 Aware of the time constraints , Otway decided he could wait no longer , and the reduced battalion headed for the battery and joined up with Major Smith 's reconnaissance party just outside the village of <unk> en <unk> . The reconnaissance party had cut a way through the barbed wire , and marked four routes through the minefield . Otway divided his men into four assault groups , and settled down to await the arrival of the three gliders . 
