The 169th Brigade which had left the Neuve Chapelle area in advance of the remainder of the Division had been placed in line at Agny, opposite Beaurains, and to this point the commanding officers of the 168th Brigade proceeded on the 17th March to make the preliminary reconnaissance for the attack. But the following day it was found that Beaurains was clear of enemy and was already occupied by the 169th Brigade who were following up energetically. The reconnaissance being no longer required the party returned to billets pending further orders. On the 18th Lieut.-Col. A. E. Maitland, M.C. (Essex Regiment), was appointed to command the Battalion, and on the 23rd the Division moved forward into a concentration area in rear of Arras, the Battalion marching from Beaudricourt at 9.30 a.m. and arriving in billets at Beaumetz-les-Loges at 4.30 p.m. At Beaumetz the Battalion resumed its training programme though the whole Brigade was held at short notice to move in view of the possible further development of the enemy's withdrawal. It is worth while pausing for a moment to consider the extraordinary achievement of G.H.Q. in delivering the Arras-Vimy Ridge attack as it did on the 9th April. The preparations were on similar lines to those for the Somme offensive of the previous July, and were on an even vaster scale owing to the increased number of the divisions which it was proposed to employ and to the ever-growing strength and weight of the British artillery. The preliminary work of forming reinforcement and concentration camps, laying fresh and increasing the capacity of existing railway lines, arranging for water supply, dumps of munitions and _matériel_, establishment of hospitals and the hundred and one other essential tasks had been steadily proceeding since the close of the Somme offensive in November 1916. Imagine, then, the inevitable dislocation of the scheme when, a comparatively few days before the attack was to be delivered, the enemy suddenly withdrew on part of the front from the positions it had been intended to assault and betook himself within fortified lines of enormous strength to the rear. Dumps, railheads, hospitals, water-supply, concentration areas, guns, heavy siege and light, all had to be pushed forward to fresh and rapidly selected positions in an area which had been laid waste with all the fiendish skill of which a resourceful enemy was capable, and all the consequent modifications of objectives and orders effected at the shortest possible notice. Not only was this achieved, but it was achieved with such efficiency as to produce on the 9th April the most striking single-day success which had crowned the British Armies since the outbreak of the War.