The Second Canadian Infantry Brigade had in the night of May 19, 1915, taken over trenches recently won by the Twenty-first British Brigade and also a section of trenches from the Forty-seventh Division. Meanwhile the 8th and 10th Battalions occupied the front-line trenches, while the 5th Battalion went into Brigade Reserve with one company at Festubert. Three companies bivouacked near the Willow Road, and the 7th Battalion joined the Divisional Reserve. Major Guthrie, who had joined the 10th Canadian Battalion at Ypres as a lieutenant, after most of its officers were casualties, made an effort in the early evening of May 20, 1915, to capture an important position known as Bexhill. The attempt was not successful, for the preliminary bombardment was ineffectual, and the troops were forced to cross a gap in the fire trench in open view of the Germans, who made the most of the opportunity. The only approach to the coveted position was through an old communicating trench that the enemy could easily sweep with their machine guns. The 10th Battalion, after all the leading men in the advance company had been struck down, was forced to retire. (The casualties of the 10th Battalion while in action during April and May, 1915, were 809. At Ypres alone the casualties were 600 of all ranks.) During the night the Canadians carried out a successful reconnoissance of the German position and the gap in the fire trenches was repaired. Covered communications were now assured for further operations in all parts of the line. In the evening of May 21, 1915, the German position was heavily bombarded under the direction of Brigadier General Burstall and continued until 8.30, when two companies of the 10th Battalion and the grenade company of the First Canadian Brigade launched the attack. The German redoubt on Bexhill responded with a withering machine-gun fire against which it was impossible to advance. The Canadian left was badly cut up and unable to move. Those attacking on the right gained the trench line running southward from Bexhill, and, with bombers leading the way, drove the Germans for a considerable distance down the trench and then hurriedly threw up a barricade to hold what they had gained. The Germans made several attempts in the course of the night to win back the trench, but their every effort failed. The Canadian attack had achieved only a partial success, and this was won at a heavy cost. As at Ypres they displayed the same unflinching bravery while facing heavy odds, and the only marvel was that they had been able to gain so much. Individual acts that deserved the V. C. were many. Major E. J. Ashton of Saskatoon, who had been wounded in the head on the previous night and continued to serve, was again wounded. Corporal W. R. Brooks, a sniper belonging to the 10th Battalion, during the night left the trench under heavy fire and brought back two men of the Camerons who had been lying for three days in the field.