example of calmness and steadiness under fire to his men. A piece of
shell struck him in the head and he died almost immediately. This was a
great blow to the brigade, just at the commencement of their adventure
in the new warfare. It was sadly remarkable, too, that he himself was
the first officer casualty in his brigade. A few days later, during
which time Lt.-Col. Darlington of the 5th assumed command, the new
brigadier arrived--General Henley, D.S.O.--and we were fortunate to keep
him as our Commander until the end of the war. The brilliant record of
the 127th brigade in France is testimony to his qualities as a leader,
and it was not very long before every man and officer in the Manchesters
was proud of him. General Ormsby always remained, however, as a tender
memory to those who had served under him.

Villers Faucon, which had been the rear H.Q. and transport lines was
invaded by battalion H.Q. and two companies when the battalion moved
back into reserve, but we did not stay long here, because the 126th
brigade required assistance in the completion of their trench system in
front of Templeux, and to do this we had to move into the quarries in
that district. The other two companies carried out similar work in the
vicinity of Lempire and Ronssoy. There was very little of interest
during the succeeding days after which the brigade moved out to Roisel
prior to accompanying the division to the Havrincourt sector of the
front.


HAVRINCOURT.

At the end of May the battalion marched out with the remainder of the
brigade from Roisel and in one day reached their destination behind the
Havrincourt Wood sector. We there remained for a short period in the