The spell of rest was destined to be short. Von Armin was pressing hard for Mont Kemmel. On the 13th the 29th and 31st Divisions had fought a most gallant fight in front of Bailleul, where, with the assistance of the 4th Guards Brigade, they held the line till the 1st Australian Division could come up and organize positions east of the Forest of Nieppe. “No more brilliant exploit,” wrote Sir Douglas Haig, “has taken place since the opening of the enemy’s offensive, though gallant actions have been without number.” All that day, too, the 33rd and 49th Divisions were hotly engaged in front of Neuve Eglise. In the evening the enemy made his way between that village and La Crèche, and so outflanked the left of the 34th. During the night Plumer withdrew to the high ground called the Ravelsberg, between Neuve Eglise and Bailleul, and the former village the following morning passed into German hands. The threat to Hazebrouck was now acute, for von Armin was on the edge of the line of upland from Mont des Cats to Kemmel, which commanded all the northern plain towards the Channel. On Sunday, the 14th, there was a little respite; but on Monday morning the 19th Division was hard pressed at Wytschaete, and three fresh German divisions, including the Bavarian Alpine Corps, attacked our front on the Ravelsberg, and at nine in the evening entered Bailleul. About that time the remnants of the South African Brigade were moved to the Reninghelst area, with orders to be prepared to march at an hour’s notice. [Sidenote: _April 16._] In the early hours of Tuesday, the 16th, the British front at Wytschaete and Spanbroekmolen was attacked in force, with the result that both places fell. At 8.30 came orders from the 9th Division that the South Africans should move at once to a position in the Vierstraat line from Desinet Farm, in the north, to La Polka, just east of Kemmel village. General Tudor was about to attempt the recapture of Wytschaete. By noon the South Africans were in position, the 1st Regiment on the right, 250 strong, and the 4th Regiment, with the same strength, on the left; while the 2nd Regiment, 292 strong, was disposed in the second line along the whole front in the trenches which were known as Sackville Street. [Illustration: SCENE OF FIGHTING AROUND MONT KEMMEL.]