ector covered by the river,
had failed badly. This threw the whole line into confusion.... The
situation there became extremely critical about August 25th."

The 7th marched back a short distance to Irles, and made themselves
comfortable in the German dug-outs there for a day and a half. Looking
back over those days of new experiences for the battalion one realises
the valuable work accomplished by Lt. Wilkinson and his transport
section. When out of the line he invariably carried off the honours in
the "spit and polish" transport competitions frequently held in the
division, but it was on difficult occasions such as these that he showed
up to prouder advantage. The transport lines had been brought up to
Colincamps, and the distance from there to Warlencourt was about twelve
miles. The roads were in an impossible condition so that all supplies
had to be carried on pack animals, and the fact that nothing failed
reflects the greatest credit upon the administrative arrangements of
Capt. and Q.M. Wood and the transport officer.

VILLERS-AU-FLOS.

During our few hours' absence from the line the Naval Division had been
in some heavy fighting as we saw when we arrived on the night of August
27th in the support position near Loupart Wood. Skilfully sited machine
guns had taken terrible toll of the brave naval men, and their bodies
still lay where they had fallen, so that one of our first jobs was to
bury them. The front line ran along the western outskirts of
Ligny-Thilloy, but it was suspected that the enemy would not make a
vigorous stand here. His shelling was particularly beastly, however, and
if he did intend to retire further he was at least taking the necessary
artillery precautions. By August 30th preparations were complete for
another forward move, but early morning showed us that the Hun had gone,
so we were merely required to follow him up.

The pre-arranged plan was carried out, and after the 127th brigade had
made good the high ground east of Thilloy, in face of some opposition,
the East Lancs. came through and took up the advance on what had now
become a one brigade front. They had not gone far before they
encountered the enemy in strength holding Riencourt, and they promptly
attacked it. The 8th Manchesters bore the brunt of this attack and they
suffered very heavily, little ground being gained. A brilliant night
show by the 10th the next night, however, subdued Riencourt, and this
rendered the li