[2] Clothing, in the form of emergency Kitchener Blue uniforms did not arrive until November, together with a few old rifles for drill practice, the artillery had only two 90 mm guns and two 15-pounders per brigade.

officer of the field ambulance attached to the 60th Brigade, received the Victoria Cross for treating men in the open under heavy shell fire all through the day.

[13] A gas attack, planned for the previous December, was finally launched with the arrival of favourable winds, as the Division began to leave the Levantie sector on 9 January 1916.

The area had been rendered a quagmire by shelling and the trench system was fragmented, shallow and poorly maintained, these remnants being separated by gaps of up to 80 yards (73 m) of mud.

[17] On the night of 11–12 February during the first placement of 60th Brigade into the line, the Germans attempted to interrupt the relief, but were thrown back after temporarily capturing one of the trench fragments.

When the Canadians counter-attacked in the early hours of 13 June the Division launched gas, smoke and artillery attacks on the German lines, followed by patrols and trench raids which met with varied success.

The division signal company was also employed repairing and replacing the buried telephone cables of the area, all the while under sporadic artillery and trench mortar fire.

The first objective was occupied by 12:30, a sunken road some 350 yards (320 m) from the start line and parts of the western edge of the village were held by the 6th Ox and Bucks L.I.

[31] The attack on the second objective, a road running roughly north-south through the eastern part of the village, then north-east towards Ginchy, on average about 100 yards (91 m) further on, began at 12:50, with the 10th and 11th R.B.

[40] The objective was to establish a line over the crest of the ridge overlooking Le Transloy on the second German trench and was only a small part of an attack of the whole front of Fourth Army.

[43] The division returned to the front on 4 January, relieving the Guards 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south of Le Transloy in a line through the village of Sailley-Saillisel.

[48] On 4 April the 59th brigade supported by 83rd engineer company and the whole of the division artillery attacked a German line between the village of Metz 1.7 miles (2.7 km) west of Neuville-Bourjonval and the corner of Haverincourt Wood.

reached the Au Bon Gite pillboxes, but could not take the largest of them and were forced back by a counterattack 200 yards (180 m) with heavy casualties of over 210 officers and men.

The 83rd and 84th engineer companies placed wooden bridges across the Steenbeek to allow the initial assaulting troops to form up on the east bank, and in spite of having to form up in some places within 80 yards (73 m) of German posts in front of the Au Bon Gite strong point, the build up on the east bank was achieved without the Germans being aware of the movement even while it was conducted through the 'usual' harassing, but undirected, artillery and machine gun fire.

battalions were stationed in a line south of Les Rue Vertes, and the 60th and 61st brigades were consolidating their positions on the north-eastern end of Welsh Ridge.

[76] The next day a planned attack by the 59th Brigade, with the 29th Division on its left, and the assistance of 12 tanks, on the canal line gained a little ground around the village of Les Rues Vignes, but caused the 11th K.R.R.C.

Aided by a thick mist in the valleys and by air support elsewhere, the Germans attacked the 20th Division's front and overwhelmed the outposts, some of which were in any case out of sight of the main line due to the convex slope of the spur north west of the canal.

[82] After a few days in Corps reserve, the division was moved north joining the Fourth Army and by 12 December was concentrated about 22 miles (35 km) south west of Ypres.

The main problems were caused by the weather, which was either freezing, or wet, which made the regular relief of the front line, every 48 or 24 hours difficult.

reserve, attached to XVIII Corps and was billeted in the area of Ham about 16 miles (26 km) south west of the front line at Saint-Quentin.

By mid-morning the right of the line 1,400 yards (1,300 m) from the Somme, behind the village of Canizy was being held by a platoon from the 83rd Field Company and an assortment of stragglers with an open right flank.

With the Germans only 4 miles (6.4 km) away to the north, the 61st Brigade composite battalion was tasked with forming the left flank between the villages of Gruny, Crémery and Laincourt.

The brigade managed to extricate itself and by 15:00 hrs had rejoined the rest of the division near Demuin 4.5 miles (7.2 km) north west of Le Quesnel.

[101] The division's artillery continued supporting British, French and Australian troops in the Somme area, and switched commands frequently, with batteries occasionally detached to other formations.

[102] They were to take part in the battle of Villers-Bretonneux coming under sustained bombardment and heavy gas attacks, with some of the gunners of 91st Artillery Brigade acting as infantry, and B and D batteries of the 92nd firing over open sights at times on 24 March.

On 17 April the division was moved to Villers-Châtel about 10 miles (16 km) north west of Arras, returning to XVIII Corps control, this time under First Army.

The German defences were based along the embankment of a curving section of railway line, known as the 'Bull Ring' in the southern part of the line, the flooding of the land adjacent to the river, which was overlooked by a slag heap occupied by the Germans in the centre, and the widespread building ruins of the area strengthened with barbed wire traps all along the division's front.

On 2 October, seeing that the Germans were withdrawing to the Hindenburg Line, the division advanced on a front of six battalions from all three brigades (from the left: 7th D.C.L.I, 12th King's, 12th K.R.R.C., 6th K.S.L.I., 2nd Scottish Rifles and 11th K.R.R.C., with the remainder in reserve).

On 7 November the division had been made responsible for feeding the civilians in the areas it held, it also set up soup kitchens for the refugees heading east before sending them on.

[117] The patches shown were adopted by the division during late 1917, and were designed to an overall divisional scheme of a simple shape for each brigade and a number of stripes below that indicating the seniority of the battalion (according to the regimental order of precedence).