The batteries of the 91st Field Artillery Brigade held on in their position near Beines until 5.30 P.M., when orders were received to retire the brigade to Guiscard with a view to joining the 9th French Division. All batteries were accordingly withdrawn to Guiscard except C/91, which remained in position until dark, and was able to give most valuable support to the French on the right and to the cavalry on the north of the Villeselve--Guiscard road. C/91 managed to get back by the last available road after the enemy had captured Berlancourt and was close to Buchoire, about a mile south-east of Guiscard. By 7 P.M. the remnants of the 61st Brigade, now very much mixed and scattered, had retired to a line covering Guiscard and Buchoire; Brigade Headquarters was 2000 yards south-west of Guiscard on the main road to Noyon. Large numbers of troops and stragglers retiring from Guiscard were stopped by a party of 100 men of various units of the brigade, who were formed up at 9 P.M. on a defensive line across the main road 400 yards in front of Brigade Headquarters. At 10 P.M. the right of the 61st Brigade line was found to be in the hands of the enemy. The A.D.S. at Villeselve was abandoned shortly before the enemy entered the village. In consequence of the rapid advance of the Germans, all transport and surplus personnel of the 62nd Field Ambulance in Guiscard were sent back. A small party under Lieut.-Colonel Stack, the commanding officer, remained in the village collecting, dressing and evacuating crowds of wounded, British and French. Shells fell into the garden of the house which served as a dressing station, but Lieut.-Colonel Stack refused to go until all cases had been cleared. The 91st Field Artillery Brigade came in the evening under the G.O.C. 9th French Division, from whom orders were received at 10 P.M. to move to Crisolles. Guiscard was being heavily shelled at this time, and soon afterwards was captured by the enemy. Having lost a certain number of men during the shelling of the town the brigade successfully withdrew at 11 P.M., although the enemy had advanced by then to within a few hundred yards of the guns. What remained of the 61st Brigade was withdrawn to Neuvilly, where it was reorganised on the morning of the 25th into a composite battalion of four companies, one from each battalion in the brigade, with a headquarters company in addition. The total strength was then nine junior officers and 440 other ranks. At 1.45 P.M. the brigade marched to Avricourt and then moved by ’bus to Gruny to rejoin the 20th Division, under which in the course of two days’ intense fighting the three battalions together were destined to be reduced to under 100 men. CHAPTER XII THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE ON THE SOMME (_Continued_) _26th March to 28th April 1918_