Throughout this period our patrols were active, as it was considered important that we should keep command of “No Man’s Land.” This was successfully done. A number of patrols went out from each brigade every night, and although they kept the enemy’s trenches and posts constantly under observation, as a rule no parties of the enemy were met. One patrol of the 7th D.C.L.I. had an unpleasant experience and was forced to spend a considerably longer time in front of the line than was expected. A liaison patrol of one N.C.O. and one man of this battalion had been sent out on the night of the 24th/25th to the battalion on the left. The patrol had encountered an enemy machine gun and the N.C.O. had been killed. An officer and one man of the D.C.L.I. went out at 4 A.M. on the 25th to investigate. They also found the machine gun, which opened fire on them at fifteen yards’ range. Fortunately they escaped, and they crawled away eastwards. At daybreak they found themselves between the enemy’s posts, and there they had to remain concealed in a shell-hole all day. As soon as it became dark they moved towards their own trenches, coming across a post of the enemy on the way, and then being driven back by Lewis gun fire from our line. Having thus had to spend another night out, they eventually rejoined their battalion at daybreak on the 26th. Good work was done also by the machine gun companies. Between the 23rd and the 29th the 59th Machine Gun Company fired 36,000 rounds in indirect fire, and in conjunction with trench mortars silenced all the enemy’s forward machine guns near the Menin road, making the reliefs much easier to carry out. On the 31st the Division was transferred from the IXth to the XXIInd Corps, under Lieut.-General Sir A. Godley, but as the XXIInd Corps took over the Menin road sector, this involved no change in the dispositions. On the night of the 7th/8th February the Divisional line was extended to the left as far as a point 600 yards east of the south-east corner of Polygon Wood. A readjustment of the inter-brigade boundary then became necessary, so that after this time each brigade had two battalions in the front line.