Meanwhile the 1st Battalion Grenadiers remained at Warley until September 1914. In the middle of the month the Seventh Division was formed, and the 1st Battalion Grenadiers was sent to Lyndhurst, near Southampton, where the Division was assembling, and placed in the 20th Brigade.

Major-General T. Capper, C.B., D.S.O., commanded the Division, which was composed as follows:

Brigadier-General H. G. Ruggles-Brise, who commanded the Brigade in which the 1st Battalion served, was himself an old Grenadier.

It was generally considered that the Seventh Division was one of the finest sent out. Most of the men in it, except the two Guards battalions, had served for several years in India and the Colonies, and were bronzed, seasoned men, thorough professional soldiers.

For artillery the Division had one brigade of horse and two of field artillery, Brigadier-General H. K. Jackson, D.S.O., being in command. The brigade of horse artillery consisted of two batteries only. No howitzer brigade had been provided, but a heavy battery of old 4·7's was added at the last moment. The transport had to be supplemented by farm-carts, afterwards painted grey. The Divisional Cavalry consisted of the Northumberland Hussars, originally commanded by Lord Ridley; unfortunately he became too ill to go to the front, and Lieut.-Colonel Cookson took his place.

The centre of interest was now shifting from France to Belgium. Confused by the conflicting accounts which filtered through, the people at home only grasped that the German advance on Paris had failed, and that there was consequently a stalemate. But Sir John French knew that, even though the Allies had won the race to the sea, there was every danger of the German Army concentrating somewhere in the north and breaking through the line, necessarily weak, of the Allied armies.

Although the Germans were in possession of the greater part of Belgium, in their hurry to get to Paris they had been unable to dispose entirely of the Belgian Army, which had been so troublesome in the first stages of the war, and which had now retired into Antwerp. Consequently the German General Staff determined to make good the lines of communication by taking Antwerp and reducing all Belgium to ruins. As soon as this had been done all the available troops were to force their way through the Allied line and seize the northern part of France.

The capture of one of the largest towns in Belgium would be hailed with the greatest enthusiasm in Germany, and would also nip in the bud any scheme for sending British troops and guns to help the besieged Belgian Army. Germany knew that at present we had no guns capable of competing with hers, but if she delayed there was no reason why we should not manufacture them up to any calibre.

But, undeterred by our lack both of men and guns, the British Government had made up its mind to do something, at any rate, and the Naval Division, which had been intended as a Reserve for the Fleet, were accordingly despatched to Antwerp. This expedition was a glaring instance of our lack of preparation in the early stages of the war. Totally untrained, the men, many of them, knew nothing of the mechanism of the rifles they were armed with; they had no transport, and were given for their conveyance London motor omnibuses, with the familiar advertisements still on them.

This force was greeted with wild enthusiasm when it arrived in Antwerp on October 4. Major J. A. C. Quilter, Captain A. E. Maxwell, and Lieutenant W. R. C. Murray, all officers of the Grenadiers, were lent to the Naval Division. Captain Maxwell was severely wounded in the subsequent fighting, and afterwards died, but the other two returned safely to England. Major Quilter, who remained attached to the Naval Division, was killed later in the Dardanelles while in command of the Hood Battalion.

With the monster German guns brought up against the town, the fall of Antwerp was a foregone conclusion. The Belgian artillery was quite outranged, and could make no sort of a reply, and the Naval Division had no heavy guns at all. So one-sided was the contest that for the defenders it was merely a matter of looking on while the huge shells fell and gradually devastated the town. On October 8 Antwerp capitulated, and there was a wild, confused rush by the inhabitants to get away. The Belgian Army and the greater part of the Naval Division managed to escape from the town, but about 18,000 Belgian troops and 15,000 British were forced up into Holland and interned.

Suddenly, when it had settled down to a sort of peace-manoeuvre life at Lyndhurst, the Seventh Division received its marching orders. The Government had decided to send it to help the Belgian Army. It was practically the only available unit, except the Third Cavalry Division, which was sent off a few days later.

It was a quiet, peaceful Sunday when the summons came. There had been so many rumours and alarms that no one took much notice of them, and the idea of departure had faded to a remote possibility. Passes had been given to the men to remain out till 9.30, and a field-day was arranged for the next day. Then came the order to embark at once from Southampton. In an instant there was feverish bustle and energy throughout the camps. The 1st Battalion Grenadiers marched off to Southampton, and was joined there by many men who were out on pass, but by the time the ship sailed all the Battalion was reported present.

Embarking on October 4, the Seventh Division succeeded in avoiding the enemy's mines and submarines on its voyage to Zeebrugge, but the Cavalry Division was unable to follow, and was diverted to Ostend instead.

The following is a list of the officers of the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, who went out with the Battalion—all but a few of them were killed or wounded:

The crossing was made in the S.S. Armenian, which was fairly comfortable, and the Turcoman, just a cattle-boat, with no accommodation at all. The transports did not move out into the Solent till after dark on the 5th, and reached Zeebrugge at six o'clock on the morning of the 7th. Disembarking was none too easy a task, for the jetty was much too small for ships of that size, and there were no cranes or other appliances for unshipping the horses, which just had to be pushed down gangways.

Entreaties were made to General Capper by a Belgian colonel and two Staff officers, who had come as a deputation from Antwerp, that he would bring the whole of the Seventh Division into that city. But Sir Henry Rawlinson had already sent orders for the Division to go to Bruges at once. The 1st Battalion Grenadiers made the journey in two trains, and was billeted in the suburb of St. André. Crowds lined the streets, and cheered each battalion lustily as it arrived. All the billeting was arranged without any difficulty, as the Belgian authorities knew to a man how many troops each village would hold.

That evening there was a "procession of humiliation" through the streets of Bruges, a long train of old men and women following in the wake of the priests, who were headed by acolytes swinging their censers. As they walked slowly through the streets, chanting a litany, they made an odd contrast with the masses of fighting men in khaki, and their array of wagons and guns.

Next day the whole Division was ordered to march to Ostend, to cover the landing of the Cavalry Division—a hot, tiring journey it was of fifteen miles, over the usual paving-stones. At Leffinghe, on the outskirts of Ostend, a defensive position was taken up and an attempt made to dig trenches, but the men could not go very deep, as at three feet below the surface they reached water.

Fortunately the Battalion was not called upon to hold them. Just before daybreak it left the trenches and marched into Ostend, where it entrained for Ghent. Sir Henry Rawlinson's plan was to operate on the Germans' left flank and divert their attention from the Belgian Army, which might thus, he hoped, be able to escape from Antwerp.

Indescribable confusion reigned in Ostend. The whole country-side had swarmed in to see what was going on; the Cavalry Division was landing while the Seventh Division passed through to get to the railway station, and their movements were naturally hampered by the throngs of people which surged over the streets and quays. General Capper took with him the 20th and 22nd Brigades under Brigadier-Generals Ruggles-Brise and Lawford, leaving the 21st, under Brigadier-General Watts, to march back to Beernem, where it was to remain in reserve. Meanwhile, the Cavalry Division was to operate in the direction of Thourout.

When the two brigades arrived at Ghent, they found that a small force of French Marines and Belgian cyclists were already holding an outpost line in front of the town. The Germans, it was reported, had just crossed the Scheldt about ten miles to the east, and were moving north-west, with the object of cutting off the Belgian Army and the British and French Naval Divisions, which were evacuating Antwerp.

A second outpost line was taken up by the two brigades in rear of the French Marines, the 1st Battalion Grenadiers being in reserve. There were no machine-guns, and the only ammunition was the 200 rounds carried by each man. Though the artillery had been sent on the night before, it did not arrive at Ghent till twenty-four hours after the infantry, owing to the confusion there was on the railway line, part of which was in the hands of the Germans.

No. 2 Company of the Grenadiers found one or two piquets blocking the main road, and had a very busy time with the Belgian refugees who were streaming out of Ghent all night long. The other three companies were sent into billets in some large dye-works, but there were so few exits that it was found it would take quite half-an-hour to evacuate the place, so that it was nothing but a death-trap. Accordingly No. 4 Company billeted in a timber yard close by, while the King's and No. 3 bivouacked in an orchard by the roadside.

The nights were cold, and when the Battalion requisitioned for blankets, huge rolls of velvet from the dye-works were issued by the Belgian authorities. Some ten thousand francs' worth of velvet, it was estimated, was damaged in this way. The men naturally did not mind what they looked like as long as they kept warm, but as they lay asleep in the yard, with rich velvet such as Velasquez might have painted wrapped round their khaki, they presented a spectacle decidedly incongruous.

Nothing much happened during the next day, though there were occasional alarms. Firing could be heard in the distance, but no shells or bullets came in the direction of our troops. When it was dark the Battalion was ordered to report to the commander of the outpost line. On the march they met scattered bodies of the French Marines, who had presumably been driven in, and when they got to Destelbergen it appeared that the Marines had been withdrawn from this section, which was now only thinly held by such men as could be spared by the Border Regiment on the left.

The King's Company was told to take over this section—by no means an easy task in the dark. The frontage was nearly a mile, with the platoons about six hundred yards apart, and the trenches were useless, being merely shallow rain-shelters, hastily covered over. By working all night the men succeeded in making some sort of a trench by dawn. Orders were received that there could be no retirement in case of attack, and that no support could be looked for.

It was a remarkable situation into which this quixotic operation had forced us. Here was an isolated British Division, with practically no base and with no available reinforcements, operating entirely by itself, while large bodies of the enemy were reported in every direction. But for the information, which was regularly supplied by the aircraft, such a position would have become impossible. The aeroplanes were most active, constantly spying out the enemy's movements, and the armed motor-cars also did very useful work.

Spades and shovels were obtained from neighbouring cottages at daybreak on the 11th, and the men managed to make really good trenches. But in the afternoon the Battalion was withdrawn, and marched through Ghent. The whole force was retiring, and No. 2 and No. 3 Companies formed the rearguard to the two brigades. It was hardly expected that the Germans would allow the force to get away without a severe fight, but nothing happened, though the enemy was close at hand, and entered Ghent soon after the mixed force of British, French, and Belgians had left the town. Passing through Ghent at dead of night after the cordial reception they had had from the inhabitants two days before, and with the knowledge that the Belgians were being left to the tender mercies of the Germans, was anything but a pleasant experience for the British Force.

Antwerp having fallen, the Seventh Division now got orders to make its way back as fast as it could to Ypres, and there join up with the rest of the British Army. This meant long marches and few intervals of rest, but with the German force that had been freed by the capture of Antwerp close behind, any delay was dangerous.

By dawn on the 12th, Ruggles-Brise's and Lawford's Brigades reached Somergem, and in the afternoon they marched to Thielt by way of Aeltre. At Oostcamp Watts's Brigade joined in and followed the others to Thielt. As the Division drew near that place the halts became more and more frequent—there were constant checks of as much as ten minutes, followed by moves of less than a hundred yards. This was a very trying climax after being up all night and marching all day. The last mile took two hours, and it was not till 1 A.M. that the men reached their billets.

A burst of very heavy rifle-fire at 6 o'clock next morning in the very centre of the town brought every one scrambling out of their billets, with visions of outposts rushed and Germans in their midst. But it turned out to be only a Taube, at which every one who had a rifle was taking a shot. Eventually it was brought down about a mile off, the Grenadiers, Scots Fusiliers, and Pom-Pom Detachment all claiming the hit.

The whole Division started off for Roulers, followed by the Germans. On its arrival at Pitthem, a force of the enemy was reported to be advancing from the north and north-east. The baggage was therefore sent on, and the 20th and 22nd Brigades were ordered to take up a position in order to cover this change in the order of march. The Germans, however, did not come on, and the march was continued. The Division reached Roulers after dark—with the usual irritating and fatiguing halts. At each village, as the Battalion marched through, the whole population turned out and gave the men apples, cigarettes, and any other offerings they could, but the lion's share naturally fell to the advance guard and the leading battalion, and by the time the tail was reached the supplies had generally given out.

By now the Germans had grasped that this was an isolated Division, and were straining every nerve to catch it, so that the position at Roulers was very precarious. The reports from the aeroplane scouts were disquieting, and General Capper realised that every moment was precious.

Early next morning the Division marched out of Roulers, and not long afterwards the Germans arrived; in fact, it was said that the rear-guard was hardly clear of the town before the Uhlans were in it. No. 3 and No. 4 Companies, under Captain Lord Richard Wellesley and Major Colby, formed the advance-guard.

Rain fell heavily all the way, and the roads were in a terrible state, but the men's spirits were raised by the news that they were nearly in touch with the Expeditionary Force. These forced marches had told on the troops, and though in the Grenadiers not a man fell out, in some of the battalions men were left behind—never to be seen again. Others, determined not to fall into the enemy's hands, limped doggedly on in a pitiable plight, some having even taken off their boots and tied their puttees round their feet.

They reached Ypres at 2 P.M. on the 14th, and the King's, No. 3, and No. 4 Companies were detailed to find the outposts on the Menin and Messines roads. As the companies moved out to take up their positions they encountered several parties of Uhlans, which caused a good deal of excitement among the men, as they were the first of the enemy's troops actually seen. Some ammunition was expended without much result. But No. 4 Company at any rate accounted for four of these advanced cavalry.

In the evening a report was received that a German force of all arms, estimated to be an Army Corps, was advancing on Ypres from the direction of Comines. Their road was blocked by a platoon of the King's Company, and most of the men were delighted at the prospect of a fight, although those who knew the composition of a German Army Corps were not quite so enthusiastic. Two platoons of No. 2 Company under Lieutenant T. E. R. Symons were despatched to Voormezeele, about a mile in front of the outpost line, to block the road and report at once any movements by the enemy.

These were the first trenches dug on the Ypres battle-ground. The men at that time imagined that they had only to scrape out temporary shelters which would be sufficient protection for a night or two. They little thought that they were laying the foundation of an intricate network of trenches which would be constantly used for the next four years.

The first battle of Ypres which was now about to begin may be said to fall into four clearly marked stages:

A. Up to October 19: the operations of the Second and Third Corps from the La Bassée Canal in the south to Armentières and Ploegsteert Wood, in which they forced their way forward in the face of always increasing opposition; the Second Corps establishing itself on the high ground south-west of Lille ("the Aubers Ridge"), although it was being held up on its right by the strong German position of La Bassée; the Third Corps continuing the line northward astride of the Lys. On their left the enemy's cavalry threatened the passages of the Lys from Warneton downward, but could not cross the river. Its operations connected up those of the Second and Third Corps with those of the Seventh Division and Third Cavalry Division, with which General Rawlinson, after advancing eastward to assist in the retirement of the Belgian Army from Antwerp, had fallen back to a position a few miles east of Ypres.

By the evening of October 19 the line of the Second Corps ran approximately from east of Givenchy—Violaines—Lorgies—west of Illies—Herlies to Le Pilly, while between it and the Third Corps was General Conneau's French Cavalry Corps, somewhat to the left rear of the Second Corps. The Third Corps had reached the line Radinghem—Ennetières—Prémesques—Frélinghien—Le Gheer. The British cavalry continued the line down the Lys to the Ypres—Comines Canal, and was in touch with the right of General Rawlinson's command, which, after attempting to advance on Menin on the morning of October 19, had been forced to fall back to the position Zandvoorde—Kruiseik—Zonnebeke by the appearance on its left of large forces of Germans, before which the French cavalry (connecting General Rawlinson's force with the Belgians) was falling back.

The situation, as it then stood, seems to have offered Sir John French two alternatives for the employment of Sir Douglas Haig's Corps, which had then completed its concentration in the area St. Omer—Hazebrouck: he might utilise it to reinforce Generals Smith-Dorrien and Pulteney, who were holding a long front, and whose troops had had over a week of difficult, if on the whole successful, fighting, and lacked the numbers needed for any further advance. Reinforcements thrown in on this quarter might have saved Lille, and enabled the French, in co-operation with whom the British were acting, to outflank the Germans opposed to them in the neighbourhood of Loos and Arras. Ever since the battle on the Aisne had reached a deadlock in the middle of September, it had been the object of the Allied forces to outflank the German right, while the Germans had by continually reinforcing and prolonging their threatened flank succeeded in thwarting this effort. It is this double prolongation of the opposing lines, first by one combatant, then by the other, which is called "the Race to the Sea," and of which the first battle of Ypres was the culminating point.

The other alternative was to send in this force farther to the left to carry out a wider turning movement than the mere move round what seemed then the German right south of Lille, and by pushing forward east of Ypres in the direction of Bruges to outflank the German line far more effectively. It is a little difficult to ascertain from the evidence at present available what exactly was known as to the opposition to be expected in such a movement. It would seem that the full strength of the German force available, consisting of several of the newly formed Reserve Corps (raised since the beginning of the war), was hardly appreciated. The idea, prevailing at the British Headquarters, was that if used on the extreme left flank in this way Sir Douglas Haig's part would be essentially offensive; but as things turned out, he was speedily thrown on the defensive, and forced to fight a most desperate battle to prevent greatly superior forces of Germans forcing their way through Ypres to the Channel ports. Badly as the Second and Third Corps needed help, it was most fortunate that, when the German attack began, it found the First Corps, advancing past Ypres, in its path.

B. From October 20 to October 28: the operations in this phase have a two-fold character. On the left Sir Douglas Haig endeavoured to advance first of all north of, and then through, General Rawlinson's troops; and, though to some extent successful, he encountered ever-increasing opposition, so that by October 28 the British in this quarter (east of Ypres, north of the Ypres—Comines Canal) had been definitely thrown on the defensive, and were hard put to it to hold their own against the repeated attacks of considerably superior forces. Meanwhile, on October 20, the Germans had developed a powerful counter-attack against the long and attenuated line held by the Second and Third Corps. The left of the Second Corps at Le Pilly was driven in, and simultaneously General Pulteney's troops were ousted from Ennetières and Prémesques, and these losses, coupled with the great superiority of the German forces opposed to them, compelled the Second and Third Corps to retire. Thus the valuable tactical position of the Aubers Ridge was lost, and the Second and Third Corps compelled to retire to the line Givenchy—Richebourg l'Avoué—Neuve Chapelle—Bois Grenier—Houplines—Le Gheer. At the same time the cavalry north of the Lys was gradually pressed back to the line St. Yvon—east of Messines—Hollebeke—Zandvoorde. Fortunately at this critical time the arrival of the Lahore Division of the Indian Corps provided a much-needed assistance, but, despite this, the village of Neuve Chapelle was lost on October 27, and a counter-attack on October 28 failed to regain possession of it.

C. From October 29 to November 10: in this period the operations north of the Lys, where the German attacks reached their maximum in force, were of the greatest importance, fresh troops being constantly put in. South of that river the fighting gradually diminished in intensity, the German attacks being held up by the Second Corps, part of which was relieved by the Indian Corps (the Meerut Division, which arrived in the line on October 31), and the Sixth Division of the Third Corps. A little ground was lost, but nothing of real importance. North of the river the intensity of the fighting increased greatly, and on October 29 the Germans attacked in great strength, but were only able to gain a little ground. Two days later, on October 31, they renewed the attack with the utmost vigour, and made a determined effort to reach the Channel ports. The line of the First Division about Gheluvelt was broken, and the Division fell back. General Lomax and the greater portion of his staff were killed, while the casualties in the rank and file were enormous. The day was saved by Brigadier-General Charles FitzClarence, V.C., who, quickly realising the peril of the situation, ordered the 2nd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment to retake Gheluvelt, although they were not under his command. The First Division gallantly rallied, and regained some of the ground that had been lost, but not without desperate fighting and very heavy losses. At the same time the Fourth Division of the Third Corps was very hard pressed at Le Gheer, but managed to retain its ground after hard fighting and a successful counter-attack. On November 1 the cavalry, after a most magnificent resistance at Messines and Wytschaete, was finally dislodged from the Messines Ridge. By this time French reinforcements were arriving in large numbers, and they took over the line between the left of the cavalry and the right of Sir Douglas Haig's command (into which the Seventh Division had now been absorbed), but their repeated counter-attacks on the Messines Ridge, and between Wytschaete and the Ypres—Comines Canal were unsuccessful. After October 31 the fighting north of the Ypres—Comines Canal did not reach the same intensity till November 11, but the Germans made repeated attacks, and forced the line back a little at several points. It became necessary to relieve the Seventh Division, whose infantry had been reduced to about a quarter of its original strength, and this was done by putting in about a dozen of the scarcely less exhausted battalions of the Second Corps, which had just been taken out of the line north of La Bassée for a well-earned rest. By November 5 the right of Sir Douglas Haig's line, south of the Ypres—Menin road, was held by the equivalent of a division from the Second Corps, the First Division being in his centre, and the Second on his left, though all three divisions were much intermingled.

By November 10 the cavalry, supported by a few battalions of the Second Corps, had taken over a line west of the Messines Ridge, and on the left of the Third Corps. From the Douve southward to La Bassée the line was approximately established as it remained through the winter of 1914-15, the Third Corps being astride the Lys, while the Fourth Corps (the Eighth Division, which had by this time arrived) continued the line from about Bois Grenier to beyond Neuve Chapelle, the Indian Corps being on the right.

D. November 11 to 20: November 11 was the next most critical moment of the battle after October 31; on this day took place the great attack of the Prussian Guard, which broke through the line of the First Division near Veldhoek and penetrated into the Nonne-Bosschen, but was checked there, and then dislodged by a counter-attack by the 52nd Oxfordshire Light Infantry, perhaps the most dramatic of all the individual episodes of the battle. On this day the line of the Third Division south of the Ypres—Menin road was also violently assailed, and some ground was lost; but the net result of the day was the failure of the great German effort to break through, and from that moment the fighting north as well as south of the Lys tended to diminish in intensity. The Germans made a few more attacks, but none in such strength or determination as those of October 31 and November 11, and about November 15 the French began to take over the positions in "the Ypres salient," so obstinately defended by Sir Douglas Haig for nearly four weeks. It may be gathered from the accounts of the fighting of the subsequent months that the Germans were for the moment exhausted, that their supplies of ammunition were running low, and that the attack of November 11 represented their last bolt—until more could be forged. Thus if the Allied effort to outflank the German right and roll up their line had been unsuccessful, defensively the first battle of Ypres was a great success, the German effort to break through being definitely and decisively defeated. November 20 may be taken as the end of the battle, as it was on that day that the last unit of Sir Douglas Haig's command was relieved by the French, the British line then extending approximately from Givenchy in the south to Keniwel in the north. During this fourth phase the operations on the line from the Douve to the La Bassée Canal had been of the character of "normal trench warfare," neither side attempting any major operation.

Ypres was to be held at all costs till the First Corps arrived—those were Sir Henry Rawlinson's orders. There were no other British troops in the neighbourhood when the Seventh Division arrived there, except the Third Cavalry Division, which had been sent on in the direction of Menin to reconnoitre. The Eighty-seventh French Territorial Division was at Ypres, and the Eighty-ninth at Poperinghe (both under General Bidon), while the Belgian Army had reached the Forest of Houthulst.

At first General Capper decided to post the Seventh Division from Zonnebeke to Langemarck, asking the Eighty-seventh French Territorials to hold, for the moment, the line from Zonnebeke to Hollebeke; there they would get into touch with Allenby's Cavalry Division, which was on the left of the Third Corps. Operating on the left of the Seventh Division, Byng's Cavalry Division would keep touch with the Belgians and French Marines.

But these orders were afterwards cancelled when it was clear that Menin would be the probable line of advance. General Capper made the Seventh Division change places with the Eighty-seventh French Division, so that it now took up the line from Zonnebeke to Hollebeke, with Ruggles-Brise's Brigade on the right, Watts's in the centre, and Lawford's on the left. Four German Army Corps were now rumoured to be operating somewhere in Belgium, but where exactly no one knew.

A piteous sight confronted the 1st Battalion Grenadiers as it marched eastward towards Zandvoorde on October 16, after a quiet day in billets on the outskirts of Ypres. On the roads it met the whole civilian population of the neighbouring towns and villages, which was in flight before the advancing enemy. Old men and women ran breathless; children trotted by their mothers' sides; some had all their worldly possessions in carts drawn by ponies or dogs; others were pushing wheelbarrows loaded with all the goods they could carry away. All had a look of terror in their eyes, and all hurried madly to safety, spurred on by the thought of the blazing villages that lay behind them.

The advance-guard of the Brigade was formed by the King's and No. 4 Companies under Major Weld-Forester and Major Colby. Progress was very slow, even after daybreak, as there was a fog, and every wood by the roadside had to be thoroughly cleared. A few shots were exchanged with Uhlans, but there was no serious resistance, and the Brigade entered Zandvoorde at 11 A.M. Two miles from Zandvoorde, meanwhile, No. 3 Company under Lord Richard Wellesley had been ordered to Hollebeke to protect the right flank of the Brigade; this Company rejoined the Battalion later on.

At Zandvoorde a strong defensive position was taken up, facing east; it had a good field of fire, and there was a fairly wide stream two hundred yards from the trenches. The King's and No. 4 Companies were in the front trench, and No. 2 and No. 3 in reserve. That night the enemy played his old tricks, and kept every one awake, with a few snipers firing at intervals into different parts of the line. The men were then new to such devices, but it was not long before they learned to distinguish between sniping and an organised attack.

The following day the whole Brigade was ordered to advance and occupy the ridge Kruiseik—America, with its right bending back to Zandvoorde, the Scots Guards having occupied Kruiseik the night before. At night villages could be seen burning in every direction, set on fire by the Germans, and this was taken as an indication that the enemy was preparing to attack.

On the 19th orders were received for an advance by the Seventh Division on Menin and Wervicq; it was reported that the enemy was in no great strength, and that his forces consisted principally of Landsturm, with no artillery. The attack was to take place in three phases:

First phase: by the 22nd Brigade on the left against an advance position at Kleythoek.

Second phase: by the 20th and 21st Brigades against Gheluwe.

Third phase: by the whole Division against Menin and Wervicq.

Sir John French, in his despatch of that date, said:

I considered, however, that the possession of Menin constituted a very important point of passage, and would much facilitate the advance of the rest of the Army, so I directed the General Officer commanding the Fourth Corps to advance the Seventh Division upon Menin and endeavour to seize that crossing on the morning of the 18th.

It was no easy task that was allotted to Sir Henry Rawlinson, for he had nothing to fall back upon. The cavalry under Byng was hardly strong enough to do more than feel for the enemy, and there was therefore only the French Territorial Division at Ypres as a reserve. There was nearly twenty miles of front for the Seventh Division to operate on, and no one knew when the First Corps would arrive.

The advance of the Seventh Division began in the morning. The 1st Battalion Grenadiers deployed for an attack on Gheluwe and Kruiseik, with No. 2 and No. 3 Companies in the firing-line, and the King's and No. 4 in support. The men were extended to eight paces, and each company had a frontage of half a platoon; the Battalion was thus in sixteen lines, with 200 yards between each line, during the preliminary advance under artillery fire.

When about half the Battalion was on the move, the order to advance was countermanded, for news had arrived that a large force of all arms was advancing from the direction of Courtrai. Lawford's Brigade, which had reached Kleythoek, was strongly attacked on its left flank and compelled to fall back with heavy losses. The advance on Menin had been found impracticable; Sir Henry Rawlinson suddenly realised that with a single infantry division it was sheer madness to attack an enemy force which, according to our airmen's reports, was far stronger than Sir John French had anticipated. Being the pivot on which the whole Division had to turn, Ruggles-Brise's Brigade had not gone far when the countermanding order came, but the left of the Division had to retire some distance before it was in line facing the right way.

Ruggles-Brise's Brigade retired to its former position, which consisted of a semicircular line running from Zandvoorde through Kruiseik to the cross-roads on the Ypres—Menin road. To the 1st Battalion Grenadiers was allotted a frontage of nearly a mile, from and including the village of Kruiseik to the cross-roads, on the left being the Yorkshire Regiment from Watts's Brigade and on the right the Border Regiment. No. 2 and No. 3 Companies were in the firing line, and No. 4 and the King's Company in support.

A circular salient is not easy to hold, and after the greater part of the day had been spent in improving the trenches and putting out barbed wire under intermittent and ineffective shell-fire, orders were received to withdraw the line. This withdrawal was necessitated by the Divisional order to send back two battalions as Divisional Reserve. This left only the Grenadiers and Border Regiment to occupy the whole line. After consulting General Ruggles-Brise, Lieut.-Colonel Earle decided to withdraw Nos. 2 and 3 Companies and convert the support trenches into the firing line. This meant altering the trenches a good deal, as those used for the supports were too wide and shallow. The whole situation had, however, changed, and the Division was now on the defensive.