In the afternoon the Battalion was ordered to support the Scots Guards, who were to undertake the attack with the Border Regiment. The orders were to advance with the right on the Moulin du Piètre, but although this looked on paper a perfectly clear landmark, it was not so easy to locate from the trenches. In the orders the abbreviation Mn. was used for Moulin, which was new to the majority of platoon commanders, but even those who knew its meaning were quite unable to discover the mill. They could not see much through their periscopes, and nothing at all resembling a mill was to be observed. Presumably, as the Grenadiers were to support the Scots Guards, they should have followed them, and made a considerable détour; but the Staff Officer who directed the initial stages of the advance appears to have told them to go straight for the Moulin du Piètre.
From information obtained from a German prisoner it appeared that the enemy intended to retake Neuve Chapelle that day at all costs, and that reinforcements had been sent up to enable them to do so. Major Trotter with the left half Battalion started off down the road leading past Brigade Headquarters, where he was joined by Captain Palmer, the Brigade Staff Captain. No. 4 Company under Captain Lygon was here ordered to advance in two lines with two platoons of No. 3 under Sergeant Powell and Sergeant Langley in support. After having gone forward for about half a mile it came under enfilade fire from the right, which seemed to indicate that it was not going in the right direction. Captain Lygon decided to bear to the right, and sent word to Lieutenant Westmacott, who was farther back with the remainder of No. 3, to swing round in that direction, as they were all going too far to the left. He himself hit off a communication trench which led to the front line, but after the leading half company had passed through, the Germans trained a machine-gun down this trench, which made it impossible for the remainder to follow. Half of No. 4 Company and the two platoons of No. 3 therefore took refuge in a ruined house. Captain Lygon endeavoured to move down the front trench to the right, but found all farther progress stopped by a deep stream which cut the trench in two. After several ineffectual attempts to cross this stream, he turned back, but the German machine-gun made all attempts to return by the communication trench an impossibility. His half company was practically caught in a trap, from which it would be impossible to escape in daylight. There was therefore nothing to do but to wait until it was dark. Eventually, Lieutenant Fisher-Rowe, the Adjutant, who had been sent in search of this lost company, swam the stream, and told Captain Lygon what was happening on the right.