With the start on the previous morning of the German Spring Offensive on the Somme to the south, enemy artillery and raiding was active across the whole front. Owing to the 24th Battalion losing 150 men to gas shells the previous day the 22nd Battalion had extra work on strengthening the line, with nine officers and 250 men working at night. The men from the 22nd were too subject to these gas shells which caused a number of casualties.
Following the Twenty-Second 