zone of defence, which, as we have seen, was still in embryo. Apart from the posts in the “forward zone,” the specially fortified areas of resistance for the 9th Division were—for the 26th Brigade, Gouzeaucourt village and the place called Queen’s Cross, south-east of Gouzeaucourt; and for the South Africans, Revelon Farm, and, should that fail, the village of Heudicourt. [Illustration: POSITIONS HELD BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN BRIGADE AT THE OUTSET OF THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE OF 1918.] [Sidenote: _March 14._] The first weeks of March saw the dry, bright weather of a Picardy spring. As early as the 14th our airplanes reported a big concentration well back in the enemy’s hinterland, and the Third and Fifth Armies were warned of an approaching battle. The troops on our front waited on the future with composure. No one, perhaps, either in France or Britain, realized how much Germany was prepared to stake on this, her last blow, or the immense asset which her new tactics gave her. They did not know that Ludendorff had promised his country absolute and complete victory at the cost of a million and a half losses, and that she had accepted the price. Many raids undertaken during these days established the arrival of fresh enemy divisions in line; but they gave us no notion of the real German strength. One fact however we learned—that Thursday, the 21st March, was the day appointed for the attack.