ment from the 230th Brigade, and the 24th (Denbigh Yeomanry)
Battalion; the Royal Welsh Fusiliers from the 231st Brigade. We were
all very depressed at the departure of the Ayrs and Lanarks. We had
been together close friends and keen rivals on the football field ever
since we had been made into an infantry battalion, and though we all
knew that the Brigade was sure to be reduced from four to the normal
French establishment of three battalions, we had somehow never
contemplated parting from our special friends, the only other Scotch
battalion in the Division.

Spanish influenza, which was so prevalent everywhere, now began to
attack us, and when we left Grand Rullecourt on 26th June, as we had
about nine miles to march to our entraining station Ligny, 150 were
considered unfit to march, and had to come on by motor lorry the
following day. This was an excellent arrangement, as it enabled us to
keep on the men who we knew would be quite fit again in a day or two,
instead of sending them to hospital, and probably to another
battalion. Fortunately it was a mild type, the patient being
completely knocked out for a day or two and then rapidly recovering,
but it left us all pretty weak for a bit. We detrained at Aire, and
though we had only another four miles to go to our billets at Fontes,
it was quite enough for anyone with a touch of the "'flu." From here
parties went out every day to reconnoitre the various lines in the
Robecq-St Venant sector, and to get to know the country before we were
told to take over the line.

We left Fontes with practically all our invalids cured after a
fortnight's stay, and moved on to Ham en Artois, only a few miles
farther east, where we became Divisional Reserve, our Division having
taken over a sector of the line in the Lys area. Here we carried on
our company and specialist training while parties reconnoitred
forward, and after twelve days in reserve we again made a short move
forward on 23rd July to La Pierriere where we became Brigade Reserve,
the Brigade having the other two battalions now in the line. This was
a strenuous business, as not only had we to provide small working
parties by day and guards over about eleven bridges over the Aire-La
Bassee Canal, but we had also to supply 100 men per company each night
to dig in the support line, which meant very hard work for both
company officers and men, and it was with relief that we saw our eight
days finished, and moved ourselves into