On the 4th March a successful raid took place on an enemy post opposite to
Number 5 Crater, in the vicinity of the Railway. The sentry post was in a
sap head around which the wire had been cut up by shell fire. A shrapnel
barrage was directed against the post for a few minutes, while the raiding
party was waiting in no man's land. The barrage lifted suddenly, and the
small raiding party rushed in and, taking the sentries by surprise,
secured them as prisoners. On the 19th March the enemy successfully raided
the Battalion, and unfortunately captured about ten prisoners. The plan
adopted was ingenious. The night had been exceptionally quiet, when
suddenly about half an hour before dawn the enemy opened with a barrage of
all calibres on the sector immediately on the left of the Battalion, with
the intention of diverting the attention of the British artillery to that
sector. The enemy raiding party meanwhile was lying in no man's land. The
enemy suddenly opened with a devastating fire on the Battalion's trenches
for a few minutes, lengthened the range, and under cover of this barrage
the raiding party entered and surprised the men in the front line. Orders
had lately been received that the officer on watch was not to fire the
S.O.S. signal to the artillery until he was sure that the enemy had left
their trenches. But as it was dark he could not ascertain this, and
consequently the signal was not fired. The Company Commander sent back the
S.O.S. signal, but the message was not delivered through the foolishness
of a signaller who was afraid to use the power buzzer, fearing that the
enemy might intercept the message. The Germans left one of their men dead
in the trench and another just in front of the parapet. This was an
incident which had to be avenged, and soon the Battalion by means of two
successful raids secured enough prisoners to equalize.

Towards the end of the month another raid was expected. To frustrate this
the Commanding Officer decided to have a body of about sixty men lying in
the middle of no man's land, in such a position that they would escape the