and 2/6th Battalions out of their positions in the front line at La Vacquerie, south-west of Cambrai, reducing the 2/4th Battalion to two companies and inflicting casualties of 16 officers and 308 other ranks on the 2/6th Battalion. In February 1918, the 2/4th and 2/6th Battalions were disbanded and their men distributed to the 2/5th Battalion and the 24th Entrenching Battalion. At the end of March, 10 days of fighting, retreating and digging-in near St. Quentin reduced the 2/5th Battalion to 150 men during Operation Michael, the opening phase of the German spring offensive. The 61st Division was transferred north to help reinforce First Army in April, and the 2/5th Battalion fought a number of actions south-west of Merville during the Battle of the Lys. In August, the battalion attempted to force a bridgehead across a stream in Nieppe Forest, west of Merville, and fought on 1 September during the advance to the River Lys. The battalion was in battle again on 30 September at Fleurbaix, south-west of Armentières, and saw its last action of the war on 1 and 2 November during the Battle of Valenciennes. New Army As volunteers answered Lord Kitchener's call to arms, ten New Army battalions, the 7th to the 16th, were added to the regiment's establishment between 1914 and 1916. Three of them, the 11th, 15th and 16th, were home-based reserve battalions which later transferred to the Training Reserve. 7th Battalion The 7th Battalion was formed in Bristol in August 1914. It sailed to the island of Lemnos in June 1915 as part of the 39th Brigade in the 13th (Western) Division and went into the line at Gallipoli the next month. The battalion fought its first action on 8 August in the Battle of Chunuk Bair, during which it suffered over 820 casualties, including all of its officers, warrant officers and senior non-commissioned officers. It was brought back up to strength and moved to Egypt in January 1916. In March, the 13th Division was transferred to Mesopotamia, but on landing at Basra the battalion was put out of action by an outbreak of relapsing fever. It rejoined the division in the middle of April and fought in the unsuccessful attempt to lift the siege of Kut. The battalion saw action in December 1916 and February 1917 during the subsequent advance on and capture of Kut, and fought its last battle on 29 March