Field-Marshal His Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught sent the following message from Canada:
My best wishes accompany the 4th Battalion on their first tour of active service. I am confident they will do their duty and emulate their comrades of the older battalions.
The Battalion crossed over in the _Empress Queen_, accompanied by a destroyer, and on arrival at Havre proceeded by train to St. Omer, where it detrained and marched to Blendecques. There it remained until the Guards Division was formed in September. On August 21 it was inspected by Brigadier-General Heyworth, who expressed himself pleased with its smart appearance. On September 17, during the inspection of the 3rd Guards Brigade, Major-General the Earl of Cavan complimented Major Hamilton on the way his Battalion had turned out.
In September General Joffre and Sir John French agreed that a determined attempt should be made to break the strong German line. Thousands of guns were to be massed, and after an action by which, it was hoped, the German trenches would be destroyed, twelve infantry divisions were to be launched upon the enemy. Then Sir Douglas Haig, with the First British Army, would attack between La Bassée Canal and Lens, while the French were to force their way through the lines south of Lens.
Sir John French in his despatch thus described the character of the front to be attacked by the British Army:
Opposite the front of the main line of attack the distance between the enemy's trenches and our own varied from about 100 to 500 yards.
The country over which the advance took place is open and overgrown with long grass and self-sown crops.
From the canal southward our trenches and those of the enemy ran, roughly, parallel up an almost imperceptible rise to the south-west.
From the Vermelles--Hulluch road southward the advantage of height is on the enemy's side as far as the Bethune--Lens road. There the two lines of trenches cross a spur in which the rise culminates, and thence the command lies on the side of the British trenches.
Due east of the intersection of spur and trenches, and a short mile away, stands Loos. Less than a mile farther south-east is Hill 70, which is the summit of the gentle rise in the ground.