The whole Brigade was left very weak after the battle, and there was a serious shortage of officers.  As in this respect we, as a Battalion, had suffered least, we had to supply the needs of other units, and Major Toller went to command the 4th Battalion, taking with him 2nd Lieut.  Trevor Jones, as they had no subaltern officers.  At the same time 2nd Lieut.  H.E.  Chapman was sent to help the 5th Lincolnshires, and Capt.  Burnett and Lieut.  Ward Jackson went to Brigade Headquarters to look after Transport and Bombs, while their duties in the Battalion were performed by Serjt.  Brodribb and Serjt.  Goodman.  We could not afford a machine gun officer, so Serjt.  Jacques was made responsible for the guns until an officer reinforcement should arrive.  “A,” “B” and “D” Companies were commanded by Lieuts.  Tomson, Wynne, and Shields, and, as Lieut.  Allen was still in hospital, Lieut.  Hills acted as Adjutant.  The officers all messed together at first, and tried to maintain the old cheerful spirit of the Battalion mess—­a little difficult after losing in one day more than three-quarters of the mess.

On Sunday, General Montagu-Stuart-Wortley came to talk to the Battalion after Church parade, and congratulated us on the fighting, saying that, considering the odds against us, he thought we had done very well indeed.  He then went round the ranks talking to some of the men who had taken part in the battle, and was very amused by some of the answers he received to his questions.  One soldier, asked what he had done in the fight, replied that he had “blown half a Boche officer’s leg off with a bomb.”  The General thought this excellent, but wanted to know why he had chosen half an officer only, and not a whole one.

We stayed ten days at Hesdigneul, and then moved to Drouvin and Vaudricourt, where the billets were better, and we were able to have a Battalion officers’ mess.  During this time, many reinforcement officers arrived and two large drafts of other ranks.  Two of our original officers returned—­Capt.  Beasley, who now took command of “B” Company, and Lieut.  Knighton, who returned to “D” as 2nd in Command.  The remainder were new to us, and were posted as follows:  “A” Company—­2nd Lieuts.  M.A.  Hepworth, C.H.  Pickworth, and G. Russell; “B” Company—­2nd Lieuts.  J.W.  Brittain and, when they returned, the two officers lent to other Battalions; “C” Company—­Capt.  S.J.  Fowler, 2nd Lieuts.  A.M.  Barrowcliffe and A.L.  Macbeth; “D” Company—­2nd Lieuts.  A.H.  Dawes, H.W.  Oliver, and J.R.  Brooke. 2nd Lieut.  C.L.  Saunders became Machine Gun Officer.  With these additions we were able to start training again, and devoted our time to route marching, bayonet fighting, and, most of all, bomb throwing.  At no time during the war was more reliance placed on bombs, and scheme after scheme was invented for “bombing attacks up a trench,” to such an extent that the platoon organisation was now re-modelled with the one idea of forming bomb parties.  The rifle seemed to be temporarily forgotten.