On detraining at Longeau, the Battalion marched to billets in Corbie, where it stayed for one night. The following day it moved to the south of the main Amiens-Peronne road to Marcelcave, and was then in Fifth Army Reserve. Here, for about a fortnight the finishing touches were put to the training. Included in the programme were the final stages of the Army Rifle Association competition, in which No. 6 Platoon were defeated by a Platoon of the 8th Durham Light Infantry in the final of the Brigade contest. The officers were taken up to certain areas near Peronne, where the Battalion might have to deliver counter-attacks in the event of a German success. About the middle of March rumours of the impending attack became more numerous, and the intelligence reports containing prisoners' statements, etc., were not reassuring. At last, the date of the attack, the 21st March, became fairly certain, and the drum fire heard in the distance on that day was not unexpected. Orders were issued during the morning for a "stand-to" in readiness to move at very short notice, and about 3.45 p.m. instructions were received to entrain at Gouzeaucourt. In less than an hour the Battalion was on the march, the transport moving at the same time by road. After a short journey it detrained in the pitch dark at Brie, where Lewis guns, etc., were placed on lorries, the orders being to move into billets near Peronne. Whilst waiting for guides, however, a staff officer of the Division arrived with fresh orders. Instead of proceeding to billets the Battalion was to move straight into the fight. The Lewis guns were removed from the lorries and replaced by blankets, and the Battalion marched off in the direction of Tincourt. Just to the south of that village and in front of Beuzy a reserve system of partially dug trenches, known as the Green Line, was at once occupied. This line was the next defence system behind the Brown Line, where the 66th and other Divisions had been overwhelmed in the morning. On the morning of the 22nd March the men watched with interest tanks moving up to counter-attack, but on the whole things were quiet. In the afternoon the shelling became heavier, and in the distance large massed bodies of the enemy could be seen. The first contact occurred when a German scout was wounded and captured by a patrol. Orders were then received that the line was to be held at all costs. The apparent strength of the position, however, inspired confidence, and it was not till towards dusk that the first serious casualties occurred.