During the night of 21 March the 36th Division was forced to retire south of the Somme with the 61st Brigade and 91st Artillery Brigade covering them, at which point they came under the orders of that division. During 22 March the 60th Brigade came under artillery attack, and the 59th Brigade was moved into a rear area due to the Corps to the north being out flanked. Further movements meant that by the evening of 22 March the 59th and 60th Brigades were acting as a rearguard for the corps between Lancy ( east of Saint Quentin), Douilly ( south of Lancy) and Bray-Saint-Christophe ( south east of Douilly). During the night the brigades were ordered to retire across the Somme, some to the south west, and conducted a fighting withdrawal as they did so. The engineer companies completed the destruction of the bridges across the canalised river. On 23 March the division held the Somme canal line from west of Ham, held by the 11th D.L.I. and parties men from other divisions, to Béthencourt-sur-Somme to the north west, held by the 11th R.B. Reinforced by the 182nd Brigade, the 60th Brigade fought back the Germans breaking through at Ham, and later in the day the division received more reinforcements, exchanging the 182nd Brigade for the other brigades (183rd and 184th) from the 61st Division, and two batteries of a Canadian motor machine gun battalion. During the night of 23 March it became obvious from the noises they were making that the Germans were preparing to cross the canal at many points.