On 21st October the Brigade, with the exception of the 3rd Regiment, which was in High Wood in reserve to the 27th Brigade, moved to Mametz Wood. On the 23rd orders were received that the Brigade would be in reserve in the attack to be carried out by the 9th Division on the 25th. Presently these orders were cancelled, and the entire division was taken out of the line. At the end of the month it moved north to an area south of the Doullens-Arras road, and became part of Major-General Aylmer Haldane’s VI. Corps in Sir Edmund Allenby’s Third Army. [Illustration: BRIG.-GEN. FRED. STEWART DAWSON, C.M.G., D.S.O., A.D.C., Commanding 1st South African Regiment, and later South African Brigade.] During November the 1st South African Regiment was in huts at Duisans, the 2nd at Lattre St. Quentin, the 3rd at Wanquetin, and the 4th billeted in Arras, where it was engaged in improving the defences of that city. The other regiments were occupied in training, in the construction of new roads and cable trenches, and in the other preliminary work necessary in the area of a coming battle. For it had already been decided by Sir Douglas Haig that the great thrust of the spring would be from Arras eastward. [Sidenote: _Dec. 2._] November of that year was not the sodden downpour of October. There were seasons of high wind and sharp frost, which were a grateful relief after the monotony of the Butte de Warlencourt fighting. On 2nd December General Lukin was promoted to the command of the 9th Division, with the rank of Major-General, on General Furse’s appointment as Master-General of the Ordnance. All South Africans felt their Brigadier’s advancement to be a personal tribute to the Brigade which he had so gallantly led. He was succeeded in its command by Lieutenant-Colonel Dawson of the 1st Regiment, who was succeeded in turn by Major F. H. Heal. CHAPTER V. THE BATTLE OF ARRAS. (January-July 1917.) The Allied Plan for 1917—Sir Douglas Haig’s Scheme—The Object of the Arras Battle—The Nature of the German Defences—The Training of the Brigade—The Attack of Easter Monday—Success of the 9th Division—The Work of the South African Field Ambulance—The Attack of 12th April—The Losses of the Brigade—Transferred to Trescault Section.