on the right, the Battalion was ordered to place a dummy tank and dummy
men out in no man's land in front of the vicinity of the Birdcage, and
shortly after zero these were put in operation by means of wires.
Naturally the Battalion came in for a good deal of the retaliatory fire of
the enemy, but few casualties took place. Incidentally the enemy claimed
to have repulsed an attack on this front, from which it follows that the
dummies had been efficacious.

The Germans had been driven back by the surprise attack of the British,
and Cambrai was nearly reached. The fighting died down in a few days, but
on the 30th Cavalry General von der Marwitz delivered his counter-attack.
He selected not the apex of the salient that had been driven into the
German line, but the portion of the line to the south of it, which was so
weakly held. On the morning of the 30th the Battalion was in support to
the 165th Brigade in some dugouts in Lempire.

A warning had been received during the course of the night that an enemy
attack was imminent, and the order was given to "stand to" well before
dawn. At "stand to" all was perfectly quiet. The expected attack had not
developed. The men stood down and a normal day was anticipated. At
breakfast time there sounded a heavy barrage a mile or two to the north,
and afterwards shells began to fall in the village. Large gas shells were
creating a cloud near by, and a rumour came that the Germans had broken
through at the Birdcage. The troops had such confidence in the other
battalions in the Brigade that the rumour was not believed. Later a
message came from Headquarters that the line further north had broken.
Lempire must be held at all costs, and the Battalion was ordered to dig a
line running east and west on the high ground to the north of the village,
so as to command the ground as far as Holt's Bank. This was then in the
possession of the Germans, who were within a few hundred yards of Epéhy,