ine gunners. I returned home
and got to bed about 3-0 a.m.

The next morning I was wakened before seven by the guns waking up for
their early morning hate just under my window. There are Batteries
dotted about all over the place here--18 pounders, howitzers of all
sizes, and naval guns. You almost trip over them wherever you go.
There are two 6in. howitzers hiding in our back garden. I went up to
the trenches to look round the next morning (Monday).

The trenches here are very different from what we have been used
to--long narrow trenches, not breastworks, dug down in the chalk, a
veritable labrynth of trenches, going in all directions, up hill and
down dale. They are very deep, and very few rifle shots are fired.
Sniping is done with field guns and trench mortars. The line is very
curious, moving forward and backward. In one place in our line a
village runs out and there is a German salient. In front of the
salient lots of mines have been exploded and no trenches remain,
merely holes that bombers hide in, where the trench bulging again we
share our parapet with the Bosche. I don't go there often, as you have
to crawl, and you usually crawl into the wrong trench and find
yourselves wandering in the Bosche lines. The Germans send over a lot
of oil cans filled with old razor blades and rubbish, which do a good
deal of damage, and are rather unpleasant. However, we are educating
them not to send them over too often, as we send over two to their one
with our mortars, and in time we shall get them under our thumbs I
hope. We always have one man by each gun firing almost continuously.
We have dug-outs well back with wire beds in them, also rats! Here we
have big underground dug-outs 20 feet underground, some of them down
long stairways. The country is very hilly and wooded in parts; our
part of the line has two hills and one valley, it is rather like
Salisbury Plain, or a flat edition of Derbyshire.

Carroll has been in, and I have gone up in the daytime.

I am going to relieve him this afternoon; I shall only be in a few
days. I hope to come home on leave about June 4th.

Much love to all, from your loving Son,
ALEC.

P.S.--I have not got your letter, but I have received all the letters
and things sent, I think.

My darling Mother,--

I am writing this in my dug-out. It seems very comfortable at present.
We have one large dug-out