On the night of 7/8 April, the 12th Battalion was tasked with the capture of Boursies, on the Bapaume–Cambrai road. The attack was a feint to mislead the German forces on the direction from which Hermies was to be assaulted. Leading A Company as well as an attached platoon from B Company, Newland began his advance on the village at 03:00. The company was soon subject to heavy rifle and machine gun fire from a derelict mill approximately short of the village, and began to suffer heavy casualties. Rallying his men, Newland charged the position and bombed the Germans with grenades. The attack dislodged the Germans, and the company secured the area and continued its advance.