Doullens did not provide a refuge to the Brigade for long for the 15th March saw the Division once more on the move to the Le Cauroy area (east of Frevent), the 1/4th Londons taking over billets at Beaufort. In this area the Division settled down steadily to a period of training which continued without interruption and with very little incident calling for notice for nearly seven weeks, during which the strength of the Battalion, as of all other units, gradually crept up, if not to war strength at least to such size that it became abundantly evident that the Division was not destined to remain for long in billets behind the line. Drafts joined the Battalion consisting of 2/Lieuts. G. E. Stanbridge, G. H. Davis and A. G. Blunn, and also of 87 other ranks on the 22nd March; of 12 other ranks on the 6th April; and a final reinforcement of 33 other ranks arrived on the 20th April; these additions bringing the Battalion to the respectable strength of nearly 600 all ranks. During the same period the Battalion suffered losses among officers in Capt. J. R. Pyper, M.C., who was seconded to the 168th Brigade Machine-Gun Company; Lieut. S. E. H. Walmisley, who after carrying out the duties of Quartermaster for nearly four months during the absence on sick leave of Lieut. E. S. Tomsett, was appointed to the Central Training School, Rouen; and 2/Lieut. C. R. P. de Pury who was seconded as R.T.O. On the 23rd March Major W. G. Clark, D.S.O., left the Battalion on short leave and he also succumbed to a severe breakdown while at home and was unable to return. Command of the Battalion was carried on temporarily by Major W. Moore until the 8th April, when Lieut.-Col. L. L. Wheatley, D.S.O., Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, Staff Captain 168th Infantry Brigade, took command. It would be but tiresome to follow the daily routine of the Battalion during this prolonged period of rest where one day's work so much resembles that which preceded it, and we may therefore be forgiven for passing quickly over this part of the record. Enough has been said to show how from the Battalion point of view the Division came into being and was prepared for the work allotted to it, and it remains therefore for us to pass on and endeavour to recount the manner in which the 1/4th Londons performed their task. CHAPTER X THE 1/4TH BATTALION IN THE BATTLES OF THE SOMME, 1916 I. _The Attack on Gommecourt_ The spring of 1916 was marked by two enemy offensives, at Verdun and on the Italian front, both of which tried the resources of our Allies severely. In order to draw off German troops to the East the Russian offensive against the Austrians had been started in May, but in spite of this the German pressure against Verdun continued to increase.