The scene in Bucquoy that morning and all through the day was a remarkable one, never to be forgotten. For hour after hour one continuous unbroken stream of transport belonging to several different divisions passed through the village retiring west towards Hannescamps. Everything had to move along one rather narrow road which, in bad enough condition to start with, became execrable later on in the day, and one bad breakdown of a lorry or wagon might have led to a disastrous block and the ultimate loss of thousands of vehicles. Fortunately the traffic control was admirably managed, and the shells, which as the day wore on began to fall with more and more frequency in the village, never happened to find out the crowded road, so that _that_ particular disaster was averted. We moved on to the high ground just east of Bucquoy, and were able to get a good view of the general situation. We joined the Headquarter Staffs of two other Divisions there, and heard from them that our troops were still falling slowly back under great and increasing pressure, and that there was actually a large gap on the right through which our flank was in imminent danger of being turned. As it was obvious that my guns could be of no use in Bucquoy, and would only make the confusion in the crowded village worse confounded, General Braithwaite directed me to divert their march if still possible, and to put them into action near Monchy au Bois. The advanced parties arrived about noon, and were sent back to Ayette, where they were just in time to stop the brigades and turn them off to the positions ordered. General Braithwaite now assumed command, and we found ourselves responsible for a tremendous number of guns, consisting of several divisional artilleries. Nobody seemed to know where they all were, some batteries being in action, some on the move, and some in positions of observation or readiness in rear. FitzGibbon, however, did wonders, and, with the help of Trench, the Signalling Officer, and Anderson the R.O., at last succeeded in locating and establishing communication with the majority of them.