Unfortunately the rations had only just arrived, and were being distributed when the orders were received. As it was essential that this move should be accomplished before daylight it was impossible to see that each man received his rations before the Battalion moved off. They started at 3.30, led by Captain Lygon. Owing to the darkness and the lines of trenches to be crossed, progress was necessarily slow. Though the distance was only 1000 yards, the constant climbing in and out of trenches in the dark, the shell-holes, and the remains of barbed-wire obstacles, made it seem interminable.
On the way Lieutenant Westmacott, who was standing on the parapet directing his men where to cross over a trench, was blown up by a bomb thrown by a wounded German who was lying close by. He had a wonderful escape, and although completely stunned, he recovered sufficiently to join his company again later in the day. The Battalion was sadly in need of officers, and he insisted on returning that evening in spite of his dazed condition.
Captain Lygon led the Battalion over a maze of wet trenches and ditches to where the Royal Scots Fusiliers were in front of the Moulin du Piètre, and the companies as they came up were ordered to get into the trenches. But as the day dawned slowly it was found that there was no room in the trenches for the men, as the Royal Scots Fusiliers were still there, and there was not time for them to get away. There were but some mere scratches in the earth, which would hardly hold a quarter of the men. The lighter it got the more obvious became the peril of the Battalion's position. Major Duberly did all he could. Absolutely regardless of danger, he went about shouting to the men to dig themselves in where they were, and endeavouring to establish communication between the groups of men who were making themselves some sort of shelter.
Soon after daybreak the firing became intense, and the whole ground was ploughed up with shells and furrowed with machine-gun bullets. Major Duberly was killed early in the day, and Lieutenant Fisher-Rowe, who came down a communication trench filled with water, was wounded in the leg and unable to move, just as he had nearly reached the trench. His satchel, containing the orders, was passed up by the men to Captain Lygon in the front trench. The orders were to the effect that the Grenadiers were to attack Moulin du Piètre in co-operation with the Eighth Division on the right after a bombardment, which would last from 9 to 9.30 A.M. The Gordons were to attack on the left.