The part of the 56th Division in the Arras fighting was now finished, and the Division was withdrawn into Corps reserve for a welcome rest. The fighting on the Hindenburg line was practically over, though we shall have further reference to make to it in connection with the 2/4th Battalion in another chapter. The weeks of battle had placed a great strain on the Battalion. Long marches to and from the line, shell hole bivouacs, heavy working parties, bad weather and severe shelling had all had their effect, and a period of rest and reorganisation was needed. At 9.30 a.m. on the 4th July the 168th Brigade embussed for the Le Cauroy area, in which it had trained a year previously prior to occupying the Hébuterne trenches. The Battalion was allotted billets in Denier where it entered on a short period of rest and reorganisation in which the training was interspersed with the various rounds of the Brigade boxing competition, the finals of which were held on the 15th July. In June Lieut. H. Jones was seconded to VI Corps School as Instructor; Capt. V. S. Bowater was evacuated to hospital; and 2/Lieut. C. W. Denning joined the Battalion, being posted to the 168th L.T.M. Battery early in July; 2/Lieuts. L. W. Wreford and A. C. Knight rejoined the Battalion in July. The Division was now warned of an impending move to another theatre of activity, and this move occurred on the 23rd, when the Division left the VII Corps to join the Fifth Army in the Ypres Salient. CHAPTER XV THE 2/4TH BATTALION IN THE BATTLES FOR BULLECOURT, 1917 We must now follow the battles which had been fought during the latter part of the German retirement south of the area covered by the battles of Arras. All along the line the German retreat had been conducted steadily and with marked success on to the Hindenburg line. Although on the whole the retreat in the south had not been accompanied by heavy fighting, the attempts of our troops to push forward and define rigidly the Hindenburg system had met with resistance which had developed here and there into fighting of the most desperate character. Nowhere had these local conflagrations been more fierce than in the line of retreat to Bullecourt. In this sector the retiring enemy was opposed by Australian troops, who together with the 7th and 62nd (and later the 58th) Divisions composed Gough's Fifth Army. A successful advance on 2nd April in this region was followed by an attempt by the Australians on the 12th to carry the line Bullecourt-Lagnicourt, but without success owing to the inadequacy of the supporting artillery fire. Severe fighting ensued, and a counter-attack of a serious nature by the Germans on the 15th was ultimately held.