Sunday 30th January 1916

Front line trenches east of Bois Grenier.

The day was generally quiet, with some mist and light rain. Overnight, the Battalion was ordered to carry out the raid on the German lines, preparations for which had been in hand for some days. The raid was to be overseen by 2IC Major Lewis Buchanan (see 1^st October 1915). The plan was for a party of three officers, Lt. Lavarack, Lt. George Reginald Charles Heale (see 26^th October 1915): and 2Lt. Christopher Snell (see 26^th October 1915) and 60 men from ‘C’ Company, who were in reserve in the Bois Grenier Line, to advance through ‘B’ Company’s positions north of Farm Grande Flamengrie (I.26.2) then through gaps in the German wire which had been created by shelling a few days earlier (see 28^th January). They were to enter the German trenches with the object of killing as many as possible, but also securing prisoners, documents and other information. The raiding party was to remain in the German lines for no more than five minutes and was to proceed no further than fifty yards from their point of entry before returning to the British lines.

Conditions for the raid were ideal; the sky was starless but fairly clear with only a little mist. At 9.15 pm two wire-cutting parties left the British lines, with the main raiding party in position and the whole Battalion, along with their counterparts from the Royal Scots, on stand-to. At 11 pm the wire-cutters returned, reporting that they had encountered a German patrol of more than twenty men. This had prevented them from cutting the two ‘lanes’ through the German wire which were required for the raid to proceed.  This eventuality had been planned for and the orders issued included the instruction that, “Should a hostile working party be found in front of enemy wire it will be attacked with vigour and driven in, every effort being made to secure at least one prisoner”.  Consequently a substantial party of thirty men was despatched from the British lines to seek out and engage the German patrol. However, this party returned at 12.35 am, having failed to locate any sign of the Germans. At this point, with the men reported to be “very cold and wet” and with the German wire having not been completely cut, the raid was abandoned. It was recorded that, “the failure to carry through Scheme No.1 was due to excessive caution on the part of our wire cutters who should have evaded the hostile patrol. As no enemy working party was met with Scheme No.2 did not come into operation”.