On detraining at Longeau, the Battalion marched to billets in Corbie,
where it stayed for one night. The following day it moved to the south of
the main Amiens-Peronne road to Marcelcave, and was then in Fifth Army
Reserve. Here, for about a fortnight the finishing touches were put to
the training. Included in the programme were the final stages of the Army
Rifle Association competition, in which No. 6 Platoon were defeated by a
Platoon of the 8th Durham Light Infantry in the final of the Brigade
contest. The officers were taken up to certain areas near Peronne, where
the Battalion might have to deliver counter-attacks in the event of a
German success. About the middle of March rumours of the impending attack
became more numerous, and the intelligence reports containing prisoners'
statements, etc., were not reassuring. At last, the date of the attack,
the 21st March, became fairly certain, and the drum fire heard in the
distance on that day was not unexpected.

Orders were issued during the morning for a "stand-to" in readiness to
move at very short notice, and about 3.45 p.m. instructions were received
to entrain at Gouzeaucourt. In less than an hour the Battalion was on the
march, the transport moving at the same time by road. After a short
journey it detrained in the pitch dark at Brie, where Lewis guns, etc.,
were placed on lorries, the orders being to move into billets near
Peronne. Whilst waiting for guides, however, a staff officer of the
Division arrived with fresh orders. Instead of proceeding to billets the
Battalion was to move straight into the fight. The Lewis guns were
removed from the lorries and replaced by blankets, and the Battalion
marched off in the direction of Tincourt. Just to the south of that
village and in front of Beuzy a reserve system of partially dug trenches,
known as the Green Line, was at once occupied. This line was the next
defence system behind the Brown Line, where the 66th and other Divisions