[7] The Bonavis Ridge is north-west and Gonnelieu is west of Banteux. [8] This appears to have been in the area of the 55th Division. 56TH (LONDON) DIVISION, FORMERLY 1ST LONDON. FIRST LINE The 56th Division does not seem to have been mentioned as a unit till 1916; the reason was that its individual battalions went to France early in the war, being attached to Regular divisions and, as in the case of the 55th, many months elapsed before the Division was concentrated. Unofficial historians over and over again refer to the splendid service performed by battalions of the 56th during the critical first winter of the war, and in the second awful struggle at Ypres in April and May 1915. Before the Division was constituted as a unit in France many of these battalions had few of their original members left. Sir A. Conan Doyle mentions that on 12th May, 1915, before the close of the battle, the 5th London had only 200 men. In Sir John French’s despatch of 20th November, 1914, dealing with the First Battle of Ypres, 11th October to 12th November, he said, paragraph 10: “In the period covered by this despatch Territorial troops have been used for the first time in the Army under my command,” and he mentioned “the London Scottish and Queen’s Westminster battalions” as among the units actually engaged; both were afterwards in the 56th Division. “The conduct and bearing of these units under fire, and the efficient manner in which they carried out the various duties assigned to them, have imbued me with the highest hope as to the value and help of Territorial troops generally.” Events were to prove these hopes well-founded. Officers and men of the 5th City of London Regiment and of the 9th, 13th and 14th County of London Regiment were mentioned in the despatch of 14th January, 1915, for good work in the fighting before that date, and in the despatch of 31st May, 1915, many officers and men of the 3rd, 4th and 5th City of London and of the 9th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 16th County of London, gained mention; all these battalions were afterwards in the 56th Division. In Sir John French’s despatch of 15th June, 1915, paragraph 4, regarding “The Battles of Ypres, 1915,” which commenced on the 22nd April of that year with the great “gas attack,” he mentioned two battalions of the 56th Division. As to the fighting on 8th May, quoting Sir Herbert Plumer, “A counter-attack was launched at 3.30 p.m.” “The 12th London Regiment, on the left, succeeded, at great cost, in reaching the original trench line, and did considerable execution with their machine gun.” As to the 13th May, when another serious German attack was made “after the heaviest bombardment yet experienced, ... the 5th London Regiment, despite very heavy casualties, maintained their position unfalteringly.” The Division, like other first line Territorial divisions, had their full share of fighting in the big battles of 1916 and 1917.