“On the 30th he was wounded in the head by a sniper, but continued to work his gun all day until he was ordered by his officer to the dressing-station. This devotion to duty gained for him the D.C.M. Another member of this party, Pte. W. Lyon, was awarded the M.M. for carrying important messages in broad daylight across the open under heavy machine-gun and rifle fire at 200 yards range.” Between March 24 and April 2 the 5th Battalion had sent a total of eighty-four Lewis guns and crews into the line. Every available man had gone, cooks, officers’ servants, clerks and orderlies. They had suffered heavy casualties, and on April 4 the Battalion, or what was left of it, was taken to Auchy by lorry. Here they drew Hotchkiss guns, and began to train again. But they were not to be left long in peace. On April 12 they had orders to form again as a Lewis gun Battalion, and next day found them once more in the forward area, this time at Meteren, not far from Hazebrouck, where they relieved an infantry Battalion which had held a switch line through the village and an isolated point near Meteren Church. On April 15 they got news that the enemy had captured high ground between Neuve Eglise and Bailleul, and on the 16th the enemy advanced on Meteren. “Breaking through a section of trench which had been left unmanned, they forced back the infantry on the right and also ‘B’ Company, and got behind the latter. No. 8 section was entirely cut off and lost. “Second Lieutenant Carter showed great presence of mind at this juncture. He was Reconnaissance Officer of his Company. On seeing the position caused by the enemy break-through, he immediately rallied and reorganised the various parties as they fell back and took up a line in rear. He was all the time under heavy shell-fire. “The position of ‘C’ Company had then become precarious. “Second Lieutenant Dawson, assisted by Second Lieutenant Bayliss, immediately placed four of his guns in the open, covered the now exposed flank and held up the attack. During the night of the 27th-28th he dug a trench, connecting these isolated posts with our original line, and posted his guns in this new trench. The enemy mounted two guns behind a hedge about 200 yards in front of the position. These two guns, however, were knocked out before firing a shot. The Germans also tried to assemble behind this same hedge for an attack; but they were driven back with heavy casualties. This well-thought-out defence performed throughout under frontal and enfiladed fire, saved the company from an attack which would have endangered the entire position.” On April 17 the Battalion, except for twenty guns, was relieved by the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. After helping to hold back one more serious attack, the remaining gun crews were finally withdrawn and joined the rest of the Battalion at the Mont des Cats.