The reports from all parts of the line fulfilled the highest expectations, and the prisoners' cages were crowded beyond capacity, but for the next few days there was to be no rest for anyone until our new line had been so firmly established as to admit of no possibility for a successful counter-attack by the Bosch.
The following day the Battalion furnished parties to assist in the general work of consolidation, and at about 5 o'clock in the evening, orders were received for us to take over the front line from the 8th Brigade, composed of the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th Battalions, C.M.R. It looked as if we might get into some of the fighting after all, and with very mixed feelings the inevitable advance party, consisting of 1 officer and 1 N.C.O. from each Company and H.Q., started out in the direction of a certain map location called "Spandau Haus" where the C.M.R. Battalions had established their headquarters. The line of march brought us through territory already well known--Berthonval Farm, La Targette Corners, Goodman Tunnel, Chassery Crater, etc., and further on, through territory fresh with the smell of the Bosch.
It is a very curious sensation to walk boldly across the shell holes, which only recently were called "No Man's Land," and over which we had been wont to crawl about with our noses pretty close to the ground. By the time we reached Spandau Haus, night had set in, and to look over the line with any intelligence would be an impossibility. This must have been a very joyous relief to the C.M.R.'s, for they were all dog tired, and to have to more or less instruct a new Battalion in all the intricacies of a newly captured position was asking them a little too much after their experiences of the last 36 hours. This is evidently what Divisional Headquarters thought too, for by the time our party had returned to Dumbell Camp, having carefully marked on their maps all the information possible, it was announced that the relief of the 8th Brigade by our Battalion had been cancelled, and that the 60th Battalion would go forward in our place--shouts of joy, especially by the advance party, who had done ten miles in the pouring rain. Instead, therefore, of holding Vimy Ridge against the now infuriated Bosch, we were reduced to taking over the support trenches soon to be vacated by the 60th, and at dusk the following day, during a heavy fall of snow, these changes were successfully carried out. The Battalion was shelled heavily by 5.9's just as it reached the old crater line, and had several casualties, including Lt. John Doble, who was killed.