all subsequent events date. So many small things occurred there that it
was remarked by later comers that it appeared to them that the Morcourt
training must have lasted for months. One event, however, can be pointed
to as a turning point. On the 25th March, Lieut.-Col. Jeffreys, who had
never fully recovered from the wounds received in Sanctuary Wood, was
ordered to return to England on account of ill-health, and handed over
command to Major W.D. Carswell Hunt, M.C., of the 7th Durham Light
Infantry. Colonel Jeffreys' personal influence and fighting qualities,
strongly reflected even in his absence in those officers who had received
their early training under him, had been largely responsible for the
reputation and the success of the Battalion during its first two years of
fighting and his departure was greatly regretted by all ranks.

A few days after he left, the Battalion was on the move to take part in
the battle which was about to begin at Arras.




CHAPTER IV.

ARRAS.

_First Phase._


From Morcourt the Battalion moved by motor 'buses through Amiens to
Talmas preparatory to a long trek on foot. The first two nights were
spent at Wargnies and Havernas. Here a famous Church Parade was held, at
which the Commanding Officer, in the absence of a Chaplain, preached his